Expand the capacity of an EBS volume online (Windows)

If the storage space of an EBS volume, either a system disk or data disk, no longer meets your business requirements, you can expand the capacity of the EBS volume. This topic describes how to expand the capacity of an EBS volume without the need to suspend the KEC instance to which the EBS volume is attached. In this topic, the operating system of the KEC instance is Windows.

Scenarios

EBS volumes are scalable storage devices. You can expand the capacity of an existing EBS volume at any time to increase its storage space without affecting the data on the EBS volume. After you expand the capacity of an EBS volume in the EBS console, you need to allocate the expanded capacity to partitions. The partitions can be existing partitions or partitions that are newly created and formatted. Then, resize the file systems of the partitions, so that the expanded capacity can be recognized. For more information, see Resize partitions and file systems (Windows).

Note:
The maximum capacity of an EBS volume that uses MBR partitioning is 2 TB. If the capacity exceeds this limit, the excess capacity cannot be used. You may need to expand the capacity of an EBS volume that uses MBR partitioning to more than 2 TB. In this case, we recommend that you create and attach a data disk that uses GPT partitioning and then copy the data to the new disk.

Prerequisites

Note:
If your KEC instance does not support the online capacity expansion of EBS volumes, you can use the offline capacity expansion feature. For more information, see Expand the capacity of an EBS volume offline (Windows).

Operating environment

Step 1: Create a snapshot

Note: To prevent data loss caused by misoperations, we recommend that you create a snapshot to back up data before you expand the capacity of an EBS volume.

1. Log in to the EBS console.
2. In the left navigation pane, click EBS.
3. In the upper-left corner, select a region.
4. On the EBS tab, find the EBS volume for which you want to expand the capacity and click Create Snapshot in the Operation column.
5. In the dialog box that appears, enter a name and description for the snapshot and click OK. The snapshot is immediately created.
6. In the left navigation pane, choose Snapshot > Snapshot List to view the creation process of the snapshot.
   After the progress reaches 100% and the status of the snapshot becomes Available, you can proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Expand the capacity of the EBS volume in the EBS console

1. Log in to the EBS console.
2. On the EBS tab, find the EBS volume for which you want to expand the capacity and choose More > Capacity Expansion in the Operation column.
3. In the Capacity Expansion dialog box, read the instructions, select the Online expansion check box, and then set the Capacity parameter.
   The capacity after the expansion must be greater than the original capacity.
4. On the Confirm Order page, click Submit Order. Then, complete the payment.

   Note:
   1. If an EBS volume qualifies for online capacity expansion but you do not select the Online expansion check box, an offline capacity expansion will be performed on the EBS volume.
   2. After you expand the capacity of an EBS volume in the EBS console, the expanded capacity is not available for use yet. You must log in to the operating system of the KEC instance to which the EBS volume is attached, and allocate the expanded capacity by resizing partitions and file systems.

Step 3: Rescan disks

1. Log in to the KEC instance. For more information, see Connect to instances.
2. On the Windows Server desktop, right-click the Start icon and select Disk Management.
3. In the Disk Management window, choose Action > Rescan Disks to view the unallocated disk capacity. Disk 0 is the system disk, and Disk 1 is a data disk.

Step 4: Resize partitions and file systems on the system disk or a data disk

1. To resize partitions and file systems on the system disk, right-click the blank space in the Disk 0 section and select Extend Volume, as shown in the following figure.

   Note: If you are resizing partitions and file systems on a data disk, right-click the blank space in the data disk section, for example, Disk 1.

   

2. Extend the volume by following the instructions in the Extend Volume Wizard window. After you extend the volume, the expanded data disk space is automatically added to the EBS volume, as shown in the following figure. The figure shows that the resizing succeeded. When you check the result, compare the result with the original capacity.
   • If the resizing succeeded, the business programs on the KEC instance can continue to run as expected.
   • If the resizing failed, use the snapshot to roll back the data.

     Step 5: (Optional) Create a partition on a data disk

     If you want to allocate the expanded capacity of an EBS volume to a new partition, perform the following steps:

3. After you complete Step 3, right-click the blank space in the section of a disk on which you want to create a partition, and select Extend Volume. In this example, create a partition on Data disk 1, as shown in the following figure.
4. Extend the volume by following the instructions in the New Simple Volume Wizard window. After you complete the operations, a partition is created, as shown in the following figure.