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Ordering Block Storage for Classic

Ordering Block Storage for Classic

You can provision Block Storage for Classic and fine-tune to meet your capacity and performance needs. Get the most out of your storage with two options for specifying performance.

  • You can provision with Endurance tiers that feature pre-defined performance levels to fit workloads that don't have well-defined performance requirements.

    • 0.25 IOPS per GB is designed for workloads with low I/O intensity. These workloads are typically characterized by having a large percentage of data inactive at a time. Example applications include storing mailboxes or departmental-level file shares.
    • 2 IOPS per GB is designed for most general-purpose usage. Example applications include hosting small databases that are backing web applications or virtual machine disk images for a hypervisor.
    • 4 IOPS per GB is designed for higher-intensity workloads. These workloads are typically characterized by having a high percentage of data active at a time. Example applications include transactional and other performance-sensitive databases.
    • 10 IOPS per GB is designed for the most demanding workloads such as those created by NoSQL databases, and data processing for Analytics. This tier is available in all data centers for storage that is provisioned up to 4 TB.
  • You can fine-tune your storage to meet specific performance requirements and build a high-powered Performance environment by specifying the total number of input/output operations per second (IOPS). The available custom IOPS range depends on the volume capacity. The following table shows the available IOPS ranges based on volume size.

    Table 1. Available IOPS based on volume size
    Volume size (GB) IOPS range
    10 - 39 100 - 1,000
    40 - 79 100 - 2,000
    80 - 99 100 - 4,000
    100 - 499 100 - 6,000
    500 - 999 100 - 10,000
    1,000 - 1,999 100 - 20,000
    2,000 - 2,999 200 - 40,000
    3,000 - 3,999 200 - 48,000
    4,000 - 7,999 300 - 48,000
    8,000 - 9,999 500 - 48,000
    10,000 - 12,000 1,000 - 48,000

By default, you can provision a combined total of 700 Block Storage for Classic and File Storage for Classic volumes. To increase the number of your volumes, contact your sales representative. For more information about increasing limits, see Managing Storage limits.

Ordering Block Storage for Classic in the UI

  1. Log in to the IBM Cloud catalog, and click Storage. Then, select Block Storage for Classic, and click Create.

  2. Select your deployment location (region, location, zone).

    • Ensure that the new Storage is added in the same location as the Compute host or hosts that you have.
  3. Billing. You can choose between Monthly or Hourly Billing.

    • With hourly billing, the number of hours the block LUN existed on the account is calculated at the time the LUN is deleted or at the end of the billing cycle. Which ever comes first. Hourly billing is a good choice for storage that is used for a few days or less than a full month.
    • With monthly billing, the calculation for the price is pro-rated from the date of creation to the end of the billing cycle and billed immediately. If a block LUN is deleted before the end of the billing cycle, the difference is not refunded. Monthly billing is a good choice for storage that is used in production workloads that use data that needs to be stored and accessed for long periods of time (month or longer).
  4. Enter your storage size in the Size field.

  5. Select the size of the Snapshot space from the list.

    This space is in addition to your usable space. For snapshot space considerations and recommendations, read Ordering Snapshots.

  6. Choose your OS Type from the list.

    This selection is based on the operating system that your host is running on and it cannot be modified later. For example, if your server is Ubuntu or RHEL, select Linux®. If your host is a Windows 2012 or Windows 2016 server, select the Windows 2008+ option from the list. For more information about various Windows options, see the FAQ.

  7. Select your IOPS profile. You can choose between the predefined values of Endurance (Tiers) or enter your custom IOPS value for Performance.

  8. In the side panel, review your order summary, and apply your Promo Code if you have one.

    Discounts are applied when the order is processed.

  9. Acknowledge that you reviewed the terms and conditions by checking the appropriate box.

  10. Click Create. Your new storage allocation is available in a few minutes.

Ordering Block Storage for Classic from the CLI

Before you begin, decide on the CLI client that you want to use.

Each order must have an associated location (data center). When you order Block Storage for Classic, make sure that it is provisioned in the same location as your Compute instances.

Provisioning from the IBMCLOUD CLI

Use the ibmcloud sl block volume-order command to order a new block volume. The following example provisions a new 500-GB block volume in the DAL13 data center with a tiered performance profile (4 IOPS per GB) and 500 GB snapshot space.

