During my most recent server-build, I had to tackle exposing host-managed files to VMs.
Previously, I used NFS. However, that was becoming increasingly troublesome, unfortunately due to IPv6. While I have an IPv6 connection and IPv6 network, my router will stop advertising the IPv6 network if the Internet goes down, causing connectivity issues. Additionally, the uncertainty of whether any connection will come as fe80:: vs my regular routable address was a pain (especially when my IPv6 network changed).
While checking out some logs and google search analytics, I found that my post about Discard (TRIM) with KVM Virtual Machines has been referenced far more than I expected it to be. I decided to take this opportitnity to fact-check and correct that article.
Update - March 09 2020 Since writing this article, I’ve made a few observations:
More people read this than expected QEMU has since added discard support to the standard virtio disk, avoiding the need to use virtio-scsi It kinda sorta works out of the box. I’ve written a brief followup: Discard (TRIM) with KVM Virtual Machines… in 2020!
Original Article I’ve got a bunch of KVM virtual machines running at home.