Volumes

Norn v2 uses Nomad host volumes for persistent storage. This replaces Kubernetes PersistentVolumeClaims from v1.

How It Works

Host volumes are directories on Nomad client nodes that are mounted into task containers. They persist across job restarts and redeployments.

Prerequisites

1. Create the directory on the Nomad client

sudo mkdir -p /opt/volumes/signal-data
sudo chown nomad:nomad /opt/volumes/signal-data

2. Add a host_volume stanza to the Nomad client config

# /etc/nomad.d/client.hcl
client {
  enabled = true

  host_volume "signal-data" {
    path      = "/opt/volumes/signal-data"
    read_only = false
  }
}

Restart the Nomad client after adding the stanza.

3. Declare the volume in infraspec.yaml

volumes:
  - name: signal-data
    mount: /var/lib/signal-cli
    readOnly: false

Field	Type	Default	Description
name	string	—	Must match the Nomad host_volume name
mount	string	—	Mount path inside the container
readOnly	bool	false	Mount as read-only

Nomad Translation

The translator maps infraspec volumes to Nomad job config:

group "web" {
  volume "signal-data" {
    type   = "host"
    source = "signal-data"
  }

  task "web" {
    volume_mount {
      volume      = "signal-data"
      destination = "/var/lib/signal-cli"
      read_only   = false
    }
  }
}

Volumes are attached to every TaskGroup in the job, including periodic and batch jobs.

Use Case: signal-cli Storage

The signal-sideband app uses a host volume to persist signal-cli's registration data and message store:

# signal-sideband/infraspec.yaml
volumes:
  - name: signal-data
    mount: /var/lib/signal-cli

This ensures signal-cli's identity and message database survive container restarts.

Multiple Volumes

An app can declare multiple volumes:

volumes:
  - name: app-data
    mount: /data
  - name: app-cache
    mount: /cache
    readOnly: false

Each volume needs a matching host_volume stanza on the Nomad client.