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LVM to merge local SSD and Block Storage on BuyVM for root partition?
I've been using a BuyVM (@Francisco) KVM Slice for a while now, and it's been running very stably. I also purchased a Block Storage slab and mounted it to /data. However, I've noticed that I occasionally run into out-of-space issues on the root (/) partition.
I'm considering reinstalling a minimal Alpine Linux using a custom ISO (via VNC) and using LVM to merge the local system SSD and the network Block Storage into a single logical partition for the root directory. I know some providers like @UltraVPS I have done something similar with their storage setups.
For context on my workload: this box is primarily used for running Nginx for simple directory listing.
here are some questions:
- Has anyone successfully done this LVM merge combining local NVMe/SSD and a Slab on BuyVM?
- Given that BuyVM's slabs are network-attached, how catastrophic is a brief slab disconnect (due to network blips or node maintenance) if it's part of the root LVM? Will it cause an immediate kernel panic?
- Will merging them kill my system performance? Or are there better workarounds to keep the root partition from filling up on Alpine?
Thanks for all people~ 
Thanked by 1oloke
Comments
You could use mergerfs. This might be easier and yes your storage would effectively be tiered at this point depending on where reads and writes go. What I recommend is to actually break your system up into meaningful partitions. You could move /etc or /var to the slower disk tier with minimal risk. Figure out where your storage is used and move the data then swap the mount points. Partitioning makes sense more than aggregating the two types of storage.
Thanks for your reply, I learned something new again.💖
I went to learn about mergefs, which seems to be a better choice than LVM. In addition, I want to know whether the system's tiering based on the execution of read and write operations is completely automatic? Or does it require additional configuration?
Can I merge them all into the root directory?
/Oh man. Depends on policy. But if you can get all your root data onto the FUSE filesystem and it actually works please let me know. I don't recommend doing this or trying. I was joking. Definitely just partition off your system and manage the storage better.
Alright, maybe it's not such a good idea to merge the whole root partition (though I did it on UltraVPS).