AWS Lightsail Disk auto mount after reboot

1

To enable auto-mounting of your Lightsail external storage disks after reboot on Ubuntu, you’ll need to configure the /etc/fstab file. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Connect to Your Instance

Connect via SSH to your aws-kirei-care-2023-jp-2 instance.

Step 2: Check Current Disk Status

First, verify the disks are attached and check their current mount status:

# Check all block devices
lsblk

# Check disk UUIDs (recommended for fstab)
sudo blkid

# Check current mounts
df -h

Step 3: Create Mount Points (if not already created)

# Create mount directories
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/kireicare-disk-2024
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/kireicare-disk-2025

Step 4: Get Disk UUIDs

Get the UUIDs for your disks (more reliable than device names):

sudo blkid /dev/xvdf
sudo blkid /dev/xvdg

This will output something like:

/dev/xvdf: UUID="12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/xvdg: UUID="87654321-4321-4321-4321-cba987654321" TYPE="ext4"

Step 5: Configure Auto-Mount in /etc/fstab

Edit the fstab file:

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add these lines at the end (replace UUIDs with your actual ones):

# Lightsail Additional Disks - Auto Mount
UUID=12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc /mnt/kireicare-disk-2024 ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2
UUID=87654321-4321-4321-4321-cba987654321 /mnt/kireicare-disk-2025 ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2

Step 6: Test the Configuration

Test the fstab configuration without rebooting:

# Test mounting
sudo mount -a

# Verify mounts worked
df -h

Step 7: Set Proper Permissions (Optional)

If you want your ubuntu user to have access:

# Change ownership to ubuntu user
sudo chown ubuntu:ubuntu /mnt/kireicare-disk-2024
sudo chown ubuntu:ubuntu /mnt/kireicare-disk-2025

# Set permissions
sudo chmod 755 /mnt/kireicare-disk-2024
sudo chmod 755 /mnt/kireicare-disk-2025

Step 8: Test with Reboot

sudo reboot

After reboot, check if disks are mounted:

df -h
lsblk

Important fstab Options Explained:

  • UUID=... - Uses UUID instead of device path (more reliable)
  • ext4 - File system type (adjust if different)
  • defaults - Standard mount options
  • nofail - System boots even if disk fails to mount
  • 0 - No dump backup
  • 2 - Check filesystem on boot (after root filesystem)

Troubleshooting:

If disks don’t auto-mount:

  1. Check for errors:

    sudo journalctl -u local-fs.target

  2. Verify fstab syntax:

    sudo mount -a

  3. Check disk health:

    sudo fsck /dev/xvdf
sudo fsck /dev/xvdg

Your disks should now automatically mount to /mnt/kireicare-disk-2024 and /mnt/kireicare-disk-2025 on every reboot!