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Creating Seamless Virtual Machine with Virtualbox 1.6
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vdiskadm(1M) System Administration Commands vdiskadm(1M) NAME
vdiskadm - create and manage virtual disks SYNOPSIS
vdiskadm create -s size [-t type[:opt],[opt] [-c comment] vdname vdiskadm destroy [-r] vdname|snapshot vdiskadm snapshot vdname@snapname vdiskadm rollback [-r] snapshot vdiskadm clone [-c comment] vdname|snapshot clone_vdname vdiskadm move vdname dir vdiskadm rename vdname|snapshot vdname|snapshot vdiskadm list [-fp]vdname vdiskadm verify vdname vdiskadm prop-get [-l] -p property vdname vdiskadm prop-set -p property=value vdname vdiskadm prop-add -p property=value vdname vdiskadm prop-del -p property vdname vdiskadm help [command] DESCRIPTION
The vdiskadm command manages virtual disks within dom0. In the SYNOPSIS above, vdname is the pathname of the virtual disk; it has a maximum length of MAXPATHLEN (1024 bytes). vdiskadm is implemented as a set of subcommands, many with their own options and operands. These subcommands are described under "Subcom- mands," below. The following subsections describe concepts related to virtual disks. Snapshots A snapshot is a read-only copy of a virtual disk. Snapshots can be created extremely quickly and initially consume little space. As data within the active virtual disk changes, the snapshot consumes more data than would otherwise be shared with the active virtual disk. Clones A clone is a writable copy of a virtual disk. The default type of clone is a merged (that is, coalesced) copy of the original virtual disk. An example of a merged clone occurs when a virtual disk is comprised of several snapshots; a subsequent clone operation results in a new virtual disk containing no snapshots. A clone will be of the same type as the original virtual disk (that is, vmdk:fixed). When a merged clone is created there is no linkage back to the original virtual disk or to any of its snapshots. This lack of linkage allows the merged clone to be moved to another physical machine. Numeric Values The values of numeric properties can be specified using human-readable suffixes, such as k, KB, M, Gb, and so forth, up to Z for zettabyte). The following are all valid (and equal) specifications: 1536M 1.5g 1.50GB Types of Virtual Disks The following types and options of virtual disks are supported: o vmdk:fixed o vmdk:sparse o vdi:fixed o vdi:sparse o raw:fixed where vmdk is the native VMware format, vdi is the native VirtualBox format and raw describes a file that looks like a raw disk. A raw disk is always in fixed format so that option can be explicitly set or implicitly understood. If the type is not specified, the default value is vmdk. If the option is not specified, the default value is fixed for type raw and sparse for types vmdk and vdi. Native and User-defined Properties Properties are divided into two types, native and user defined. Native properties either export internal statistics or control vdiskadm behavior. In addition, native properties are either editable or read-only. User-defined properties are arbitrary strings that have no effect on vdiskadm behavior. You can use them to annotate virtual disks in a way that is meaningful in your environment. User-defined prop- erty names must contain a colon (:) character, to distinguish them from native properties. Properties are associated only with the virtual disk and not with individual snapshots. Every virtual disk has a set of native properties that export statistics about the virtual disk, as well as control various behaviors. The following are the native properties for a virtual disk: cdrom Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is a CDROM. removable Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is a removable media. readonly Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is read-only. This property is read-only. sectors Numeric property containing the number of disk sectors in the given virtual disk. This property is read-only. name String property that is the name of the virtual disk. This property is read-only. max-size Numeric property containing the maximum size of the virtual disk in bytes. This property is read-only. effective-size Numeric property containing the effective size of the virtual disk, in bytes. The effective size includes the size of the data file and all snapshots. The effective size can exceed the maximum size. This property is read-only. creation-time String property containing the date and time that the virtual disk was created. This property is read-only. creation-time-epoch Numeric property describing the creation-time property in seconds since the epoch (seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, Jan. 1, 1970). This property is read-only. modification-time String property containing the date and time of last modification to virtual disk. This property is read-only. modification-time-epoch Numeric property describing the modification-time property in seconds since the epoch (seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, Jan. 1, 1970). This property is read-only. description String property that contains the comment given when the virtual disk was created or cloned. This property is read-only. type String property that contains the type of virtual disk: vmdk, vdi, or raw. This property is read-only. sparse Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is in sparse format. This property is read-only. owner String property that contains the user name of the owner of the virtual disk. This property is editable. SUB-COMMANDS The vdiskadm subcommands and their arguments are described in the following subsections. vdiskadm create vdiskadm create -s size [-t type[:opt],[opt]] [-c comment] vdname Creates a new virtual disk of the specified size and at the location specified by vdname. If vdname includes a path to the virtual disk, the directories that follow from that path will be created during creation of the virtual disk. This subcommand has the options listed below. -t type[:opt],[opt]] Specifies the type of virtual disk to be created. The default type is vmdk. For vmdk and vdi types the default option is sparse. For type raw the default option is fixed. -c comment Comment that can be attached to virtual disk. vdiskadm destroy vdiskadm