How to create and attach Elastic Block Storage (EBS) Volume to a Windows Server

Learn how to create, attach, and configure Cherry Servers' Elastic Block Storage on a Windows Server instance using the Client Portal and PowerShell.

Key points to consider

• Elastic Block Storage volumes are triplicated across nodes to ensure high availability and automatic real-time self-healing.

• Volumes can be created, deleted, and attached through the Cherry Servers Client Portal.

• Each volume supports up to 5 TB in size and delivers up to 500 IOPS.

• Windows configuration is done via a PowerShell script that prepares the iSCSI initiator and connects the volume.

• A system reboot is required after the script installs necessary roles and features.

• After reboot and re-running the script, the new volume will appear in Disk Management.

• Final configuration involves:

  • Bringing the disk Online;

  • Selecting a partition style (MBR for volumes < 2TB, GPT for > 2TB);

  • Creating and formatting a new simple volume (typically NTFS)

• The volume will then show up in This PC as a usable local drive.

Introduction

Elastic Block Storage (EBS) is a high-availability, software-defined block storage solution designed for persistent data workloads. It is ideal for cloud-native applications, private or public cloud environments, and Kubernetes clusters.

Each EBS volume is built on a shared nothing architecture that distributes data blocks across multiple physical nodes. Every block is triplicated for durability and fault tolerance, enabling real-time self-healing and protection against silent data corruption or misplaced writes.  

Volumes are managed through the Cherry Servers Client Portal and can be dynamically attached to any dedicated server within the same region. Once attached, Windows users can configure the volume using an automated PowerShell script that sets up iSCSI connectivity. After initialization in Disk Management, the volume becomes available as a local disk.

Note: EBS is currently available only in the LT-Siauliai region and is supported exclusively on dedicated servers.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Create a new Elastic Block Storage Volume

To begin using Elastic Block Storage on your Windows server, you must first create a New Volume from the Cherry Servers Client Portal. This volume will later be attached to your server and mounted within the Windows environment.

1. Log in to your Cherry Servers Client Portal using your account credentials (see Fig. 1).

   
   Fig. 1. Log in to your Cherry Servers account using your email and password, or a supported social login (Google, GitHub, or Facebook).

2. In the top navigation menu, click on the Storages tab inside your active project. Then select Elastic Block Storage section. If you have not created any volumes yet, an empty storage view will be shown with an option to order your first volume (see Fig. 2).

   
   Fig. 2. Navigate to Storages, Elastic Block Storage to view or create block storage volumes. An empty view appears if no volumes exist yet.

3. Click the Order button to begin the creation process (see Fig. 3).

   
   Fig. 3. Click the Order button to begin creating a new Elastic Block Storage volume when no volumes exist yet.

4. In the form that appears (see Fig. 4):

   • Select the region where your server is located. At the time of writing, Elastic Block Storage is available only in the LT-Siauliai region.

   • Enter a description for your volume. This helps you identify it later, especially when working with multiple storage devices.

   • Specify the volume size in gigabytes. You can allocate any size up to 5 TB, depending on your project requirements.

   
   Fig. 4. Fill in the region, description, and desired size for your new volume.

5. Once all fields are filled in, click Order to finalize the creation (see Fig. 5).

   
   Fig. 5. Once you've set all parameters, click the Order button to create the new Elastic Block Storage volume.

After a few moments, the volume will appear in your storage list (see Fig. 6). You are now ready to proceed with attaching the volume to a dedicated server.

Fig. 6. After successful creation, the new Elastic Block Storage volume appears in the list and is ready to be attached to a server. A confirmation message is shown in the top right corner.

Step 2: Attach the volume to your server

Once your Elastic Block Storage volume has been successfully created, it will appear in the Elastic Block Storage section of your project in the Client Portal (see Fig. 6). At this stage, the volume exists but is not yet associated with any server, so it cannot be used until attached.

