Manage volumes and volume types
Volumes are the Block Storage devices that you attach to instances to
enable persistent storage. Users can attach a volume to a running
instance or detach a volume and attach it to another instance at any
time. For information about using the dashboard to create and manage
volumes as an end user, see the OpenStack End User Guide </user/manage-volumes>
.
As an administrative user, you can manage volumes and volume types
for users in various projects. You can create and delete volume types,
and you can view and delete volumes. Note that a volume can be encrypted
by using the steps outlined below.
Create a volume type
- Log in to the dashboard and select the
admin
project from the
drop-down list. - On the
Admin
tab, open theVolume
tab. - Click the
Volume Types
tab, and clickCreate Volume Type
button. In theCreate Volume Type
window, enter a name for the
volume type. - Click
Create Volume Type
button to confirm your
changes.
Note
A message indicates whether the action succeeded.
Create an encrypted volume
type
- Create a volume type using the steps above for
create-a-volume-type
. - Click
Create Encryption
in the Actions column of the
newly created volume type. - Configure the encrypted volume by setting the parameters below from
available options (see table):- Provider
-
Specifies the encryption provider format.
- Control Location
-
Specifies whether the encryption is from the front end (nova) or the
back end (cinder). - Cipher
-
Specifies the encryption algorithm.
- Key Size (bits)
-
Specifies the encryption key size.
- Click
Create Volume Type Encryption
.
The table below provides a few alternatives available for creating
encrypted volumes.
|
|
|
---|---|---|
|
luks (Recommended) | Allows easier import and migration of imported encrypted volumes, and allows access key to be changed without re-encrypting the volume |
plain | Less disk overhead than LUKS | |
Control Location | front-end (Recommended) | The encryption occurs within nova so that the data transmitted over the network is encrypted |
back-end | This could be selected if a cinder plug-in supporting an encrypted back-end block storage device becomes available in the future. TLS or other network encryption would also be needed to protect data as it traverses the network |
|
|
aes-xts-plain64 (Recommended) | See NIST reference below to see advantages* |
aes-cbc-essiv | Note: On the command line, type ‘cryptsetup benchmark’ for additional options |
|
|
256 (Recommended for aes-xts-plain64 and aes-cbc-essiv) | Using this selection for aes-xts, the underlying key size would only be 128-bits* |
* Source NIST
SP 800-38E
Note
To see further information and CLI instructions, see Create
an encrypted volume type in the OpenStack Block Storage
Configuration Guide.
Delete volume types
When you delete a volume type, volumes of that type are not
deleted.
- Log in to the dashboard and select the
admin
project from the
drop-down list. - On the
Admin
tab, open theVolume
tab. - Click the
Volume Types
tab, select the volume type or types
that you want to delete. - Click
Delete Volume Types
button. - In the
Confirm Delete Volume Types
window, click the
Delete Volume Types
button to confirm the
action.
Note
A message indicates whether the action succeeded.
Delete volumes
When you delete an instance, the data of its attached volumes is not
destroyed.
- Log in to the dashboard and select the
admin
project from the
drop-down list. - On the
Admin
tab, open theVolume
tab. - Click the
Volumes
tab, Select the volume or volumes that
you want to delete. - Click
Delete Volumes
button. - In the
Confirm Delete Volumes
window, click theDelete Volumes
button to
confirm the action.
Note
A message indicates whether the action succeeded.