Block Storage

Block storage is a virtual disk volume attached to a server and formatted with a filesystem (ext4, XFS, and similar). From the application's point of view it looks like a regular disk: you can create folders, write files, and run a database.

Use cases

Attachment flow

1. Create the volume in the provider panel.
2. Attach it to the VPS (for example /dev/vdb).
3. Format the filesystem.
4. Mount it to a folder (/mnt/data).
5. Add it to /etc/fstab so it survives a reboot.

What to watch for

• One volume usually belongs to one server. Multi-attach needs a special filesystem.
• A snapshot is not an offsite backup. Keep a copy somewhere else.
• IOPS decides performance. A cheap disk can be slow for a database.
• Resizing takes two steps. Grow the volume, then grow the filesystem.
• Test restores. A snapshot that has never been restored is not proven.
• Latency differs from a local disk. For sensitive databases, measure IOPS and latency before production.

Do not look only at capacity. For a database, IOPS and latency matter more than disk size. Start with enough volume, monitor usage, and grow before it fills. If the app writes many small files, test filesystem performance before production.

Basic commands after attaching the volume:

lsblk
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/vdb
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data
sudo mount /dev/vdb /mnt/data
df -h /mnt/data

Add /dev/vdb /mnt/data ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2 to /etc/fstab so the volume stays mounted after a reboot.

FAQ