This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
Sharing a Persistent Volume Between Multiple Apps (ZEDEDA / EVE-OS)
Can a persistent volume be shared by two applications?
Yes. ZEDEDA/EVE-OS supports attaching a single volume instance to multiple
application instances via the multiattach flag combined with the
MULTIREAD_SINGLEWRITE access mode. Sharing data between edge apps on the same
node is one of the documented primary use cases of the storage feature.
This is a supported, real-world pattern: a single block-storage volume (optionally backed
by a shared content tree) attached to multiple app instances on one node with
multiattach=True.
Access modes
The accessmode field accepts these enum values:
| Value | Meaning |
|---|---|
VOLUME_INSTANCE_ACCESS_MODE_READWRITE | Single app, read-write (default for a private volume) |
VOLUME_INSTANCE_ACCESS_MODE_READONLY | Read-only |
VOLUME_INSTANCE_ACCESS_MODE_MULTIREAD_SINGLEWRITE | Shared: many readers, one writer |
VOLUME_INSTANCE_ACCESS_MODE_INVALID | Unset / invalid |
To share, use MULTIREAD_SINGLEWRITE and set multiattach = true.
Important constraints
- Same node only. A persistent volume instance belongs to a specific edge node. To share it, every app instance attaching it must run on that same edge node. To have it on another node you must create a separate volume instance there.
- One writer, many readers.
MULTIREAD_SINGLEWRITEmeans the platform lets multiple apps attach, but it does not arbitrate concurrent writers. Two apps mounting the same block device read-write and both writing will corrupt the filesystem (ext4/xfs are not cluster-aware). - Safe pattern: one app owns writes; the others mount read-only (
readonly = trueon the drive). If you genuinely need concurrent read-write from multiple apps, do not use block-level multiattach — instead have one app export the data over a network share (NFS / SMB / MinIO) that the others mount.
Do the VMs have to stay one-reader / one-writer?
At any given time only one app may mount the volume read-write; every other app must mount it read-only. A few points that are easy to get wrong:
- It is not enforced automatically. EVE will not stop you from setting
readonly = falseon two apps. If you do, both mount/dataread-write, both can write, and the filesystem will corrupt. Safety comes entirely from you marking all-but-one drive asreadonly = true. - The writer role can be changed, but not doubled. To hand off the writer role, flip the flags (old writer →
readonly = true, new writer →readonly = false) and re-apply, so the volume is only ever mounted read-write by one app at a time. This is an operational hand-off, not concurrent shared writing. - Readers do not see live updates. A read-only block mount does not track the writer's new files in real time — the reader's filesystem cache is unaware of changes the writer makes. “One writes, others read” works best when readers mount after the data is written, or remount to pick up changes. It is not a live shared filesystem.
Rule of thumb:
- One app produces data, the other(s) only consume it → multiattach with writer/reader flags is fine.
- Multiple apps need live concurrent read-write on shared files → block-level multiattach is the wrong mechanism regardless of the flags. Run an NFS / SMB server app on the volume and have the others mount it over a local network instance for coherent, concurrent read-write.
Terraform (zedcloud provider)
The zedcloud_volume_instance resource exposes both accessmode and multiattach,
so this is done entirely in Terraform.
Volume definition
resource "zedcloud_volume_instance" "shared_persist" {
device_id = zedcloud_edgenode.my_edgenode.id
accessmode = "VOLUME_INSTANCE_ACCESS_MODE_MULTIREAD_SINGLEWRITE"
multiattach = true
cleartext = false
label = "shared-persist"
name = "shared-persist"
size_bytes = 1073741824
title = "shared-persist"
type = "VOLUME_INSTANCE_TYPE_BLOCKSTORAGE"
lifecycle {
ignore_changes = [device_id]
}
}
Attaching to the writer app (read-write)
drives {
imagename = ""
volumelabel = zedcloud_volume_instance.shared_persist.label
mountpath = "/data"
cleartext = false
ignorepurge = true
maxsize = 1073741824
preserve = true
target = "Disk"
drvtype = "HDD"
readonly = false ### writer
}
Attaching to the reader app(s) (read-only)
drives {
imagename = ""
volumelabel = zedcloud_volume_instance.shared_persist.label
mountpath = "/data"
cleartext = false
ignorepurge = true
maxsize = 1073741824
preserve = true
target = "Disk"
drvtype = "HDD"
readonly = true ### reader
}
Common mistake
Referencing the same volume from two app instances while the volume is still defined as
plain VOLUME_INSTANCE_ACCESS_MODE_READWRITE with no multiattach is not a
valid shared config — it either fails to attach to the second app or produces two
uncoordinated read-write mounts. Always set multiattach = true +
MULTIREAD_SINGLEWRITE, and keep only one writer.
Summary
- Sharing a persistent volume across apps is supported —
multiattach = true+MULTIREAD_SINGLEWRITE. - Same edge node for all attaching apps.
- One writer, others read-only; for concurrent multi-writer, use a network share instead.
- Fully configurable in the
zedcloudTerraform provider (accessmode,multiattach, per-drivereadonly).
