DEV Community: olatunji olamide

“Step-by-Step Guide: Attaching and Mounting an EBS Volume on Ubuntu EC2”

olatunji olamide — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 23:27:52 +0000

Cloud computing has changed how we manage storage and servers, making it easier to scale resources without worrying about physical hardware. One of the key components of Amazon Web Services (AWS) is Elastic Block Store (EBS), which provides reliable and persistent block storage for EC2 instances.

Think of EBS as an external hard drive for your cloud server—you can attach it, format it, mount it, and start using it to store data, databases, logs, or application files. Unlike the temporary root storage that comes with an EC2 instance, an EBS volume remains intact even if the instance is stopped or restarted.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly how I attached and mounted an EBS volume to my Ubuntu EC2 instance, sharing the steps, commands, and best practices I used. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap to setting up persistent storage on AWS.

1. Prerequisites
Before diving in, list what’s needed:

An AWS account

An active EC2 instance running Ubuntu

Basic knowledge of the AWS Management Console or CLI
SSH access to your EC2 inv2. Step 1: Create an EBS Volume

2. Step 1: Create an EBS Volume
Explain how to create a new EBS volume from the AWS console:

Go to EC2 Dashboard → Elastic Block Store → Volumes
Click Create Volume -Sieze:5gb, availability zone:must match your EC2 zone
Click Create

3.Step 2: Attach the Volume to Your EC2 Instance

Select the volume you just created
Click Actions → Attach Volume
Choose your EC2 instance from the list
Note the device name (e.g., /dev/xvdf)

From here, the next steps would be:
Step 1: Log in to Your EC2 Instance

First, connect to your EC2 instance using SSH from your local computer:
ssh -i your-key.pem ubuntu@your-ec2-public-ip
your-key.pem = your private key file
your-ec2-public-ip = the public IP of your EC2 server

👉 This puts you inside your Ubuntu server, where you’ll run the next commands.

Step 2: Confirm the New EBS Volume is Attached
After creating and attaching the volume in the AWS console, check if the system sees it:
lsblk

Here:

xvda1 = root volume (where Ubuntu is installed)

xvdbb = the new EBS volume you just attached (unformatted, empty)

Step 3: Format the New Volume
sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/nvme1n1

Step 4: Create a Mount Point
sudo mkdir /data

*Step 5: mount it *
sudo mount /dev/nvme1n1/data

**
Create a new file,like writting something into it**
bash
echo "Hello from EBS!" | sudo tee /data/hello.txt

*Verify the file was created *
bash
cat /data/hello.txt

Stop and Start the EC2

Go back to EC2 console→stop the instance

Wait→start it again

SSH back in

check your data:
bash
copy Edit
sudo mount /dev/nvme1n1 /data
cat /data/hello.txt

Data is still there.because EBS is persistent
to know the number of gb used
df -h

📝 Conclusion

In this guide, we walked through the full process of adding and configuring an EBS volume on an Ubuntu EC2 instance. You learned how to:

Create and attach a new EBS volume from the AWS Management Console
Verify that the volume is visible inside your EC2 instance
Format and mount it to a directory for use

By following these steps, you’ve expanded your instance’s storage and ensured that it’s properly configured for long-term use.

💡 Pro Tip: Regularly back up your data with EBS snapshots, and remember that volumes can be resized or moved across instances if your needs grow.

Beginner’s Journey: Hosting My First Website on AWS EC2

olatunji olamide — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 21:46:38 +0000

My First EC2 Project

 Hosting a Website on AWS as a Beginner Cloud computing has always fascinated me, but I never took the leap—until now.

Recently, I decided to dive into Amazon Web Services (AWS) and try hosting my first live website using EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud). In this post, I’ll share how I did it, what I learned, and tips for anyone starting their AWS journey.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the most popular cloud platforms in the world. It offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive computing services — and with AWS EC2, you can host your own website like a pro.

In this article, I’ll Walk you step-by-step through hosting a website on AWS, from setting up your account to accessing your site live on the internet.

