Is it possible to install Proxmox without ZFS?

Why am I unable to locate the qcow file for the only running VM on the box?
Also does not show up with zfs list.

I can find a .cfg file for the VM but inside it just says agent:1.
 
Thanks for the help. I am, of course, new to proxmox and am trying to
get a grasp on the underlying systems.

<truncated a bunch of PCI root devices>

bios: ovmf
boot: order=virtio0;ide2;net0
cicustom:
citype: nocloud
cores: 1
cpu: host
description: Created by Administrator at 9/24/2024 3%3A49 PM.
efidisk0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-0,efitype=4m,pre-enrolled-keys=1,size=4M
ide2: local-lvm:vm-100-cloudinit,media=cdrom
kvm: 1
machine: q35
memory: 6144
meta: creation-qemu=8.1.5,ctime=1727207818
name: worker1
net0: virtio=BC:24:11:8C:46:B0,bridge=vmbr0,firewall=1
ostype: l26
scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci
smbios1: uuid=39f0d6b5-752f-47e0-a510-d07b8562b2fe
sockets: 6
virtio0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-1,backup=0,size=100G
vmgenid: 721c914d-8c04-49c2-ab07-ce883b3a0657

root@pmx1:~# pvesm status
Name Type Status Total Used Available %
local dir active 69573880 3826772 62167204 5.50%
local-lvm lvmthin active 143773696 2170982 141602713 1.51%

root@pmx1:~# cat /etc/pve/storage.cfg
dir: local
path /var/lib/vz
content iso,backup,vztmpl

lvmthin: local-lvm
thinpool data
vgname pve
content rootdir,images
 
Please use CODE tags </> icon at the top menu of reply box when providing text configuration/output.

virtio0: local-lvm:vm-100-disk-1,backup=0,size=100G
The reason you cannot locate the QCOW file of your disk is that it does not exist.
Your disk is on LVM storage and therefor is RAW block device.

Hope it helps.


Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox
 
Interesting. I have read about the types of devices and I did not see an option during the installation to choose the type of storage.
It makes sense if it is type raw. Is there, in fact, a place to specify it during installation? I did not see it. It's a test box so I can reinstall it,
just wondering if it actually is in the installer or if it's just a silent default.
 
The default install will create an LVM pool if there is only one drive, or a ZFS pool if there is more than one. It will allocate some amount of that space to the root filesystem, how much depends on the size of the drive and you can change it. The rest of it will be used as block storage for raw VM images. Block storage acts like a regular disk device rather than a filesystem.

Using block storage is generally more efficient for storing VM images because there is only one filesystem layer (the one in the VM). That is why PVE favors it over qcow2 on ext4 or xfs.
 
I should add that I am of the opinion that LVM is the right thing for most home users if they have SSD storage. ZFS is very demanding of SSD's because of a thing called "write amplification", which is a consequence of it being copy-on-write. You will see people in this forum advocating for data-center SSD's with "power loss protection" (PLP) to mitigate this.

LVM also has better performance for virtualization.

Lots of people swear by ZFS though, and it does have some nice features, so YMMV.
 
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Yes I am using SSD and I have already run some tests that created excessive wearout numbers.
I am not looking to get the nth degree of performance out of this host so I am actually getting rid of the
LVM volume and running an ext4 directory. The little amount of additional overhead gives me options
when it comes to manipulating the machines. If i were a web services provider running some sort of
transactional database it might make sense. Thanks for you input, it was very helpful. I may end up licensing
Proxmox due to the now problematic VMware relationship but I have more due diligence to complete.
 

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