How to add hard drive to host

[virtualtechie]

Newbie here. Having an issue with extra hard drive not showing up.

Hardware:
HP Proliant DL360 Gen 6 server (older but good enough for what I need)
Dual Intel Xeon X5670 @ 2.93GHz CPUs
96GB RAM (12 x 8GB DDR3 ECC RDIMM)
4 x 2TB 2.5" SAS HDDs (configured as 2 x 2TB logical drives in a RAID1 via HP Smart Array P410i RAID controller)

Proxmox is installed onto one of the logical drives (/dev/sda). I can create VMs and upload ISOs to this logical drive. I can see the other logical drive under "Disks"; it shows as /dev/sdb. I can't seem to do anything with it though. When creating new VMs it doesn't show up as a disk available, only sda shows.

I'm also new to Linux but looking to and willing to learn. How can I go about adding sdb so that I can use it?

 

[shanreich]

You would need to format the drive via the UI (Click on the Node > Disks > Select your disk > Initialize disk with GPT). Depending on what kind of storage you want to create with your disk, the next steps differ.

If you want to create a directory storage, you would simply navigate to Directory in the sidebar and then click 'Create'. There you just supply the sdb disk and enter a name and a type of filesystem.
Be aware that Directory storage does not support many features offered by PVE such as Snapshots (you can check the capabilities of the different storage types in our documentation: [1]).

You could also create an LVM-thin storage, which provides more features than a simple directory storage (which is probably what you currently have on your existing disk with name local). For this, instead of going to Directory in the sidebar, you can navigate to LVM-thin, then click 'Create Thinpool' . Then you just enter a name for your new pool and wait until the creation has finished. Your disk should then be ready to use. I would recommend for you to use this for now as LVM-thin offers more features and capabilities than simple Directory storage, while still being relatively simple to use for beginners.

[1] https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/pve-admin-guide.html#_storage_types

 

[virtualtechie]

You would need to format the drive via the UI (Click on the Node > Disks > Select your disk > Initialize disk with GPT). Depending on what kind of storage you want to create with your disk, the next steps differ.

If you want to create a directory storage, you would simply navigate to Directory in the sidebar and then click 'Create'. There you just supply the sdb disk and enter a name and a type of filesystem.
Be aware that Directory storage does not support many features offered by PVE such as Snapshots (you can check the capabilities of the different storage types in our documentation: [1]).

You could also create an LVM-thin storage, which provides more features than a simple directory storage (which is probably what you currently have on your existing disk with name local). For this, instead of going to Directory in the sidebar, you can navigate to LVM-thin, then click 'Create Thinpool' . Then you just enter a name for your new pool and wait until the creation has finished. Your disk should then be ready to use. I would recommend for you to use this for now as LVM-thin offers more features and capabilities than simple Directory storage, while still being relatively simple to use for beginners.

[1] https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/pve-admin-guide.html#_storage_types

Thank you so much. Followed your steps for creating an LVM-thin storage and it worked flawlessly.

 

[iLion]

You would need to format the drive via the UI (Click on the Node > Disks > Select your disk > Initialize disk with GPT). Depending on what kind of storage you want to create with your disk, the next steps differ.
[...]
For this, instead of going to Directory in the sidebar, you can navigate to LVM-thin, then click 'Create Thinpool' ...

[1] https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/pve-admin-guide.html#_storage_types

I had followed this steps also to add a second volume to my PVE. The used hardware is an Intel NUC i5 with a NVME (1TB) and a SATA SSD (256 GB). I decided to install Proxmox to the smaller SATA (/dev/sda) SSD as a system partition and got:

• /dev/sda1 "BIOS boot"
• /dev/sda2 "EFI"
• /dev/sda3 "LVM"

and all three have in the menu "Disks" in the column "GPT" a "yes".

Then I select my "dev/nvme0n1" and used "Initialize Disk with GPT". In column "GPT" I got a "yes". I switched to "Disks/LVM-Thin" and used "Create: Thinpool" to create a new LVM-Thin called "storage". The result was shown in the left side under my node as "storage (nodename)", but in the table of "Disks" "/dev/nvme0n1" now switched back in column GPT to "no".

