---
name: satellite-reqs-host-storage
title: Storage requirements for Satellite hosts and attached devices
description: Review storage requirements for hosts assigned to the Satellite control plane and services. Requirements vary by service; check service documentation for details.
last-updated: 2026-08-27
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/satellite?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Storage requirements for Satellite hosts and attached devices
{: #reqs-host-storage}

Review storage requirements for hosts assigned to the Satellite control plane and services. Requirements vary by service; check service documentation for details.
{: shortdesc}

Hosts must have a boot device with an `ext4` file system and enough space to boot the host and run the operating system. While a minimum of 10 GiB is required, 25 GiB is recommended. In addition, `/tmp` and `/usr` must each have at least 1.5 GiB available. Hosts can't have a device that is mounted to `/var/data`. The `/boot` partition must be a minimum of 1 GiB.

![Host storage](/images/sat_architecture_host_storage.svg){: caption="Satellite host storage requirements" caption-side="bottom"}

Boot device (Operating system)
:   Hosts must have a boot device with an `ext4` file system and enough space to boot the host and run the operating system. While a minimum of 10 GiB is required, 25 GiB is recommended. 

Bootstrap device (Container image storage)
:   Hosts must have a second device with a minimum of 100 GiB of unmounted and unformatted device space. For hosts assigned to the control plane, the attached storage device must support at least 1000 IOPs. For example, a 10 IOPs/GiB device with at least 100 GiB capacity. The required IOPS varies with the number of clusters in the location, and the activity of the masters for those clusters. For more information, see [How many clusters can I run before I need to add capacity to the control plane](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/satellite?topic=satellite-location-sizing&format=markdown#control-plane-how-many-clusters)?

Storage for hosts that are assigned to services (for example, clusters)
:   Depending on the services that you want to use, additional storage may be required before you attach hosts to your location. For service-specific storage requirements, refer to the service documentation. If you plan to deploy additional services or operators to the clusters in your location, you must account for cluster storage plus any additional deployments that you want to use in your clusters. For example, OpenShift Data Foundation.
    - [Satellite-enabled services](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/satellite?topic=satellite-managed-services&format=markdown)
    - [Satellite storage overview](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/satellite?topic=satellite-storage-template-ov&format=markdown)