Help understanding free PEs in lvm thin pool

adystech

New Member
Jan 2, 2023
9
0
1
Hello, I have a SSD backed lvm thin-pool. In the UI the it shows disk is only 10% (46.61 GB of 470.37 GB) used. In the UI if I try to create a new logical volume it complains about not enough free space left. checking pvdisplay does show `Free PE` is only 30 (around 120MB) left.

Could someone explain why can't I create a new volume when sum of all allocated logical volumes are certainly less than disk size.

Code:
root@proxmox:~ # lvs
  LV             VG             Attr       LSize    Pool           Origin Data%  Meta%  Move Log Cpy%Sync Convert
  data           pve            twi-aotz--   54.30g                       0.00   1.59
  root           pve            -wi-ao----  <39.69g
  swap           pve            -wi-ao----    8.00g
  vm-100-disk-0  vm-crucial-ssd Vwi-aotz--   26.00g vm-crucial-ssd        82.66
  vm-102-disk-0  vm-crucial-ssd Vwi-aotz--    4.00g vm-crucial-ssd        33.98
  vm-104-disk-0  vm-crucial-ssd Vwi-a-tz--    4.00m vm-crucial-ssd        14.06
  vm-104-disk-1  vm-crucial-ssd Vwi-a-tz--   64.00g vm-crucial-ssd        29.12
  vm-104-disk-2  vm-crucial-ssd Vwi-a-tz--    4.00m vm-crucial-ssd        1.56
  vm-111-disk-0  vm-crucial-ssd Vwi-aotz--    4.00g vm-crucial-ssd        48.18
  vm-crucial-ssd vm-crucial-ssd twi-aotz-- <438.07g                       9.91   0.72
root@proxmox:~ # vgdisplay
  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               pve
  System ID
  Format                lvm2
  Metadata Areas        1
  Metadata Sequence No  39
  VG Access             read/write
  VG Status             resizable
  MAX LV                0
  Cur LV                3
  Open LV               2
  Max PV                0
  Cur PV                1
  Act PV                1
  VG Size               <118.74 GiB
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              30397
  Alloc PE / Size       26621 / <103.99 GiB
  Free  PE / Size       3776 / 14.75 GiB
  VG UUID               G342o9-trUn-6kfa-jCMb-BwNh-DJG9-Ud1G1L

  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               vm-crucial-ssd
  System ID
  Format                lvm2
  Metadata Areas        1
  Metadata Sequence No  141
  VG Access             read/write
  VG Status             resizable
  MAX LV                0
  Cur LV                7
  Open LV               3
  Max PV                0
  Cur PV                1
  Act PV                1
  VG Size               <447.13 GiB
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              114465
  Alloc PE / Size       114435 / 447.01 GiB
  Free  PE / Size       30 / 120.00 MiB
  VG UUID               Md8MrM-79Lf-ZlAf-xAJ9-LQsG-i0l8-6p3ANw

root@proxmox:~ # pvdisplay
  --- Physical volume ---
  PV Name               /dev/nvme0n1p3
  VG Name               pve
  PV Size               118.74 GiB / not usable <3.32 MiB
  Allocatable           yes
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              30397
  Free PE               3776
  Allocated PE          26621
  PV UUID               2V7129-CgEf-NcnJ-DMYi-VVzD-nHa1-F3k9Dl

  --- Physical volume ---
  PV Name               /dev/sda1
  VG Name               vm-crucial-ssd
  PV Size               447.13 GiB / not usable <1.82 MiB
  Allocatable           yes
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              114465
  Free PE               30
  Allocated PE          114435
  PV UUID               pkpLlS-KnLj-DCpx-Rj9t-f6MH-2FFo-Vp6E5Z
root@proxmox:~ # lvcreate -L 4g -n gluster-data vm-crucial-ssd
  Volume group "vm-crucial-ssd" has insufficient free space (30 extents): 1024 required.

1677471616208.png
1677471637514.png
1677471655174.png
 
Last edited:
I dont reproduce it with my version, but for me it seems lvm2 has a bug. Proxmox show it like lvm2 represent it and 10 % is used. That is correct. The free PE are wrong. or here u can find an answer.
 
VG Name vm-crucial-ssd
this is your volume group
Free PE / Size 30 / 120.00 MiB
this is how much "free" space you have in your volume group
vm-crucial-ssd vm-crucial-ssd twi-aotz-- <438.07g 9.91 0.72
this is a (t)hin pool, named the same as your volume group, possibly where your other LVs were provisioned from

lvcreate -L 4g -n gluster-data vm-crucial-ssd Volume group "vm-crucial-ssd" has insufficient free space (30 extents): 1024 required.
You dont have 4g of free space left to create another LV on your VG.

You should read through this https://www.tecmint.com/setup-thin-provisioning-volumes-in-lvm/ and note the correct command to create an LV in thin pool in "Creating Thin Volumes" portion


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

About

The Proxmox community has been around for many years and offers help and support for Proxmox VE, Proxmox Backup Server, and Proxmox Mail Gateway.
We think our community is one of the best thanks to people like you!

Get your subscription!

The Proxmox team works very hard to make sure you are running the best software and getting stable updates and security enhancements, as well as quick enterprise support. Tens of thousands of happy customers have a Proxmox subscription. Get yours easily in our online shop.

Buy now!