The information contained in this document is confidential and only for the intended recipient and may not

be used,
published or redistributed without the prior written consent of G42 Executive Committee.

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Empower Your Digital Transformation
Storage Services
Elastic Volume Service
www.g42cloud.com

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved.

1
 Foreword

• This course introduces G42 CLOUD Elastic Volume Service (EVS).

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© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 2

 Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will:

 Be able to describe G42 CLOUD EVS.

 Understand the concepts, functions, and application scenarios of EVS.

 Understand how to create and manage EVS disks.

 Understand how to troubleshoot common problems with EVS.

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© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 3

 Contents

1. Overview

2. Purchasing an EVS

3. Using and Managing an EVS

4. Using EVS with Other Services

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© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 4

 Storage Types
iSCSI/FC NFS/CIFS/POSIX HTTP/REST
Protocol Reads and writes
Opening, modifying, saving and Uploading, downloading, querying, and
deleting files deleting objects
Layer

Object
Object
Storage Object

Layer Object
Object

EVS SFS OBS

• Applications: Databases and
ERPs
• iSCSI access and disk
attachment
• 99.9999999% reliability
• Scalability: up to terabytes
• Minimum latency: 1 ms
• Applications: HPC, OA, and file
sharing
• NFS/CIFS access, LAN sharing
• 99.99999999% reliability
• Scalability: up to petabytes
• Minimum latency: 1 ms
• Applications: big Data, IoT, backup
and archiving
• REST access, transmission and
sharing over public network
• 99.999999999% reliability
• Scalability: up to exabytes
• Minimum latency: 10 ms

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Concepts

• Elastic Volume Service (EVS) offers scalable block storage

for cloud servers such as Elastic Cloud Servers (ECSs) .EVS
disks provide high reliability and high performance. They
can be used for distributed file systems, development and
test environments, data warehouse applications, and
high-performance computing (HPC). EVS disks are also
referred to as cloud disks.

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 6

Concepts

• In short, EVS disks are similar to the hard disks in a PC.

They need to be attached to an ECS to be used. You can
initialize EVS disks, create file systems on them, and use
them for persistent data storage.

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 7

EVS Advantages

Robust Real-time • Multiple specifications: many varieties to

specifications monitoring
choose from

• Elastic scalability: can freely extend disk

EVS capacity

• Security and reliability: support encryption,

backup
Elastic Secure and
scalability reliable
• Real-time monitoring: with Cloud Eye and CTS

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 8

 EVS Functions

• EVS provides storage resources for servers.

 Create an EVS disk.

 Attach disks to servers.

 Detach an EVS disk.

 Expand the disk capacity.

 Create an EVS backup.

 Create an EVS snapshot.

 Delete an EVS disk.

 Query an EVS disk.

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Three-Copies of Data
• The EVS storage system creates three copies for each of the 1-MB data blocks created from the data source,
which helps guarantee data reliability. It stores these copies on different nodes in the system based on special
algorithms.

G42 Cloud Data Center

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 10

Three-Copies of Data
• The EVS storage system creates three copies for each of the 1-MB data blocks created from the data source,
which helps guarantee data reliability. It stores these copies on different nodes in the system based on special
algorithms.

G42 Cloud Data Center

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 11

Three-Copies of Data
• The system keeps data consistency in the following ways:
 When an application writes data, three copies of data are written into the storage system. The storage system returns a
write success response to the application only after all the three copies are successfully written into the system.

 If any copy of the data cannot be read, the damaged copy is automatically repaired and the storage system determines
the error type. If data cannot be read from a physical disk sector, the system reads another copy of the data on another
node and writes it back to the original disk sector. This system ensures the correct number of data copies is maintained
and that data is kept consistent across all three copies.

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 12

 EVS Disk Types and Application Scenarios
Parameter High I/O Ultra-high I/O
IOPS per GB/EVS disk 6 50
Max. IOPS/EVS disk 5,000 33,000
Baseline IOPS/EVS disk 1,200 1,500
IOPS Limit/EVS disk Min. (5,000, 1,200 + 6 x Capacity) Min. (33,000, 1,500 + 50 x Capacity)
IOPS Burst Limit/EVS disk 5,000 16,000
Max. Throughput 150 MB/s 350 MB/s
API Name
NOTE:This API name indicates the value of
the volume_type parameter in the EVS API. It SAS SSD
does not represent the type of the underlying
hardware device.
Mainstream applications requiring high
Read/write-intensive applications that require
performance and high reliability, such as
ultra-high I/O and throughput, such as
large-scale development and test
distributed file systems used in HPC scenarios
environments, web server logs, and
Typical application scenarios or NoSQL and relational databases used in
enterprise applications. Typical enterprise
I/O-intensive scenarios. Typical databases
applications include SAP applications,
include MongoDB, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL,
Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft
and PostgreSQL databases.
SharePoint.

