OK. Let's use both APIs.
I have to clarify one thing. Although qemu-kvm use -snapshot option. But it
is not the snapshot you are thinking about. You don't have to create any
snapshot for the images. I only need to add this option to command line. For
example, if I want one VM boot on the image A and don't modify anything on
the image A, I just simply send this command "qemu-kvm -m 512
imagefile -snapshot -net, network configuartion". So it is actually the same
as non-persistent disk option in VMware, and I think that the name
"snapshot" is very easy to misunderstand here.
About the vmdk on KVM, I think it is an option. The users need to define
installtype in VCL database. If it is vmware, KVM module would consider the
image file is vmdk type 4. If it is kvm, KVM module would use img instead.
So users can decide what they want to use. And by supporting vmdk file, all
current vmdk image running on the VMware ESX can be used directly on KVM
host without any effort. I think it could be very nice feature in future.
Thanks,
Xianqing Yu
------
Graduate Research Assistant, Cyber Defense Lab
Department of Computer Science
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
E-mail: x...@ncsu.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Aaron Peeler
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 01:39 PM
To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
I suggest we use both for now, until it's fully supported in libvirt API.
Use qemu-img to create a qcow2 snapshot for non-imaging reservations.
Then use virsh for the rest of the process.
Once libvirt supports it, then we upgrade that portion.
We'll have to decide if we want to try to also use vmdk files formats
on kvm. It's a nice feature but not sure if it is a requirement for
using vmdk's on kvm hosts.
Also there is a virsh snapshot-create which appears to work only on
qcow2 based files. I've not successfully created a snapshot that I can
boot yet, but it might be another option.
Aaron
On Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 12:20 PM, Xianqing Yu <yu267155...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
Aaron,
Right, but this is only for KVM API, in qemu-kvm description, it said
"-snapshot write to temporary files instead of disk image files".
Right now, Libvirt don't support that. If we using libvirt API in kvm
provisioning module, we couldn't make non-persistent disk work until
libvirt
getting updated in next version to include this.
So for now, if we want to use non-persistent disk, we have to use KVM API
directly (without libvirt) in our provisioning module.
So do you means that we should use KVM API instead of libvirt API for now?
Following is email message between Eric and me, FYI.
On 08/15/2011 02:57 PM, Xianqing Yu wrote:
So, if I understand correctly, non-persistent disk is not there yet. But
it may release with next version of libvirt, right?
Correct.
--
Eric Blake ebl...@redhat.com +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
On 08/15/2011 02:01 PM, Xianqing Yu wrote:
Hi Libvirt team,
I am trying to create a new domain from XML file by using libvirt. I
want this new domain using non-persistent disk as its disk.
Non-persistent disk means that when the domain is running, all the
modification would not be written to disk file. So next time, when you
boot VM from the same disk file, you would have a fresh disk. I check
the website but I could not find anything about this. I wonder if
libvirt support this function.
Yep, I'm working on it, and hope to have it in 0.9.5. See my RFC here:
https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2011-August/msg00552.html
You will basically call out:
<devices>
<disk ...>
...
<transient/>
</disk>
...
FYI, if I use KVM, I can use command "qemu-kvm -snapshot" to boot a VM
on non-persistent disk.
Unfortunately, that makes for a non-migrateable VM - so I'm working on
something a bit more robust that stands a chance of creating a transient
yet migrateable domain.
--
Eric Blake ebl...@redhat.com +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org
Thanks,
Xianqing Yu
------
Graduate Research Assistant, Cyber Defense Lab
Department of Computer Science
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
E-mail: x...@ncsu.edu
-----Original Message----- From: Aaron Peeler
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 10:31 AM
To: Xianqing Yu
Cc: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
Hi Xianqing,
Right I think the snapshot method might be the best way to go. It
would allow a quick way to clone with doing a full copy.
Aaron
On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 5:02 PM, Xianqing Yu <yu267155...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
Aaron,
Libvirt currently don't have support for non-persistent disk. I sent
email
to libvirt mail list to ask, and according to Eric Blake said, he is
working
on that now, and it may be included in libvirt 0.9.5.
I also take a look at qemu-kvm API. It support non-persistent disk. I can
use command "qemu-kvm -snapshot......" to make it work.
For now, I think we have to choose, either use libvirt without
non-persistent disk support, or use qemu-kvm API.
Thanks,
Xianqing Yu
------
Graduate Research Assistant, Cyber Defense Lab
Department of Computer Science
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
E-mail: x...@ncsu.edu
-----Original Message----- From: Aaron Peeler
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2011 04:01 PM
To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
Xianqing,
I've started reviewing the code and have a couple of questions. Please
take this as constructive, I'm excited to get the kvm development
started, but would like take a lot of the lessons we've learned from
some of the previous provisioning modules to get libvirt prov module
on the right path.
In your load routine it looks like your having to copy the img and
vmdk files before starting the vm, was this intended or could it have
been something leftover from another template. This will be very slow
before vcld would get to the point of starting a vm, some those files
can be very large.
