[PVE-User] ZFS: Limited usages ?

[Petric Frank]

Hello,

running PVE GUI 5.1-51

I've mounted a ZFS storage (Datacenter -> Storage).

Is there a reason why the GUI allows to select Disk Image and Container only ?

No Backup, ...

In my means ZFS is a file system like for example ext4.

regards
Petric

[Fabian Grünbichler]

Post by Petric Frank
Hello,
running PVE GUI 5.1-51
I've mounted a ZFS storage (Datacenter -> Storage).
Is there a reason why the GUI allows to select Disk Image and Container only ?
No Backup, ...
In my means ZFS is a file system like for example ext4.

you can create a dataset ("zfs create ...") and then configure it as
directory storage with appropriate content types if you want to backup
to a ZFS dataset.

but please be aware that backing up to a different storage/system than
the backup source is strongly recommended for production use.

[Petric Frank]

Hello,

Post by Fabian Grünbichler

Post by Petric Frank
Hello,
running PVE GUI 5.1-51
I've mounted a ZFS storage (Datacenter -> Storage).
Is there a reason why the GUI allows to select Disk Image and Container only ?
No Backup, ...
In my means ZFS is a file system like for example ext4.

you can create a dataset ("zfs create ...") and then configure it as
directory storage with appropriate content types if you want to backup
to a ZFS dataset.

The mounted ZFS volumes are datasets. Created by zfs create <Pool>/<Dataset>.
The current type is filesystem.

I'm not an expert in ZFS - how to set a content type on a dataset ?

So the question remains - as these are (ZFS) filesystems, why to Backups are
allowed to store ?

One part of storage.cfg besides other (zfs) entries:
----------- cut ------------
zfspool: zfs
pool Pool/vz
content rootdir,images
sparse 0
----------- cut ------------

The GUI does not list other than the above two content types. Could that be a
bug in the GUI ?

Post by Fabian Grünbichler
but please be aware that backing up to a different storage/system than
the backup source is strongly recommended for production use.

Sure. There are diffent pools.

regards

[Petric Frank]

Hello,

Post by Petric Frank

Post by Fabian Grünbichler

Post by Petric Frank
running PVE GUI 5.1-51
I've mounted a ZFS storage (Datacenter -> Storage).
Is there a reason why the GUI allows to select Disk Image and

Container

Post by Fabian Grünbichler

Post by Petric Frank
only ?
No Backup, ...
In my means ZFS is a file system like for example ext4.

you can create a dataset ("zfs create ...") and then configure it as
directory storage with appropriate content types if you want to

backup

Post by Fabian Grünbichler
to a ZFS dataset.

The mounted ZFS volumes are datasets. Created by zfs create
<Pool>/<Dataset>.
The current type is filesystem.
I'm not an expert in ZFS - how to set a content type on a dataset ?

In proxmox go to Datacenter -> Storage, select your storage and click on
Edit and there you can select to content types for this storage.

Here i am presented with a list which contains "Disk Images" and "Container"
only !
No other selections were possible because they are not listed. "ISO image",
"Container Template" and "VZDump backup file" are NOT in the drop down list.

Does this limitation have a the reason - either intentional or a bug ?

regards

[Petric Frank]

Hello,

Post by Petric Frank
Hello,

Post by Petric Frank

Post by Fabian Grünbichler

Post by Petric Frank
running PVE GUI 5.1-51
I've mounted a ZFS storage (Datacenter -> Storage).
Is there a reason why the GUI allows to select Disk Image and

Container

Post by Fabian Grünbichler

Post by Petric Frank
only ?
No Backup, ...
In my means ZFS is a file system like for example ext4.

you can create a dataset ("zfs create ...") and then configure it as
directory storage with appropriate content types if you want to

backup

Post by Fabian Grünbichler
to a ZFS dataset.

The mounted ZFS volumes are datasets. Created by zfs create
<Pool>/<Dataset>.
The current type is filesystem.
I'm not an expert in ZFS - how to set a content type on a dataset ?

In proxmox go to Datacenter -> Storage, select your storage and click on
Edit and there you can select to content types for this storage.

Here i am presented with a list which contains "Disk Images" and "Container"
only !
No other selections were possible because they are not listed. "ISO image",
"Container Template" and "VZDump backup file" are NOT in the drop down list.
Does this limitation have a the reason - either intentional or a bug ?

See https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Storage and the links to the storage
types at the end of that site.
On a ZFS storage proxmox creates ZVOLs to storage VM disk data, it's not
used as file based storage and thus is not suitable as a backup target.
To use a ZFS filesystem as backup target you need to create "Directory"
type storage in proxmox which points to a directory on your ZFS
filesystem. For this storage type you can select the content type
"backup".

That is the info i missed. Understood.

I've selected zfs when defining it in the GUI because of the underlying file
system. The side effects of this decision was not known to me.

Thanks for your explanation.

regards