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 Contents

1. Overview

2. Purchasing an EVS

3. Using and Managing an EVS

4. Using EVS with Other Services

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 Using an EVS

Purchase an Initialize the

Start EVS Disk Data Disk

01 02 03 04 05

Preparations Attach a Data

Disk

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 Key Parameters
Parameter Description Remarks
Billing Mode Mandatory Pay-per-use
AZ Mandatory Specifies the availability zone (AZ) where the EVS disk will be created.
Disk Specifications Mandatory High I/O and ultra-high I/O.
Capacity (GB) Mandatory Data disk: 10 GB to 29108 GB
Select Data Source Optional Create the disk from a backup.
Create from snapshot Optional Create the disk from a snapshot.

Create from image Optional Create the disk from an image.

Share Optional Attach the disk to multiple servers for use.

Such disks allow the server OS to access the underlying storage media directly
SCSI Optional
and to send SCSI commands to the disks.
Encryption Optional Disk encryption is used for data disks only.

Tag Optional Tags can be created during disk creation for easy identification and quick search.

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Disk Types (1)

• VBD: VBD is the default disk type. VBD disks only supports SCSI read and write commands.

• SCSI: SCSI disks support transparent SCSI commands and allow the server OS to access the underlying
storage media directly. Also, BMS instances only support SCSI disks, which can be used as either system
disks or data disks.

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Disk Types (2)

• You can create an EVS SCSI disk, set its attribute to Share Disk and
then attach it to more than one server

• Shared SCSI disks must be used with a distributed file system or with
clustered software to avoid errors like race condition

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 18

Reference: Race Condition

• The number 17, being incremented twice by

two persons, should now become 19

• But because there’s no cluster management

system to perform Data Lock, person B’s
operation is overwritten by person A

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 19

Reference: Race Condition And Data Lock

• With Data Lock, when person B is doing the

operation, other persons (like person A) will be
locked and can’t access the data

Locked
• After person B finishes the operation, the lock
read will be terminated and person A can then
access the data

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Disk Types (2)

• Shared EVS disks are block storage devices that support concurrent
read/write operations and can be attached to multiple servers.
Shared EVS disks feature multiple attachments, high-concurrency,
high-performance, and high-reliability. They are usually used for
enterprise business-critical applications that require cluster
deployment for high availability (HA). Multiple servers can access the
same shared EVS disk at the same time.

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 21

Disk Types (2)

• A shared EVS disk can be attached to a maximum of 16 servers.

Servers that EVS supports include Elastic Cloud Servers (ECSs) and
Bare Metal Servers (BMSs). To implement file sharing, you need to
deploy a shared file system or a cluster management system, such as
Windows MSCS, Veritas VCS, or CFS.

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 22

 EVS Statuses
Status Description Status Description

Data is being downloaded from an image to the EVS disk.

In-use The EVS disk is in use by a server. Downloading
The EVS disk is in this state when a server is being created.

The EVS disk has been created, but has not been attached to a
Available Error An error occurs when you are creating an EVS disk.
server.

Creating The EVS disk is being created. Deletion failed An error occurs when you try to delete an EVS disk.

An error occurs when you are expanding the capacity of an

Attaching The EVS disk is being attached to a server. Expansion failed
EVS disk.
An error occurs when you try to restore an EVS disk from a
Detaching The EVS disk is being detached from a server. Restoration failed
backup.

Deleting The EVS disk is being deleted. Rolling back Data on the EVS disk is being restored from a snapshot.

An error occurred when the EVS disk was being rolled back
Restoring A backup is being used to restore the EVS disk. Rollback failed
from a snapshot.

Expanding The capacity of the EVS disk is being expanded. Awaiting transfer An EVS disk is waiting for a transfer.

Data on the EVS disk is being uploaded to an image. The EVS The EVS disk has not been deleted permanently. It has been
Uploading Can be restored
disk is in this state when you create an image from a server. moved to the recycle bin.

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 Disk Status Changes
• Create a disk: Creating → Available (if the creation succeeded) or Error (if the creation failed)

• Attach a disk: Available → Attaching → In-use (if the attachment succeeded)

• Detach a disk: In-use → Detaching → Available (if the detachment succeeded)

• Expand the capacity of an Available disk: Available → Expanding → Available (if the expansion succeeded) or Expansion failed (if the expansion failed)

• Expand the capacity of an In-use disk: In-use → Expanding → In-use (if the expansion succeeded) or Expansion failed (if the expansion failed)

• Delete a disk: Available, Expansion failed, Error, Restoration failed, or Rollback failed → Deleting → No longer displayed (if the deletion succeeded) or Deletion failed (if
the deletion failed)

• Restore data from a backup: Available → Restoring → Available (if the restoration succeeded) or Restoration failed (if the restoration failed)

• Roll back data from a snapshot: Available or Rollback failed → Rolling back → Available (if the rollback succeeded) or Rollback failed (if the rollback failed)

• Transfer a disk: Available → Awaiting transfer → Available (if the transfer succeeded)

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 Contents

1. Overview

2. Purchasing an EVS

3. Using and Managing an EVS

4. Using EVS with Other Services

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 Attachment
• Attaching a Shared EVS Disk
 A shared EVS disk can be attached to up to 16 servers in the same AZ.

