[openstack-dev] How to create vmdk for openstack usage

Vui Chiap Lam vuichiap at vmware.com
Fri Sep 27 01:18:56 UTC 2013 

Hi Jason, 

Comments inlined. If it helps, I can also work with you off-list via email to 
help resolve the issues you have. 

Thanks, 
Vui 

----- Original Message -----

| From: "Jason Zhang" <bearovercloud at gmail.com>
| To: "OpenStack Development Mailing List" <openstack-dev at lists.openstack.org>
| Cc: "Vui Chiap Lam" <vuichiap at vmware.com>
| Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2013 5:48:10 PM
| Subject: Re: [openstack-dev] How to create vmdk for openstack usage

| Dear Vui,

| Thank you very much for your information.

| > After obtaining a sparse ide vmdk from "qemu-img convert", due to a bug in
| > the
| > VMware nova driver, you need to convert the vmdk to a thin or preallocated
| > disk.

| We tested it based on your information by using the ide.
| The preallocated option works. Thin didn't work, any idea?

Can you give more details about what you did and what did not work? Was it the 
conversion to a thin disk that failed, or the usage of of the converted disk? 

| > You can do this one of the following tools:
| > - vmkfstools.pl referenced in the DeveloperGuide Appendix
| > - vmkfstools directly if you can ssh into an ESX machine

| The above 2 didn't work.

Same here. Can you provide more details? Were you not able to set up or get to 
an environment to run these tools, or did they not produce a converted disk, 
or did not produce one that works with nova? 

| > - vmware-vdiskmanager (comes bundled with VMware Fusion or VMware
| > Workstation)
| > (e.g. '/Applications/VMware
| > Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vdiskmanager' -r > our_sparse_ide.vmdk
| > -t 4 converted.vmdk

| This works for pre-allocated.

| Is there an option to reduce the disk size of the converted vmdk?

| We were using vmware-vdiskmanager -r <source.vmdk> -t 0 <target.vmdk> to
| reduced the disk size but it didn't work, OS couldn't be booted.

-t 0 produces a monosparse format that is not compatible with ESX. 

As for the reduction of disk size, not at the moment, although currently two issues related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/nova/+bug/1215146 are being looked into: 
1. reduce disk usage on ESX datastore by restoring the thin-provisioned-ness of a thin disk. 
2. minimize glance <-> nova network traffic when transferring thin provisioned disk. 

that hopefully will address this issue soon. 

| Thanks in advance!

| Best regards,

| Jason

| On 9/16/13 1:13 AM, Vui Chiap Lam wrote:

| | Hi Jason,
| 

| | What happens if you forgo the converting to lsilogic, and instead upload
| | the
| | disk to glance as an ide disk (using --property vmware_adaptertype=ide)?
| 

| | Also, just reiterating the docs and Dan's comments,
| 

| | After obtaining a sparse ide vmdk from "qemu-img convert", due to a bug in
| | the VMware nova driver, you need to convert the vmdk to a thin or
| | preallocated disk.
| 
| | You can do this one of the following tools:
| 
| | - vmkfstools.pl referenced in the DeveloperGuide Appendix
| 
| | - vmkfstools directly if you can ssh into an ESX machine
| 
| | - vmware-vdiskmanager (comes bundled with VMware Fusion or VMware
| | Workstation)
| 
| | (e.g. '/Applications/VMware
| | Fusion.app/Contents/Library/vmware-vdiskmanager'
| | -r our_sparse_ide.vmdk -t 4 converted.vmdk
| 
| | After this step you should have a converted .vmdk and a converted
| | -flat.vmdk.
| 
| | At this point converted -flat.vmdk (not the descriptor file converted
| | .vmdk)
| | can be uploaded to with --property vmware_adaptertype=ide as an ide image
| 

| | If this works, we can worry about converting the disk to SCSI next.
| 

| | Regards,
| 
| | Vui
| 

| | ----- Original Message -----
| 

| | | From: "Jason Zhang" <bearovercloud at gmail.com>
| | 
| 
| | | To: "OpenStack Development Mailing List"
| | | <openstack-dev at lists.openstack.org>
| | 
| 
| | | Sent: Friday, September 13, 2013 4:09:47 PM
| | 
| 
| | | Subject: Re: [openstack-dev] How to create vmdk for openstack usage
| | 
| 

| | | Hi Dan,
| | 
| 

| | | Thank you very much for your reply.
| | 
| 

| | | We tested again and it still does not work, can you give more information
| | | about how the vmdk's were created?
| | 
| 
| | | I.e the tool used to create the debian and trend vmdk's listed here
| | 
| 
| | | https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/NovaVMware/DeveloperGuide#Glance_Initial_Setup
| | 
| 

