partition size

bread-baker

Member
Mar 6, 2010
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0
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Hello
this weekend my son and I will be installing Proxmox 1.7 onto a
system containing 3-ware raid-6 . the storage size will be approx
6-TB.

from past experience the install process would use the entire disk.
that would be ok, but my questions :

is there a size limit for partitions? [ I remember in the past
certain filesystem types had limits... but that could be old info].

if there is a limitation on size, do newer install cd's allow
partition adjustments? [ like using fdisk etc].

thanks
Rob
 
the installer take the whole volume, maximum size is 2 TB. so you need create a volume < 2TB to install. depending on your needs you can use the rest. I assume the raid controller allows more than one volume on the raid6, but I do not know the 3ware in detail - with Adaptec controllers its quite easy.
 
Would't it be nice if installer could limit the partition size without having to use, if present, raid controller features for creation of multiple volumes?
Since kvm I/O is faster in direct raw on LVM LV, would love to have i.e. a 1TB hard disk and have proxmox install /boot on sda1, "pve" on a user defined size /dev/sda2 (i.e. 200GB), and let user create, could be ok if done manually after installation, i.e. /dev/sda3, create a new PV and VG upon it, and add as "lvm storage" in proxmox web interface.
I've had a look at how resize pve/data after installation, but seems risky and complicated to me (umount /pve/data, resize file system, resize LV data, pvresize, and then resize /dev/sda2 (how much exactly? I fear "rounding" problems with size calculation).
Am I missing something simpler? Is there a very good and exaustive "error free" howto on the wiki?
Thanks a lot
 
fyi: do this to use partitions > 2-Tb.

this is how I've made a 4.5 TB partition in April, and today a 9-tb partition.
I am not an expert on this. search the net for more detail.

note a gpt label is required

fdisk can not do this. parted is needed.

proxmox will create a ms-dos type label. so you can not use that disk.

we used 3-ware and setup a boot volume [30gb] and used remainder of our 3-ware raid-6 array for a 9TB+ volume.

so proxmox will use sda

# you'll need to install parted
aptitude install parted

parted sdb

# make table:
mktable
New disk label type: gpt

# make partition:
mkpart primary xfs 1 100%

#use p to print table.

# note quit will save info
quit

# print table
parted -s /dev/sdb print
Model: AMCC 9650SE-8LP DISK (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 9968GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
1 1049kB 9968GB 9968GB xfs


From past research I used xfs .
mkfs.xfs /dev/sdb1
 
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for the 3ware card there is a setting called 'StoreSave' . with out a battery on the card this is supposed to be set to 'protection' or 'balance' . With a battery Performance is used.
these are pveperf tests

StoreSave set to balanced.
CPU BOGOMIPS: 19195.52
REGEX/SECOND: 789555
HD SIZE: 8911.18 GB (/dev/sdb1)
BUFFERED READS: 257.79 MB/sec
AVERAGE SEEK TIME: 17.41 ms
FSYNCS/SECOND: 22.07
DNS EXT: 99.13 ms

set to balance, we got similar FSYNCS using 2.6.18 and 2.6.32 pve kernels.

StoreSave set to 'Performance':
home4: ~ # pveperf /ht
CPU BOGOMIPS: 19195.52
REGEX/SECOND: 801220
HD SIZE: 8911.18 GB (/dev/sdb1)
BUFFERED READS: 227.77 MB/sec
AVERAGE SEEK TIME: 19.64 ms
FSYNCS/SECOND: 4283.72
DNS EXT: 72.72 ms
 
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