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Store data in a secondary disk
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Bonus Section
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Store data in a secondary disk

If you want to use a different disk to store data (blockchain and other databases) independently of the system's disk, you can follow these instructions.

{% hint style="success" %} Difficulty: Easy {% endhint %}

Case 1: during the Ubuntu server guided installation

When you arrive at the "Guided storage configuration" (step 8) on the Ubuntu server installation, follow the next steps:

8.2. Pay attention to checking "Custom storage layout" instead of Use an entire disk, select [Done] and press ENTER

📝 Under AVAILABLE DEVICES you will see both drives you installed on the PC, identify each one by drive model name and storage

{% hint style="info" %} It is recommended to choose the smallest size drive for the system and the bigger size drive for the data storage /data (blockchain, databases, etc) {% endhint %}

8.2.1. Select the section where appeared the MODEL of the primary disk between "[]" and press enter -> Select "Use As Boot Device" and press ENTER again

{% hint style="info" %} This will select this storage as the boot disk and automatically create a new partition for the "BIOS grub spacer" on it. {% endhint %}

8.2.2. Select the "free space" section of the same device, and select "Add GPT Partition". Ensure the format is selected as "ext4", select "/" in the dropdown as mount point, select "Create" and press enter

8.2.3. Now select the "free space" of the secondary disk on "AVAILABLE DEVICES" section -> Add GPT partition. Ensure the format is selected as "ext4", select "Other" in the dropdown, type /data to assign to the new "/data" folder, select [Create] and press enter

9. Select [Done] and press enter. Confirm destructive action warning banner hitting [Continue]

{% hint style="danger" %} This will delete all existing data on the disks, including existing partitions! {% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %} The GIF above is a recreation of a scenario made with a virtual machine -> VBOX_HARDDISK_VB4... would be the primary disk, and -> VBOX_HARDDISK_VB5... would be the secondary disk. In your case, this probably will not match exactly {% endhint %}

Continue with the guide

{% hint style="success" %} That's it: when you finish the Operating system section, your PC will boot the system from the primary disk while the data directory /data will be located on the secondary disk. {% endhint %}

-> Now you can continue with step 10 of the Ubuntu Server installation

Case 2: build it after system installation (by command line)

Attach the secondary disk to the MiniBolt node

Format secondary disk

  • List all block devices with additional information
lsblk -o NAME,MOUNTPOINT,UUID,FSTYPE,SIZE,LABEL,MODEL

Example of expected output without existing partitions:

NAME          MOUNTPOINT UUID       FSTYPE     SIZE    LABEL  MODEL
sdb                                          931.5G           Secondary_SSD

Example of expected output with existing partitions:

NAME          MOUNTPOINT UUID              FSTYPE       SIZE    LABEL  MODEL
sdb                                                   931.5G           Secondary_SSD
└─sdb1                   2219-782E           ext4     931.5G

{% hint style="info" %} Here we will see if the system has detected the new disk and what unit name has been assigned to it. Normally sda is the name assigned for the primary disk and sdb for the secondary disk, but your case could be different, pay attention to the "MODEL" column to identify each one, e.g: Samsung SSD 870" {% endhint %}

Delete the existing partition & create a new one

  • Type this command to use the "fdisk" utility and manage the secondary disk
sudo fdisk /dev/sdb

-> 2 cases, depending on whether your drive contains partitions or not:

{% tabs %} {% tab title="Case 1: doesn't contain existing partitions" %} If you don't see any "sdbX" partition in the previous step, i.e sdb1:

  • Press "n" to create a new partition and then press ENTER until the prompt shows you: 
Created a new partition X of type 'Linux filesystem'
(Command (m for help)) again

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Case 2: contain existing partitions" %} If you have an existing partition "sdbX" in the previous step, i.e sdb1:

  • Press "d" to delete the existing partitions and then press ENTER until the prompt shows you:
Partition X has been deleted
(Command (m for help)) again

{% hint style="info" %} If you have more than one partition, repeat the before step until there are none left {% endhint %}

  • Press "n" to create a new partition and then press ENTER until the prompt shows:
Created a new partition X of type 'Linux filesystem'
(Command (m for help)) again

{% endtab %} {% endtabs %}

-> Finally, don't forget, to type w and ENTER to write table to disk and exit

{% hint style="info" %} This will create a new partition called probably "sdb1" {% endhint %}

  • Format the partition with the Ext4 system file (replace[NAME] to your partition name, e.g. sdb1)
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/[NAME]

{% hint style="danger" %} Attention: this will delete all existing data on the external drive! {% endhint %}

Example of command:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1

Example of expected output:

mke2fs 1.46.5 (30-Dec-2021)
Creating filesystem with 1572608 4k blocks and 393216 inodes
Filesystem UUID: dafc3c67-c6e5-4eaa-8840-adaf604c85db
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736

{% hint style="info" %} Take note of the Filesystem UUID -> i.e: dafc3c67-c6e5-4eaa-8840-adaf604c85db, you will need this more later {% endhint %}

Mount the secondary disk

The secondary disk is then attached to the file system and becomes available as a regular folder (this is called “mounting”).

  • List the block devices one more time to ensure that UUID has been assigned
lsblk -o NAME,MOUNTPOINT,UUID,FSTYPE,SIZE,LABEL,MODEL

Example of expected output:

NAME        MOUNTPOINT UUID                                        FSTYPE      SIZE LABEL  MODEL
sda                                                                          126.8G        Primary_SSD
└─sda1                      3aab0952-3ed4-4652-b203-d994c4fdff20     ext4    126.8G
sdb                                                                          931.5G        Secondary_SSD
└─sdb1                 dafc3c67-c6e5-4eaa-8840-adaf604c85db     ext4    931.5G

{% hint style="info" %} Copy the new partition UUID into a text editor on your regular machine {% endhint %}

  • Edit the fstab file
sudo nano /etc/fstab
  • Add the following as a new line at the end of the file
UUID=<yourUUID> /data ext4 defaults 0 2

{% hint style="info" %} Replace <yourUUID> with your UUID obtained before {% endhint %}

  • Create the data directory as a mount point
sudo mkdir /data
  • Assing to the admin user as the owner of the /data folder
sudo chown admin:admin /data
  • Mount all drives
sudo mount -a
  • Check the file system. Is /data listed?
df -h /data

Example expected output:

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1       931G   77M  891G   1% /data

Or check the mount point using lsblk

lsblk -o NAME,MOUNTPOINT,UUID,FSTYPE,SIZE,LABEL,MODEL

Example of expected output:

NAME        MOUNTPOINT     UUID                                 FSTYPE   SIZE LABEL  MODEL
sda                                                                    126.8G        Primary_SSD
└─sda1      /              15af9b1d-ca7c-441f-b101-c1a0cf76a062 ext4   126.8G
sdb                                                                    931.5G        Secondary_SSD
└─sdb1      /data          15af9b1d-ca7c-441f-b101-c1a0cf76a062 ext4   931.5G
  • Check measure the speed of your secondary drive with
sudo hdparm -t --direct /dev/sdb

{% hint style="success" %} If the measured speeds are more than 150 MB/s, you're good {% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %} Now you can continue with the Security section of the guide, press here {% endhint %}