Can only use ISO file that is physically available in storage folder "ISO Image"

[cmonty14]

Hi,
in my network there's a NFS providing ISOs to multiple OS distributions.
Instead of copying all ISO files to the storage I would prefer to use a softlink.

Therefore I have mounted the NFS to /mnt/nfs/<server> and created a softlink in <storage>/template/iso.
The content of <storage>/template/iso is this:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 86 Aug 22 16:01 SLE-12-SP3-SAP-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso -> /mnt/nfs/linuxlab/suse/sles/12.3-SLES4SAP/x86_64/SLE-12-SP3-SAP-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 86 Jul 15 2019 SLE-12-SP4-SAP-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso -> /mnt/nfs/linuxlab/suse/sles/12.4-SLES4SAP/x86_64/SLE-12-SP4-SAP-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 92 Jul 15 2019 SLE-15-SP1-Installer-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso -> /mnt/nfs/linuxlab/suse/sles/15.1-SLES4SAP/x86_64/SLE-15-SP1-Installer-DVD-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 87 Jul 15 2019 SLE-15-SP1-Packages-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso -> /mnt/nfs/linuxlab/suse/sles/15.1-SLES4SAP/x86_64/SLE-15-SP1-Packages-x86_64-GM-DVD1.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 644874240 Jul 1 2019 archlinux-2019.07.01-x86_64.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 310 Jul 1 2019 archlinux-2019.07.01-x86_64.iso.sig
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 310 Jul 1 2019 archlinux-2019.07.01-x86_64.iso.sig.1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 246415360 Jul 18 09:28 clonezilla-live-2.5.5-38-amd64.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 350224384 Jul 6 2019 debian-10.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 672137216 Sep 23 14:23 debian-10.1.0-amd64-xfce-CD-1.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 306184192 Apr 27 2019 debian-9.9.0-amd64-netinst.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 162529280 Dec 30 10:46 rancheros-proxmoxve-autoformat.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 162529280 Dec 30 10:42 rancheros.iso
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 64 Jul 15 2019 rhel-8.0-x86_64-dvd.iso -> /mnt/nfs/linuxlab/redhat/rhel/8.0/x86_64/rhel-8.0-x86_64-dvd.iso
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 64 Jan 15 10:22 rhel-8.1-x86_64-dvd.iso -> /mnt/nfs/linuxlab/redhat/rhel/8.1/x86_64/rhel-8.1-x86_64-dvd.iso
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 881852416 Apr 14 2019 systemrescuecd-6.0.3.iso

However any of the softlinked ISO file is not working when creating a VM.

Can you please advise if this error can be fixed?

THX

 

[syfy323]

You just need to mount the NFS share using Proxmox. The only restriction is, that the directory is "flat", in terms of all ISOs need to be directly in this mount and not located in subdirectories.

 

[cmonty14]

Well, with this restriction I cannot use this approach because the directory structure is not flat at all.

 

[syfy323]

Ok, I understand. AFAIK Proxmox only supports this.
If your NFS server is based on Linux, you can hardlink the file to a new export instead and mount that.

 

[F.R.]

I realize it's been a few years, so likely this is a recent feature, but just in case: I've been able to successfully install through a symlink in the local /templates/iso folder, pointing to ISO files on external locations.

Proxmox VE 8.0.4 here.

 

[LnxBil]

I realize it's been a few years, so likely this is a recent feature, but just in case: I've been able to successfully install through a symlink in the local /templates/iso folder, pointing to ISO files on external locations.

Symlinks on your local storage were never a problem, just on the network, because the symlink has to be functional on the PVE node, not the NFS storage server.

 

[F.R.]

Ah, I see.
I'm linking to a separate device, but on the local system, yeah.

Well, sorry then for bringing in old news, lol.