Placing OpenVZ container on 2nd storage device.

[KuJoe]

Hello, I currently have my server configured with 2 RAIDs. A RAID10 setup (/dev/sda) and a RAID1 setup (/dev/sdb). I installed Proxmox and the RAID10 was set as the primary local storage, which I wanted. But I wanted to use the RAID1 setup for a single OpenVZ container, is this possible? I made an ext4 partition for the RAID1 and added it to Proxmox's storage pool as a directory (/vz). I see the option of using the storage for KVM (although it's not an LVM) but for OpenVZ I do not see the option.

I already have the OpenVZ container created but I don't mind rebuilding a new one if that makes things easier.

Thanks!

 

[KuJoe]

Well I feel a bit foolish. It appears this is a limitation of OpenVZ and cannot be done at this time. Oh well, time to play with bind mounts...

 

[KuJoe]

Wow, this actually works out much better. For others who are interested, here's how I did it (since the script provided in OpenVZ's wiki does NOT work):
Instructions are abbreviated, I can provide step-by-step if needed but I figured most people on these boards know how to create and mount a new filesystem).

1. Create a partition with your new drive (fdisk -u /dev/sdX).
2. Make a filesystem on the new partition (mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdX#)
3. Mount new filesystem (mount /dev/sdX# /new)
4. Create new mount point for the bind mount (mkdir /var/lib/vz/private/VZID/new) <-- /vz/root/ was recommended but I couldn't get it to work.
5. Create the mount file (vi /etc/vz/conf/VZID.mount)
6. Add the following lines to the mount file:
   

   #!/bin/bash
   mount -n -t simfs /new /var/lib/vz/root/VZID/new -o /new

7. Start container (vzctl start VZID)
8. View new mount (df)

Replace /new with your directory name and replace VZID with your container ID.

BONUS - In addition to using the new filesystem as storage for your OpenVZ VPSs, I also went into the Proxmox web GUI and added the filesystem as storage for backups to make better use of the filesystem and not have any wasted space.

I only just figured this out moments before typing this up so if I missed something please let me know!

 

[tom]

See Proxmox VE 2.0 beta - you can define multiple storage for OpenVZ

 

[KuJoe]

See Proxmox VE 2.0 beta - you can define multiple storage for OpenVZ

LoL, figures I would miss something like that. Oh well, the bind mount option actually works better for me because I can use the RAID1 disk space for OpenVZ and for scheduled backups in Proxmox.

 

[tom]

in 2.0, you can use each storage for multiple purposes. that means you can use a mount point for container, backup, storing disk images or iso files and templates.

 

[KuJoe]

Wow, you guys rock.

 

[lastguru]

You can always change container location in config files. if you edit /etc/vz/vz.conf, then, if i remember correctly, even the default location (where proxmox creates the container) will be changes to the one you like.

 

[KuJoe]

Tried that. The container wouldn't start.