Xen users - Aug 2011 - XCP: disk2vhd -> xenconvert (to ovf) -> xe vm-import

Hi all,

    I`m evaluating methods for nightly "snapshot" a physical win2003
to
xcp vm.
    I know it would be a lot easier and reliable just to to one convert
one time and start to generate real vm snapshots, but at this time I
cannot use this method.

    I tested the sequence: disk2vdh -> xenconvert (to xcp), but a big
deal of using this method is that xenconvert does not send only the .vhd
file through the network, but all the disk size whose partition was
converted. So, if my win2003 has a physical HD of 250GB and C: is on
first partition of 10GB, the generated .vhd will have ~10GB, but
xenconvert sends 250 GB via network to xcp server.

    Well, with my scenario I cannot rely on this method and would be
much faster if I could implement something like this:
    - Use disk2vhd to extract C:
    - Use Xenconvert to convert the .vhd to modified .vhd + .ovf
    - Send modified .vhd + .ovf to xcp
    - Use xe vm-import or others means to build the vm.
   
    But as far as I could read and test, vm-import only accepts .xva.
    I know that by default, vdi`s stores data using vhd format, on lvm2
logical volumes. So, I`m playing with the chances for:

    - Create the vdi with xe vdi-create.
    - cat .vhd > /dev/VG.../created-volume...
    - and finaly use the .ovf to create the vm, attaching the vdi to it.

    Of course, all of it has to be via scripts (.bat and .sh).

    Do you have hints about the viability of this method? Is it possible
to create a vm from .ovf and cat or dd the .vhd to the logical volume?


    Thank you,
    Tom Lobato





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ok, I was able to attach vhd files directly to vms, but not yet import
ovf files.
So, I can resume the question: is there some way to create a vm from ovf
file via xcp command line?


Tom

On 23-08-2011 02:04, Tom Lobato wrote:
>     Hi all,
>
>     I`m evaluating methods for nightly "snapshot" a physical
win2003 to
> xcp vm.
>     I know it would be a lot easier and reliable just to to one convert
> one time and start to generate real vm snapshots, but at this time I
> cannot use this method.
>
>     I tested the sequence: disk2vdh -> xenconvert (to xcp), but a big
> deal of using this method is that xenconvert does not send only the .vhd
> file through the network, but all the disk size whose partition was
> converted. So, if my win2003 has a physical HD of 250GB and C: is on
> first partition of 10GB, the generated .vhd will have ~10GB, but
> xenconvert sends 250 GB via network to xcp server.
>
>     Well, with my scenario I cannot rely on this method and would be
> much faster if I could implement something like this:
>     - Use disk2vhd to extract C:
>     - Use Xenconvert to convert the .vhd to modified .vhd + .ovf
>     - Send modified .vhd + .ovf to xcp
>     - Use xe vm-import or others means to build the vm.
>    
>     But as far as I could read and test, vm-import only accepts .xva.
>     I know that by default, vdi`s stores data using vhd format, on lvm2
> logical volumes. So, I`m playing with the chances for:
>
>     - Create the vdi with xe vdi-create.
>     - cat .vhd > /dev/VG.../created-volume...
>     - and finaly use the .ovf to create the vm, attaching the vdi to it.
>
>     Of course, all of it has to be via scripts (.bat and .sh).
>
>     Do you have hints about the viability of this method? Is it possible
> to create a vm from .ovf and cat or dd the .vhd to the logical volume?
>
>
>     Thank you,
>     Tom Lobato
>
>
>
>
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