Use a hardwre Raid5 array for backup & VM file storage

[lpallard]

Hello,

so I have asked on another thread which is getting quite long, and got no reply. I need to make this work ASAP since my main production server is down due to maxed out storage inside a specific CentOS VM,..

Basically, I have added 3X 2TB drives in a RAID5 config to my node, and I would like to dedicate 300GB of it for VM backups, and the rest (roughly 3.34TB) for general file storage (NOT backups, ISO, images, etc)

I have created a PV on the entire array (3.64TB) called datastore

root@proxmox:~# pvdisplay
  --- Physical volume ---
  PV Name               /dev/sdb
  VG Name               datastore
  PV Size               3.64 TiB / not usable 4.00 MiB
  Allocatable           yes 
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              953196
  Free PE               876396
  Allocated PE          76800
  PV UUID               CHxPDo-GGDk-3FIc-r3mx-KqUo-UAKI-5nbZNX
   
  --- Physical volume ---
  PV Name               /dev/sda3
  VG Name               pve
  PV Size               277.96 GiB / not usable 3.98 MiB
  Allocatable           yes 
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              71158
  Free PE               4095
  Allocated PE          67063
  PV UUID               Xa9LeF-7J5q-eprh-nfhx-BNYK-WbdS-0BXab4

Then a single VG occupying the entire PV

root@proxmox:~# vgdisplay
  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               datastore
  System ID             
  Format                lvm2
  Metadata Areas        1
  Metadata Sequence No  4
  VG Access             read/write
  VG Status             resizable
  MAX LV                0
  Cur LV                1
  Open LV               1
  Max PV                0
  Cur PV                1
  Act PV                1
  VG Size               3.64 TiB
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              953196
  Alloc PE / Size       76800 / 300.00 GiB
  Free  PE / Size       876396 / 3.34 TiB
  VG UUID               bCMIXo-MXPD-rnD5-Ti76-DbhK-6ULM-u57u82
   
  --- Volume group ---
  VG Name               pve
  System ID             
  Format                lvm2
  Metadata Areas        1
  Metadata Sequence No  4
  VG Access             read/write
  VG Status             resizable
  MAX LV                0
  Cur LV                3
  Open LV               3
  Max PV                0
  Cur PV                1
  Act PV                1
  VG Size               277.96 GiB
  PE Size               4.00 MiB
  Total PE              71158
  Alloc PE / Size       67063 / 261.96 GiB
  Free  PE / Size       4095 / 16.00 GiB
  VG UUID               GazqQp-sAYz-q7vR-IYPE-Xi6X-eNID-MJFFv1

Then finally two LV, first one of 300GB called backups (/dev/mapper/datastore-backup) and another 3.34TB called storage (/dev/mapper/datastore-storage).

I have modified fstab to automount backup to /mnt/backups and under WebGUI I have added /mnt/backups as backup storage.

Is this optimal??

I have not found a way to assign the storage LV of 3.34TB to my CentOS VM.... How do I do that?!?!

I tried to mount it in proxmox via fstab, then create a raw VHD of 3.3TB but proxmox complained 3.3TB was TOO big for a VHD image.. I have not found a way to use that space yet and need it sooner than later because mysql (in CentOS) dies repeatedly due to lack of space...

Anyways, the general idea is to use that 3.64TB RAID5 in a flexible manner (in case I add more drives to the backplane) and dedicate 300GB to backup & the rest to storage needs..

If anyone could shed some light on this for me I would appreciate greatly..

Thanks!