Boost EC2 Storage: Create and Attach EBS Volumes Step-by-Step

When you launch an EC2 instance, AWS automatically creates a root volume.
If your application needs more storage, you can:

• Add a volume during launch

• Or attach an EBS volume later (this lab covers that)

Step 1: Launch an EC2 Instance

1. Go to Amazon Web Services Console

2. Navigate to Amazon EC2

3. Click Launch Instance

4. Configure:

   • AMI (e.g., Ubuntu)

   • Instance type (e.g., t2.micro)

   • Key pair

5. Launch the instance

👉 A default root EBS volume is created automatically.

To add an additional volume during instance creation, select "Add New Volume" in the configuration step.

Step 2: To create an Additional EBS Volume

1. Go to EBS → Volumes

2. Click Create Volume

3. Configure:

   • Size (e.g., 10 GB)

   • Volume type (gp3 recommended)

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Select the same Availability Zone as your EC2 instance

Click Create Volume

Step 3: Attach Volume to EC2

1. Select the newly created volume

2. Click Actions → Attach Volume

3. Choose your EC2 instance

4. Click Attach

Step 4: Connect to EC2 Instance

Use SSH:

ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-public-ip

Step 5: Detect Attached Volume

List block devices:

lsblk

Shows:

• All block devices detected by OS

• Even unmounted volumes

Example volume names:

• /dev/nvme0n1 → root volume

• /dev/nvme1n1 → additional volume

Check mounted file systems:

df -Th

Shows:

• Mounted volumes only

• File system type

• Human-readable sizes

From the df -Th output, you'll notice that the new volume (e.g., /dev/nvme1n1) is not listed because it hasn't been mounted yet. Once mounted, it will appear.

Step 6: Verify File System Presence

sudo file -s /dev/nvme1n1

Output Meaning:

• data → No filesystem exists

• XFS / ext4 → Filesystem already exists

file -s /dev/nvme1n1

From this output, "data" indicates that no file system is present. To mount the volume, first create an XFS file system.

7: Create XFS File System

👉 One-time activity

sudo mkfs -t xfs /dev/nvme1n1

Verify:

sudo file -s /dev/nvme1n1

Verify the output: It displays as an XFS file system.

8: Create Mount Directory

First, create a directory that will act as the mount point for your EBS volume:

mkdir -p /home/ubuntu/production

📄 Create a Sample File

Create a test file inside the directory:

This file will help verify that data written to this directory is stored on the attached EBS volume.

touch /home/ubuntu/production/abc.logs

The /home/ubuntu/production directory will be used as the mount point for the EBS volume in Amazon EC2.

Once the volume is mounted:

• Any data written inside this directory will be stored on the Amazon Elastic Block Store volume

• This ensures data persistence, even if the EC2 instance is stopped or terminated (depending on volume settings)

👉 This is a common real-world use case of EBS for storing logs, application data, or backups.

9: Mount the Volume (Temporary)

sudo mount /dev/nvme1n1 /home/ubuntu/production

Verify:

df -Th

👉 Volume is now mounted

Step 10: Make Mount Permanent

Temporary mounts are stored in:

sudo cat /etc/mtab

Get last entry:

tail -1 /etc/mtab

Copy the last line

Edit fstab:

sudo vi /etc/fstab

Add the last line you copied above.

Step 11: Test Persistence

Reboot:

Now, even if you reboot the server, the volume should remain mounted. ✅

12: Increase the EBS volume

• You can increase EBS volume size anytime

• You cannot decrease volume size

As you can see, I can't decrease the size, but I can increase it.

Expand File System (Linux – XFS)

When you increase the size of an EBS volume in Amazon Elastic Block Store, the operating system does not automatically use the extra space.

👉 You must manually expand the filesystem to utilize the new capacity.

Step 1: Verify Current Disk Size

Check the current disk and mount details:

lsblk
df -Th

👉 You may notice:

• Disk size increased (from AWS side)

• Filesystem size still unchanged

sudo xfs_growfs -d /home/ubuntu/production

• xfs_growfs → Expands an XFS filesystem

• -d → Uses all available free space on the disk

• /home/ubuntu/production → Mount point of the volume

👉 This command resizes the filesystem without unmounting

Verify Expansion

df -Th

👉 Now you should see:

• Increased total size

• More available space

Important Notes

• ✔ Only works if filesystem type is XFS

• ✔ Volume must already be mounted

• ✔ Safe operation (no data loss)

• ❌ Cannot shrink XFS filesystem

Key Concepts Learned

• EBS works at block level storage

• Volume must be in same Availability Zone

• Mounting connects storage to filesystem

• UUID ensures stable mounting

• XFS supports online expansion

Real-World Use Case

Mounting /home/ubuntu/production ensures:

• Logs and application data are stored on EBS

• Data persists even if EC2 instance is stopped or replaced

• Ideal for production workloads

Conclusion

You now have a complete understanding of:

• Managing storage in AWS

• Attaching and mounting EBS volumes

• Ensuring persistence

• Scaling storage without downtime

👉 This is a core DevOps skill used in real production environments.