Stratis & VDO.
Stratis is RHEL's modern storage management layer — thinly provisioned pools and filesystems, snapshots, all driven by stratisd. VDO adds inline dedupe and compression beneath the filesystem. Both build on the LVM + XFS you already know.
Stratis and VDO animated tutorial. Stratis pools and thinly provisioned XFS filesystems on top, stratis snapshots, and VDO (Virtual Data Optimizer) for inline deduplication and compression. RHCSA EX200 ready.Two modern RHEL storage layers built on what you already know. Stratis orchestrates LVM + XFS into friendly thinly provisioned pools; VDO transparently dedupes and compresses underneath.
- ·The LVM stacking lesson (thin provisioning concept)
- ·The filesystems/mounts lesson
- ·Comfortable as root
Create a Stratis pool and thin XFS filesystem on it, snapshot it, and explain when to layer VDO underneath.
pace: 9 minutes
What Stratis is
Stratis isn't a new filesystem — it orchestrates LVM (for thin pools) + XFS (for the filesystems on top) behind one friendly CLI (`stratis`). You create a POOL from one or more block devices, then carve thinly provisioned FILESYSTEMS out of the pool. Snapshots, growth, and pool expansion are all one-liners. Driven by the stratisd daemon.
$systemctl enable --now stratisd$stratis pool listStratis is "LVM thin + XFS, one CLI". VDO is "dedupe + compression, below your FS". They're independent — use Stratis when you want easier storage management; layer VDO when the workload has heavy duplication.
$systemctl enable --now stratisd$stratis pool create POOL DEV [DEV ...]$stratis pool list$stratis pool add-data POOL DEV$stratis filesystem create POOL FS$stratis filesystem list$stratis filesystem snapshot POOL FS SNAP$stratis filesystem destroy POOL FS$/dev/stratis/POOL/FS$x-systemd.requires=stratisd.service$vdo create --name=N --device=DEV --vdoLogicalSize=1T$mkfs.xfs -K /dev/mapper/N$vdo list / status$vdostats --human-readable$vdo growLogical / growPhysical$vdo remove --name=NWhat does Stratis actually USE under the hood?
You created a Stratis filesystem of 1 TiB on a pool with 100 GiB of backing storage. Is that broken?
What is VDO and where does it sit in the stack?
Which workload is VDO most likely to help?
These aren't graded — they're just for active recall, which is what actually makes the lesson stick.
LVM stacking
Stratis is LVM thin + XFS with a friendlier face. Solidify the LVM stack first and Stratis just clicks into place.
keep going — these pair well with what you just learned.
SELinux contexts
Why Apache can't read your file. Watch the policy engine decide — and learn the workflow for fixing denials. RHCSA-ready.
Linux boot process
From power button to login prompt. Every stage in the chain — UEFI, GRUB, kernel, initramfs, systemd — with the rescue moves that save you. RHCSA-ready.
LVM stacking
Layer-by-layer build of an LVM stack: disks → PVs → VG → LVs → filesystem. Then extend live and snapshot. RHCSA-ready.