Welcome to our exploration of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Storage Services. In this article, we will delve into the realm of block storage, particularly focusing on Block Volume.
Understanding Block Storage in OCI
Block storage in OCI comes in two main flavors: Local NVMe and Block Volume. Local NVMe devices offer ultra-low latency and high performance, although they are non-persistent. Conversely, Block Volume service ensures durability, boasting a 99.99% annual durability for block and boot volumes. It provides a reliable storage solution suitable for various workloads, ranging from big data OLTP to sand-like feature scenarios.
Features and Use Cases of Block Volume
Oracle Block Volumes offer persistent, durable, and high-performance storage solutions. They enable users to store data independently from compute instances, facilitating seamless data management beyond instance lifespans. Some key use cases for Block Volume include:
- Persistent Storage: Facilitating data migration between instances while ensuring data safety even when disconnected from an instance.
- Compute Instance Storage Expansion: Allowing users to increase storage capacity for OCI instances.
- Flexible Scaling: Empowering users to retain associated boot volumes upon instance termination, enabling easy scaling up or down of instance resources.
Key Features of Block Volume
Block Volumes come with several noteworthy features:
- Scalability: Ranging from 50 GB to 32 terabytes, users can create volumes in increments of 1 GB, with a default size of 1 terabyte.
- Redundancy and Data Protection: Block Volumes are automatically replicated, ensuring data redundancy across multiple storage servers. Moreover, all volumes are encrypted at rest using advanced encryption standards.
- In-transit Encryption: Option to enable in-transit encryption for enhanced security during virtualized volume attachments on virtual machine instances.
Local NVMe SSD Devices
Local NVMe devices offer exceptional performance but lack persistence. They are particularly suitable for high-performance workloads such as big data and OLTP. However, it’s important to note that OCI does not provide data protection mechanisms like RAID for NVMe devices, putting the onus on customers to manage data durability and protection.
Command Usage for Local NVMe SSD Devices
Users can utilize commands like lsblk to retrieve details about block devices. Depending on the compute instance shape, details about the attached drives, such as NVMe devices, can be obtained. For instance, in the case of BM.DenseIO2.52 instance shape, users may observe eight drives labeled NVMe0 to NVMe7.
In conclusion, understanding the nuances of block storage options in OCI empowers users to make informed decisions regarding their storage needs, ensuring optimal performance, durability, and data protection for their workloads.