// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// storage/understanding-persistent-storage.adoc[leveloffset=+1]
//* microshift_storage/understanding-ephemeral-storage-microshift.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: CONCEPT
[id=storage-ephemeral-storage-types_{context}]
= Types of ephemeral storage

[role="_abstract"]
Provision ephemeral local storage by creating the primary partition using either root or runtime methods. Choose the method that aligns with your node configuration to ensure temporary storage is available for your workloads.

Root:: This partition holds the kubelet root directory, `/var/lib/kubelet/` by default, and `/var/log/` directory. This partition can be shared between user pods, the operating system, and Kubernetes system daemons. This partition can be consumed by pods through `EmptyDir` volumes, container logs, image layers, and container-writable layers. Kubelet manages shared access and isolation of this partition. This partition is ephemeral, and applications cannot expect any performance SLAs, such as disk IOPS, from this partition.

Runtime:: This is an optional partition that runtimes can use for overlay file systems. {product-title} attempts to identify and provide shared access along with isolation to this partition. Container image layers and writable layers are stored here. If the runtime partition exists, the `root` partition does not hold any image layer or other writable storage.
