Storage

SUSE Storage, the built-in storage system, provides block device volumes to virtual machines and other pods in a SUSE Virtualization cluster. SUSE Storage creates a dedicated storage controller for each volume and synchronously replicates the volume across nodes.

You can create volumes using virtual machine images or StorageClasses. When using a virtual machine image (qcow2, raw, or ISO file) as your source, you must ensure that the volume size is greater than or equal to the image size. When using a StorageClass to describe how SUSE Storage must provision volumes, you must ensure that the replica count matches the cluster’s configuration.

For optimal results, use a dedicated disk (instead of the root disk) for SUSE Storage volumes and a dedicated storage network to improve I/O performance and stability.

SUSE Virtualization supports provisioning of root volumes and data volumes using external Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers. Once the CSI driver is installed and the SUSE Virtualization cluster is configured, you can use an external storage solution to store and manage virtual machine images, store virtual machine disks on volumes provisioned by the CSI driver, and perform other critical storage functions.

Storage vendors can validate their storage appliances with SUSE Virtualization to ensure greater interoperability through the SUSE Certified Storage for Virtualization certification. You can find information about enterprise-grade storage solutions that are certified to be compatible with SUSE Virtualization in the Partner Certification and Solutions Catalog.