# Volume management (/docs/cloud-servers/volume-management)



Volumes are persistent block storage devices that can be created, attached, and detached independently of cloud servers. This page explains how to manage volumes through the Customer Portal.

## How to create a volume

1. Log in to the [Customer Portal](https://portal.servers.com/)
2. In the left-hand menu, navigate to **Cloud Servers** → **Volumes** and select the cloud region
3. Choose a preset volume size or choose the **Custom size**
4. Select the cloud server to attach the volume to, or choose **Do not attach** if you want to attach it later
5. Enter the volume name and click **Create volume**

The volume will be created.

### How to mount a volume

1. Before mounting a volume, create a mount point:

```bash
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/mount_point_name
```

2. Before you can use a new volume you need to build a Linux file system on it:

```bash
sudo mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/vdb
```

3. Mount the volume:

```bash
sudo mount -o discard,defaults /dev/vdb /mnt/mount_point_name
```

### Keeping mount point through reboots

You need to add a record into the "fstab" config if you want OS to mount a volume automatically after boot:

```bash
echo '/dev/vdb /mnt/mount_point_name ext4 defaults,nofail,discard 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
```

## How to attach a volume to a cloud server

Option 1: attach from the volumes page

1. In the left-hand menu, navigate to **Cloud Servers** → **Volumes**
2. Select the created volume and click **Attach**
3. From the dropdown menu, select the cloud server and click **Apply**

Option 2: attach from the server details page

1. In the left-hand menu, navigate to **Cloud Servers** → **Instances** and select the server
2. On the server details page, click **Attach volume**
3. Select the created volume from the list and click **Attach**

The volume will be attached to the cloud server.
In the **Attached volume** row, you will see the path where the volume is mounted on the server.
On Linux, the volume is mounted as a block storage device with the device name, e.g., `/dev/vdb`.
On Windows, the volume will be assigned a drive letter, such as `D:` or `E:`.

## How to detach a volume from a cloud server

1. In the left-hand menu, navigate to **Cloud Servers** → **Instances** and select the cloud server
2. On the server details page, scroll to the **Attached volume** row and click **Detach** next to the volume you want to detach
3. In the confirmation window, click **Detach** and confirm the action by entering your account password

The volume will be detached.