Giving a virtual disk or LUN space only when data is actually written, so it can appear bigger than what it currently consumes. Fixed provisioning, in contrast, reserves the full size up front.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Thin provisioning in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- LUN
Logical unit number, the slot that identifies each data disk attached to a virtual machine. No two disks on the same VM can share one.
- Fixed provisioning
In Storage Spaces, the virtual disk claims all its capacity from the pool straight away; the opposite of thin provisioning.