how do i configure to remove the verification of the image file, as well as the snapshot requirement?
I looked into using the fusefs to get it working, but it never got to be able to get it working. Any thoughts?
I read it twice and I don’t get it.
Which image file exactly? The verification of the iso when installing…? (if yes you can skip that with arrow up - enter).
And which snapshot (requirement)?
We will need more information 
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in 4.3 snapshots were supposed to be disableable to not have the -cow files.
verification of the root.img file and the private.img… the images…
LVM-thin
list all available pools
qvm-pool ls
check pool settings
qvm-pool info vm-pool
check number of revisions_to_keep
to set numbers of revisions/snapshots for pool vm-pool to nothing
qvm-pool set vm-pool -o revisions_to_keep=0
–
To list volumes of one qube
qvm-volume ls sys-net
to check one image
qvm-volume info sys-net:volatile
to set numbers of revisions/snapshots for pool volume to nothing
qvm-volume config sys-net:volatile revisions_to_keep 0
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Is that for LVM or for what I was asking about?
sorry, misunderstanding
dunno how to disable COW in LVM, but there is possibility to disable it for BTRFS volumes - it’s often in guides how to make SWAP with BTRFS volume.
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I think it is a good answer for any user of the qvm-pool mechanism, so not only lvm. If I understand it corréctly, then pools are designed to abstract the details of different storage types…
The two knobs are slightly different: revisions_to_keep only controls saved volume revisions/snapshots, it does not make the volume stop using the storage driver’s normal backing/COW mechanism. Before changing anything I would first check which pool the qube volumes are actually on with qvm-volume ls and qvm-pool info . If the concern is root.img/private.img verification, that sounds more like image integrity/metadata checking than the revision setting, so it would help to paste the exact command or error that mentions verification.
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I don’t have BTRFS either. I have images, as stated in my OP.
No, it is the check to see if it is a file or a link or whatever I want it to be.
That way I can have external drives again like I did in Qubes 2/3. Very annoying and frustrating to not be able to attach drives that way since using any other method doesn’t work.
The revisions I want to be able to turn off, as was supposed to be doable in Qubes 4.3, because I don’t want to have to have 500 GB of -cow files on the drive at any one time consuming space when it isn’t needed or required.
When using a separate template and the machine is running from a template as an appliance virtual then it does need it so that any changes from the master can be applied to the temporary file. But all the standalones, I don’t want to have that. They are stand-alone for a reason.
And I don’t want all the -cow for all my private images either. As some perform so much data changing that the file becomes 10 GB in a matter of moments. And not only that, but the base image is also 15 GB because it has that 10 GB of data. Then the .old file also becomes that 10 GB when it’s shut down, then when I start it again the -cow grows by 10 GB, and the base grows by 10 GB, so that is then 40 GB instead of 20 GB.
See the problem?
When I set the main system running it processed got over 500 GB of Data and then the whole system died because there was no space left on the 1 TB drive.
The qubes volumes are not an issue here. Ignore all the extra “crap” tht you think may be an issue here… The only issue is that I need to disable the verification, as well as the -cow and -cow.old … It’s that simple… Please, don’t make it more complicated than it actually is.
I understand that it may be a stressful time, but I find this tone to sound quite disrespectful to folk who are trying to help.
OTOH, I accept that english is not an easy language for transmitting tone…
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In this old topics you’ve asked similar question and it seemed that disabling revisions_to_keep was your solution but it wasn’t available before 4.3 in Global Config.
Is that same problem?
If you could describe your problem again but with shorter statements?
Hi Phceac,
There is no tone there to be disrespectful about, so I don’t see what your issue is. It appears that you are trying to find something that is perfectly reasonable and making it sound like I have said something bad. I do not appreciate you attempting to attack and disgrace me like this.
Please apologise for this defamation of character before it becomes a legal matter.
Exactly right Kit, it was not available before this version that is why I am attempting to get it resolved now.
revisions to keep would work if I could set it to disable the -cow files completely.
While that post was a part of it, it never got replied to to give me the answer, and it appeared that the whole thing was just dead as noone is seeing to be willing to tell me the answers.
But yes, I’m tryign to remove the snapshots (-cow) as well as the image verification.
You ask for shorter statements?
Disable -cow.
Disable verification of the images.
Is that good enough?
