View disk details

After you create a Persistent Disk or Hyperdisk in Compute Engine, you can review information about the disk's configuration. You can use this information to monitor disk performance, enhance data security, and optimize your storage and costs. This document explains how to view the following essential disk details:

  • A list of all disks available in a project, including disks that aren't attached to an instance
  • Attached instances
  • Whether a disk will be automatically deleted with its instance
  • Access mode
  • Throughput and input/output operations per second (IOPS) performance metrics
  • Encryption information

Before you begin

  • If you haven't already, set up authentication. Authentication verifies your identity for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:

    Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:

    Console

    When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

    gcloud

    1. Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation, initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command: 

      gcloud init

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

    2. Set a default region and zone.

    REST

    To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation, initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command: 

      gcloud init

      If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

    For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

View all disks in a project

For a comprehensive view of your storage resources, you can list all of the disks within a project, including disks that aren't attached to an instance.

Console

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Disks page.

Go to Disks

The Disks page lists all of the disks in your project.

gcloud

Run the disks list command.

gcloud compute disks list

Command output

A list of all Persistent Disk and Hyperdisk volumes in your project.

To view disks in a specific region or zone, use the --zone or --region flag to specify the location.

REST

Make a POST request to the compute.disks.aggregatedList method.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/aggregated/disks/

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID.

Request response

A list of all Persistent Disk and Hyperdisk volumes in your project.

View the instances that a disk is attached to

Understand how your disk is being used, and prevent incurring costs from unused disks, by identifying which instances are attached to it.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Disks page.

    Go to Disks

  2. In the Name column, click the name of the disk.

  3. In the Properties table, the row labeled In use by lists all instances that are attached to the disk.

gcloud

Run the gcloud compute disks describe command.

    gcloud compute disks describe DISK_NAME 

      --zone=ZONE
      --format="json(users)"

Replace the following:

  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk.

Command output

If the output is null, the disk isn't attached to any instances. Otherwise, the output is a JSON object that contains a field named users. The users field lists the URLs of all instances that use the disk.

REST

Make a POST request to the compute.disks.get method.

  POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID.
  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk.

Request response

The REST response is a JSON object that contains a field named users.

If the value for the users field is null, the disk isn't attached to any instances. Otherwise, the users object lists the URLs of all instances that use the disk.

View if a disk has autodelete enabled

To prevent accidental data loss, check if your boot or non-boot disk will be deleted when you delete the attached instance.

By default, boot disks have autoDelete enabled, meaning that deleting an instance also deletes its attached boot disk. However, you can override this setting if you want to preserve the attached boot disk. Non-boot disks will also be deleted if they have autoDelete enabled.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

    Go to VM instances

  2. In the Name column, click the name of the instance.

  3. In the Storage section, navigate to the When deleting instance column. When deleting instance can be one of the following values:

    • Delete disk: the disk will be deleted with the instance.
    • Keep disk: the disk won't be deleted with the instance.

gcloud

Run the gcloud compute disks describe command.

    gcloud compute disks describe DISK_NAME 

      --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk.

Command output

A JSON object that contains a field named autoDelete. autoDelete describes if the disk will be deleted with its attached instance, and can be one of the following values:

  • true: the disk will be deleted with the instance.
  • false: the disk won't be deleted with the instance.

REST

Make a POST request to the compute.disks.get method.

  POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID.
  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk.

Request response

A JSON object that contains a field named autoDelete. autodelete describes if the disk will be deleted with its attached instance, and can be one of the following values:

  • true: the disk will be deleted with the instance.
  • false: the disk won't be deleted with the instance.

View how much space is left on a disk

To view how much space is left on a disk without connecting to the attached instance, you need to install the Ops Agent on your instances. Ops Agent provides additional metrics for bytes_used (disk bytes used) and percent_used (disk utilization).

To learn more about monitoring disk space, see Ops Agent metrics.

View a Hyperdisk's access mode

Access mode determines if a Hyperdisk volume can be attached to multiple instances and if the attached instances have read-only or read-write access to the disk.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Disks page.

    Go to Disks

  2. In the Name column, click the name of the disk.

  3. In the Properties table, the row labeled Access mode describes how instances can access the data on the disk, and can be one of the following values:

    • Single VM read-write (default), for read-write access from one instance.
    • Multiple VMs read-write, for read-write access from multiple instances.
    • Multiple VMs read-only, for read-only access from multiple instances.

gcloud

Run the gcloud compute disks describe command.

    gcloud compute disks describe DISK_NAME 

      --zone=ZONE 

      --format="json(accessMode)"

Replace the following:

  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk.

Command output

A JSON object that contains a field named accessMode. accessMode describes how instances can access the data on the disk, and can be one of the following values:

  • READ_ONLY_MANY, for read-only access from multiple instances.
  • READ_WRITE_MANY, for read-write access from multiple instances.
  • READ_WRITE_SINGLE, for read-write access from one instance.

REST

Make a POST request to the compute.disks.get method.

  POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID.
  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk

Request response

The REST response is a JSON object that contains a field named accessMode. accessMode describes how instances can access the data on the disk, and can be one of the following values:

  • READ_ONLY_MANY, for read-only access from multiple instances.
  • READ_WRITE_MANY, for read-write access from multiple instances.
  • READ_WRITE_SINGLE, for read-write access from one instance.

