Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Volume Groups

The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Block Volume service provides you with the capability to group together multiple volumes in a volume group. A volume group can include both types of volumes, boot volumes, which are the system disks for your compute instances, and block volumes for your data storage. You can use volume groups to create volume group backups and clones that are point-in-time and crash-consistent.

This simplifies the process to create time-consistent backups of running enterprise applications that span multiple storage volumes across multiple instances. You can then restore an entire group of volumes from a volume group backup.

Similarly, you can also clone an entire volume group in a time-consistent and crash-consistent manner. A deep disk-to-disk and fully isolated clone of a volume group, with all the volumes associated in it, becomes available for use within a matter of seconds. This speeds up the process of creating new environments for development, quality assurance, user acceptance testing, and troubleshooting.

For more information about Block Volume-backed system disks, see Boot Volumes. For more information about Block Volume backups see Overview of Block Volume Backups. See Cloning a Block Volume for more information about Block Volume clones.

This capability is available using the Console, command line interface (CLI), SDKs, or REST APIs.

Volume groups and volume group backups are high-level constructs that allow you to group together multiple volumes. When working with volume groups and volume group backups, keep the following in mind:

  • You can only add a volume to a volume group when the volume status is available.

  • You can add up to 32 volumes in a volume group, up to a maximum size limit of 128 TB. For example, if you wanted to add 32 volumes of equal size to a volume group, the maximum size for each volume would be 4 TB. Or you could add volumes that vary in size, however the overall combined size of all the block and boot volumes in the volume group must be 128 TB or less. Make sure you account for the size of any boot volumes in your volume group when considering volume group size limits.

  • Each volume may only be in one volume group.

  • When you clone a volume group, a new group with new volumes are created. For example, if you clone a volume group containing three volumes, once this operation is complete, you will now have two separate volume groups and six different volumes with nothing shared between the volume groups.

  • When you update a volume group using the CLI, SDKs, or REST APIs you need to specify all the volumes to include in the volume group each time you use the update operation. If you do not include a volume ID in the update call, that volume will be removed from the volume group.

  • When you delete a volume group the individual volumes in the group are not deleted, only the volume group is deleted.

  • When you delete a volume that is part of a volume group you must first remove it from the volume group before you can delete it.

  • When you delete a volume group backup, all the volume backups in the volume group backup are deleted.

Required IAM Policy

To use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, you must be granted security access in a policy  by an administrator. This access is required whether you're using the Console or the REST API with an SDK, CLI, or other tool. If you get a message that you don’t have permission or are unauthorized, verify with your administrator what type of access you have and which compartment  to work in.

For administrators: The policy in Let volume admins manage block volumes, backups, and volume groups lets the specified group do everything with block volumes, backups, and volume groups.

See the following policy examples for working with volume groups:

Tip

When users create a backup from a volume or restore a volume from a backup, the volume and backup don't have to be in the same compartment . However, users must have access to both compartments.
If you're new to policies, see Getting Started with Policies and Common Policies. For reference material about writing policies for instances, cloud networks, or other Core Services API resources, see Details for the Core Services.

Tagging Resources

You can apply tags to your resources to help you organize them according to your business needs. You can update the resource later with the desired tags. For general information about applying tags, see Resource Tags.

Managing Volume Groups

This section covers how to perform tasks related to managing your volume groups using the Console, command line interface (CLI), and REST APIs.

Using the Console

To create a volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. Click Create Volume Group.
  3. Fill in the required volume information on the page:
    • Name: A user-friendly name or description. Avoid entering confidential information.
    • Compartment: The compartment for the volume group.
    • Availability Domain: The availability domain for the volume group.
    • Tags: If you have permissions to create a resource, then you also have permissions to apply free-form tags to that resource. To apply a defined tag, you must have permissions to use the tag namespace. For more information about tagging, see Resource Tags. If you're not sure whether to apply tags, skip this option or ask an administrator. You can apply tags later.

    Click Next to go to the next page.

