## Partitioning overview

This page shows recommended partition sizing for single-node Poolside on-premises model deployments running RKE2 and explains how model checkpoints affect storage requirements. The checkpoint estimates cover these model artifacts:

| Model | Checkpoint size (GB) |
| --- | --- |
| laguna_m_fp8_fp8kv_re_06_2026 | 214 |
| laguna_xs_fp8_fp8kv_re_06_2026 | 33 |

## Partition recommendations for STIG-hardened hosts

For STIG-hardened Linux nodes, Poolside recommends the following partition layout and sizing as a minimum for the listed models:

| Mount | Size | Filesystem | Mount options | Purpose |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `/boot/efi` | 600M | `fat32` | `umask=0077` | UEFI system partition |
| `/boot` | 1G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid` | Kernel, `initramfs` |
| `/` | 50G | `xfs` | defaults | OS root |
| `/tmp` | 2G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid,noexec` | Temporary files |
| `/var` | 5G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid` | Cache, spool, backups |
| `/var/tmp` | 10G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid,noexec` | Temporary files |
| `/var/log` | 50G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid,noexec` | System + audit logs |
| `/var/lib` | 400G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid` | `kubelet`, rancher, containers |
| `/home` | 50G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid` | Terraform working directories |
| `/opt/poolside` | 350G | `xfs` | `nodev,nosuid` | Model artifact storage |
| swap | 4G | `swap` | none | Swap space |

The total recommended disk space for the listed model artifacts is 1 TB.

### Dedicated `/opt/poolside` partition for model artifacts

STIG controls recommend dedicated partitions to prevent system partitions from filling up and causing denial of service. Poolside recommends placing model artifact storage on a dedicated `/opt/poolside` partition rather than the root filesystem. Without separation, model artifact growth can render the OS unusable.

### STIG mount option recommendations

- `/tmp` and `/var/tmp` should include `noexec` in the mount options to reduce the risk of executing files from temporary directories.
- `/var/log` should include `noexec` in the mount options to reduce the risk of executing files from log directories.
- `/var/lib` cannot include `noexec`. The container runtime runs binaries from overlay layers stored there. Adding `noexec` here breaks Kubernetes pods.

## Inference storage impact

When you run inference workloads, each inference pod loads model checkpoints from SeaweedFS into a storage-backed `emptyDir` volume under `/var/lib/kubelet`. This means you store at least two copies of the model checkpoint on disk: one copy in SeaweedFS and one copy in the `emptyDir` volume for each running pod. Each inference workload consumes disk space equal to its model checkpoint size:

| Model | Checkpoint size (GB) | emptyDir consumption (GB) | Total disk usage (GB) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| laguna_m_fp8_fp8kv_re_06_2026 | 214 | 214 | 428 |
| laguna_xs_fp8_fp8kv_re_06_2026 | 33 | 33 | 66 |

Plan for sufficient free space in `/var/lib` to accommodate your largest model’s checkpoint size for each running inference pod.

## Scaling prioritization guidance

If you need to scale storage, allocate additional space in this priority order:

1. **`/var/lib`**: Scales per model deployed in-cluster
2. **`/opt/poolside`**: Scales with model checkpoints
3. **`/home`**: Scales with Terraform files. The Poolside Terraform bundle packages container upgrade images.

Core OS partitions (`/`, `/boot`, `/tmp`, `/var`, `/var/tmp`, `/var/log`) can remain fixed regardless of total disk size.