Determine if a disk is performing as expected

Disks have limits for the maximum IOPS and throughput that they can perform at. These limits depend on the disk size and connected instance. A disk's maximum performance can't exceed the limits of the instance that it's attached to.

To determine if a Hyperdisk or Persistent Disk volume is performing at the expected level based on its size and attached instance, complete the following steps:

  1. Check the disk's provisioned or maximum performance.
  2. Compare the provisioned or maximum performance with the disk's actual performance.

The steps to check for a disk's provisioned or maximum performance depend on if the disk is a Hyperdisk or Persistent Disk.

View a Hyperdisk's provisioned performance

To view the provisioned IOPS and throughput values for a Hyperdisk volume, see View the provisioned performance settings for Hyperdisk.

View a Persistent Disk's maximum performance

Persistent Disk volumes have throughput and IOPS limits per GiB and per instance that they can sustain. The following sections provide detailed information on the performance limits for zonal and regional Persistent Disk:

Balanced Persistent Disk and SSD (performance) Persistent Disk also offer baseline performance for sustained IOPS and throughput. To calculate the maximum IOPS and throughput values for a Balanced Persistent Disk or SSD Persistent Disk volume, use the following equation:

Maximum expected performance = Baseline performance + (Per GiB performance limit * Combined disk size in GiB)

For more information, see Baseline performance.

View a disk's actual performance

To view a disk's IOPS and throughput performance, use the Google Cloud console.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

    Go to VM instances

  2. In the Name column, click the name of the VM that the disk is attached to.

  3. Click Observability.

  4. In the menu, select Disk > Performance

    Graphs appear that illustrate the disk's IOPS and Throughput performance. To view all graphs, you must install Ops Agent.

To view a more detailed report on a disk's performance, see Review disk performance metrics.

If the disk isn't performing as expected, review the guidance in Monitor a disk's health.

View information about a disk's encryption

Disks in Compute Engine are encrypted with one of the following types of encryption keys:

  • Google-owned and managed keys
  • Customer-managed encryption keys (CMEKs)
  • Customer-supplied encryption keys (CSEKs)

By default, Compute Engine uses Google-owned and managed keys.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Disks page.

    Go to Disks

  2. In the Name column, click the name of the disk.

  3. In the Properties table, the row labeled Encryption indicates the type of encryption: Google managed, Customer-managed, or Customer-supplied.

gcloud

Run the gcloud compute disks describe command.

    gcloud compute disks describe DISK_NAME 

      --zone=ZONE 

      --format="json(diskEncryptionKey)"

Replace the following:

  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk.

Command output

If the output is null, the disk uses a Google-owned and managed key.

Otherwise, the output is a JSON object.

If the JSON object contains a field named diskEncryptionKey, the disk is encrypted. The diskEncryptionKey object contains information about whether the disk is CMEK- or CSEK-encrypted:

  • If the diskEncryptionKey.kmsKeyName property is present, the disk is CMEK-encrypted. The kmsKeyName property indicates the name of the specific key used to encrypt the disk: 
    {
  "diskEncryptionKey": {
    "kmsKeyName": "projects/my-proj/.."
  }
}
  • If the diskEncryptionKey.sha256 property is present, the disk is CSEK-encrypted. The sha256 property is the SHA-256 hash of the customer-supplied encryption key that protects the disk. 
      {
    "diskEncryptionKey": {
      "sha256": "abcdefghijk134560459345dssfd"
    }
  }

REST

Make a POST request to the compute.disks.get method.

  POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID.
  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk

Request response

If the response is null, the disk uses a Google-owned and managed key.

Otherwise, the response is a JSON object.

If the JSON object contains a field named diskEncryptionKey, the disk is encrypted. The diskEncryptionKey object contains information about whether the disk is CMEK- or CSEK-encrypted:

  • If the diskEncryptionKey.kmsKeyName property is present, the disk is CMEK-encrypted. The kmsKeyName property indicates the name of the specific key used to encrypt the disk: 
    {
  "diskEncryptionKey": {
    "kmsKeyName": "projects/my-proj/.."
  }
}
  • If the diskEncryptionKey.sha256 property is present, the disk is CSEK-encrypted. The sha256 property is the SHA-256 hash of the customer-supplied encryption key that protects the disk. 
      {
    "diskEncryptionKey": {
      "sha256": "abcdefghijk134560459345dssfd"
    }
  }

If the disk uses CMEKs, you can find detailed information about the key, its key ring, and location by following the steps in View keys by project.

If the disk uses CSEKs, contact your organization's administrator for details about the key. By using a CMEK, you can also see what resources that key protects with key usage tracking. For more information, see View key usage.

View all of a disk's details

For general information about your disk, you can view all of a disk's properties at once.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Disks page.

    Go to Disks

  2. In the Name column, click the name of the disk.

    The Properties table appears with a summary of basic disk information.

  3. To view additional disk information, click EQUIVALENT REST.

    A dialog window appears with the original REST response from the Compute Engine API.

gcloud

Run the gcloud compute disks describe command.

  gcloud compute disks describe DISK_NAME \
    --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk.
  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.

Command output

All data associated with the Compute Engine disk.

REST

Make a POST request to the compute.disks.get method.

  POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/disks/DISK_NAME

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID.
  • ZONE: the zone where your disk is located.
  • DISK_NAME: the name of the disk

Request response

The REST response contains all data associated with the Compute Engine disk.

What's next