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Configuring Persistent File Storage Volumes

Administrators can configure the volumes for their services in Liferay Cloud depending on their deployment type (Deployment or StatefulSet). Volumes can be stored either with persistent shared storage (NFS) or with dedicated storage (SSD), depending on the deployment type. This article documents how to configure volumes via a service’s LCP.json file. See Understanding Deployment Types for more information on deployment types.

Note

The /opt/liferay/data directory (named data by default) is reserved for the document library in the liferay and backup services. This volume does not need to be configured in LCP.json files and the path cannot be changed. If this configuration is present, then it can be safely removed without causing issues.

Follow these steps to configure a new volume for a service.

  1. Choose the folders that contain the data to be persisted (for example, /opt/storage).

  2. Navigate to the LCP.json file in the repository for the specific environment (for example, liferay/).

  3. Add the volumes configuration to the LCP.json file. This configuration must contain a key for each volume. For example, the following configuration contains a storage key for /opt/storage:

{
    "id": "liferay",
    "memory": 8192,
    "cpu": 8,
    "volumes": {
        "storage": "/opt/storage"
    }
}

Important

For StatefulSet type services, you must delete and then redeploy the service for changes to the volume configuration to take effect.

Note

If you are using version 3.x.x services, then the LCP.json file for the liferay service is instead located in the lcp/liferay/ directory. See Understanding Service Stack Versions for more information on checking the version.

Sharing Volumes Between Different Services

Only volumes in Deployment type services may be shared with other services in the same environment using NFS. StatefulSet type services each have their own volumes which may not be shared.

To share a volume:

  1. Navigate to the LCP.json file in the Github repository for the service ([ProjectID]/liferay/LCP.json).

  2. Enter the following:

    • service’s ID

    • location (absolute path) of the content to be shared

    • the same volume key for the different services

In the following example, service1 and service2 will share files from /documents/images using a shared volume in NFS. This way, both services can access the files within the volume via the key and declared file paths.

The first service (service1) shares photos from /documents/images:

{
  "id": "service1",
  "volumes": {
    "photos": "/documents/images"
  }
}

The second service (service2) declares a volume in the same location, allowing it to share it via NFS:

{
  "id": "service2",
  "volumes": {
    "photos": "/documents/images"
  }
}

Both services will be able to access the specified volume in NFS on the next deployment after the services are restarted.

Removing Contents of a Volume

Volumes persist in your environment even when the services are deleted. You can change the name of the volume in use for your service (or rename the existing volume) to use a new volume, but the old volume’s contents will still exist (in either NFS or the service’s SSD). You must also remove the contents of any volume yourself if you do not want them to persist.

Additional Information

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