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Omkar Sharma
Omkar Sharma

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Mounting and Making EBS Volume Persistent on EC2: Step-by-Step Guide

#ebs #aws #linux #cloudcomputing

🔧 Step 1: Create an EBS Volume

  1. Go to the EC2 Dashboard in AWS Console.
  2. In the left panel, click Elastic Block Store > Volumes.
  3. Click Create Volume.
  4. Fill in:
    • Size (e.g., 10 GiB)
    • Availability Zone (Must match your EC2 instance)
    • Leave other options default
  5. Click Create Volume.

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🔗 Step 2: Attach Volume to EC2 Instance

  1. Select the newly created volume.
  2. Click Actions > Attach Volume.
  3. Choose your instance and device name (e.g., /dev/xvdf).
  4. Click Attach.

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The volume status changes from Available ➝ In-use.

🧪 Step 3: Verify the Volume is Attached 

lsblk
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Output will show /dev/xvdf (or similar) listed without a mountpoint.

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🧱 Step 4: Format the Volume with ext4 

sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/xvdf
or
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/xvdf
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❓ Why Do We Format the Volume?

When you create a new EBS volume, it's like a brand-new hard drive — it has no filesystem. Formatting it is essential because:

  • It defines how data is stored and organized.
  • It prepares the volume to store files and directories.
  • It enables the system to mount and use the volume.

⚠️ Without formatting, the volume cannot be used to store any data.

📂 Step 5: Create a Mount Directory 

sudo su : to swtich to super user
cd / : to go to home directory
mkdir /your-dir-name : to create new directory
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Learn Linux commands from scratch

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📌 Step 6: Mount the Volume 

mount /dev/xvdf /test
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Verify the mount:

df -h
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🔁 Step 7: Make the Mount Persistent (After Reboot)

To make the mount persistent, add an entry to /etc/fstab.

  1. First, get the UUID: 
blkid
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  1. Open the fstab file: 
vi /etc/fstab
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Note:
press "i" to insert mode
press "esc" to return 
press ":wq!" to write and exit
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🔄 Step 8: Reboot and Verify 

reboot
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After reboot, connect again and run:

df -h
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You should see /test mounted. ✅

🧹 Optional: Test Persistence

You can unmount and remount to test:

umount /test
mount -a
df -h
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