  4. On the Volumes page for each volume you want to add, select the compartment containing the volume and then the volume to add. Click + Volume to add more volumes. After you've added all the volumes you want to include when creating the volume group, click Next.
  5. On the Cross Region Replication page, you can optionally enable asynchronous cross region replication for the volume group. If any of the volumes you add to the group are configured for replication, the destination region configured for them must match the destination region you configure for the volume group, see Limitations and Considerations. Click Next.
  6. On the Backup Policies page, you can optionally configure schedule backups for the volume group by selecting a backup policy to use for scheduled backups. For more information, see Policy-Based Volume Group Backups. Click Next.
  7. On the Summary page, review the information and if it looks correct click Create to create the volume group.
To view the volumes in a volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click the volume group you want to view the volumes for.
  3. To view the block volumes for the volume group, in Resources, click Block Volumes.
  4. To view the boot volumes for the volume group, in Resources, click Boot Volumes.
To add block volumes to an existing volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click the volume group you want to add the volume to.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. On the Basic Information page, click Next.

  5. On the Add or Remove Volumes page, click + Volume for each block volume you want to add. Select the compartment containing the volume, and then select the volume to add.

    Note

    You cannot add a volume with an existing backup policy assignment to a volume group with a backup policy assignment. Remove the backup policy assignment from the volume before you add it to the volume group.
    Note

    If any of the volumes you add to the group are configured for replication, the destination region configured for them must match the destination region you configure for the volume group, see Limitations and Considerations.

  6. After you have selected all the block volumes to add to the volume group, click Next for each page until you reach the Summary page.

  7. On the Summary page, click Save Changes to add the volumes to the volume group.
To remove block volumes from an existing volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click the volume group you want to remove the volume from.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. On the Basic Information page, click Next.

  5. On the Add or Remove Volumes page, click X for each block volume you want to remove.

  6. After you have selected all the block volumes to remove from the volume group, click Next for each page until you reach the Summary page.

  7. On the Summary page, click Save Changes to remove the volumes to the volume group.
Note

When you remove the last volume in a volume group, the volume group is terminated.
To add boot volumes to an existing volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click the volume group you want to add the volume to.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. On the Basic Information page, click Next.

  5. On the Add or Remove Volumes page, click + Volume for each boot volume you want to add. Select the compartment containing the boot volume, and then select the boot volume to add.

    Note

    You cannot add a boot volume with an existing backup policy assignment to a volume group with a backup policy assignment. Remove the backup policy assignment from the boot volume before you add it to the volume group.
    Note

    If any of the boot volumes you add to the group are configured for replication, the destination region configured for them must match the destination region you configure for the volume group, see Limitations and Considerations.

  6. After you have selected all the boot volumes to add to the volume group, click Next for each page until you reach the Summary page.

  7. On the Summary page, click Save Changes to add the boot volumes to the volume group.
To remove boot volumes from an existing volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click the volume group you want to remove the boot volume from.

  3. Click Edit.

  4. On the Basic Information page, click Next.

  5. On the Add or Remove Volumes page, click X for each boot volume you want to remove.

  6. After you have selected all the boot volumes to remove from the volume group, click Next for each page until you reach the Summary page.

  7. On the Summary page, click Save Changes to remove the boot volumes to the volume group.
To create a clone of the volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click Create Volume Group Clone in the Actions menu for the volume group you want to clone.
To delete the volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click the volume group you want to delete.
  3. On the Volume Group Details page, click Terminate.
  4. On the Terminate Volume Group dialog, click Terminate.
Note

When you delete a volume group the individual volumes in the group are not deleted, only the volume group is deleted.

Using the CLI

For information about using the CLI, see Command Line Interface (CLI).

To retrieve information about the supported operations

Open a command prompt and run the one of the following commands to retrieve the information.

  • To retrieve the supported operations for volume groups:

    oci bv volume-group --help

  • To retrieve the supported operations for volume group backups:

    oci bv volume-group-backup --help

  • To retrieve help for a specific volume group operation:

    oci bv volume-group <operation_name> --help

  • To retrieve help for a specific volume group backup operation:

    oci bv volume-group-backup <operation_name> --help
To list the volume groups in a specified compartment

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group list --compartment-id <compartment_ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-group list --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..<unique_ID>
To create a volume group from existing volumes

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group create --compartment-id <compartment_ID> --availability-domain <external_AD> --source-details <Source_details_JSON>

Volume status must be available to add it to a volume group.

