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