Image Format
Version 3 (Nikos Skalkotos, 10/21/2011 12:51 pm)
| 1 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | h1. Image Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | |
| 3 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | Right now we support 2 image formats: extdump and ntfsdump. Those formats are raw copies (using dd) of partitions hosting ext{2,3,4} and ntfs filesystems respectively. |
| 4 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | |
| 5 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | Partitions hosting a windows or linux system that are suitable for dumping should have the following properties: |
| 6 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | * Be the first partition in the filesystem |
| 7 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | * Start at sector 2048 |
| 8 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | * Have a bootloader installed in the partition |
| 9 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | |
| 10 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | h2. Known Issues |
| 11 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | |
| 12 | 2 | Nikos Skalkotos | * For linux systems, having grub installed in the partition is fragile and things can go wrong when resizing the partitions, especially when shrinking. |
| 13 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | * Swap space is not supported. |
| 14 | 2 | Nikos Skalkotos | * More complicated partition schemes are not supported. |
| 15 | 2 | Nikos Skalkotos | * We only support linux and windows images |
| 16 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | |
| 17 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | h2. Future Work |
| 18 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | |
| 19 | 1 | Nikos Skalkotos | We are considering changing the {ext,ntfs}dump format in order to overcome the known issues. |
| 20 | 2 | Nikos Skalkotos | |
| 21 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | * Extend extdump to contain the first 2048 sectors. |
| 22 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | +) Overcame the grub problem |
| 23 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | +) Easy to deploy, with only few changes |
| 24 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | -) The extdump image won't be directly mountable any more. We will have to use the device mapper before mounting the image. |
| 25 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | * Ιnclude an additional file that has rules on how the image should be deployed. |
| 26 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | +) Support more complicated partition schemes. |
| 27 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | +) Customize settings like the number of users accounts their password will change. |
| 28 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | -) This can dramatically increase the complexity of the image format. |
| 29 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | -) This can dramatically increase the complexity of the bundling tool. |
| 30 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | * Use a diskdump format (a raw disk copy) |
| 31 | 3 | Nikos Skalkotos | +) Run different OS's |