Differences and recommendations on how to choose storage

[rabban]

Hi!

I'm a little bit confused regarding the different Storage that Proxmox supports. I want to improve an old setup and also build a new base setup, so I have some doubts.

1. Improving an old setup: currently, I have a cluster where all VM images are stored using a NFS share in a NAS. Also in a different NAS, we use the same approach to store backups, as NFS is a Storage that support both backups and VM disks. This setup was used because the implementation wasn't too complex, but right now there are some latency issues because of the NFS protocol and I was looking for a new way to store the VM images.
   
   Reading about it, I found out about Proxmox support for iSCSI and as my NAS supports iSCSI, I decided to give it a try. So I created a LUN and configured it using the GUI choosing iSCSI, and later choosing LVM to setup it over iSCSi, and enabling the Shared Filesystem, so all servers can use it. However, this iSCSI implementation only supports VM Images in RAW format, it doesn't support snapshots and iSCSI can't be used to store Backups. I started to find a workaround for this and came up with this idea:
   
   Is it possible to use iSCSI and configure LVM over it and create a ext4 filesystem to mount that LUN in the Proxmox server as a Directory? Is that a good idea? I understand that in this case, it's not possible to have the Storage shared in all the nodes, is that correct?
   
   What other options do I have to set up a shared filesystem in a NAS that doesn't support ZFS nor Ceph?
   
   
2. Regarding the new setup: I'm installing a new setup. I was reading about it and ZFS is the best option as I understand. If I'm going to use 4 drives, how can I distribute them with ZFS? Should I use ZFS with RAID5 to store both Proxmox storage, VM images and Backups? We'll also take backups in a different server, but the main backups are going to be stored in that server. Are there any other recommendations? What about using hardware RAID 5, create a LVM over it and mount it as a Directory?

Thanks!

 

[bbgeek17]

Is it possible to use iSCSI and configure LVM over it and create a ext4 filesystem to mount that LUN in the Proxmox server as a Directory?

yes, but not in conjunction with "Shared" attribute.

Is that a good idea?

Given the information you provided about your environment - most likely it is not a good idea, as it will take away your shared storage capability and quick live migrations.

it's not possible to have the Storage shared in all the nodes, is that correct?

Correct, EXT4 is not a cluster aware filesystem. It would need to be restricted to a single node.

What other options do I have to set up a shared filesystem in a NAS that doesn't support ZFS nor Ceph?

OCFS2 or similar cluster aware filesystem. You can find a few tutorial posts on the forum from community members. In general, OCFS setup, maintenance and support is beyond "Proxmox VE: Installation and configuration" scope.

Good luck

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Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[sb-jw]

What hardware do you currently have?
What do you plan to buy new and what, if necessary, upgrade?
Do you have a specific budget?

What is your goal with the new setup? Do you want to replace the old with the new? Can the old hardware still be used?