1. In the volume list, locate your newly created volume. Click the Attach button next to the volume entry to begin the attachment process (see Fig. 7).

   
   Fig. 7. Click the Attach button next to your newly created volume to begin linking it to a server.

2. A dialog window titled Elastic Block Storage attachment will open. This interface allows you to select the server to which the volume should be attached (see Fig. 8).

   
   Fig. 8 Elastic Block Storage attachment dialog window where you select the target server instance and confirm the action by clicking Attach.

3. From the Target instance drop-down menu, select the appropriate dedicated server within the same region. Only compatible servers will be listed here (see Fig. 9).

   
   Fig. 9. The target instance selection drop-down within the Elastic Block Storage attachment dialog. Choose the server you want to attach the volume to.

4. After confirming your selection, click the blue Attach button to initiate the attachment process (see Fig. 10).

   
   Fig. 10. Final confirmation step of the Elastic Block Storage attachment. Click the Attach button to bind the selected volume to your target server.
5. Once the volume is attached, a success notification will be displayed (see Fig. 11), and a setup instructions popup will automatically appear with configuration details (see Fig. 12).
   
   Fig. 11. A success notification confirming that the Elastic Block Storage volume has been successfully attached to the selected server.
   
   Fig. 12. The Elastic Block setup instructions window displays the necessary variables for PowerShell configuration, including VLAN ID, IP addresses, and iSCSI initiator.

This window contains essential variables such as vlan_id, vlan_ip, portal_ip, and initiator, which you will use to configure the volume on your Windows server in the next step by running the PowerShell automation script.

Step 3: Configure the Elastic Block Storage on Windows Server

After successfully attaching the volume to your server, you now need to configure the storage within your Windows environment by running a PowerShell script, which will handle iSCSI initiator setup and connects the volume.

1. Connect to your Windows server:
   Log in to your Windows server where the volume was attached. You can use Remote Desktop Protocil (RDP) or any other remote access tool of your choice. For detailed instructions, refer to our step-by-step guide for connecting to a Windows server: accessing a Windows Server from Windows and Linux.
2. Open PowerShell as Administrator:
   Once logged in, right-click the Start menu and choose Windows PowerShell (Admin) (see Fig. 13). Administrator privileges are required to install features and configure iSCSI settings.
   
   Fig. 13. Opening Windows PowerShell as Administrator via the Start menu.
3. Download the Configuration script:
   Run the following command in PowerShell to download the setup script:

   $ wget -OutFile cherry-elastic-storage.ps1 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cherryser

   This will save the script file cherry-elastic-storage.ps1 to your current working directory.
4. Retrieve required configuration variables:
   After attaching the volume, the Elastic Block setup instructions popup window appears in the Client Portal (see Fig. 12). It contains four variables needed by the script:
   

   • vlan_id

   • vlan_ip

   • portal_ip

   • initiator

   Make sure to copy them accurately and replace them in the next step.
5. Run the Script with Variables:
   Execute the script with the variables you copied from the portal:

   $ ./cherry-elastic-storage.ps1 -vlanId <vlan_id> -vlanIp <vlan_ip> -portalIp <portal_ip> -ini

   Replace each placeholder with your actual values, for example:

   $ ./cherry-elastic-storage.ps1 -vlanId 3269 -vlanIp 10.171.217.30 -portalIp 10.171.217.200 -

6. Reboot the Server:
   During execution, the script will ask you to reboot the system in order to finalize the installation of required Windows features.
7. Re-run the script after reboot:
   After the server reboots, log in again and re-run the same script with the same variables. This ensures that the connection to the Elastic Block Storage is completed successfully.

Once finished, the new disk will appear in Disk Management as an unallocated volume, ready for initialization and formatting in the next step (see Fig. 14).

