• Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login
Netgate Discussion Forum
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Search
  • Register
  • Login

Disk Usage vs Actual (Disk) Size

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Virtualization
15 Posts 3 Posters 6.6k Views
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • O
    onlineph
    last edited by Sep 30, 2013, 1:39 PM

    I wish to understand how pfsense work in virtual machine. I am using oracle virtual box.

    In my VM it shows actual size of 7.81G (despite my virtual drive is 100G). In my pf box GUI it shows 94% disk usage.

    Please confirm if pfsense disk usage refers to the usage from "actual (disk) size" in the virtual box?

    Thanks!

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • S
      Supermule Banned
      last edited by Sep 30, 2013, 1:40 PM

      Are you running "thin" or "thick" provisioning??

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • O
        onlineph
        last edited by Sep 30, 2013, 1:43 PM

        Those terms are too technical to me. I am only a pf newby. If you could term that in layman's term.  ;D

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          Supermule Banned
          last edited by Sep 30, 2013, 2:34 PM

          When you set it up using Virtualbox, what kind of disk provisioning are you using?

          Do you allocate it all at once in virtualbox or "use it when it grows"….?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • O
            onlineph
            last edited by Oct 5, 2013, 6:30 AM

            This is what happen in my installation: (simulation installation in my laptop)

            1. Create Virtual Machine > Create a virtual hard drive now > create

            2. Hard drive file type - VMDK

            3. Storage on physical hard drive > Dynamically Allocated

            4. File Allocation and size > (I set 500GB, I have 1TB)

            However, when I check on settings, the virtual size is 500G but the actual size was auto set to 62.69MB

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • K
              kejianshi
              last edited by Oct 5, 2013, 6:55 AM

              The problem is the same now as it was before. The "partition" has not been expanded to occupy the entire disk space after you increased the drive size.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • O
                onlineph
                last edited by Oct 5, 2013, 8:05 AM

                but as you have advised before, I have reinstalled, even created a new VM.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • S
                  Supermule Banned
                  last edited by Oct 5, 2013, 8:10 AM

                  VmWare allocates "thin provisioning" out of the box…. you need to make it "Thick" when you create the VM.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • K
                    kejianshi
                    last edited by Oct 5, 2013, 6:17 PM

                    I think you have to try pretty hard to end up with these problems.  I have a couple VMs that use dynamically expanding volumes (although I don't set any more up that way).  They always from the beginning showed the maximum allocation of the drive as "free space".

                    Besides the thin/thick provisioning issue, be sure not to reuse that virtual disk you expanded.  Delete that disk completely of the server, create a new disk that is not the expanding type.  Make it 100GB of so and then reinstall pfsense.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • O
                      onlineph
                      last edited by Oct 6, 2013, 2:28 AM Oct 6, 2013, 12:29 AM

                      Great!

                      I don't know why I have never tried the "fixed" option where the virtual disk is equal to actual size!

                      Thanks a lot you've done a big great help!

                      I got a little concern though… So now that I have 100GB, what's your recommendation on what would I enter in "Proxy server: Cache management > Hard disk cache size ?

                      I have upgraded from 4GB RAM to 12GB running in a Quad Core.

                      and

                      what is "coss Hard disk cache size" ? What does it refers to?

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • K
                        kejianshi
                        last edited by Oct 6, 2013, 7:32 PM Oct 6, 2013, 7:28 PM

                        Well - Assuming you give up to half of your RAM to squid as a RAM cache, that still leaves you 6GB RAM.  6GB x 20 = 120GB

                        Had I known you were going to go and triple your RAM I'd have said go with a 150GB HD.  haha.

                        Anyway, look at the memory available on the main page of your pfsense.

                        It should be somewhere near 90GB.  So, with that much RAM pfsense can handle a 90GB disk cache, no problem.

                        Depending on which means more to you, stability for sure or maximizing resource utilization, you might want to go with 80GB to make sure you never get near your limits.  Just depends.  I try to keep mine nice and safe and yet, I'm at 75% today.  Had I tried to ride the edge, I'd be crashed already.  80GB = 81920 in that blank you asked about.

                        "coss Hard disk cache size?"  Not sure.  Show me.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • O
                          onlineph
                          last edited by Oct 12, 2013, 10:41 AM

                          Thanks for that great advise:

                          I am creating a simulation for experimentation, and I really need your great inputs as I am getting excited learning!

                          RAM: 8GB
                          HD: 1TB
                          Quadcore.

                          I'm gonna use VB.

                          Please correct me in my allocation.

                          Created fix VM disk of 100GB
                          Allocated 81920 cache cap

                          I am more into stability. Please correct my configs.

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • K
                            kejianshi
                            last edited by Oct 12, 2013, 7:47 PM Oct 12, 2013, 7:02 PM

                            It will be stable.  You will come close to maxing out your RAM completely but shouldn't ever quite hit the limit or the swap space.
                            You can also set your RAM cache to nearly 4GB.  3GB would be very safe.  Leaves 1 GB for system this and that.  If you ever do hit the limit, just tune ONLY the disk cach size.  Drop it 10% at a time until you no longer max out RAM then leave it.

                            **  I edited.  I made a math error originally.

                            Currently I'm at 90% of 4GB with only a 40GB disk cache and 1.5GB RAM cache.
                            90% of 3818 MB

                            Ideally you want to chew up almost all your resources, but not quite.  Its taken 1 month of continual usage for my caches to fill to this point.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • O
                              onlineph
                              last edited by Oct 13, 2013, 2:09 AM

                              Currently, my "Memory Cache Size is 8". So what number shall I input in order to set the RAM cache to nearly 4GB or 3GB?

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • K
                                kejianshi
                                last edited by Oct 13, 2013, 2:30 AM

                                Input 3072 to that blank.

                                My memory usage has decreased from 90% to 88%, so my settings are working.  It maxed at 90% before purging cache.

                                90% utilization is good enough for me.

                                Because you have more ram than me, you may later need to adjust up or down slightly on the HDD cache.  Keep an eye on it.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                1 out of 15
                                • First post
                                  1/15
                                  Last post
                                Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.
                                  This community forum collects and processes your personal information.
                                  consent.not_received