With the vmdk's under VMware/VMware.pm we run in non-persistent mode
and for image captures started using snapshots in the development
code. I'm pretty sure you can do something similar with kvm.
Do you know of or have you tested another method in running vms a sort
of non-persistent mode under kvm? Copying a large .vmdk or .img file
on each provisioning request will not work very well in the long-term.
By chance did you have time to look at the
lib/VCL/Module/Provisioning/VMware/VMware.pm framework?
Ideally we'd like to build a similar framework for libvirt.
Thanks,
Aaron
On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Aaron Peeler <aaron_pee...@ncsu.edu>
wrote:
This is great. I'll try to have some more useful comments soon. :)
Thanks Xianqing.
Aaron
On Thu, Aug 4, 2011 at 11:11 AM, Xianqing Yu <yu267155...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
Hi VCL community,
Sorry for the typo in previous email.
I finish the new version of KVM provision module for VCL 2.2.1. I
upload
the
kvm.pm code to VCL JIRE. Please take a look at my code and let me know
what
do you feel about it. The link is,
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/VCL-339
Generally, the new version of KVM module contain these features,
1. The module will use libvirt API to manipulate the VM on KVM hosts.
The
main reason behind this is that libvirt is widely used API, many people
in
the community talked about this before, and libvirt support for
different
hypervisors, such as KVM, Xen, Qemu, etc.. It would be easier to port
this
module to support other hypervisor in future.
2. An setup script can help the users to setup KVM host much easier.
The
attachment named kvmsetup is the script. I tested it on Fedora 9.
Basically,
user need to install Fedora 9 (or use XCAT to install Fedora 9 on blade
automatically) and run the script as the root user.
3. Users don't have to use qemu-ifup and mac script. "qemu-ifup" is not
needed because of using lib-virt and "mac" is now included in kvm.pm.
So
kvm.pm is the only file you need to add to VCL Management Machine.
4. Both "-flat.vmdk" and "img" image format are supported. So now both
KVM
image and VMware ESXi image (flat.vmdk) can be provisioned on KVM host.
5. Misc code updated.
Thanks,
Xianqing
-----Original Message----- From: Andy Kurth
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 02:14 PM
To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
$self->data->get_image_os_install_type() should do it.
On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 12:47 PM, Xianqing Yu <yu267155...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
A quick question, do you know any function call can get OSinstalltype
content for the target image?
Thanks,
Xianqing Yu
------
Graduate Research Assistant, Cyber Defense Lab
Department of Computer Science
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
E-mail: x...@ncsu.edu
-----Original Message----- From: Andy Kurth
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2011 09:38 AM
To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
I agree that entries should be added to OSinstalltype. I wouldn't
include the 'kvm' hypervisor name in the name since the same type may
be used by multiple hypervisors. The 'vmware' entry can probably be
renamed to 'vmdk' and then used by both VMware and KVM. An entry can
be added named something like 'img' or 'vm-img'.
On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 5:00 PM, Xianqing Yu <yu267155...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
I think it is possible to handle both types: vmdk and img. I believe
that
in
my kvm provisioning code, the code need some conditions to decide if
image
file is vmdk file or img file. For example, We can add "kvm-img" and
"kvm-vmware" into OSinstalltype table. If one image's OS module point
to
"kvm-img" as OSinstalltype, then the code should consider the image
as
"img"
image file, and vice verse.
Thanks,
Xianqing Yu
------
Graduate Research Assistant, Cyber Defense Lab
Department of Computer Science
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
E-mail: x...@ncsu.edu
-----Original Message----- From: Aaron Peeler
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2011 02:39 PM
To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
The imagename is related to the OS table. It's also dependent on the
the OS.moduleid, OS.installtype and the computer.provisioningid. We
might need to add new entries for this module, which isn't a problem.
Just need to decide on how to name it.
Ideally I would like to see the libvirt/kvm module handle both
types -
vmdk and img.
Aaron
On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 11:13 AM, Xianqing Yu
<yu267155...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
Thanks for your suggestion.
I have a question about define the image name and capture function.
Currently my kvm module can support vmware esxi image format (.vmdk
and
flat.vmdk, so I can easily support existing flat.vmdk images by
KVM).
But
I
also want it to support other image formats, such as .img.
I think we may need to define the name format both in VCL database
and
KVM
module. Let's said there is an image named CentOS5,
In VMDK format,
In VCL database, it should be esx-CentOS5-v0,
In image library, it should be files, esx-CentOS5-v0.vmdk and
esx-CentOS5-v0-flat.vmdk.
My question is that what its name should be when the image file is
img
format? My final goal is that make KVM module can support flat.vmdk
and
img
file at the same time. Is that possible to do that? Or I should give
one
of
them up?
