# How to Identify Ephemeral vs Boot-From-Volume Instances in OpenStack

## Problem

In OpenStack, instances may be provisioned with either an [ephemeral](https://docs.openstack.org/arch-design/common/glossary.html#term-ephemeral-volume) storage or [persistent](https://docs.openstack.org/arch-design/common/glossary.html#term-persistent-volume) (volume) storage. How can the two be differentiated and filtered accordingly among currently-provisioned instances within a Platform9 Managed OpenStack environment?

## Environment

* Platform9 Managed OpenStack - All Versions
* Nova

## Procedure

### Clarity UI

1. In Clarity UI, navigate to the Instances tab.
2. Ensure that "attached volumes" is shown as an active column. If not, click on the cog icon and add it to the active columns.

<figure><img src="/files/weqRR6dS5R0139jte9eX" alt="Screen_Shot_2020-11-05_at_2.01.18_PM.png"><figcaption><p>Screen_Shot_2020-11-05_at_2.01.18_PM.png</p></figcaption></figure>

3. Inspect the instances view. Boot from volume instances will show an attached volume, whereas ephemeral instances will not.

<figure><img src="/files/zpYzFalACm8kuj1VJgle" alt="Screen_Shot_2020-11-05_at_1_56_32_PM.png"><figcaption><p>Screen_Shot_2020-11-05_at_1_56_32_PM.png</p></figcaption></figure>

### OpenStack CLI

1. Query the list of instances, (optionally) filtered by host – selecting any where the "Image" value is populated, indicating they are **ephemeral** and **not** boot from volume.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="None" %}

```none
openstack server list --all-projects --host=[HOST_UUID] -f json | jq -r '.[] | select(.Image != "").ID'
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

**Note**: To select boot from volume instances, change '!=' to '==' and the opposite results would be shown.


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