Synnefo » snf-ganeti

using ``qemu-img`` are allowed in import mode, but not tested.

will be provided.

be in the same directory as the ``.ovf`` description file for both

import and export.

References

----------

Files listed in ``ovf:References`` section cannot be hyperlinks.

called ``qemu-img``. The same tool is used to determine the type of

disk, as well as its virtual size.

Work in progress

----------------

- conversion to/from raw disk should be quicker

- add graphic card memory to export information (12 MB of memory)

- space requirements for conversion + compression + ova are currently

  enormous

- add support for disks in chunks

- add support for certificates

- investigate why VMWare's ovftool does not work with ovfconverter's

  compression and ova packaging -- maybe noteworty: if OVA archive does

  not have a disk (i.e. in OVA package there is only .ovf ad .mf file),

  then the ovftool works

- investigate why new versions of VirtualBox have problems with OVF

  created by ovfconverter (everything works fine with 3.16 version, but

  not with 4.0)

because even if the type is given in OVF description, it is not detailed

Please note, that instance containing disks may only be imported using

OS script that supports raw disk images.

References

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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.

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

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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.