block storage or file storage types for vm creations

[vkosuri]

Hello,

I am very new to proxmox and hypervisors.
which is good for VM creations. I am confused about choosing the file storage(directory) or block storage(lvm-thin) https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Storage#Storage Types

 

[Dominic]

When you install Proxmox VE the installer automatically creates storages for you. You can start out simply using what is there by default and with some experiences you will soon see differences between the storage types. One example for this is thin provisioning: LVM-thin supports it while directories do not. In contrast, LVM-thin only supports images and rootdir as content types.

 

[vkosuri]

Thank you very much, currently we are using NFS mount storage to store vm disk.

The reason we are storing NFS because lvm-thin uses raw disk and NFS point for qcow2.

I heard my senior colleagues qcow2 does support snapshot and caching data. But still I can take snapshots on lvm-thin.

Could you please let me know the difference between these two snapshots.

And also any documentation on disk partition between lvm-thin and lvm storage.

 

[Dominic]

Could you please let me know the difference between these two snapshots.

Snapshots are a regular feature of LVM-thin (details) while snapshots on storages like directory and NFS are only possible with QCOW2 (and QED) formats. This is because the file systems themselves do not support snapshots. They are a feature of the file format/QEMU (details, more details).

And also any documentation on disk partition between lvm-thin and lvm storage.

Do you mean something like the default PVE installation schemes: Wiki, Reference Docu?

 

[vkosuri]

Snapshots are a regular feature of LVM-thin (details) while snapshots on storages like directory and NFS are only possible with QCOW2 (and QED) formats. This is because the file systems themselves do not support snapshots. They are a feature of the file format/QEMU (details, more details).


Do you mean something like the default PVE installation schemes: Wiki, Reference Docu?

The resources are very much useful. Thank you very much.

I have read about different storage areas https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/data-storage however still confusing choosing which storage will be good for creating VMs

 

[Dominic]

Do you have a single machine or a cluster?

 

[vkosuri]

It's cluster extend upto 5 nodes