Mounting Linode storage volumes

I’m going to show you how to mount Linode’s additional storage volumes to your server.

They’re really handy for adding space to your server. Only thing is they don’t add space overall to the server, you mount them to a specific directory (mount-point) and only that directory has more space.

While the storage volume drives are fast enough to run applications, they aren’t as fast as the ones on your server. So I probably wouldn’t try to do heavy php or DB processing off the storage. I would use them only for lower priority items, like maybe backups or media (images & videos).

It’s a good option for when you need more space but don’t want to upgrade or pay for a bigger server.

First go to your storage volume page, then click [Show Config]. Follow the steps with my notes:

1. mkfs.ext4 "/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-0Linode_Volume_demo25-blockstorage" – enter this line exactly as given by YOUR CONFIG (not my demo one).
2. mkdir "/mnt/demo25-blockstorage" – you can skip this step if you’re mounting the space to an existing directory. (Which IMO is more likely to be the case.) Otherwise, create the exact directory where you want it to be mounted.
3. mount "/dev/disk/by-id/scsi-0Linode_Volume_hoon25-backupstorage" "/mnt/demo25-blockstorage" – but type exactly the path you want mounted (whether an existing one, or the one you specified above).
4. Edit your /etc/fstab file, and add this to the bottom: /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-0Linode_Volume_hoon25-backupstorage /mnt/demo25-blockstorage ext4 defaults,noatime,nofail 0 2 – but again, make sure you type exactly the path you want mounted.

That’s it! Easy peezy!