For example:

oci bv volume-group create --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..<unique_ID> --availability-domain ABbv:PHX-AD-1 --source-details '{"type": "volumeIds", "volumeIds":["ocid1.volume.oc1.phx.<unique_ID_1>", "ocid1.volume.oc1.phx.<unique_ID_2>"]}'
To clone a volume group from another volume group

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group create --compartment-id <compartment_ID> --availability-domain <external_AD> --source-details <Source_details_JSON>

For example:

oci bv volume-group create --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..<unique_ID> --availability-domain ABbv:PHX-AD-1 --source-details '{"type": "volumeGroupId", "volumeGroupId": "ocid1.volumegroup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID>"}'
To retrieve a volume group

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group get --volume-group-id <volume-group-ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-group get --volume-group-id ocid1.volumegroup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID>
To update display name or add/remove volumes from a volume group

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group update --volume-group-id <volume-group_ID> --volume-ids <volume_ID_JSON>

You can update the volume group display name along with adding or removing volumes from the volume group. The volume group is updated to include only the volumes specified in the update operation. This means that you need to specify the volume IDs for all of the volumes in the volume group each time you update the volume group.

The following example changes the volume group's display name for a volume group with two volumes:

oci bv volume-group update --volume-group-id ocid1.volumegroup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID> --volume-ids '["ocid1.volume.oc1.phx.<unique_ID_1>","ocid1.volume.oc1.phx.<unique_ID_2>"]' --display-name "new display name"

If you specify volumes in the command that are not part of the volume group they are added to the group. Any volumes not specified in the command are removed from the volume group.

To delete a volume group

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group delete --volume-group-id <volume-group_ID>

When you delete a volume group, the individual volumes in the group are not deleted, only the volume group is deleted.

For example:

oci bv volume-group delete --volume-group-id ocid1.volumegroup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID>

Volume Group Replication

The Block Volume service provides you with the capability to perform ongoing automatic asynchronous replication of volume groups to other regions. This feature supports the following scenarios without requiring volume group backups:

  • Disaster recovery
  • Migration
  • Business expansion

For more information, see Replicating a Volume. For specific details about volume groups, including step-by-step procedures using the Console and CLI, see Volume Group Replication.

Volume Group Backups

A volume group backup provides coordinated point-in-time-consistent backups of all the volumes in a volume group automatically. You can perform most of the same backup operations and tasks with volume groups that you can perform with individual block volumes and boot volumes. You can restore a volume group backup to a volume group, or you can restore individual volumes in the volume group from volume backups. With volume group backups, you can manage the backup settings for several volumes in one place, consistently. This simplifies the process to create time-consistent backups of running enterprise applications that span multiple storage volumes across multiple instances.

For a general overview of the Block Volume's service backup functionality, see Overview of Block Volume Backups.

Source Region

Volume group backups include a Source Region field. This specifies the region for the volume group that the backup was created from. For volume group backups copied from another region, this field will show the region the volume group backup was copied from.

Manual Volume Group Backups

Manual backups are on-demand one-off backups that you can launch immediately for volume groups by following the steps outlined in the procedures in this section. For general information about the manual backups feature for the Block Volume service, see Manual Backups.

Using the Console

To create a backup of the volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. In the Volume Groups list, click Create Volume Group Backup in the Actions menu for the volume group you want to create a backup for.
To restore a volume group from a volume group backup
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Group Backups.
  2. In the Volume Group Backups list, click the volume group backup you want to restore.
  3. Click Create Volume Group.
  4. Fill in the required volume information:
    • Name: A user-friendly name or description. Avoid entering confidential information.
    • Compartment: The compartment for the volume group.
    • Availability Domain: The availability domain for the volume group.
  5. Click Create Volume Group.
To copy a volume group backup to a new region

For more information about copying volume backups and volume group backups to new regions, see Copying a Volume Backup Between Regions. Before you can copy a volume group backup to a new region, ensure that you have configured the requred permissions, see Required IAM Policy.

  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Group Backups.
  2. In the Volume Group Backups list, click the volume group backup you want to copy to a new region.
  3. Click Copy to Another Region.
  4. Enter a name for the backup and choose the region to copy the backup to. Avoid entering confidential information.
  5. In the Encryption section select whether you want the volume group backup to use the Oracle-provided encryption key or your own Vault encryption key. If you select the option to use your own key, paste the OCID for encryption key from the destination region.
  6. Click Copy Block Volume Backup.
  7. Confirm that the source and destination region details are correct in the confirmation dialog and then click OK.

Using the CLI

For information about using the CLI, see Command Line Interface (CLI).

