[SOLVED] Does dir storage support thin provisioning?

[JBB]

Reading the docs on storage, it says:

"A number of storages, and the Qemu image format qcow2, support thin provisioning. "

It doesn't actually tell you which storages support thin provisioning, but I can I assume that dir storage does not (unless the images stored on it are qcow2)?

 

[janos]

Hello,

Dir storages store RAW or QCOW2 images.

 

[JBB]

Hello,

Dir storages store RAW or QCOW2 images.

Thanks, so am I correct to assume that if the images are RAW on directory storage, then those images cannot shrink? I see the "discard" option is available on them in the GUI though - so I'm not sure.

 

[janos]

Hello,

Now what are you want? Thin provisioning or shrink? These are two different types of thing.

 

[JBB]

Ah OK. I didn't know they were separate. Ideally I want thin provisioning using RAW disk images.

 

[janos]

This is not possible with DIR storage type. You need LVM or CEPH, etc for this ,where the underlayer storage supporting the thin provision itself.

 

[JBB]

OK thanks. The fact that the "discard" checkbox is available in the GUI on RAW images on DIR storage made me wonder.

 

[janos]

Because other storage type support it (CEPH, LVM-Thin, etc).