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Overview

Administrators access storage management through Admin → Volume, which provides a cross-project view of all volumes, snapshots, backups, and volume types. Admin operations include managing volume types (storage tiers), QoS specs, and intervening in volumes across all projects.
Prerequisites
  • admin role
  • Navigate to Admin → Volume for the admin storage view

Admin Volume List

The admin view shows all volumes across all projects:
ColumnDescription
NameVolume name
DescriptionOptional description
SizeVolume size in GB
StatusAvailable, In-use, Error, Deleting
TypeVolume type (storage tier)
Attached ToInstance and device path
Availability ZoneAZ the volume resides in
BootableWhether bootable
EncryptedEncryption status
ProjectOwning project

Volume Types

Volume types map to Cinder backends and define storage characteristics visible to users as named tiers.

Create a Volume Type

Open Volume Types

Navigate to Admin → Volume → Volume Types and click Create Volume Type.

Configure the type

FieldDescription
NameUser-visible tier name (e.g., ssd, hdd, encrypted)
DescriptionOptional description shown to users
PublicAvailable to all projects (toggle off for project-specific types)

Add extra specs

After creation, click the volume type name → View Extra SpecsCreate. Extra specs map the type to a specific backend:
KeyExample ValueDescription
volume_backend_nameceph-ssdMatch Cinder backend’s volume_backend_name
replication_enabledTrueEnable backend replication
encryptedTrueMark as encrypted type (informational)

Set Default Volume Type

Set project-level default volume type
openstack volume type set --property "default_volume_type=True" ssd

QoS Specs

Quality of Service specs limit IOPS and throughput for volumes — preventing noisy neighbor effects in multi-tenant environments.

Create a QoS spec

Navigate to Admin → Volume → QoS Specs and click Create QoS Spec. Enter a name (e.g., bronze-qos).

Add QoS keys

After creation, click the QoS spec name → Manage Specs. Common keys:
KeyExample ValueDescription
total_iops_sec1000Maximum IOPS (read + write)
total_bytes_sec104857600Maximum throughput (100 MB/s)
read_iops_sec500Read IOPS limit
write_iops_sec500Write IOPS limit
consumerfront-endApply at front-end (hypervisor) or back-end (storage)

Associate with volume type

In the QoS spec row, open Actions → Manage Associations. Select the volume type to associate. All volumes of this type will be subject to the QoS limits.

Admin Volume Operations

Admins can perform operations on volumes in any project:
OperationWhen to Use
Reset Volume StateVolume stuck in Deleting or Error — reset to Available
Migrate VolumeMove volume to a different backend (online or offline)
Upload to ImageCreate a Glance image from a volume
Transfer to ProjectMove volume ownership between projects
Reset a stuck volume state
openstack volume set --state available <VOLUME_ID>
Migrate volume to a different backend
openstack volume migrate --host <NEW_HOST_BACKEND> <VOLUME_ID>

Next Steps

Block Storage Admin Guide

Full Cinder administration — backends, tiers, and migration

Volume QoS

Detailed QoS policy configuration

Storage Tiers

Automatic and manual storage tiering with Ceph device classes

Encryption

Enable at-rest encryption for volume types