3.2. Configuration

[DEFAULT]

force_raw_images

Whether to convert a non-raw cached base image to be raw (boolean). If a non-raw image is converted to raw, Compute:

Converting the base to raw uses more space for any image that could have been used directly by the hypervisor (for example, a qcow2 image). If you have a system with slower I/O or less available space, you might want to specify false, trading the higher CPU requirements of compression for that of minimized input bandwidth.

Raw base images are always used with libvirt_images_type=lvm.

true

[DEFAULT]

use_cow_images

Whether to use CoW (Copy on Write) images for libvirt instance disks (boolean):

true

[DEFAULT]

preallocate_images

Preallocation mode for libvirt instance disks. Value can be:

Even when not using CoW instance disks, the copy each VM gets is sparse and so the VM may fail unexpectedly at run time with ENOSPC. By running fallocate(1) on the instance disk images, Compute immediately and efficiently allocates the space for them in the file system (if supported). Run time performance should also be improved because the file system does not have to dynamically allocate blocks at run time (reducing CPU overhead and more importantly file fragmentation).

none

[DEFAULT]

resize_fs_using_block_device

Whether to enable direct resizing of the base image by accessing the image over a block device (boolean). This is only necessary for images with older versions of cloud-init (that cannot resize themselves).

Because this parameter enables the direct mounting of images which might otherwise be disabled for security reasons, it is not enabled by default.

false

[DEFAULT]

default_ephemeral_format

The default format that is used for a new ephemeral volume. Value can be: ext2, ext3, or ext4. The ext4 format provides much faster initialization times than ext3 for new, large disks. You can also override per instance using the guest_format configuration option.

ext4

[DEFAULT]

image_cache_manager_interval

Number of seconds to wait between runs of the image cache manager, which impacts base caching on libvirt compute nodes. This period is used in the auto removal of unused cached images (see remove_unused_base_images and remove_unused_original_minimum_age_seconds).

2400

[DEFAULT]

remove_unused_base_images

Whether to enable the automatic removal of unused base images (checked every image_cache_manager_interval seconds). Images are defined as unused if they have not been accessed in remove_unused_original_minimum_age_seconds seconds.

true

[DEFAULT]

remove_unused_original_minimum_age_seconds

How old an unused base image must be before being removed from the libvirt cache (see remove_unused_base_images).

86400

[libvirt]

images_type

Image type to use for libvirt instance disks (deprecates use_cow_images). Value can be: raw, qcow2, lvm, rbd, or default. If default is specified, the value used for the use_cow_images parameter is used.

default