Upgrade resources for General Purpose or I/O optimized Cloud Servers

In the architecture of General Purpose Cloud Servers and I/O-optimized servers, you can change the size of your local system storage space by using the following methods:

• Increase available storage with Cloud Block Storage
• Create a new server with more resources

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These instructions apply to General Purpose and I/O optimized servers with local system disks only. The boot volume allows you to create a new server and to change resource allocation.

Increase available Storage

You can expand the available data storage space of your server by adding Cloud Block Storage volumes. Cloud Block Storage volumes come in two types: Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) for standard performance and Solid State Drive (SSD) for high performance. For more information about Cloud Block Storage, see Create and Attach a Cloud Block Storage Volume.

Create a new server with more resources

You can migrate your data to a new server with a larger allocation of Random Access Memory (RAM), Virtual Central Processing Units (vCPUs), data disks, and network throughput if you require more capacity.

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You cannot use a saved image to create a server with a smaller system disk allocation than the original server.

To migrate your data to a new server, perform the following steps:

1. Create an image of your system disk. See Create an image or restore a Cloud Server from an image for
   more information.

2. Back up your data disk, either to a Cloud Block Storage volume or with Cloud Backup .
   Notes:

   • Consider your need to decide between these options. For information about the advantages of each, see Best practices for backing up your data: Cloud Block Storage versus Cloud Backup.
   • If you have rsync (Linux®), xcopy, or robocopy (Microsoft® Windows®) installed on your server, you can use the tool to migrate data from your data disks after you have created the new server in step 3.

3. Use the image of your system disk to create a new server with your preferred configuration. From the Control Panel, select Servers -> Create Server.

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   To create the server, go to the Image section and select the image from the Saved tab, not from the stock Rackspace images.

4. Copy the data from your data disk backup to your new data disk.

5. Delete the old server when you are satisfied with your new server.

Additional resources

You can use Auto Scale to resize your server, keep your IP address, and have it happen dynamically in response to load. For details, see How to use Auto Scale to change the size of your General Purpose or optimized servers.