> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://platform9.com/kb/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://platform9.com/kb/pmo/how-to/enable-thick-provisioning-for-nova.md).

# Enable Thick Provisioning for Nova

## Problem

* By default in Platform9 Managed OpenStack, instances ephemeral disks are thin-provisioned, meaning that no disk space is allocated upfront.
* For performance reasons, one may want to preallocate this disk on the underlying filesystem or otherwise use "thick" provisioning.

## Environment

* Platform9 Managed OpenStack - All Versions
* Nova

## Procedure

1\. Set the following on each compute host where thick provisioning should be enabled.

*/opt/pf9/etc/nova/conf.d/nova\_override.conf.*

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="None" %}

```none
[DEFAULT]preallocate_images = space
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

2\. Restart the Compute service.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="None" %}

```none
# service pf9-ostackhost restart
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

For any newly-created instances, the disk file will now be expanded. Any existing instances will remain to be thin-provisioned.

## Additional Information

For more details on this option and why it should be enabled, please refer: [OpenStack Docs - Nova - Configuration Options](https://docs.openstack.org/nova/pike/configuration/config.html).


---

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