Introduction

One of the great things about using Cloud Block Storage is that it can be easily resized for site backups, file, and image storage. If you are looking for options to backup your server, please see our article Creating a Backup of Your Cloud VPS. While there is an additional cost for increased size, you can resize it up and down to fit your needs. This gives you the flexibility to store files, images, or backups until you need them, and then delete them as needed.

Usage Warning:

Cloud Block Storage is not meant for images or files actively used on your sites, nor is it meant to host websites as the latency is much slower than your server’s disk speed. It is only meant to be used as additional storage for files not being actively used.

Resizing your Cloud Block Storage takes a little bit of work and going back and forth between command line and your Liquid Web account, but if you follow the below instructions carefully, your resize will be complete in no time and you’ll have extra space to store your files and backups. Depending on if you’ve partitioned your volume or not, the instructions will be different. Follow the links below to view the instructions:

P artitioned Volume Resize
Non-Partitioned Volume Resize
Downsizing your Volume
Create New Volume and Use rsync – Recommended

Step by step instructions

Unmount Cloud Block Storage

It is important that you unmount your Cloud Block Storage prior to resizing. If you do not, it can cause data loss and cause server instability.

Data Transfer

It is much easier and safer to create a new Cloud Block Storage volume and use rsync to move the data over. This will avoid any potential data loss or issues with the resize. This is also the only method for downsizing your Cloud Block Storage volume. Always Take a Backup prior to changing anything on your server. Liquid Web is not responsible for any data loss during the resize procedure.

To unmount a partitioned Cloud Block Storage volume, run the following command on your Linux server:

umount /dev/vdb1

For directions on mounting and unmounting volumes on Windows servers, see Adding Cloud Block Storage on a Windows Server.

Once you’ve unmounted your volume, follow the resize instructions below.

Resize Cloud Block Storage using my.liquidweb.com

This will unmount the volume from the server and resize your filesystem and partition. Now you can follow the resize instructions below. Once you’ve completed the resize, come back to this section to resize your filesystem and partitions.

Log into your Liquid Web account.
Select Storage from the left menu bar, then click Cloud Block Storage.
On the Cloud Block Storage page, you will see all of the volumes available on your account. If you need to add a volume, see Setting Up Cloud Block Storage. Click on the name of the volume to see the volume detail screen.
At the top of the page, you’ll see the details section. This section provides details about the volume, including the name, region, size, and current Total Cost of the volume. (Please note: pricing is subject to change. The pricing in this article is only an example).
Scroll down to see the Attachment information.
You must first detach the volume from any servers before it can be resized. Click the detach icon to the right of the name of the server the volume is attached to in order to detach it.

You will see a confirmation dialog that asks if you want to detach the volume. Confirm that the volume has been unmounted on the server, then click Confirm to detach the volume from the server.

Once the volume is detached, you can specify a new size in the Resize Options area. Click the Resize button to begin the resize process.
Choose the new size that you want for the volume and click Update to resize the volume.

Resize Filesystem and Partition

Once you resize your Cloud Block Storage volume, you’ll need to resize the filesystem and partition. This will complete the resize, and ensure your filesystem and partitions are also resized appropriately.

First, check the filesystem:


e2fsck -f /dev/vdb1

Assuming your filesystem check completed clean, you will need to get the information on the partition:


parted -s /dev/vdb unit s p free

Look for a line that looks like the below example. This shows partition 1s starting sector is 63, this is an important detail as it tells you the starting location to create the partition on:

1      63s         314572607s  314572545s  primary  ext4

Now, open the device in parted and resize the partition:


parted /dev/vdb

Once inside the parted prompt, confirm the start sector:


unit s p free

You are looking for the number under the start column for your partition, in this case it was 63s.

Next, remove the old partition and create a new, larger one. Remove the old partition using the partition number from the previous command:


rm 1

Now, create the new larger partition:


mkpart

You will need to specify the partition type, filesystem type, start position and end position for the new partition. It should look something like below:

(parted) mkpart
Partition type?  primary/extended? primary
File system type?  [ext2]? ext4
Start? 63s
End? 100%
Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
Ignore/Cancel? i

Once that is complete, confirm the free space is gone still in the parted prompt:


p free

and exit parted if it is:

Now, resize the actual file system after another filesystem check:


e2fsck -f /dev/vdb

Once the fsck completes cleanly, run the resize command:


resize2fs /dev/vdb1

Don’t forget to attach and mount the volume after the resize! You can see those instructions in our article Setting Up Cloud Block Storage.

Downsizing Your Volume

It’s not actually possible to downsize an existing Cloud Block Storage volume. The only way to accomplish downsizing is to create a new volume, transfer the data to the smaller volume, then delete the original, larger volume.

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