destroy [-r] vdname|snapshot Destroys the specified virtual disk or snapshot. By default, the destroy operation fails if the specified virtual disk contains snapshots. This subcommand has the option listed below. -r Recursively destroys the virtual disk, including all snapshots associated with the virtual disk. vdiskadm snapshot vdiskadm snapshot vdname@snapname Creates a snapshot of the virtual disk with the specified snapname. This subcommand has no options. vdiskadm rollback vdiskadm rollback [-r] snapshot Roll back the virtual disk to a previous snapshot. When a virtual disk is rolled back, all data that has changed since the snapshot is dis- carded, and the virtual disk reverts to the state at the time of the snapshot. By default, the command refuses to roll back to a snapshot other than the most recent one. In order to roll back further, all intermediate snapshots must be destroyed by specifying the -r option. This subcommand has the option listed below. -r Recursively destroy any snapshots more recent than the one specified. vdiskadm clone vdiskadm [-c comment] vdname|snapshot clone_vdname Creates a clone of the specified snapshot or virtual disk. The clone is created with the type and option and the size of the virtual disk being cloned. If clone_vdname includes a path the directories that flow from that path will be created during creation of the cloned vir- tual disk. By default, a merged clone image is created. This subcommand has the option listed below. -c comment Comment that can be attached to cloned virtual disk. vdiskadm move vdiskadm move vdname dir Moves a specified virtual disk into the specified directory. The virtual disk maintains the same name. The new directory must exist. This subcommand has no options. vdiskadm rename vdiskadm rename vdname|snapshot vdname|snapshot Renames a virtual disk or snapshot. This subcommand has no options. vdiskadm list vdiskadm list [-fp]vdname Lists a specified virtual disk and its snapshots. This subcommand has the options listed below. -f Gives a list of all files associated with the virtual disk. This list includes the store file and the extents. -p Lists the files in an easily parsable format, prefixing the files with a label of file:, snapshot:, or store. vdiskadm verify vdiskadm verify vdname Returns an error if the virtual disk cannot be recognized or opened by Solaris xVM. This subcommand has no options. vdiskadm prop-get vdiskadm prop-get [-l] -p property vdname Returns the value of the property for the specified virtual disk. A property value of all displays all native and user-defined properties for the virtual disk. This subcommand has the options listed below. -l Gives additional property information, such as the writeable status of property. -p property Specifies the property being queried and displays the value of the property. For the property all, the name of the property, a colon, and a space are displayed before the value of the property. vdiskadm prop-set vdiskadm prop-set -p property=value vdname Sets the value of the specified property for the specified virtual disk. property can be a native or a user-defined property, but must be writable. Can be used to change the value of a property added with the prop-add subcommand. This subcommand has the option listed below. -p property=value Specifies the property being set. vdiskadm prop-add vdiskadm -p property=value vdname Adds the user-defined property with the specified value to the specified virtual disk. Returns an error if the property already exists. The user-defined property name must contain a colon character (:). This subcommand has the option listed below. -p property=value Specifies the property being added. vdiskadm prop-del vdiskadm prop-del -p property vdname Deletes a user-defined property from the specified virtual disk. This subcommand has the option listed below. -p property Specifies the property being deleted. vdiskadm help vdiskadm help [command] Displays a general or command-specific help message. This subcommand has only the command name optional argument. EXAMPLES
Example 1 Creating a vmdk Sparse File The following command creates a virtual disk named disk1 of size 8 GB in the directory /guests/disks. # vdiskadm create -s 8g -t vmdk:sparse /guests/disks/disk1 Example 2 Creating a Snapshot The following command creates a snapshot of the virtual disk located at /guests/disks/disk1. The snapshot is named install. # vdiskadm snapshot /guests/disks/disk1@install Example 3 Creating and Destroying Snapshots The following commands create two snapshots, named install and bfu, of the virtual disk located at /guests/disks/disk1. The third command destroys the newly created snapshot install. # vdiskadm snapshot /guests/disks/disk1@install # vdiskadm snapshot /guests/disks/disk1@bfu # vdiskadm destroy /guests/disks/disk1@install Example 4 Rolling Back a Virtual Disk The following command reverts the contents of the virtual disk to the snapshot named install, deleting all intermediate snapshots. # vdiskadm rollback -r /guests/disks/disk1@install Example 5 Listing a Virtual Disk and Snapshots The following command lists all of the images associated with the virtual disk /guests/disks/disk1. # vdiskadm list /guests/disks/disk1 disk1@install disk1@bfu disk1 Example 6 Creating a Clone The following command creates a new virtual disk that is a coalesced copy of the virtual disk /guests/disks/disk1. The clone is created in the same format (that is, vmdk:sparse) as the original virtual disk. # vdiskadm clone /guests/disks/disk1 /guests/clone/clone_disk1 Example 7 Adding a User-defined Property The following command adds a user-defined property to the virtual disk and assigns it the specified value. This property name was chosen to represent the source and requirements of this virtual disk data using the required colon to delineate the fields. # vdiskadm prop-add -p com.sun:required-nic=2 /guests/disks/disk1 ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes: +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ | ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Availability |SUNWvdisk | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ |Interface Stability |Uncommitted | +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+ SEE ALSO
virsh(1M), virt-install(1M), attributes(5), xVM(5) SunOS 5.11 28 Oct 2008 vdiskadm(1M)
