Proxmox v2 on Debian installation, filesystem recommendations

[bramd]

Hi all,

I'm taking Proxmox v2 for a test drive. I'm planning to install it on a dedicated server, so using the ISO installation is not an option for me.

Going the Debian way, I have a few questions about filesystems and disk configuration.

I was planning to use 2 x 3 TB SATA disks in software RAID 1, put a small /boot partition on there and use LVM for the rest. It seems I can only use local directory storage for OpenVZ containers, so I suppose I would create a volume for /var/vz:
1. What FS would you recommend for this volume, I found in some older forum posts that EXT3 is prefered, is this still standing?
2. Are there any special considerations if I would like to increase the size of this volume later?

Then for KVM guests:
1. What is recommended for local storage, LVM, qcow or raw images and why?
2. Would it be wise to put all LVM volumes in the same group, or is it a good idea to create a special VG for virtual machines, does this have any advantages/disadvantages?

Any feedback on above questions is welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Bram

 

[tom]

Hi all,

I'm taking Proxmox v2 for a test drive. I'm planning to install it on a dedicated server, so using the ISO installation is not an option for me.

Going the Debian way, I have a few questions about filesystems and disk configuration.

I was planning to use 2 x 3 TB SATA disks in software RAID 1, put a small /boot partition on there and use LVM for the rest. It seems I can only use local directory storage for OpenVZ containers, so I suppose I would create a volume for /var/vz:

1. What FS would you recommend for this volume, I found in some older forum posts that EXT3 is prefered, is this still standing?

ext3 is the most stable for OpenVZ and yes, we still recommend it (the iso installer also uses ext3 by default).

2. Are there any special considerations if I would like to increase the size of this volume later?

no, but think twice as changing later is always some work. using LVM is recommended.

Then for KVM guests:
1. What is recommended for local storage, LVM, qcow or raw images and why?

depends on your needs. all three have advantages and disadvantages. using block devices (LVM) is generally fast as you eliminate on virtualization level.

2. Would it be wise to put all LVM volumes in the same group, or is it a good idea to create a special VG for virtual machines, does this have any advantages/disadvantages?
...
Bram

I see no problem if you got all in the same vg. make sure you have enough free space that you can do snapshots (e.g. 16 GB). and last, we do not recommend softraid, go for a powerfull hardware raid. in any case, check the performance with 'pveperf'.