I'm sponsoring this fasttrack for Susan Kamm-Worrell. In addition to
this proposal, a draft vdiskadm(1m) man page is in the case directory.
The timer is set for 09/26/2008.
-Artem
Template Version: @(#)sac_nextcase %I% %G% SMI
This information is Copyright 2008 Sun Microsystems
1. Introduction
1.1. Project/Component Working Name:
vdiskadm
1.2. Name of Document Author/Supplier:
Author: Susan Kamm-Worrell
1.3 Date of This Document:
19 September, 2008
4. Technical Description
4.1. Summary
This fast-track introduces vdiskadm, an administrative tool to
manage virtual disks.
Minor release binding is requested.
4.2. Discussion
VMware and VirtualBox use virtual disk formats that allow the
creation of differencing images, sparse files and import of virtual
disks. These capabilities give the users the ability to manage disk
space, rollback to a previous working disk image and to use previously
constructed disks from outside sources.
vdiskadm gives Solaris Xen users the ability to use the VMware (vmdk)
and VirtualBox (vdi) virtual disk formats when creating virtual disks
for use by domains. This allows Solaris Xen users to leverage
functionality inherent in those disk formats such as sparse files
and snapshots. vdiskadm also supports the raw format.
Support for the VHD (Microsoft) format is planned in the future.
A virtual disk is a collection of files that comprise the contents
and state information of the virtual disk. This group of files
varies dependent upon the type of virtual disk created and actions
taken on the virtual disk (such as snapshot). These files
are opaque to the administrator so all virtual disk actions are
based on the virtual disk name.
The vdiskadm commands are loosely modeled after the zfs commands, with
the exception of the property commands. The property commands are
intentionally different so that the user doesn't make assumptions based
on the zfs property behavior. The vdiskadm properties are very simple
and have no concept of inheritance or source.
Listed are the vdiskadm commands:
create Creates a virtual disk
destroy Destroys the virtual disk or a snapshot
snapshot Creates a snapshot of the virtual disk
rollback Reverts the virtual disk back to a snapshot
clone Clones the virtual disk or a specific snapshot
move Moves the virtual disk to a different directory
rename Renames the virtual disk or a specific snapshot
import Imports a file into a virtual disk
export Exports a virtual disk into a file.
list Prints the filenames associated with the virtual disk
verify Verifies if the given path is a virtual disk
prop-get Gets a property of the virtual disk
prop-set Sets a property of the virtual disk
prop-add Adds a user property to the virtual disk
prop-del Deletes a user property from the virtual disk
help Prints a general or command specific help message.
See vdiskadm(1m) man page in case directory for details.
The import and export commands are currently project private and will
be documented in a followup fast-track.
The clone command generates a new virtual disk independent of the
original virtual disk or snapshot. The new virtual disk is a coalesced
copy of the original virtual disk or snapshot where any previous
snapshots were merged together in the clone.
Future work will allow a copy-on-write virtual disk clone to be created
from the original virtual disk or snapshot. This would allow the
administrator to use a virtual disk based upon a specific snapshot of
the original virtual disk without incuring the space required of an
independent virtual disk.
4.3. Interfaces
vdiskadm command is Uncommitted.
5. References
PSARC/2006/260 Solaris on Xen
PSARC/2008/579 virt-convert
PSARC/2008/596 Block Tap Support for Solaris
6. Resources and Schedule
6.4. Steering Committee requested information
6.4.1. Consolidation C-team Name:
ON
6.5. ARC review type: FastTrack
6.6. ARC Exposure: open