Why? I know not enough to understand and if it is a problem. And why should I first initialize the Disk with GPT when it is lost after creating a LVM-Thin? Thanks for all possible help.

 

[Dunuin]

PVE won't let you use that disk when it is already formated/partitioned (from factory), so that you can't wipe your data by accident.
In order to create a LVM-Thin pool on it you will have to wipe the disk first or create a new GPT partition table (which will also get rid of the existing partitions).

 

[iLion]

Ok, i had (before I asked in the forum) a second test. Deleted the LVM-Thin, used also "Wipe Disk" and created the LVM-Thin again. So I had my LVM-Thin and it seems, that everything is fine. But the main question is now, why the new LVM-Thin has no GPT while the others, created with the installer, have. Before creating the LVM-Thin, the /dev/nvme0n1 had also GPT "yes". It would be great to understand the background and learn, what happened.

 

[iweinstein]

You would need to format the drive via the UI (Click on the Node > Disks > Select your disk > Initialize disk with GPT). Depending on what kind of storage you want to create with your disk, the next steps differ.

If you want to create a directory storage, you would simply navigate to Directory in the sidebar and then click 'Create'. There you just supply the sdb disk and enter a name and a type of filesystem.
Be aware that Directory storage does not support many features offered by PVE such as Snapshots (you can check the capabilities of the different storage types in our documentation: [1]).

You could also create an LVM-thin storage, which provides more features than a simple directory storage (which is probably what you currently have on your existing disk with name local). For this, instead of going to Directory in the sidebar, you can navigate to LVM-thin, then click 'Create Thinpool' . Then you just enter a name for your new pool and wait until the creation has finished. Your disk should then be ready to use. I would recommend for you to use this for now as LVM-thin offers more features and capabilities than simple Directory storage, while still being relatively simple to use for beginners.

[1] https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/pve-admin-guide.html#_storage_types

Hi Shanreich,

I just added a 2nd HD (a 4 TB drive) to my Proxmox host using the LVM-thin method you described above, and it worked perfectly. Thanks for your help!

Ira

 

[iweinstein]

You would need to format the drive via the UI (Click on the Node > Disks > Select your disk > Initialize disk with GPT). Depending on what kind of storage you want to create with your disk, the next steps differ.

If you want to create a directory storage, you would simply navigate to Directory in the sidebar and then click 'Create'. There you just supply the sdb disk and enter a name and a type of filesystem.
Be aware that Directory storage does not support many features offered by PVE such as Snapshots (you can check the capabilities of the different storage types in our documentation: [1]).

You could also create an LVM-thin storage, which provides more features than a simple directory storage (which is probably what you currently have on your existing disk with name local). For this, instead of going to Directory in the sidebar, you can navigate to LVM-thin, then click 'Create Thinpool' . Then you just enter a name for your new pool and wait until the creation has finished. Your disk should then be ready to use. I would recommend for you to use this for now as LVM-thin offers more features and capabilities than simple Directory storage, while still being relatively simple to use for beginners.

[1] https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/pve-admin-guide.html#_storage_types

Hi Shanreich,

I added the LVM-Thin storage and confirmed that I can use that storage for VMs and CTs. That's the good news.

However, when I go to the Summary page on PVE, the "HD space" line does not include the new LVM-Thin storage (see attached image showing that my total HD space is still 907.95 GB even after adding a 4 TB drive). How can I configure the HD space line to reflect all of my available storage for VMs / CTs?

Thank you!

Ira

 

[Dunuin]

However, when I go to the Summary page on PVE, the "HD space" line does not include the new LVM-Thin storage (see attached image showing that my total HD space is still 907.95 GB even after adding a 4 TB drive). How can I configure the HD space line to reflect all of my available storage for VMs / CTs?

It's not "HD space" it's "/ HD space" like "Root HD Space" and only means the size/usage of your root filesystem (so the ext4 on your "root" LV).
If you want a combined storage view, have a look at the datacenters summary.