btrfs for container root filesystem

Mar 3, 2024
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I have Proxmox 8.1 installed with an ext4 root filesystem. I'd like to run an opensuse container with a btrfs root filesystem. Usually if I was installing it as a VM, I'd select btrfs during the installation routine. But with a container, I can't see a way to set the format of the root filesystem anywhere and it just defaults to ext4. How do I change that to btrfs? Do I need to create a new container template that's already set to btrfs for the root? Or does the storage that hosts the container volume have to be formatted as btrfs to begin with?
 
Hi,

currently, this isn't possible with the provided tooling, as ext4 is the hardcoded filesystem for containers.
You might be able to basically create a container from scratch yourself, formatting the disk as Btrfs. But that will be a lot of effort and not really worth it in the end, IMHO.

Or does the storage that hosts the container volume have to be formatted as btrfs to begin with?
How container storage generally works is that a block disk image is created and then a filesystem created on top of it, so the host filesystem does not matter.

It might get implemented in the future, but no guarantee if and when. But feel free to open a request-for-enhancement/RFE ticket in our Bugtracker, so that it can be tracked of in the future!
From a quick search, there does not seem to exist one yet.
 
Thank you! I wish Rockstor didn't require opensuse to be installed with btrfs on root, but it does. I was hoping to run it as a container rather than a VM. Maybe I'll try my hand at creating a container. Is there a build script somewhere for the opensuse 15.5 container that's already listed with pveam? That one was tiny and seemed to work extremely well, I'd love to be able to replicate that with a btrfs root filesystem
 
Maybe I'll try my hand at creating a container. Is there a build script somewhere for the opensuse 15.5 container that's already listed with pveam? That one was tiny and seemed to work extremely well, I'd love to be able to replicate that with a btrfs root filesystem
You just have to format the virtual disk with btrfs and unpack the same template but manually. It's just a tar-ball.
 

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