Creating a Backup folder on my bulk storage

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Bentopher

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Oct 20, 2025
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I currently have 3 storage drives:
- 1TB NVMe (local): Directory type with the following content: Disk image, Container template, ISO image, Backup, Container.
- 2TB NVMe: ZFS type with Container and Disk Image content. Used for my containers.
- 4TB SSD: ZFS type with Container and Disk Image content. Used for bulk storage like media.

I setup a Vaultwarden LXC recently and before migrating everything over to use it, I wanted to make sure I had a proper backup in case anything goes wrong. Currently I can only backup my container to my 1TB NVMe local drive, and it stores the backups at /var/lib/vz/dump.

But I feel as though my backups should be getting stored on my 4TB SSD instead. I am just struggling to see how I can do this. As I can only select Container and Disk Image content for ZFS type storage. So I am just trying to figure out the proper way to set this up.

Just for clarity, I have an RClone LXC setup and I will be looking to mount this backup folder to it so I can then store it in the cloud somewhere.

Thanks for the help in advance!
 
Create a Directory storage in Datacenter > Storage and point it to your dataset's mount point from zfs list. I'd create a new one just for that. Only enable Backup content for this. Also look into PBS.
 
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Impact said:
Create a Directory storage in Datacenter > Storage and point it to your dataset's mount point from zfs list. I'd create a new one just for that. Only enable Backup content for this. Also look into PBS.
Click to expand...
When I do zfs list I get the following:
Code: 
root@pve:~# zfs list
NAME                     USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
nvme                     450G  1.32T   168K  /nvme
nvme/subvol-100-disk-0   646M  63.4G   646M  /nvme/subvol-100-disk-0
nvme/subvol-102-disk-0  2.23G  3.77G  2.23G  /nvme/subvol-102-disk-0
nvme/subvol-104-disk-0   552M  1.46G   552M  /nvme/subvol-104-disk-0
nvme/subvol-105-disk-0   753M  3.26G   753M  /nvme/subvol-105-disk-0
nvme/subvol-106-disk-0  1.01G  2.99G  1.01G  /nvme/subvol-106-disk-0
nvme/subvol-107-disk-0  1.18G  2.82G  1.18G  /nvme/subvol-107-disk-0
nvme/subvol-109-disk-0   629M  9.39G   629M  /nvme/subvol-109-disk-0
nvme/subvol-110-disk-0   390M  15.6G   390M  /nvme/subvol-110-disk-0
nvme/subvol-112-disk-0  14.0G  50.0G  14.0G  /nvme/subvol-112-disk-0
nvme/subvol-113-disk-0  1.80G  2.20G  1.80G  /nvme/subvol-113-disk-0
nvme/subvol-114-disk-0   533M  4.48G   533M  /nvme/subvol-114-disk-0
nvme/subvol-115-disk-0   845M  2.17G   845M  /nvme/subvol-115-disk-0
nvme/subvol-116-disk-0   499M  1.51G   499M  /nvme/subvol-116-disk-0
nvme/subvol-117-disk-0  2.12G  17.9G  2.12G  /nvme/subvol-117-disk-0
nvme/subvol-118-disk-0   469M  1.54G   469M  /nvme/subvol-118-disk-0
nvme/vm-101-disk-0       130G  1.36T  89.1G  -
nvme/vm-103-disk-0         6M  1.32T    56K  -
nvme/vm-103-disk-1      32.5G  1.35T  2.58G  -
nvme/vm-108-disk-0         3M  1.32T   108K  -
nvme/vm-108-disk-1       260G  1.44T   137G  -
nvme/vm-108-disk-2         6M  1.32T    64K  -
ssd                     1.34T  2.17T    96K  /ssd
ssd/subvol-100-disk-0   1.34T   627G  1.34T  /ssd/subvol-100-disk-0

How do I go about specifying the size of a new dataset. I can see that zfs create /ssd/new_dataset will create one but how do I say limit it to 64GB?

Thanks for the guidance!
 
Googling for "zfs create dataset" gave following result:


zfs create [-ps] [-b blocksize] [-o property=value]… -V size volume
Click to expand...
Creates a volume of the given size. The volume is exported as a block device in /dev/zvol/path, where path is the name of the volume in the ZFS namespace. The size represents the logical size as exported by the device. By default, a reservation of equal size is created.
https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/man/master/8/zfs-create.8.htm
Click to expand...

Hth
 
That doc is for ZVOL size, not what we want here. Do you need to restrict the dataset at all? If yes then you'd use a quota for this.
 
Impact said:
That doc is for ZVOL size, not what we want here. Do you need to restrict the dataset at all? If yes then you'd use a quota for this.
Click to expand...
I think it would make sense to set a quota on the dataset right? Then I know I have that much storage for backups and the rest is for media etc.
Do I create the dataset first in one command, then set the quota afterwards in the next command?
 
Impact said:
That doc is for ZVOL size, not what we want here. Do you need to restrict the dataset at all? If yes then you'd use a quota for this.
Click to expand...
You are correct of course but then it's even more simple:

Code: 
zfs create pool_name/dataset_name
zfs set quota=size pool_name/dataset_name
 
Johannes S said:
You are correct of course but then it's even more simple:

Code: 
zfs create pool_name/dataset_name
zfs set quota=size pool_name/dataset_name
Click to expand...
Thanks, I've done that now. Is it recommended to create a different dataset for each container/vm backup? So it would be ssd/backups/<container_x> etc. I am only going to be backing up my vaultwarden container for now. But if this is the recommended approach I might as well do this so I dont have issues in the future.
 
I really wouldn't. Just more work for no good reason and UI noise. Please don't quote each post, by the way.
 
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