what is the file .qcow2 for?

[lumox]

I have this file on one of my backup disks:



but I don't know what it is for and when I created it.
Could you help me figure this out please? Thanks

 

[apoc]

qcow2 is a virtual disk format.
According to the naming it belongs to vm 101.
What it does? Puh, good question. If you don't know it probably noone does

 

[lumox]

qcow2 is a virtual disk format.
According to the naming it belongs to vm 101.
What it does? Puh, good question. If you don't know it probably noone does

Ok,
But I don't understand why it isn't placed on the same HD where other disks are, and why it is in a different format:




Honestly, I don't remember what I did at the time
Thanks

 

[apoc]

The file seems to be active as the timestamp indicates.
So I suspect you just placed it accidentally there.
Vm-102 is your pfsense according to the screenshot.
My approach would be: Make a backup of the pfsense configuration. Shut the VM down. Relocate the file to the desired place. Start VM back up.

 

[LnxBil]

My approach would be: Make a backup of the pfsense configuration. Shut the VM down. Relocate the file to the desired place. Start VM back up.

Good approach.
Keep in mind that the reallocation can also be done online if you don't want or can to shutdown the VM.

 

[vikozo]

@lumox
the file has been created when you created your VM (windows 10), there you could tell also where to store your VM-DISK!
It should be possible to move the Disk back to where it should belong.

have a nice day
vinc

 

[lumox]

The file seems to be active as the timestamp indicates.
So I suspect you just placed it accidentally there.
Vm-102 is your pfsense according to the screenshot.
My approach would be: Make a backup of the pfsense configuration. Shut the VM down. Relocate the file to the desired place. Start VM back up.

So, if I got it right, the qcow2 disk image file is for pfsense (vm-102) what the RAW disk images are for OMV and Windows 10 (VMS 100 and 101), isn't it?
Anyway, I still don't understand how I chose the "wrong" file format and the wrong storage when I created the pfsense VM!
Thanks

 

[lumox]

Good approach.
Keep in mind that the reallocation can also be done online if you don't want or can to shutdown the VM.

But could re-allocating the image where it should belong mess up the boot of the VM somehow? I mean, will VM -102 (pfsense) find the new position of the image at the startup automatically? Thanks

 

[apoc]

The file format is very likely depending on the storage type underneath.
I have just chosen the "move" option of a Disk and "qcow2" was default format. Once I chose my ZFS pool it switched to RAW.

If you trigger this change via the UI the move operation should just update everything. If you do it manually from the CLI, then it means you need to update the configuration file in /etc/pve/qemu-server

I'd stick with an online move. 10GB is not too large so it will only mean a short interruption for your daily operation. I don't expect this whole process to take longer than 15 mins.

 

[lumox]

The file format is very likely depending on the storage type underneath.
I have just chosen the "move" option of a Disk and "qcow2" was default format. Once I chose my ZFS pool it switched to RAW.

If you trigger this change via the UI the move operation should just update everything. If you do it manually from the CLI, then it means you need to update the configuration file in /etc/pve/qemu-server

I'd stick with an online move. 10GB is not too large so it will only mean a short interruption for your daily operation. I don't expect this whole process to take longer than 15 mins.

OK thanks