$ ibmcloud sl block volume-order --storage-type endurance --size 500 --tier 4 -d dal13 --snapshot-size 500 --os-type LINUX
This action will incur charges on your account. Continue?> y
OK
Order 110758744 was placed.
 > Storage as a Service
 > Block Storage
 > 500 GBs
 > 4 IOPS per GB
 > 500 GB (Snapshot Space)

You may run 'ibmcloud sl block volume-list --order 110758744' to find this block volume after it is ready.

For more information about all of the parameters that are available for this command, see ibmcloud sl block volume-order.

Provisioning from the SLCLI

Use the slcli block volume-order command to provision the block volume volume. The following example shows how to order a 10 GB Block Storage for Classic volume with 100 IOPS per GB.

$ slcli block volume-order --storage-type performance --size 20 --location dal10 --iops 100 --os-type LINUX --snapshot-size 20
Order #32076317 placed successfully!
> Storage as a Service
> Block Storage
> 20 GBs
> 100 IOPS
> 20 GB (Snapshot Space)

For more information about Window OS types, see the FAQ.

Ordering Block Storage for Classic with the API

The method order_block_volume (storage_type, location, size, os_type, iops=None, tier_level=None, snapshot_size=None, service_offering='storage_as_a_service', hourly_billing_flag=False) places an order for a block volume.

For a successful order, you must specify the following parameters:

  • storage_type – ‘performance’ or ‘endurance’
  • location – Datacenter in which to order iSCSI volume
  • size – Size of the volume, in GB
  • os_type – OS Type to use for volume alignment, see help for list
  • iops – Number of IOPS for a “Performance” order
  • tier_level – Tier level to use for an “Endurance” order
  • snapshot_size – The size of optional snapshot space, if snapshot space is also ordered (None if not ordered)
  • service_offering – Requested offering package to use in the order (‘storage_as_a_service’, ‘enterprise’, or ‘performance’)
  • hourly_billing_flag – Billing type, monthly (False) or hourly (True), default to monthly.

For more information about ordering Block Storage for Classic through the API, see BlockStorageManager.

To be able to access all the new features, order Storage-as-a-Service Package 759.

Ordering Block Storage for Classic with Terraform

To use Terraform, download the Terraform CLI and configure the IBM Cloud Provider plug-in. For more information, see Getting started with Terraform.

Provision Endurance Block Storage for Classic with Terraform

You can use the following example to create a 20 GB block storage volume with 10 GB snapshot capacity and 0.25 IOPS/GB performance tier in the DAL09 data center.

resource "ibm_storage_block" "test1" {
        type = "Endurance"
        datacenter = "dal09"
        capacity = 20
        iops = 0.25
        os_format_type = "Linux"

        # Optional fields
        allowed_virtual_guest_ids = [ 27699397 ]
        allowed_ip_addresses = ["10.40.98.193", "10.40.98.200"]
        snapshot_capacity = 10
        hourly_billing = true
}

For more information about the arguments and attributes, see ibm_storage_block.

Provision Performance Block Storage for Classic with Terraform

You can use the following example to create a 20 GB block storage volume with custom 100 IOPS performance level.

resource "ibm_storage_block" "test2" {
        type = "Performance"
        datacenter = "dal09"
        capacity = 20
        iops = 100
        os_format_type = "Linux"

        # Optional fields
        allowed_virtual_guest_ids = [ 27699397 ]
        allowed_ip_addresses = ["10.40.98.193", "10.40.98.200"]
        hourly_billing = true
}

For more information about the arguments and attributes, see ibm_storage_block.

Connecting your new storage

When your provisioning request is complete, authorize your hosts to access the new storage and configure your connection. Depending on your host's operating system, follow the appropriate link.

Disaster recovery considerations

To avoid data-loss and to ensure business continuity, consider replicating your servers and storage in another data center. Replication keeps your data in sync in two different locations based on your snapshot schedule. For more information, see Replicating data.

If you want to clone your volume and use it independently from the original volume, see Creating and managing duplicate volumes.

Identifying Block Storage for Classic on your invoice

All LUNs appear on your invoice as a line item. Endurance appears as “Endurance Storage Service” and Performance appears as "Performance Storage Service" The rate varies based on your storage level. You can expand on Endurance or Performance to see that it's Block Storage for Classic.