I don’t really know how to shorten it any further. But that short doesn’t really ask the question I’m asking though, just gives the basic what I am wanting, but not how I’m wanting it.
Hope you are able to help further. Thanks.
Sorry to inform you, but when you write “disable -cow” it was at least for me as “disable -cow option in cow file system”.
What filesystem you use? Because if yoy use lvm or btrfs snapshot files don’t use space almost all. During creation it’s just pointer to original.
So, if your “-cow” image files uses as many space as means that you use filesystem that don’t have this feature.
EXT3/4 I presume?
I don’t have r4.3 yet so can’t tell about it. But it’s system feature. Every qube run on snapshot, not on originals. Yes, it’s stupid on standalones and since Iv’e never used it then i can’t yell anything about it.
But there was topics about disposables run entirely in RAM. In that thread there was saying that if you set revisions_to_keep=-1 it will be dissabled for that volune/image.
As I’ve said never checked it.
No, that is why I said the -cow files, not disable the cow filesystem.
I do try to pick my words very carefully. Sorry for the confusion.
LVM isn’t a filesystem. BTRFS is but I don’t use that either. As I said, I use files. They are sitting on a stadard filesystem. And yes, in general if I just don’t do much on the machines then they don’t use much space, generally 2MB to 100 MB, but unfortunately there are the systems I do a lot on that have a lot of data saved to the filesystem that gets inserted into the -cow file before it is synchronised to the main private.img and then moved to the -cow.old file, ready to waste space until the next -cow file can consume space.
Doesn’t matter which EXT it is, thinly provisioned IMG files are just that. So they use the same space. But they still take up the space as previously described in a previous message here.
I don’t mind that the ROOT filesystem has the snapshot, the -cow file for the changes to the image that the guest is based on, it’s the private image that has the issue, the same problem would exist no matter what filesystem or partition management scheme or partition type I used. The snapshots still take up space.
You see this in Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, and I can not see it ever being removed, even though it was supposed to be able to be turned off in 4.3.
So I have been having this issue for a very long time, and even brought it up back in Qubes 2.
But I don’t want to have the root system run in RAM, I just want to disable the -cow files for the private images, and the root when they are standalone. So that when the -cow files are pointless, I can have them turned off.
For the guests that I want to run securely and be able to just kill without data being written, then I would have it turned on, since the cow cache would not have written tot he main image the changes and I’d be able to just delete the -cow file to prevent damage.
Since I run about 20-30 guests at any one time I really don’t want to consume more RAM when I have guests running using with 500 MB RAM all the way up to 8 GB RAM. I already max out my RAM on just having the guests running.
I have guests segmented to CPU threads as well, so my NetVMs and Firewall guests and other proxys get to have access to only 2 threads on the CPU that they all share. my coding guests have access to 4 threads. my web browser guests use a different 2 threads. and then there is the 1 thread for my disposable guests. And I have 2 threads that I use for my SoC and network administration. Finally 1 thread for Domain 0.
Domain 0 has 1 GB RAM, it shouldn’t need that much but the Qubes Manager uses so much RAM it isn’t funny due to the way it is written.
My NetVMs run with 512 MB RAM because they are full Operating systems, running MicroSoft System D, not something smaller yet. If they were running the smaller system then they would be using 128 MB RAM. Email guest is using 512 MB RAM. Updater is running 512 MB RAM. Android runs 1-4 GB RAM depending if I’m running Android 2 or Android 12, or anything inbetween. Storage guest is running 512 MB RAM. My AI system I don’t even have running at the moment as that needs more than 32 GB RAM. Local SoC system is using 1 GB RAM. Network Admin system is using 1GB RAM. Coder 1 is using 2 GB RAM. Coder 2 is using 4 GB RAM. Compilation machines are running 1 GB RAM each, generally have 2 running at any time depending on what I’m doing.
then there are the web browser machines using 2 GB each.
DNS machines using 512 MB each. One per internal network I’m running.
InterVM network machines using 512 MB each.
And then more on that…
So to reduce the overhead on the drives is a good thing as well, will speed up the system and allow it to work properly as well.
All good, I understand that, but still just trying to get the information and details across properly so that I’m understood since you have misunderstood my specific wording. So others may have done the same.
No interpretation needed in my wording, so people shouldn’t try to make my words mean something that they are not saying. I am very explicit in what I say, when I’m unsure then I say that I’m unsure and say that I’m exapling the idea of what I’m tryign to do.