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AWS Lets Users Add Extra Storage to Lightsail
Amazon Lightsail block storage is now generally available, allowing users of Amazon Web Services' (AWS) virtual private server solution to bolt on additional storage as needed.
Announced on Tuesday, block storage lets users attach SSD storage disks to their existing Lightsail instances. AWS likens these "attached disks" to hard drives. They are automatically encrypted and replicated to protect against component failure.
"Attached disks are useful for applications or software that need to separate out specific data from their core service and to protect application data in case of a failure or other issue with your instance and system disk," AWS said in a FAQ.
In addition, because attached disks exist independently from a user's main Lightsail instance, the user's data is preserved even if their instance is accidentally deleted.
"The system disk included with your Lightsail plan is your instance's root device. If you terminate your instance, the system disk will be deleted as well. If you experience an instance failure, the system disk could be impacted. You also cannot detach your system disk or back it up separately from your instance," AWS said. "Data stored on an attached disk persists independently of the instance. Attached disks can be detached and moved between instances and can be backed up independently from an instance using disk snapshot."
Users can add up to 15 attached disks to their account, each with capacity of up to 16TB. Pricing is $0.10 per added GB per month, and is capped at $1,600 per month for the maximum 16TB.
More information on block storage for Lightsail is available here.