[pve-docs.git] / local-lvm.adoc

Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
----------------------------
include::attributes.txt[]

ifdef::wiki[]
:pve-toplevel:
endif::wiki[]

Most people install {pve} directly on a local disk. The {pve}
installation CD offers several options for local disk management, and
the current default setup uses LVM. The installer let you select a
single disk for such setup, and uses that disk as physical volume for
the **V**olume **G**roup (VG) `pve`. The following output is from a
test installation using a small 8GB disk:

----
# pvs
  PV         VG   Fmt  Attr PSize PFree  
  /dev/sda3  pve  lvm2 a--  7.87g 876.00m

# vgs
  VG   #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize VFree  
  pve    1   3   0 wz--n- 7.87g 876.00m
----

The installer allocates three **L**ogical **V**olumes (LV) inside this
VG:

----
# lvs
  LV   VG   Attr       LSize   Pool Origin Data%  Meta%
  data pve  twi-a-tz--   4.38g             0.00   0.63
  root pve  -wi-ao----   1.75g
  swap pve  -wi-ao---- 896.00m     
----

root:: Formatted as `ext4`, and contains the operation system.

swap:: Swap partition

data:: This volume uses LVM-thin, and is used to store VM
images. LVM-thin is preferable for this task, because it offers
efficient support for snapshots and clones.

Hardware
~~~~~~~~

We highly recommend to use a hardware RAID controller (with BBU) for
such setups. This increases performance, provides redundancy, and make
disk replacements easier (hot-pluggable).

LVM itself does not need any special hardware, and memory requirements
are very low.


Bootloader
~~~~~~~~~~

We install two boot loaders by default. The first partition contains
the standard GRUB boot loader. The second partition is an **E**FI **S**ystem
**P**artition (ESP), which makes it possible to boot on EFI systems.
Commit	Line	Data
	1	Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
	2	----------------------------
	3	include::attributes.txt[]
	4
	5	ifdef::wiki[]
	6	:pve-toplevel:
	7	endif::wiki[]
	8
	9	Most people install {pve} directly on a local disk. The {pve}
	10	installation CD offers several options for local disk management, and
	11	the current default setup uses LVM. The installer let you select a
	12	single disk for such setup, and uses that disk as physical volume for
	13	the Volume Group (VG) `pve`. The following output is from a
	14	test installation using a small 8GB disk:
	15
	16	----
	17	# pvs
	18	PV VG Fmt Attr PSize PFree
	19	/dev/sda3 pve lvm2 a-- 7.87g 876.00m
	20
	21	# vgs
	22	VG #PV #LV #SN Attr VSize VFree
	23	pve 1 3 0 wz--n- 7.87g 876.00m
	24	----
	25
	26	The installer allocates three Logical Volumes (LV) inside this
	27	VG:
	28
	29	----
	30	# lvs
	31	LV VG Attr LSize Pool Origin Data% Meta%
	32	data pve twi-a-tz-- 4.38g 0.00 0.63
	33	root pve -wi-ao---- 1.75g
	34	swap pve -wi-ao---- 896.00m
	35	----
	36
	37	root:: Formatted as `ext4`, and contains the operation system.
	38
	39	swap:: Swap partition
	40
	41	data:: This volume uses LVM-thin, and is used to store VM
	42	images. LVM-thin is preferable for this task, because it offers
	43	efficient support for snapshots and clones.
	44
	45	Hardware
	46	~~~~~~~~
	47
	48	We highly recommend to use a hardware RAID controller (with BBU) for
	49	such setups. This increases performance, provides redundancy, and make
	50	disk replacements easier (hot-pluggable).
	51
	52	LVM itself does not need any special hardware, and memory requirements
	53	are very low.
	54
	55
	56	Bootloader
	57	~~~~~~~~~~
	58
	59	We install two boot loaders by default. The first partition contains
	60	the standard GRUB boot loader. The second partition is an EFI System
	61	Partition (ESP), which makes it possible to boot on EFI systems.