Splitted storage of container/VM data and snapshots

[tblock3s]

Hi all,

I'm totally new in the Proxmox universe, so I'm sorry for my unkowing.

I set up a proxmox server using a 512 GB SSD for the first attemp. Now I want to append the storage by using a 2TB HDD storage device.
Is it possible to split the data of the VMs/container and the snapshots to different storages? I want to use the HDD for data storage and the SSD (where my proxmox OS is running) for the snapshots.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Johannes S]

I don't think that this is possible. You could however use a different storage for backups.
What do you want to achieve by seperating the snapshots from the vms?

 

[tblock3s]

I don't think that this is possible. You could however use a different storage for backups.
What do you want to achieve by seperating the snapshots from the vms?

I‘m not sure if the main SSD has enough storage for all my services. So I want to keep the hardware setup without reinstalling Proxmox and outsource the main data to another storage device.

 

[Johannes S]

You wrote you want to use the HDD as storage for application data, which should be fine (although slow due to HDD worse performance compared to a SSD).
Now a snapshot of the VM shouldn't take that much space that it will be a problem or are you planning to keep the snapshots for more than a few days? Still I think that for your usecase it's propably the best way to make a backup to the HDD (or even better to a external storage (e.G. a PBS server, a NAS or an external usb disk) instead of a snapshot. In both cases you get a copy you can use to restore your vm to a earlier configuration if something goes wrong.

 

[waltar]

You could split the vm/lxc pools as eg let the lxc (and maybe a vm) on ssd and the rest of vm's (and even maybe big lxc) on hdd. The snapshots still stay next to the images itself.

 

[tblock3s]

You could split the vm/lxc pools as eg let the lxc (and maybe a vm) on ssd and the rest of vm's (and even maybe big lxc) on hdd. The snapshots still stay next to the images itself.

That’s a good point. My only problem here ist, that my main Proxmox OS is running in the SSD. I couldn’t find a storage type, which support the option of taking snapshots. Currently I mounted the HDD as a Directory, but a LVM-thin would be better. Unfortunately I found no option to mount the HDD as a LVM- thin. Any idea?

Sure, I can use full backups, but when creating new LXCs or VMs snapshots are more useful. For long time I will use backups.

Thanks for your help!

 

[waltar]

If you did a pve inst with ext4/xfs you got default a lvm-thin volume data which is about same size of mounted "/" lvm volume. And lvm-thin is (mostly) used as block device in pve so there is no filesystem and no "mount" ! See lsblk, lvs and lvdisplay.

 

[Johannes S]

If there is really no lvm-thin you could wipe the disk, to repartition it to your preferences.

 

[gfngfn256]

I couldn’t find a storage type, which support the option of taking snapshots

As long as your VM uses a qcow2 disk type you can take Snapshots, even in a file-based storage. (See addendum 2 of the image you posted).
The image you posted - shows which storages can make live snapshots inherently - even with a non-qcow2 disk type.

Unfortunately I found no option to mount the HDD as a LVM- thin. Any idea?

Connect the disk to the system, in the GUI choose Node & Disks, choose the correct disk & then press the Wipe Disk button. Then go to the Lvm-Thin section & choose Create: Thinpool, choose the correct disk, name it & make sure Add Storage is checked.