Fig. 14. Windows Disk Management showing the newly attached EBS volume as Disk 2 (Offline and Unallocated)

Step 4: Initialize and format the EBS volume in Disk Management

Once the PowerShell script has been executed and the server has been rebooted, the newly attached Elastic Block Storage volume will appear in Disk Management as an unallocated disk (see Fig. 14). To make it usable, you must bring it online, initialize it with a partition table, and create a file system.

1. Open Disk Management:
   After logging in to your Windows server, open the Disk Management utility. You can do this by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Disk Management from the list (see Fig. 15). The tool will display all detected physical and virtual storage devices (see Fig. 14).
   
   Fig. 15. Open Disk Management by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Disk Management from the context menu.
2. Locate the Elastic Block Storage volume:
   In the lower section of the Disk Management window, locate the newly attached volume. It will be labeled as a new disk (e.g., Disk 2) and will display the correct capacity (e.g., 2560 GB). Its status should be Unknown, Offline, and Unallocated (see Fig. 14).
3. Bring the Disk Online:
   Right-click the disk label (e.g., Disk 2) on the left-hand side and choose Online (see Fig. 16). After this action, the disk will become visible to Windows, but it will still need initialization.
   
   Fig. 16. In Disk Management, right-click the new offline disk (e.g., Disk 2) and select Online to bring it into an active state.
4. Initialize the disk:
   Right-click the same disk label and choose Initialize Disk (see Fig. 17). In the popup window that appears, select the appropriate partition style (see Fig. 18):

   • Use GPT (GUID Partition Table) if your disk is larger than 2 TB.

   • Use MBR (Master Boot Record) only if required for legacy compatibility or if the disk is smaller than 2 TB.

   
   Fig. 17. After bringing the disk online, right-click the disk label again and select Initialize Disk to begin preparing it for use.
   
   Fig. 18. In the Initialize Disk window, choose the appropriate partition style. Use MBR for disks smaller than 2 TB or GPT for larger volumes. Then click OK to proceed.
   After selecting the partition style, click OK to proceed.
5. Create a New Volume:
   Once the disk has been initialized, right-click the unallocated space to the right of the disk and choose New Simple Volume (see Fig. 19). Follow the wizard to:
   
   • Allocate the full size of the disk (or specify a custom size if needed) (see Fig. 20).
   • Assign a drive letter (e.g., E:) (see Fig. 21).
   • Format the volume using the NTFS file system (see Fig. 22).
   • Optionally, set a volume label for easier identification (e.g., EBS-Data) (see Fig. 23).
   
   Fig. 19. Right-click the unallocated space on the initialized disk and select New Simple Volume to begin formatting and assigning the volume.
   
   Fig. 20. Specify the full volume size in megabytes or adjust it as needed, then click Next to continue with the volume creation.
   
   Fig. 21. Choose a drive letter for the new volume so it can be accessed from File Explorer. The default option is typically preselected, click Next to proceed.
   
   Fig. 22. Select NTFS and configure format options.
   
   Fig. 23. Specify a volume label for the new partition.
6. Complete formatting:
   After completing the wizard, Windows will format the partition and mount it as a local volume. You can now access the new drive from This PC as a fully usable disk (see Fig. 24).
   
   Fig. 24. The EBS volume is now visible in This PC as a usable local disk (E:).

After these steps are completed, the Elastic Block Storage volume is ready for use and can be utilized for data storage, backups, or any other workload requiring persistent block storage.

Summary

In this tutorial, you have learned how to create and attach an Elastic Block Storage (EBS) volume to a Windows Server.

We began by creating a new storage volume through the Client Portal and attaching it to a running Windows Server. Using PowerShell, we configured the iSCSI initiator, initialized the disk, created a new volume, assigned a drive letter, and formatted it using the NTFS file system. Finally, we confirmed that the new volume appeared correctly in File Explorer and was ready to use.

If you encounter any errors while running the script or during any step of the process, please contact our support team at support@cherryservers.com and provide the error message. Our team will help you resolve the issue promptly.