ignore unused elements of this section, so their presence won't raise
any warnings.
-
Operating System
----------------
List of operating systems available on a cluster is viewable using
``gnt-os list`` command. When importing from external source, providing
OS type in a command line (``--os-type=...``) is **required**. This is
-because rven if the type is given in OVF description, it is not detailed
+because even if the type is given in OVF description, it is not detailed
enough for Ganeti to know which os-specific scripts to use.
+Please note, that instance containing disks may only be imported using
+OS script that supports raw disk images.
+
+References
+----------
+Files listed in ``ovf:References`` section cannot be hyperlinks.
+
+
+Limitations on export
+=====================
+
+Disk content
+------------
+Most Ganeti instances do not contain grub. This results in some
+problems when importing to virtualization software that does expect it.
+Examples of such software include VirtualBox and VMWare.
+
+To avoid trouble, please install grub inside the instance before
+exporting it.
+
+
+Import to VirtualBox
+--------------------
+``format`` option should be set to ``vmdk`` in order for instance to be
+importable by VirtualBox.
+
+Tests using existing versions of VirtualBox (3.16) suggest, that
+VirtualBox does not support disk compression or OVA packaging. In future
+versions this might change.
+
+
+Import to VMWare
+----------------
+Importing Ganeti instance to VMWare was tested using ``ovftool``.
+
+``format`` option should be set to ``vmdk`` in order for instance to be
+importable by VMWare.
+
+Presence of Ganeti section does seem to cause some problems and
+therefore it is recommended to use ``--external`` option on export.
+
+Import of compressed disks generated by ovfconverter was impossible in
+current version of ``ovftool`` (2.1.0). This seems to be related to old
+``vmdk`` version. Since the conversion to ``vmdk`` format is done using
+``qemu-img``, it is possible and in fact expected, that future versions
+of the latter tool will resolve this problem.
Import examples
gnt-instance import -n node1.xen xen.test.i1
+
+Export example
+==============
+
+Exporting instance into ``.ovf`` format is pretty streightforward and
+requires little - if any - explanation. The only compulsory detail is
+the required disk format, provided using the ``--format`` option.
+
+Export to another Ganeti instance
+---------------------------------
+If for some reason it is convenient for you to use ``ovfconverter`` to
+move instance between clusters (e.g. because of the disk compression),
+the complete example of export may look like this::
+
+ gnt-backup export -n node1.xen xen.test.i1
+ [...]
+ ovfconverter export --format=vmdk --ova \
+ /srv/ganeti/export/xen.i1.node1.xen/config.ini
+ [...]
+
+The result is then in
+``/srv/ganeti/export/xen.i1.node1.xen/xen.test.i1.ova``
+
+Export to Virtualbox/VMWare/other external tool
+-----------------------------------------------
+Typically, when exporting to external tool we do not want
+Ganeti-specific configuration to be saved. In that case, simply use the
+``--external`` option::
+
+ gnt-backup export -n node1.xen xen.test.i1
+ [...]
+ ovfconverter export --external --output-dir ~/ganeti-instance/ \
+ /srv/ganeti/export/xen.i1.node1.xen/config.ini
+
+
+Known issues
+============
+
+Conversion errors
+-----------------
+If you are encountering trouble when converting the disk, please ensure
+that you have newest ``qemu-img`` version.
+
+OVA and compression
+-------------------
+The compressed disks and OVA packaging do not work correctly in either
+VirtualBox (old version) or VMWare.
+
+VirtualBox (3.16 OSE) does not seem to support those two, so there is
+very little we can do about this.
+
+As for VMWare, the reason behind it not accepting compressed or packed
+instances created by ovfconverter seems to be related to the old vmdk
+version.
+
+Problems on newest VirtualBox
+-----------------------------
+In Oracle VM Virtualbox 4.0+ there seems to be a problem when importing
+any OVF instance created by ovfconverter. Reasons are again unknown,
+this will be investigated.
+
+Disk space
+----------
+The disk space requirements for both import and export are at the moment
+very large - we require free space up to about 3-4 times the size of
+disks. This will most likely be changed in future versions.
+
+
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projects / ganeti-local / blobdiff