In this section:


To perform any of the activities mentioned in this article, you must log on to your AWS account and navigate to Services > Compute > EC2. For the rest of this article, the webpage you reach after this navigation is referred as "AWS EC2 dashboard".

Create Volumes

In this sub-section, creation of volumes from a 6.2.1R000 AMI snapshot is illustrated.

Note

You must perform the following operations sequentially.

Get the AMI ID

Ensure you have the AMI ID of the instance whose snapshot you want to use for creating volumes. If you have the AMI ID, skip to Get the Snapshot ID.

To get the AMI ID:

  1. Using the left navigation panel of your AWS EC2 dashboard, navigate to INSTANCES > Instances.

  2. Select the desired instance.On the lower half of the window, detailed information about the selected instance is displayed.

    Note

    If you are creating volumes in context of AWS Volume-Based Upgrade, the volumes created using a 9.0.0 AMI snapshot must be in the same "Availability zone" as that of the 7.x instances (release version you are upgrading from). Ensure to select an instance that is in the same "Availability zone" as that of the instances that you want to use for volume-based upgrade.


    Example AMI ID screenshot

  3. Note the Instance ID and the AMI ID, as highlighted in the above image (excluding the parenthesis that encloses the highlighted part of the AMI ID value).

Get the Snapshot ID

  1. Using the left navigation panel of your AWS EC2 dashboard, navigate to IMAGES > AMIs.

  2. Copy the AMI ID that you noted down, and paste it in the search/filter box. The desired AMI is displayed.

    You can restrict your search of the type of images (Public/Private/Owned) using the dropdown list on the left of the search box.


    Filter using AMI ID

  3. Select the machine image to display its details in the lower half of the window.

    Snap ID

  4. Note the snapshot ID from the value of the field Block Devices, as highlighted in the above image.

    Note

    As shown in the above image, the snapshot ID ends before the first colon of the highlighted string. For example, if the value of the field Block Devices is /dev/sda1=snap-0d06965xxxf045c6e:30:false:standard, the snapshot ID is snap-0d06965xxxf045c6e.

Create a New Volume

Note

Creation of a standalone volume is illustrated here.

If you want to use the volumes as an HA pair, create two volumes. You can refer the first volume as active, and the second volume as standby.

If you want to create two volumes for an HA configuration, you can distinguish between the active and the standby volumes by adding an appropriate tag (for example, "Role") and providing appropriate value for that tag while creating the volumes. The tag's value is ideally based on the CERole that the volume may assume in future.

  1. Using the left navigation panel of your AWS EC2 dashboard, navigate to ELASTIC BLOCK STORE > Snapshots.

  2. Copy the snap ID that you noted down, and paste it in the search/filter box. The desired snapshot is displayed.

    You can restrict your search of the type of snapshots (Public/Private/Owned) using the dropdown list on the left of the search box.


    Snapshot

  3. Select the snapshot to display its description in the lower half of the window.

    Selected Snapshot

  4. Right click on the selected instance and select Create Volume.

    Create Volume Option

  5. The Create Volume window is displayed.

    Create Volume Window


    Note
    • If you are creating the volume in context of AWS Volume-Based Upgrade, you must modify the value of the field Volume Type to match the volume types of the 7.x instances. If the volume is standalone, you may modify the value based on your requirement. Note that the value of the field IOPS changes automatically, based on your selection of Volume Type.
    • For a volume based on a 9.0.0 AMI ID, the value of the field Size must be equal to or greater than 65.
    • If you are creating the volume in context of AWS Volume-Based Upgrade, the value of the field Availability zone must match with the "Availability zone" of the 7.x instances.
    • If the volume is intended to be used as standalone, do not check the checkbox adjacent to the Tag field - it is not necessary to create additional tags.
  6. Optional (if the volume is intended to be part of an HA pair) - If you want to easily distinguish the active and standby volumes, check the checkbox adjacent to the Tag field and add appropriate key-value pairs, as illustrated in the above image.

  7. After all necessary modifications, click Create Volume. A success message is displayed.

    Create Volume - Success Message

  8. Note the Volume ID of the volume.
  9. Click Close to go back to the AWS EC2 dashboard.
  10. Using the left navigation panel of the AWS EC2 dashboard, navigate to ELASTIC BLOCK STORE > Volumes.
  11. Copy the Volume ID and paste it in the search/filter box to filter the results.

  12. The newly created volume is displayed.

    Volume check


    If the volume is intended to be part of an HA configuration, you may also check the Tag of the volume to identify it's intended role.

    Tag check

Detach Volumes

In this sub-section, the procedure to detach volumes is illustrated, which may be used extensively in context of AWS Volume-Based Upgrade.

Shut Down the Instance

Ensure the instance whose volume you want to detach is shut down. To shut down a running instance:

  1. Using the left navigation panel of the AWS EC2 dashboard, navigate to INSTANCES > Instances and select the desired instance.

    To quickly find the desired instance, filter the instances by using AMI ID. To find the AMI ID, use the techniques illustrated in Get the AMI ID.

  2. Right click on the selected instance, and select Instance State > Stop.

    Stop option

  3. Click Yes, Stop when prompted for confirmation.

    Stop - confirmation

  4. After shut down, the Instance State of the instance must display "stopped".

    Instance State - stopped

Detach the Volume

Note

Detaching the root volume of a stopped instance is illustrated here. However, the same procedure can be used to detach any active and standby volumes associated with the instance, as required for AWS Volume-Based Upgrade.

To detach the active and standby volumes, perform the procedure twice.

  1. Select the stopped instance and under the Description section in the lower half of the window, find the field Block Devices.

  2. Click on the value of the Block Devices field. A pop-up is displayed.

    EBS ID

  3. Note the value of the field EBS ID on the pop-up, as highlighted in the above image.
  4. Using the left navigation panel of the AWS EC2 dashboard, navigate to ELASTIC BLOCK STORE > Volumes.
  5. Copy the value of the EBS ID and paste it in the search/filter box to filter the results.

  6. Select the volume, right click and select Detach Volume.

    Detach Volume

  7. Click Yes, Detach when prompted for confirmation.

    Detach - Confirmation

  8. A success message is displayed. Click Close to return to the AWS EC2 dashboard.

Attach Volumes

Note

Detaching a standalone volume to a stopped instance is illustrated here. However, the same procedure can be used to attach any active and standby volumes associated with the instance, as required for AWS Volume-Based Upgrade.

To attach the active and standby volumes, perform the procedure twice.

  1. Ensure the instance to which you want to attach volumes is shut down (see Shut Down the Instance), and all volumes attached to it are detached (see Detach Volume).
  2. Using the left navigation panel of the AWS EC2 dashboard, navigate to ELASTIC BLOCK STORE > Volumes.
  3. Copy and Volume ID of the volume that you want to attach and paste it on the search/filter box to filter the results.

  4. Select the volume displayed, right click and select Attach Volume.

    Attach Volume - option

  5. The Attach Volume pop-up is displayed. Provide appropriate values for the fields and click Attach.

    Note

    For volume-based upgrade, the value for the field Device must be /dev/sda1, as the volumes must be attached as root volumes.


    Attach Volume - pop-up window

  6. A success message is displayed. Click Close to return to the AWS EC2 dashboard.