How to Automatically Mount an EBS Volume Upon Starting an Amazon EC2 Linux Instance?

Introduction

In the Amazon Web Services (AWS) ecosystem, Elastic Block Store (EBS) provides persistent block-level storage for use with EC2 instances. One common task many DevOps professionals find themselves doing is automatically mounting an EBS volume when an EC2 Linux instance starts. In this blog post, we will explore how this is done, with a clear step-by-step guide, making the process easy even for those new to AWS.

Concepts Used

Amazon EC2

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service that offers scalable computing resources. It enables users to run virtual servers, known as instances, on-demand.

Amazon EBS

Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) offers persistent storage for EC2 instances, behaving like a physical hard drive. It can be attached to or detached from instances and can be mounted as file systems.

Step-by-Step Guide: Automatically Mounting an EBS Volume

Step 1: Create an EBS Volume

Navigate to the EBS dashboard in the AWS Management Console and create a new volume with your desired size and type.

Step 2: Attach the EBS Volume to EC2 Instance

Attach the newly created EBS volume to your EC2 instance by selecting the volume and clicking the “Attach Volume” option.

Step 3: Connect to Your EC2 Instance

Use SSH to connect to your EC2 instance.

ssh -i "your-key.pem" ec2-user@your-ec2-instance-address

1	ssh -i "your-key.pem" ec2-user@your-ec2-instance-address

Step 4: Identify the EBS Volume

Find the device name for the EBS volume:

lsblk

lsblk

Step 5: Format the EBS Volume (If Necessary)

If it’s a new volume, you may need to format it:

sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/xvdf

1	sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/xvdf

Step 6: Create a Mount Directory

Create a directory where you’ll mount the EBS volume:

sudo mkdir /my-volume

1	sudo mkdir /my-volume

Step 7: Mount the EBS Volume Temporarily

Mount the EBS volume to the directory:

sudo mount /dev/xvdf /my-volume

1	sudo mount /dev/xvdf /my-volume

Step 8: Automate the Mounting at Boot

Edit the /etc/fstab file to ensure that the volume is mounted every time the instance starts:

echo '/dev/xvdf /my-volume ext4 defaults,nofail 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

1	echo '/dev/xvdf /my-volume ext4 defaults,nofail 0 0' \| sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Conclusion

Automatically mounting an EBS volume when an EC2 Linux instance starts is an essential task that can be accomplished through several well-defined steps. By following the guide above, you ensure that the EBS volume is available to your applications as soon as the instance is started. It not only simplifies the management of storage within your EC2 environment but also optimizes the utilization of EBS volumes according to your specific needs.