| | | Using qemu-img convert to convert a qcow2 or raw image to vmdk doesn't
| | | seem
| | | to work, for example, by using
| | 
| 
| | | qemu-img convert -f qcow2 -O vmdk <input-file.qcow2> <output-file.vmdk>
| | 
| 
| | | The command always converts to a vmdk which is of adapter type 'ide'
| | | other
| | | than lsilogic.
| | 
| 

| | | We modified the adapter type to lsilogic and uploading it to glance by
| | | using,
| | 
| 

| | | glance image-create --name=<name> --disk-format=vmdk
| | | --container-format=bare
| | | --is-public=true --property vmware_adaptertype=lsiLogic --property
| | | vmware_disktype=thin --property vmware_ostype=ubuntu64Guest <
| | | output-file.vmdk
| | 
| 
| | | or
| | 
| 
| | | glance image-create --name=<name> --disk-format=vmdk
| | | --container-format=bare
| | | --is-public=true --property vmware_adaptertype=lsiLogic --property
| | | vmware-disktype="preallocated" --property vmware_disktype=thin --property
| | | vmware_ostype=ubuntu64Guest < output-file.vmdk
| | 
| 

| | | doesn't seem to work. Even after tying the steps under
| | | https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/NovaVMware/DeveloperGuide#Appendix
| | 
| 

| | | It seems the patch to convert into a scsi disk, has not been merged yet:
| | | https://bugs.launchpad.net/qemu/+bug/545089
| | 
| 

| | | Thanks in advance!
| | 
| 

| | | Best regards,
| | 
| 

| | | Jason
| | 
| 

| | | On 9/12/13 12:48 PM, Dan Wendlandt wrote:
| | 
| 

| | | | Hi Jason,
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | The best place to look is the official openstack compute documentation
| | | | that
| | | | covers vSphere in Nova:
| | | | http://docs.openstack.org/trunk/openstack-compute/admin/content/vmware.html
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | In particular, check out the section titled "Images with VMware
| | | | vSphere"
| | | | (pasted below). As that text suggests, the most likely issue with your
| | | | VMDK
| | | | not booting is that you may have passed the wrong vmware_adaptertype to
| | | | glance when creating the image. Also note the statement indicating that
| | | | all
| | | | VMDK images must be "flat" (i.e., single file), otherwise Glance will
| | | | be
| | | | confused.
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | Dan
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | Images with VMware vSphere
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | When using either VMware driver, images should be uploaded to the
| | | | OpenStack
| | | | Image Service in the VMDK format. Both thick and thin images are
| | | | currently
| | | | supported and all images must be flat (i.e. contained within 1 file).
| | | | For
| | | | example
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | To load a thick image with a SCSI adaptor:
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | $ glance image-create name="ubuntu-thick-scsi" disk_format=vmdk
| | | | container_format=bare \
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | is_public=true --property vmware_adaptertype="lsiLogic" \
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | --property vmware_disktype="preallocated" \
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | --property vmware_ostype="ubuntu64Guest" < ubuntuLTS-flat.vmdk
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | To load a thin image with an IDE adaptor:
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | $ glance image-create name="unbuntu-thin-ide" disk_format=vmdk
| | | | container_format=bare \
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | is_public=true --property vmware_adaptertype="ide" \
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | --property vmware_disktype="thin" \
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | --property vmware_ostype="ubuntu64Guest" < unbuntuLTS-thin-flat.vmdk
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | The complete list of supported vmware disk properties is documented in
| | | | the
| | | | Image Management section. It's critical that the adaptertype is
| | | | correct;
| | | | In
| | | | fact, the image will not boot with the incorrect adaptertype. If you
| | | | have
| | | | the meta-data VMDK file the the ddb.adapterType property specifies the
| | | | adaptertype. The default adaptertype is "lsilogic" which is SCSI.
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 11:29 AM, Jason Zhang < bearovercloud at gmail.com
| | | | >
| | | | wrote:
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | | Hi Dears,
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | | In the document
| | | | | https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/NovaVMware/DeveloperGuide
| | | | | under the 'Get an initial VMDK to work with',
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | | its said, 'There are a lot of “gotchas” around what VMDK disks work
| | | | | with
| | | | | OpenStack + vSphere,'.
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | | The appendix section lists one of the gotchas. Are there any more
| | | | | gotchas?
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | | During our testing, the vmdk instance on boot-up gives a 'Operating
| | | | | System
| | | | | not found' error,
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | | I am not sure whether this is a already known issue or not.
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | | Thanks in advance!
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | | Best regards,
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | | Jason
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | | _______________________________________________
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | | OpenStack-dev mailing list
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | | OpenStack-dev at lists.openstack.org
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | | http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
| | | | 
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | --
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | Dan Wendlandt
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | Nicira, Inc: www.nicira.com
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | twitter: danwendlandt
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| | | 
| | 
| 

| | | | _______________________________________________
| | | 
| | 
| 
| | | | OpenStack-dev mailing list OpenStack-dev at lists.openstack.org
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| | | 
| | 
| 

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