Creating a block device is as simple as specifying the size and an optional name for the block device being created.

Create two volumes, one with a display name and another without:

control# cinder create 1
control# cinder create 1 --display_name data_vol

These two commands created two virtual block devices that are 1 GB of storage space each. To see the two devices, use Cinder's list command:

control# cinder list

The two volumes will be listed with information about them. As with the components already covered, the --all-tenants option can be passed as an administrative user to see a list of all volumes that are in Cinder:

control# cinder list --all-tenants

When volumes are created, they cycle through a progression of states that indicate the status of the new block device. When the status reaches Available, it is ready to be attached to an instance.