Suggested storage for my Proxmox VE cluster

[Mimmik]

Hi all,

I have 3 servers with Proxmox VE 6 and one shared low-end storage that can publish LUNs via iSCSI only. I can't export via NFS using my shared storage and there is very little space on local server disks for a distributed filesystem.

I'd like to use thin provisioning and snapshots on my VMs, and I need some space for my ISO images and templates too, but I can't find a way to have all this features supported in a Proxmox VE storage with this limited infrastructure.

Any suggestion for my case?

Thanks in advance

 

[LnxBil]

I'd like to use thin provisioning and snapshots on my VMs, and I need some space for my ISO images and templates too, but I can't find a way to have all this features supported in a Proxmox VE storage with this limited infrastructure.

Any suggestion for my case?

No, not possible with dedicated shared storage. You can just use clustered LVM, which does not have thin provisioning nor snapshot capability.

You can however use GFS2 or OCFS2 on top, but that is IMHO unsupported.

 

[budy]

You can however use GFS2 or OCFS2 on top, but that is IMHO unsupported.

Don't use OCFS2, if you don't really have a very good reason to do so! I recently switched from OVM to Proxmox but even even when I was running OVM, I ditched OCFS2 after the 2nd catastrophic failure 2 years into running my OVM cluster and used a HA-NFS instead.

 

[fortechitsolutions]

For what it is worth, just to mention. Low-end storage devices which support NFS are both common and easy to setup - and relatively inexpensive. I would suggest you consider this as an option, if the NFS storage will meet your requirement for thin provision shared storage. Just use a (QNAP or Synology) NAS device if you want a more or less plug-and-play experience for the hardware. Or use a suitable 'old PC/server box' with 'bunch of disks' and throw on your favourite linux distro / ClearOS for a good basic web-managed NFS filer if you prefer / if you like using refurb-old hardware instead of spending a few $100's on a NAS box. End of the day the hard drives themselves are the bigger cost over the 'server/nas chassis'.

NFS works well and is easy to setup. So maybe consider just doing what works well and is easy to setup.

10gig is relatively inexpensive. 1gig is fine if that gives you enough bandwidth. You can play with port trunking stuff if you wish. Or not. It would probably be recommended to use 'dedicated interface(s)' for NFS storage access rather than one interface per proxmox host as your combined (storage, management, VM Bridge interface). ie, better performance and better 'security profile'. But of course this requires a tiny bit more effort for setup.

Anyhow.

( Life can be simpler if we let it be so. Sometimes, trying to get a free lunch with infinite possible options and complexities, is difficult to arrange, so it is better to just go for the non-free lunch option. And carry on with life.)

Tim

 

[budy]

NFS works well and is easy to setup. So maybe consider just doing what works well and is easy to setup.

Couldn't agree more… NFS is what I have been using for years with great speed and stability.

 

[LnxBil]

Don't use OCFS2, if you don't really have a very good reason to do so! I recently switched from OVM to Proxmox but even even when I was running OVM, I ditched OCFS2 after the 2nd catastrophic failure 2 years into running my OVM cluster and used a HA-NFS instead.

I had that too with GFS2. Therefore, they are both not officially supported, I guess. Still sad that there is no solution for this on a closed system (e.g. SAN), which only exports block-based LUNs.

 

[budy]

My advice would probably be to go with ZFS if you're using local storage - and this includes iSCSI LUNs in your case, and Ceph if your can setup a "real" storage cluster. Actually, most of my backup storage systems are running ZFS on top of iSCSI LUNs.