What You’ll Learn
By the end of this tutorial, you’ll know how to:

Create and configure an AWS EC2 instance
Install a web server (Apache or Nginx)
Upload and serve your website files
Secure and manage your instance

** Steps I Followed**
1️⃣ Creating an AWS Account
I started by signing up for an AWS Free Tier account. This gave me enough credits to run my instance without worrying about costs.
https://aws.amazon.com/console

Go to AWS Free Tier and click Create a Free Account.
Follow the signup process (you’ll need a valid email and payment method).
Once done, log into the AWS Management Console.

Step-by-Step – Launching a Linux EC2 Instance
1.Log in to your AWS Management Console.
2.In the search bar at the top, type EC2.
3.Click on EC2 to go to the EC2 dashboard.

Step 2: Launch a New EC2 Instance

Click on the Launch Instance button.

Name your instance: You can name it something like student-webserver.

Choose an AMI (Amazon Machine Image): a. Select Amazon Linux 2023 or Amazon Linux 2. These are free and beginner-friendly.
Choose an Instance Type: a. Select t2.micro. This is eligible for the AWS free tier.

5.Proceed to the next step

Step 3: Create a Key Pair (Very Important)
This key pair will help you securely connect to your EC2 instance.

Under Key pair (login), click Create new key pair.
Key pair name: Type my-ec2-key
Key pair type: RSA
Private key file format: Select .pem
Click Create key pair
Your browser will automatically download a file named my-ec2-key.pem. Save it in your Downloads folder. Important: Never lose this file. You cannot connect to your instance without it.

Step 4: Configure Security Group (Firewall Settings)
A security group acts like a firewall that controls who can access your instance.

Create a new security group.
Add these inbound rules: Type Port Source Purpose SSH 22 0.0.0.0/0 To connect to your server HTTP 80 0.0.0.0/0 To view your website in browser Step 5: Configure Storage • Leave the default 8 GB SSD storage. • This is enough for our basic project.

Step 6: Launch the Instance
• Click Launch Instance

• Wait for the instance to enter the Running state (this takes a few seconds)

Part 3: Connect to EC2 Using SSH via Git Bash
To manage your server, you’ll need to log in to it from your computer using SSH.
What You Need:
• The .pem key file you downloaded earlier
• Your EC2 Public IPv4 address

o Go to EC2 > Instances

o Look under the Public IPv4 address column

Steps:

Install Git Bash (if you don’t already have it): https://git-scm.com/downloads
Open Git Bash on your computer.
Navigate to your Downloads folder (where your .pem file is located):
bash
CopyEdit
cd Downloads

Make the key file secure (this is required):
bash
CopyEdit
chmod 400 ~/Downloads/my-ec2-key.pem
Connect to your EC2 instance using SSH:
bash
CopyEdit
ssh -i ~/Downloads/my-ec2-keypair.pem ec2-user@

Replace with your actual IP address (example: 18.120.23.45).
If prompted with a yes/no question, type yes and press Enter.

Part 4: Install Apache Web Server on EC2
Now that you're inside your Linux EC2 instance, follow these steps to install and start the Apache web server.

Update all packages: bash CopyEdit sudo yum update -y

Install Apache:

sudo yum install -y httpd

Start Apache: sudo systemctl start httpd

Enable Apache to start automatically on reboot:

sudo systemctl enable httpd

View Your Server in a Browser: • Open your browser • Visit: http:// • You should see the Apache test page

Part 5: Create Your Own Web Page
Let’s change the default Apache test page to your own custom message.

Create a simple HTML page:
bash
CopyEdit
echo "

Hello from EC2!
" | sudo tee /var/www/html/index.html
Check your browser:
• Refresh http://
• You should now see "Hello from EC2!" displayed

Hosting a website on AWS EC2 can seem intimidating at first, but once you go through it step-by-step, it’s a powerful skill to have.

DEV Community: olatunji olamide

“Step-by-Step Guide: Attaching and Mounting an EBS Volume on Ubuntu EC2”

Beginner’s Journey: Hosting My First Website on AWS EC2

Hello from EC2!