 If a shared disk is in use, ensure that the disk is not attached to other servers.

 The servers that the shared EVS disk is attached to must have either Windows or Linux installed.

 A shared disk can only be used as a data disk. It cannot be used as a system disk.

• Disk attachment process:

Available → Attaching → In-use (assuming the attachment succeeds)

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 Detachment
• If an EVS disk is attached to a server, the disk status is In-use. If the disk is required to be in the Available state
before you can proceed with operations such as data rollback from a snapshot, detach the disk from the server.
 Before detaching a system disk, check that the server using this system disk is Stopped.

 A data disk can be detached from a server when the server is Stopped or Running.

• Disk detachment process:

 In-use → Detaching → Available (if the detachment succeeded)

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 Deletion
• If an EVS disk is no longer needed, you can delete the disk to release the virtual resources. After a disk is
deleted, you will no longer be billed for its use.
 You can delete an EVS disk when the disk is in one of the following states: Available, Error, Expansion failed,
Restoration failed, or Rollback failed.

 An EVS disk can be deleted only if it is not locked by other services.

 If you delete an EVS disk, all the disk data, including the snapshots created using the disk, will be deleted as well.
Exercise caution when performing this operation.

• Disk deletion process:

 The EVS disk status changes from Available, Expansion failed, Error, Restoration failed, or Rollback failed to Deleting.
If the deletion is successful, the EVS disk cannot be viewed. If the deletion fails, the EVS disk status changes to Deletion
failed.

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 Capacity Expansion

• When the storage space of an EVS disk is insufficient, you can:

 Create a new disk and attach it to a server.

 Expand the capacity of an existing EVS disk serving as a system disk or a data disk.

• You can expand the capacity when:

 A disk is attached to a server and is in In-use state.

 A disk is not attached to any server and is in Available state.

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 Snapshot
• You can create EVS snapshots to save the disk data at specific points in time. Up to 7 snapshots can be created for an EVS
disk.

• If a snapshot is no longer used, you can delete it to release virtual resources.

• You can create EVS disks from snapshots.

• If the data of an EVS disk is incorrect or damaged, you can roll back the disk based on data from a snapshot.
 You can only use the snapshot to restore data to its source EVS disk.

 A snapshot can be rolled back only when the snapshot status is Available and the source EVS disk status is Available (not attached to
any server) or Rollback failed.

• Disk rollback from a snapshot:

 Available or Rollback failed → Rolling back → Available (if the rollback succeeded) or Rollback failed (if the rollback failed)

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 Snapshot Principles

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 Backup
• You can use Cloud Backup and Recovery (CBR) to create online backups of EVS disks without shutting down the servers.
When data is lost or damaged due to a virus, because of misoperations, or software and hardware faults, you can restore the
data from these backups, guaranteeing your data correctness and security.

• After a backup policy is configured, CBR automatically backs up your EVS disk based on the policy you configure. You can also
use the backups as templates for new EVS disks or to restore the backup data when needed.

• A disk can only be backed up when it is in the Available or In-use state.

• Data restoration from a backup:

 Available → Restoring → Available (assuming the restoration succeeds) or Restoration failed (if the restoration fails)

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 Differences Between Backups and Snapshots
• Volume Backup Service (VBS) and snapshots provide redundant backups for data stored in EVS disks to ensure high reliability.
The following table lists the differences between them.

Item Storage Solution Data synchronization DR Scope Service Recovery

Backup data is stored in OBS,
instead of EVS disks. Data can be
Backup
restored even if the EVS disk is
damaged.
The snapshots are stored with
Snapshot
the disk data.
Data can be retrieved
and services can be
A CBR backup and its
Data is automatically backed up restored by restoring the
source EVS disk are in
at a given point of time. The backup data to original
the same AZ. Cross-
backup data will not be deleted disks or creating new
region replication is
even if the EVS disk is deleted. disks from backups,
supported.
ensuring superb data
persistence.
You can use a snapshot
A snapshot is the state of an to roll back data to its
The snapshots are in
EVS disk at a specific point of original EVS disk or
the same AZ as the EVS
time. If an EVS disk is deleted, create an EVS disk for
disks.
its snapshots are also deleted. data retrieval and
recovery.

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 Contents

1. Overview

2. Purchasing an EVS

3. Using and Managing an EVS

4. Using EVS with Other Services

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 Related Services (Diagram)

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 Quiz

1. (Single Choice) How many servers at most can an EVS shared disk be attached to?
A. 5
B. 7
C. 8
D. 16

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 Summary

⚫ Describe G42 CLOUD EVS.

⚫ Introduce the concepts, functions, and application scenarios of EVS.
⚫ Explain how to create and manage EVS disks.

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© 2023 G42. All rights reserved. 37

 The information contained in this document is confidential and only for the intended recipient and may not be used,
published or redistributed without the prior written consent of G42 Executive Committee.

PUBLIC
www.g42cloud.com

Thank You

© 2023 G42. All rights reserved.

38