Configure Block Storage

This topic describes how to configure block storage on the Storage Controller (SC) for the backend of your choice.

Note: Storage SANs are deprecated as of Eucalyptus 4.4; to be removed in a future release.

The Storage Controller (SC) provides functionality similar to the Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS). The SC can interface with various storage systems. Eucalyptus block storage (EBS) exports storage volumes that can be attached to a VM and mounted or accessed as a raw block device. EBS volumes can persist past VM termination and are commonly used to store persistent data.

Eucalyptus provides the following open source (free) backend providers for the SC:

Overlay - using the local file system
Direct Attached Storage - DAS-JBOD (just a bunch of disks)
Ceph-RBD - leverages RADOS block device; this backend provider includes snapshot delta support

Note: EBS snapshot delta support is a Technical Preview feature. For information about Technical Preview features in Eucalyptus, see Special Status Release Features.

Eucalyptus also offers the following subscription-based (paid) storage area network (SAN) backend providers for the SC:

HP 3PAR - StorageServ storage systems
NetApp - Clustered Data ONTAP and 7-mode storage systems
Dell EqualLogic - stacked or unstacked storage arrays

You must configure the SC to use one of the backend provider options.