[[chapter-storage]] ifdef::manvolnum[] PVE({manvolnum}) ================ include::attributes.txt[] NAME ---- pvesm - Proxmox VE Storage Manager SYNOPSYS -------- include::pvesm.1-synopsis.adoc[] DESCRIPTION ----------- endif::manvolnum[] ifndef::manvolnum[] {pve} Storage ============= include::attributes.txt[] endif::manvolnum[] The {pve} storage model is very flexible. Virtual machine images can either be stored on one or several local storages, or on shared storage like NFS or iSCSI (NAS, SAN). There are no limits, and you may configure as many storage pools as you like. You can use all storage technologies available for Debian Linux. One major benefit of storing VMs on shared storage is the ability to live-migrate running machines without any downtime, as all nodes in the cluster have direct access to VM disk images. There is no need to copy VM image data, so live migration is very fast in that case. The storage library (package 'libpve-storage-perl') uses a flexible plugin system to provide a common interface to all storage types. This can be easily adopted to include further storage types in future. Storage Types ------------- There are basically two different classes of storage types: Block level storage:: Allows to store large 'raw' images. It is usually not possible to store other files (ISO, backups, ..) on such storage types. Most modern block level storage implementations support snapshots and clones. RADOS, Sheepdog and DRBD are distributed systems, replicating storage data to different nodes. File level storage:: They allow access to a full featured (POSIX) file system. They are more flexible, and allows you to store any content type. ZFS is probably the most advanced system, and it has full support for snapshots and clones. .Available storage types [width="100%",cols="`, and is uniquely identified by its ``. A pool configuration looks like this: ---- : ... ---- The `: ` line starts the pool definition, which is then followed by a list of properties. Most properties have values, but some of them come with reasonable default. In that case you can omit the value. To be more specific, take a look at the default storage configuration after installation. It contains one special local storage pool named `local`, which refers to the directory '/var/lib/vz' and is always available. The {pve} installer creates additional storage entries depending on the storage type chosen at installation time. .Default storage configuration ('/etc/pve/storage.cfg') ---- dir: local path /var/lib/vz content iso,vztmpl,backup # default image store on LVM based installation lvmthin: local-lvm thinpool data vgname pve content rootdir,images # default image store on ZFS based installation zfspool: local-zfs pool rpool/data sparse content images,rootdir ---- Common Storage Properties ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few storage properties are common among different storage types. nodes:: List of cluster node names where this storage is usable/accessible. One can use this property to restrict storage access to a limited set of nodes. content:: A storage can support several content types, for example virtual disk images, cdrom iso images, container templates or container root directories. Not all storage types support all content types. One can set this property to select for what this storage is used for. images::: KVM-Qemu VM images. rootdir::: Allow to store container data. vztmpl::: Container templates. backup::: Backup files ('vzdump'). iso::: ISO images shared:: Mark storage as shared. disable:: You can use this flag to disable the storage completely. maxfiles:: Maximal number of backup files per VM. Use `0` for unlimted. format:: Default image format (`raw|qcow2|vmdk`) WARNING: It is not advisable to use the same storage pool on different {pve} clusters. Some storage operation need exclusive access to the storage, so proper locking is required. While this is implemented within a cluster, it does not work between different clusters. Volumes ------- We use a special notation to address storage data. When you allocate data from a storage pool, it returns such a volume identifier. A volume is identified by the ``, followed by a storage type dependent volume name, separated by colon. A valid `` looks like: local:230/example-image.raw local:iso/debian-501-amd64-netinst.iso local:vztmpl/debian-5.0-joomla_1.5.9-1_i386.tar.gz iscsi-storage:0.0.2.scsi-14f504e46494c4500494b5042546d2d646744372d31616d61 To get the filesystem path for a `` use: pvesm path Volume Ownership ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There exists an ownership relation for 'image' type volumes. Each such volume is owned by a VM or Container. For example volume `local:230/example-image.raw` is owned by VM 230. Most storage backends encodes this ownership information into the volume name. When you remove a VM or Container, the system also removes all associated volumes which are owned by that VM or Container. Using the Command Line Interface -------------------------------- It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the concept behind storage pools and volume identifiers, but in real life, you are not forced to do any of those low level operations on the command line. Normally, allocation and removal of volumes is done by the VM and Container management tools. Nevertheless, there is a command line tool called 'pvesm' ({pve} storage manager), which is able to perform common storage management tasks. Examples ~~~~~~~~ Add storage pools pvesm add pvesm add dir --path pvesm add nfs --path --server --export pvesm add lvm --vgname pvesm add iscsi --portal --target Disable storage pools pvesm set --disable 1 Enable storage pools pvesm set --disable 0 Change/set storage options pvesm set pvesm set --shared 1 pvesm set local --format qcow2 pvesm set --content iso Remove storage pools. This does not delete any data, and does not disconnect or unmount anything. It just removes the storage configuration. pvesm remove Allocate volumes pvesm alloc [--format ] Allocate a 4G volume in local storage. The name is auto-generated if you pass an empty string as `` pvesm alloc local '' 4G Free volumes pvesm free WARNING: This really destroys all volume data. List storage status pvesm status List storage contents pvesm list [--vmid ] List volumes allocated by VMID pvesm list --vmid List iso images pvesm list --iso List container templates pvesm list --vztmpl Show filesystem path for a volume pvesm path ifdef::wiki[] See Also -------- * link:/wiki/Storage:_Directory[Storage: Directory] * link:/wiki/Storage:_GlusterFS[Storage: GlusterFS] * link:/wiki/Storage:_User_Mode_iSCSI[Storage: User Mode iSCSI] * link:/wiki/Storage:_iSCSI[Storage: iSCSI] * link:/wiki/Storage:_LVM[Storage: LVM] * link:/wiki/Storage:_LVM_Thin[Storage: LVM Thin] * link:/wiki/Storage:_NFS[Storage: NFS] * link:/wiki/Storage:_RBD[Storage: RBD] * link:/wiki/Storage:_ZFS[Storage: ZFS] endif::wiki[] ifndef::wiki[] // backend documentation include::pve-storage-dir.adoc[] include::pve-storage-nfs.adoc[] include::pve-storage-glusterfs.adoc[] include::pve-storage-zfspool.adoc[] include::pve-storage-lvm.adoc[] include::pve-storage-lvmthin.adoc[] include::pve-storage-iscsi.adoc[] include::pve-storage-iscsidirect.adoc[] include::pve-storage-rbd.adoc[] ifdef::manvolnum[] include::pve-copyright.adoc[] endif::manvolnum[] endif::wiki[]