Volume groups

In this article we will go through the process of creating a volume group and adding volumes to it. We will also go through the process of removing volumes from a volume group and deleting a volume group.

If you want to skip through the article, you can use the following links to navigate to the section you are interested in:

Creating a volume group

Creating a volume group is a simple process and can be done using the OpenStack Dashboard or the OpenStack CLI. In this article we will go through both methods.

Create a volume group using the OpenStack Dashboard

Step 1
Log in to the OpenStack Dashboard.

Step 2
Navigate to the VOLUMES section and click on Groups.

Step 3
Click on the + CREATE GROUP button right above the volume group list.

Step 4
Fill in the fields with the information you want to use for the volume group.

  • Name: A name for the volume group
  • Description: A description for the volume group
  • Group Type: Generic
  • Availability Zone: The availability zone in which the volume group should be created

Step 5
Click on the Manage Volume Types text at the top of the pop-up window. On this page you can select the volume type you want to use within the volume group.

Step 6
Click on the Create Group button at the bottom of the pop-up window. This will start the creation of your volume group.

Now we have created a volume group we can proceed to adding volumes to the volume group. For more information on how to add volumes to a volume group please refer to the Adding volumes to a volume group section.

Create a volume group using the OpenStack CLI

Step 1
First make sure you have setup the OpenStack CLI and that you are able to execute commands using the openstack command. For more information please refer to the Using the OpenStack CLI article.

Step 2 List all volume types to get the ID of the volume type you want to use within the volume group.

openstack volume type list

Step 3
Next, we will gather find the volume group types available in the OpenStack environment. This can be done with the following command:

openstack volume group type list --os-volume-api-version 3.51

Step 4
Now we will create the volume group, make sure to replace the <group-type>, <availability-zone>, <volume-type> and <group-name> with the correct values.

openstack volume group create --os-volume-api-version 3.51 --volume-group-type <group-type> --availability-zone <availability-zone> --volume-type <volume-type> --name <group-name>

Note: If you do not know which availability zones are available you can use the following command to list them:

openstack availability zone list

Note: If you do not know which volume types are available you can use the following command to list them:

openstack volume type list

Now we have created a volume group we can proceed to adding volumes to the volume group. For more information on how to add volumes to a volume group please refer to the Adding volumes to a volume group section.

Adding volumes to a volume group

Adding volumes to a volume group is a simple process and can be done using the OpenStack Dashboard.

Add volumes to a group using the OpenStack Dashboard

Step 1
Log in to the OpenStack Dashboard.

Step 2
Navigate to the VOLUMES section and click on Groups.

Step 3
Click on the small arrow button behind the volume group you want to add volumes to and click on MANAGE VOLUMES.

Step 4
Click on the + button next to the volumes you want to add.

Step 5
Click on the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the pop-up window. your volumes will now be added to the volume group.

Now that we have added volumes to the volume group we can exit this article or proceed to the Removing volumes from a volume group section where we will undo the process we just did.

Add volumes to a group using the OpenStack CLI

At the time of writing this article 03-2024 the OpenStack CLI does not support adding volumes from a volume group. We recommend using the OpenStack Dashboard to add volumes from a volume group or using the Cinder CLI client to add volumes from a volume group.

Removing volumes from a volume group

Removing volumes from a volume group is a simple process and can be done using
the OpenStack Dashboard.

Remove volumes from a group using the OpenStack Dashboard

Step 1
Log in to the OpenStack Dashboard.

Step 2
Navigate to the VOLUMES section and click on Groups.

Step 3
Click on the small arrow button behind the volume group you want to remove the volumes from and click on MANAGE VOLUMES.

Note: If you want to remove all volumes from a volume group you can also chose to click on REMOVE VOLUMES FROM GROUP instead of MANAGE VOLUMES. In the pop-up menu that opens click on SUBMIT to remove all volumes from the volume group. This is not required but its faster then manually removing all volumes from the group.

Step 4
Click on the - button next to the volumes you want to remove.

Step 5
Click on the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the pop-up window. your volumes will now be removed to the volume group.

Remove volumes from a group using the OpenStack CLI

At the time of writing this article 03-2024 the OpenStack CLI does not support removing volumes from a volume group. We recommend using the OpenStack Dashboard to remove volumes from a volume group or using the Cinder CLI client to remove volumes from a volume group.

Deleting a volume group

Deleting a volume group is a simple process and can be done using the OpenStack Dashboard or the OpenStack CLI. In this article we will go through both methods.

Delete a volume group using the OpenStack Dashboard

Step 1
Log in to the OpenStack Dashboard.

Step 2
Navigate to the VOLUMES section and click on Groups.

Step 3
Click on the small arrow button behind the volume group you want to add volumes to and click on DELETE GROUP.

Note: If the DELETE GROUP button is not available you might have Group Snapshots for the volume group. You will need to delete all group snapshots before this option will reappear.

Step 4
In the pop-up window that opens select the Delete Volumes checkbox but only if you want to delete all volumes which are part of the volume group you are trying to delete.

Step 5
Click on the DELETE GROUP button at the bottom of the pop-up window. Your volume group will now be deleted.

Delete a volume group using the OpenStack CLI

Step 1
First make sure you have setup the OpenStack CLI and that you are able to execute commands using the openstack command. For more information please refer to the Using the OpenStack CLI article.

Step 2
List all volume groups to get the ID of the volume group you want to delete.

openstack volume group list --os-volume-api-version 3.51

Step 3

Note: Before deleting your volume group make sure you do not have any volumes in the group and all group snapshots have been removed.

Now we will delete the volume group, make sure to replace the <group-id> with the ID of the volume group you want to remove.

openstack volume group delete <group-id> --os-volume-api-version 3.51

Note: If you still have volumes attached and want to delete them as well you can add the --force argument to the command. This will delete all volumes attached to the volume group together with the Volume Group.

Your volume group will now be deleted.

Creating a volume group snapshot

Creating a snapshot for a volume group is a simple process and can be done using the OpenStack Dashboard or the OpenStack CLI. In this article we will go through both methods.

Create a volume group snapshot using the OpenStack Dashboard

Step 1 Log in to the OpenStack Dashboard.

Step 2 Navigate to the VOLUMES section and click on Groups.

Step 3 Click on the CREATE SNAPSHOT button behind the volume group you want to create a snapshot for.

The snapshots will now be created. This process can take a while depending on the size of the volumes in the volume group.

Create a volume group snapshot using the OpenStack CLI

Step 1 First make sure you have setup the OpenStack CLI and that you are able to execute commands using the openstack command. For more information please refer to the Using the OpenStack CLI article.

Step 2 First we will list all volume groups to get the ID of the volume group you want to create a snapshot for.

openstack volume group list --os-volume-api-version 3.51

Step 3 We will now proceed to create the volume group snapshot, make sure to replace the <group-id> with the ID of the volume group you want to create a snapshot and <name> with the name you want to give the snapshot.

openstack volume group snapshot create --os-volume-api-version 3.51 <group-id> --name <name>

Restoring a volume group snapshot

Sadly at the time of writing this article 03-2024 the OpenStack does not provide a way to restore a volume group snapshot. The snapshots are only restorable individually. We recommend using the OpenStack Dashboard to restore a volume group snapshot or using the OpenStack CLI to restore the snapshots individually.

You can find the OpenStack Snapshot in the OpenStack Dashboard by going to the VOLUMES section and then clicking on Snapshots.