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Disk Configuration

You may have one of the following setups:

  • Single-disk setup: CloudRift will most likely work out of the box. The only exception if you're using a smaller logical disk for the system. In this case we need to create another logical disk for VMs.
  • Two-disk setup: One disk for the system and a second disk for VM allocation.
  • Multiple disks setup: One system disk and multiple additional disks that will be configured in a RAID array for VM allocation.

Single Disk Setup​

Most of the time, CloudRift will work out of the box with a single disk setup. An exception is the situation when a smaller logical disk is used for the system and not all available disk space is used.

0. Check the available disks​

Run lsblk command to check available disks.

If you see a single disk occupying all the available space - you're good to go. CloudRift will work out of the box. Example output:

NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme1n1 259:0 0 3.6T 0 disk
nvme0n1 259:1 0 3.6T 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:2 0 1G 0 part /boot/efi
└─nvme0n1p2 259:3 0 3.6T 0 part /

If you're using a setup with a single disk, but using a smaller logical disk for the system like in the following example, you'll need to create a data disk for VMs.

NAME                      MAJ:MIN RM  SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1 259:0 0 3.6T 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 1G 0 part /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 2G 0 part /boot
└─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 3.6T 0 part
└─ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv 252:0 0 100G 0 lvm /

1. Create logical volume​

Create a new volume for the unused space:

sudo lvcreate -L 3.4T -n datavol ubuntu-vg

2. Format the disk​

Make filesystem on the new volume:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/ubuntu-vg/datavol

3. Mount the logical disk​

Create a mount point for CloudRift and mount a new volume.

sudo mkdir -p /media/cloudrift
sudo mount /dev/ubuntu-vg/datavol /media/cloudrift

4. Persist the Mount on Reboot​

Add to /etc/fstab the following line:

/dev/ubuntu-vg/datavol /media/cloudrift ext4 defaults 0 2

5. Verify Everything Works​

sudo mount -a
df -h /media/cloudrift

It is also a good idea to perform a reboot and check run aforementioned commands to check that your disks are persisted after the reboot.

Two-disk Setup​

If you have two disks, you need to ensure that the second disk is properly mounted and formatted for CloudRift to use it for VM allocation.

0. Check the available disks​

Run lsblk command to check available disks.

You should see something like this:

NAME                      MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1 259:0 0 447.1G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 1G 0 part /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 2G 0 part /boot
└─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 444.1G 0 part
└─ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv 252:0 0 100G 0 lvm /
nvme2n1 259:4 0 3.5T 0 disk

In this example, nvme0n1 is the system disk (with mountpoints) and nvme2n1 is the second disk without a mount point.

If your second disk already has a mount point, you can skip to Next Steps. Otherwise, continue with formatting and mounting.

1. Format the disk​

Format the disk to EXT4 or your preferred filesystem.

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/nvme2n1

2. Mount the Disk​

The mount point location is not important, but we recommend using /media/cloudrift so that you know what this disk is being used for.

sudo mkdir -p /media/cloudrift
sudo mount /dev/nvme2n1 /media/cloudrift

3. Persist the Mount on Reboot​

Add to /etc/fstab:

sudo udevadm trigger
UUID=$(sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/nvme2n1)
echo "UUID=$UUID /media/cloudrift ext4 defaults,nofail,discard 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

5. Verify Everything Works​

sudo mount -a
df -h /media/cloudrift

It is also a good idea to perform a reboot and check run aforementioned commands to check that your disks are persisted after the reboot.

Multiple Disks Setup​

Multiple disks will be formatted into RAID0 array and used for VM allocation.

0. Check the available disks​

Run lsblk command to check available disks.

You should see something like this:

NAME                      MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1 259:0 0 447.1G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 1G 0 part /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 2G 0 part /boot
└─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 444.1G 0 part
└─ubuntu--vg-ubuntu--lv 252:0 0 100G 0 lvm /
nvme2n1 259:4 0 3.5T 0 disk
nvme3n1 259:5 0 3.5T 0 disk
nvme4n1 259:6 0 3.5T 0 disk
nvme1n1 259:7 0 3.5T 0 disk

1. Install mdadm​

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mdadm

2. Create the RAID array​

Run the following command to create a RAID0 array. Replace device names appropriately:

sudo mdadm --create --verbose /dev/md0 --level=0 \
--raid-devices=4 /dev/nvme1n1 /dev/nvme2n1 /dev/nvme3n1 /dev/nvme4n1

3. Watch it build (should be fast for RAID 0)​

cat /proc/mdstat

4. Create a filesystem​

Format the array to EXT4 or your preferred filesystem.

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/md0

5. Mount the array​

The mount point location is not important, but we recommend using /media/cloudrift so that you know what this disk is being used for.

sudo mkdir -p /media/cloudrift
sudo mount /dev/md0 /media/cloudrift

6. Persist on boot​

Add to /etc/fstab:

sudo udevadm trigger
UUID=$(sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/md0)
echo "UUID=$UUID /media/cloudrift ext4 defaults,nofail,discard 0 0" | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

7. Verify Everything Works​

sudo mount -a
df -h /media/cloudrift

It is also a good idea to perform a reboot and check run aforementioned commands to check that your disks are persisted after the reboot.

Next Steps​

To test the node configuration and make your nodes rentable, proceed to the Memory Configuration guide.