Thanks,
Xianqing Yu
------
Graduate Research Assistant, Cyber Defense Lab
Department of Computer Science
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
E-mail: x...@ncsu.edu
-----Original Message----- From: Andy Kurth
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 09:02 AM
To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
Hi Xianqing,
Sounds great. I'd like to help with this too. I like the idea
about
making it generic. Since libvirt supports a few different things, I
think a very generic libvirt.pm module inheriting from
Provisioning.pm
makes sense:
Package: VCL::Module::Provisioning::libvirt
File: /usr/local/vcl/lib/VCL/Module/Provisioning/libvirt.pm
I'd create a Provisioning/libvirt subdirectory, and create .pm files
for each libvirt/VCL supported product:
Package: VCL::Module::Provisioning::libvirt::KVM
File: /usr/local/vcl/lib/VCL/Module/Provisioning/libvirt/KVM.pm
I agree to use the VMware module as an example though there will be
a
difference in how your Perl package path is constructed and where
the
files reside. The main VMware.pm file should reside 1 directory
higher, directly under Provisioning. When the new VMware.pm module
was created, the older vmware.pm module already resided in this
location. We couldn't remove it at that time so I put VMware.pm a
directory lower to keep them straight.
There is a lot of code in the VMware.pm module that could be reused
by
other modules. I tried to break up the subroutines as much as
possible so that each one performs a single function. Many of them
are not VMware-specific and could be moved up into Provisioning.pm
so
that the code can be reused by libvirt.pm and other provisioning
modules.
Submitting your code via Jira is the best way to get started. We
already have issue VCL-339 for this. Please be sure to submit your
code as an attached file to the issue, not copied/pasted to the
description.
Also, 1 suggestion for anyone working on code. Make sure you are
developing using a checked-out copy of trunk from Subversion and
perform a 'svn update' regularly. Don't work off of the code in the
VCL 2.2.1 release because it is changing frequently. It will also
be
very easy to commit your code to trunk this way.
Thanks,
Andy
On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 4:30 PM, Xianqing Yu <xia...@us.ibm.com>
wrote:
Aaron,
Thank your interesting.
I looked at the vmware Provisioning module code, and try to learn
and
reuse some code from that. Because there are some many functions in
VMware.pm, I probably start with some basic functions, and make it
work
first.
About structure, I has several functions inside my kvm.pm,
including,
initialize, load, capture, node_status and get_image_size. I
already
finish
most of them except for capture function. So basically, kvm module
will
do
very similar thing as VMware.pm. And it generates a XML file to
define
the
VM (like VMX file in VMware) and creates VM on KVM by sending ssh
command
"virsh create vm.xml". I have a script which can install necessary
packages
and set up proper network configuration on the host. So I can use
that
with
xCAT to create kickstart image for KVM host. I also can use the
script
to
configure existing Fedora machine.
I can have my script and kvm provisioning code ready within three
days,
so
you guys can take a look. So should I publish it on the JIRE?
Thanks,
Xianqing Yu
WSTI Intern
xia...@us.ibm.com
-----Aaron Peeler <fapee...@ncsu.edu> wrote: -----
To: vcl-dev@incubator.apache.org
From: Aaron Peeler <fapee...@ncsu.edu>
Date: 07/29/2011 08:58AM
Subject: Re: The New KVM Provisioning module
Hi Xianqing,
This is great. I'd like to work with you this module.
What are your thoughts on the structure?
Have you looked at the work Andy did on the VMware Prov module:
/..../lib/VCL/Module/Provisioning/VMware
Aaron
On Tue, Jul 26, 2011 at 11:18 PM, Xianqing Yu <xia...@us.ibm.com>
wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi VCL community,
>
> I am developing KVM Provisioning Module for VCL system, which is
based
on
> my previous version of KVM Provisioning Module. You can find out
my
> previous KVM module's information from here,
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/VCL-339
>
> Currently, I am trying to make this module's code as generic as
possible.
> And I will including these features inside this new version of
module.
> 1. The module will use libvirt API to manipulate the VM on KVM
hosts.
The
> main reason behind this is that libvirt is widely used API, many
people in
> the community talked about this before, and libvirt support for
different
> hypervisors, such as KVM, Xen, Qemu, etc.. It would be easier to
port
this
> module to support other hypervisor in future.
> 2. A setup scripted will be developed to help the users to setup
host
much
> easier.
> 3. A document descripts how to install this module.
>
> Welcome everyone to join the discussion with me if you are
interesting
> about. Such as, is there any new features you expect to see in
this
module?
> Do you have any suggestion about this module? Or you have any
questions
> about this module? Please let me know.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Xianqing Yu
> WSTI Intern
> xia...@us.ibm.com
--
Aaron Peeler
Program Manager
Virtual Computing Lab
NC State University
All electronic mail messages in connection with State business
which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC
Public
Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
--
Aaron Peeler
Program Manager
Virtual Computing Lab
NC State University
All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
--
Aaron Peeler
Program Manager
Virtual Computing Lab
NC State University
All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
--
Aaron Peeler
Program Manager
Virtual Computing Lab
NC State University
All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
--
Aaron Peeler
Program Manager
Virtual Computing Lab
NC State University
All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
--
Aaron Peeler
Program Manager
Virtual Computing Lab
NC State University
All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
