Can I have an NFS share only for Templates and backing storage?

[ptselios]

Hello,
In my current RHEL-based KVM setup I build a lot of VMs using an existing cloud image as backing store. All the images are stored in an NFS share.
I want to replicate this in my brand new Proxmox installation.

My understanding is that I need to add the NFS share as "Disk Image".
Of course what I want is to NOT deploy VMs on this share. Of course I can make it read-only on the server but this looks a work around.
So, is it possible to make this NFS share available so as to use the images in it as templates for new VMs (with or without backing store) and at the same time not deploy VMs (or containers) there?

 

[Onslow]

Welcome!
If I properly understand you question, then: yes, you can.

See https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/chapter-pvesm.html and search especially for "nfs".

Among others:

"The NFS backend is based on the directory backend, so it shares most properties."

So let's look at the directory backend:

"you can store any content type like virtual disk images, containers, templates, ISO images or backup files."

And in the Table 4 "Storage features for backend nfs" we read:
Content types: images rootdir vztmpl iso backup snippets.

The meaning of these types:

images: QEMU/KVM VM images.
rootdir: Allow to store container data.
vztmpl: Container templates.
iso: ISO images
backup: Backup files (vzdump).
snippets: Snippet files, for example guest hook scripts

Good luck!