To list volume backup groups

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group-backup list --compartment-id <compartment_ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-group-backup list --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..<unique_ID>
To create a volume group backup

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group-backup create --volume-group-id <volume-group_ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-group-backup create --volume-group-id ocid1.volumegroup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID>
To retrieve a volume group backup

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group-backup get --volume-group-backup-id <volume-group-backup_ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-group-backup get --volume-group-backup-id ocid1.volumegroupbackup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID>
To update display name for a volume group backup

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group-backup update --volume-group-backup-id <volume-group-backup_ID> --display-name <new_display_name>

You can only update the display name for the volume group backup.

For example:

oci bv volume-group-backup update --volume-group-backup-id ocid1.volumegroupbackup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID> --display-name "new display name"
To restore a volume group from a volume group backup

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group create --compartment-id <compartment_ID> --availability-domain <external_AD> --source-details <Source_details_JSON>

For example:

oci bv volume-group create --compartment-id ocid1.compartment.oc1..<unique_ID> --availability-domain ABbv:PHX-AD-1 --source-details '{"type": "volumeGroupBackupId", "volumeGroupBackupId": "ocid1.volumegroup.oc1.sea.<unique_ID>"}'
To delete a volume group backup

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-group-backup delete --volume-group-backup-id <volume-group-backup_ID>

When you delete a volume group backup, all volume backups in the group are deleted.

For example:

oci bv volume-group-backup delete --volume-group-backup-id ocid1.volumegroupbackup.oc1.phx.<unique_ID>

Policy-Based Volume Group Backups

These are automated scheduled backups as defined by the backup policy assigned to the volume group. Policy-based backups for volume groups are essentially the same as policy-based backups for block volumes, the main difference is that the backup policy is applied to all the volumes in the volume group instead of a single volume. For general information about policy-based backups, see Policy-Based Backups. The process to create and configure user defined backup policies are the same for volume groups as they are for volumes, see Creating and Configuring User Defined Backup Policies for these procedures.

Note

Oracle defined backup policies are not supported for scheduled volume group backups.
Caution

Vault encryption keys for volumes are not copied to the destination region for scheduled volume and volume group backups enabled for cross region copy. For more information, see Vault encryption keys not copied to destination region for scheduled cross region backup copies.

Managing Backup Policy Assignments to Volume Groups

The backup policy assigned to a volume group defines the frequency and schedule for volume group backups. This section covers how to perform tasks related to managing the backup policy assignments for your volume groups using the Console, command line interface (CLI), and REST APIs.

If a volume group has an assigned backup policy, you must remove any backup policy assignments from volumes before you can add them to the volume group.

Before you can assign a backup policy to an existing volume group containing one or more volumes with assigned backup policies, you must remove those policy assignments from the invidual volumes before you can assign the policy to the volume group.

Using the Console
To assign a backup policy to a volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. Click the volume group for which you want to assign a backup policy to.
  3. On the Volume Group Details page click Edit .

  4. In the BACKUP POLICIES section, select the compartment containing the backup policies.

  5. Select the appropriate backup policy for your requirements.

  6. Click Save Changes.

To change a backup policy assigned to a volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. Click the volume group for which you want to change the backup policy for.
  3. On the Volume Group Details page click Edit.

  4. In the BACKUP POLICIES section, select the compartment containing the backup policy.

  5. Select the backup policy you want to switch to.

  6. Click Save Changes.

To remove a backup policy assigned to a volume group
  1. Open the navigation menu and click Storage. Under Block Storage, click Volume Groups.
  2. Click the volume group for which you want to remove the backup policy for.
  3. On the Volume Group Details page click Edit .

  4. In the BACKUP POLICIES section, select None from the list, and then click Save Changes.

Using the CLI

For information about using the CLI, see Command Line Interface (CLI).

To assign a backup policy to a volume group

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-backup-policy-assignment create --asset-id <volume_group_ID> --policy-id <policy_ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-backup-policy-assignment create --asset-id ocid1.volumegroup.oc1..<unique_ID> --policy-id ocid1.volumebackuppolicy.oc1..<unique_ID>
To get the backup policy assigned to a volume group

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-backup-policy-assignment get-volume-backup-policy-asset-assignment --asset-id <volume_group_ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-backup-policy-assignment get-volume-backup-policy-asset-assignment --asset-id ocid1.volumegroup.oc1..<unique_ID>
To retrieve a specific backup policy assignment

Open a command prompt and run:

oci bv volume-backup-policy-assignment get --policy-assignment-id  <backup-policy-ID>

For example:

oci bv volume-backup-policy-assignment get --policy-assignment-id ocid1.volumebackuppolicyassignment.oc1.phx.<unique_ID>