qubes 4 partitioning/mount scheme

[haaber]

Hello,

I have one 32G SSD and a large HDD. In my present Q3.2 installation I am
a bit unhappy with the mount scheme of qubes: indeed, /var/lib/qubes
contains all large data. I would prefer such folders at root level, such
as /appvms and /templatevms etc. But this is my taste.

In any case things are like they are in Q3.2. What bothers is the
question if the directory structure the same in Q4? It is somehow wicked
that one needs to know how Q4 will install in order to kow how to
partition the drives *before* installing it :))

So: could some Q4 user find this out for me please? Most probably 'ls
/var/lib/qubes' will suffice :)

Thank you, Bernhard

[Yethal]

Can't you just symlink the /var/lib/qubes folder to the secondary drive?

[Unman]

Hello Bernhard

In answer to your original question the directory structure is the same
in 4rc1.

unman

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

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But in default installation, LVM thin volumes are used, instead of
files for VM disk images ("all large data"). If you want to have it on
secondary drive, you need to put "LVM thin pool" there, instead of
/var/lib/qubes.

Additionally, Qubes 4.0 is more flexible about placing different VMs on
different disks - for example you can keep templates on one disk, and
AppVMs on another, without messy symlinks. There will be more
documentation about it later, but for now some commands for that (look
at their manual pages for details):

First configure additional LVM thin pool to your taste. Then register
it:

qvm-pool --add pool_name lvm_thin -o volume_group=vg_name,thin_pool=thin_pool_name
# pool_name is a freely chosen pool name
# vg_name is LVM volume group name
# thin_pool_name is LVM thin pool name

Now, you can create VMs in that pool:

qvm-create -P pool_name --label red vmname

If you want migrate existing VM there, it isn't possible directly, but
you can clone it to the pool, then remove the old one:

qvm-clone -P pool_name old_name new_name
qvm-remove old_name

If that was a template, or other VM referenced elsewhere (NetVM or
such), you need to adjust those referenced manually first. For example:

qvm-prefs appvm_based_on_old_name_template template new_name


In theory you can still use file-based disk images ("file" pool driver),
but it lack some features, so for example you won't be able to do
backups without shutting down a VM.

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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