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How to increase EBS volume size in AWS

By Dina Henderson posted Wed March 01, 2023 03:44 PM

  

Elastic Block Storage (EBS) Volume is a cloud-based AWS storage service. It works like a hard drive and allows users to host virtual data in segments. EBS volumes have the flexibility and agility to contain diverse sizes of data, but knowing how to increase EBS volume sizes in AWS is a challenge. The three most common use cases for EBS volumes include using EBS volumes as your main storage for data that needs consistent updates, for throughput-intensive applications that need to perform disk scans continuously, and for EC2 instances acting in the function of a physical hard drive.  

EBS volumes were first created for EC2 instances, but because EBS volumes work individually from EC2, users can utilize EBS as their primary storage. Regardless, it is critical that users manage their EBS volumes as they affect users AWS bill due to their similarities to physical hard disks. Cloud storage is unstable and EBS volumes are a sufficient alternative to permanent and extensive storage. 

Why is Amazon Web Service Elastic Block Storage so popular? 

AWS EBS is highly popular due to its ability to provide a high-performance, low-latency block storage option for AWS EC2 instances. In addition to this, EBS offers various features that increase its popularity for storing data on the AWS platform. These features include: 

  • Persistent storage 

  • High performance 

  • Flexibility  

  • Various types of storage options  

  • Scalability 

Teams who utilize Elastic Block Storage (EBS) volumes are typically looking to optimize their costs, achieve compliance with regulatory and industry standards, as well as assure their workloads performance.  

What problems do EBS volume users face?  

While EBS volumes offer many benefits, there are also some potential issues and problems that users may encounter when using them. Some of these common problems include: 

  • Cost: EBS storage is notoriously expensive, especially for their high-performance options and using it excessively 

  • Performance limitations: Depending on the workload, network latency, IOPS, and Throughput of the selected volume type, EBS performance may be limited 

  • Management of overheads: To avoid issues like over-provisioning or full-disks, EBS volumes require ongoing management to ensure they are performing optimally 

EBS volumes are a versatile and powerful tool, but it’s not without its own problems. 

Cost optimization and application resource management metrics are required for success 

Users can increase the performance of their EBS volumes and assure application performance by following these best practices:  

  • Selecting the right volume type: Users should select the volume type that best fits their workloads and use cases, but it’s important to note that different EBS volume types have different performance characteristics. 

  • Choose the right volume size: To ensure optimal performance, users must also choose the right EBS volume size. Increasing EBS volume sizes in AWS is no easy task. If the chosen volume is too small, it could become a bottleneck for performance.  

  • Optimizing I/O: To help increase performance users can optimize the I/O requests made to the EBS volumes. 

  • Scaling: Users should be aware of the scaling requirements and have a plan set to scale their EBS volumes up and down when needed.  

  • Cost Optimization: To ensure users are using the most cost-effective storage options for their workloads and aren’t over-provisioning or over-utilizing expensive options, they should review and optimize their EBS usage.  

IBM Turbonomic is the single platform that can not only select the right volume type and size but optimize AWS resources, including EBS volumes, to cut costs and meet the changing demands of applications.

Turbonomic recommends and automatically provisions the appropriate EBS volume type for a given workload based on the policies the user sets within the platform. Our software can dynamically adjust resources and analyze workloads in real-time to meet performance and cost goals. But this all depends on how the platform is configured and what policies a user has set.  

Setting policies within IBM Turbonomic. Setting policies can help our software to adjust resources and workloads in real-time and can even decided the type and size of your EBS volumes in AWS. But this all depends on the policies the user sets.   

Turbonomic can optimize resources in any cloud environment, including AWS EBS volume sizes. Turbonomic can help users increase the size of their EBS volumes in AWS by providing real-time visibility into the storage usage of their EC2 instances. Our platform is able to identify instances that are running low on storage; then users can proactively increase the size of the associated EBS volumes before they run out of space.  

By providing recommendations or automatically provisioning the appropriate EBS volume size and type, Turbonomic can optimize I/O and match the I/O needs of a workload. Turbonomic can also adjust the IOPS and bandwidth of a storage volume based on a workload demands.  

Additionally, Turbonomic gives users visibility into I/O usage across multiple layers of the stack, from storage to compute, and can provide actions to take to optimize I/O performance. To assure an application has the required resources needed for optimal I/O performance, Turbonomic can adjust the number of vCPUs, RAM, and network bandwidth.  

Ready to increase EBS volume sizes in AWS? Get started by trying the IBM Turbonomic Sandbox or Request your IBM Turbonomic demo today!

Before configuring the policies, it’s important to have a good understanding of the workloads and their expected performance needs because Turbonomic will optimize I/O based off those set policies and the current status of the infrastructure.  

IBM Turbonomic's user interface gives users visibility into their entire environment from the top-down of the application stack. Users also get action recommendations like how to increase the size of EBS volumes in AWS, a list of their top applications, a recommendation of RI purchases, and the necessary investments and potential savings in the cloud. 

Turbonomic makes decisions based on the usage and performance of a user's instances and can automate those actions as well as the process of increasing or decreasing the size of EBS volumes. This saves our clients time and reduces the risk of human error.  

As seen below, Turbonomic has identified 335 scaling actions pertaining to volumes that will address performance issues or save money. The actions are sorted by cost so users can see how much they will save by taking the action. Although, some actions will increase resources for performance and require an investment the others will reduce resources for efficiency and result in savings.  

Additionally, Turbonomic manages the performance of EBS volumes and can automatically adjust the storage resources allocated to instances in real-time. Our platform ensures that applications have the storage resources they need to perform optimally, without wasting resources on underutilized storage.  

IBM Turbonomic makes decisions based off a user's instances performance and usage. These actions can be automated and they can decrease or increase (scale) the size of EBS volumes in AWS.  

To ensure users don’t overspend, Turbonomic shows a holistic view of what the cost impact is to take each action our software recommends, how much a user can save, or need to invest. There are 1174 actions in this demo environment to take (or automate), before the environment is running at peak performance and optimized for cost and compliance. By utilizing our software and allowing it to automate these actions, you can take the guess work out of what actions will truly have an impact on performance and cost and focus on other areas of interest. In the screenshot below, within our demo environment you would save over $16,000 a month by taking all 1174 actions.  

IBM Turbonomic tells users the necessary investments they need to make and the potential savings the will receive if they take each and every one of the actions our software is recommending.  

Why try and scale your EBS volume sizes in AWS without the assurance that the type and size won’t cost you an arm or a leg, as well as limit your performance. To avoid performance limitations, overprovisioning workloads is common, but it continues to add to the cost. Take the guess work out of how to increase EBS volume sizing in AWS and assure your applications performance at the lowest cost. Turbonomic provides users with better visibility and control over their EBS volumes as well as helping to optimize and automate storage resources; ensuring that applications always have the resources they need to perform.  

Get started by trying the IBM Turbonomic Sandbox or Request your IBM Turbonomic demo today!

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