System Administration Commands vdiskadm(1M)
NAME
vdiskadm - create and manage virtual disks
SYNOPSIS
vdiskadm create -s size [-t type[:opt],[opt]
[-c comment] vdname
vdiskadm destroy [-r] vdnamesnapshot
vdiskadm snapshot vdname@snapname
vdiskadm rollback [-r] snapshot
vdiskadm clone [-c comment] vdnamesnapshot clonevdname
vdiskadm move vdname dir
vdiskadm rename vdnamesnapshot vdnamesnapshot
vdiskadm list [-fp]vdname
vdiskadm verify vdname
vdiskadm prop-get [-l] -p property vdname
vdiskadm prop-set -p property=value vdname
vdiskadm prop-add -p property=value vdname
vdiskadm prop-del -p property vdname
vdiskadm help [command]
DESCRIPTION
The vdiskadm command manages virtual disks within dom0. In
the SYNOPSIS above, vdname is the pathname of the virtual
disk; it has a maximum length of MAXPATHLEN (1024 bytes).
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System Administration Commands vdiskadm(1M)
vdiskadm is implemented as a set of subcommands, many with
their own options and operands. These subcommands are
described under "Subcommands," below.
The following subsections describe concepts related to vir-
tual disks.
Snapshots
A snapshot is a read-only copy of a virtual disk. Snapshots
can be created extremely quickly and initially consume lit-
tle space. As data within the active virtual disk changes,
the snapshot consumes more data than would otherwise be
shared with the active virtual disk.
Clones
A clone is a writable copy of a virtual disk. The default
type of clone is a merged (that is, coalesced) copy of the
original virtual disk. An example of a merged clone occurs
when a virtual disk is comprised of several snapshots; a
subsequent clone operation results in a new virtual disk
containing no snapshots. A clone will be of the same type as
the original virtual disk (that is, vmdk:fixed). When a
merged clone is created there is no linkage back to the ori-
ginal virtual disk or to any of its snapshots. This lack of
linkage allows the merged clone to be moved to another phy-
sical machine.
Numeric Values
The values of numeric properties can be specified using
human-readable suffixes, such as k, KB, M, Gb, and so forth,
up to Z for zettabyte). The following are all valid (and
equal) specifications:
1536M 1.5g 1.50GB
Types of Virtual Disks
The following types and options of virtual disks are sup-
ported:
o vmdk:fixed
o vmdk:sparse
o vdi:fixed
o vdi:sparse
o raw:fixed
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where vmdk is the native VMware format, vdi is the native
VirtualBox format and raw describes a file that looks like a
raw disk. A raw disk is always in fixed format so that
option can be explicitly set or implicitly understood.
If the type is not specified, the default value is vmdk. If
the option is not specified, the default value is fixed for
type raw and sparse for types vmdk and vdi.
Native and User-defined Properties
Properties are divided into two types, native and user
defined. Native properties either export internal statistics
or control vdiskadm behavior. In addition, native properties
are either editable or read-only. User-defined properties
are arbitrary strings that have no effect on vdiskadm
behavior. You can use them to annotate virtual disks in a
way that is meaningful in your environment. User-defined
property names must contain a colon (:) character, to dis-
tinguish them from native properties.
Properties are associated only with the virtual disk and not
with individual snapshots.
Every virtual disk has a set of native properties that
export statistics about the virtual disk, as well as control
various behaviors.
The following are the native properties for a virtual disk:
cdrom
Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is a
CDROM.
removable
Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is a
removable media.
readonly
Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is
read-only. This property is read-only.
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sectors
Numeric property containing the number of disk sectors
in the given virtual disk. This property is read-only.
name
String property that is the name of the virtual disk.
This property is read-only.
max-size
Numeric property containing the maximum size of the vir-
tual disk in bytes. This property is read-only.
effective-size
Numeric property containing the effective size of the
virtual disk, in bytes. The effective size includes the
size of the data file and all snapshots. The effective
size can exceed the maximum size. This property is
read-only.
creation-time
String property containing the date and time that the
virtual disk was created. This property is read-only.
creation-time-epoch
Numeric property describing the creation-time property
in seconds since the epoch (seconds since 00:00:00 UTC,
Jan. 1, 1970). This property is read-only.
modification-time
String property containing the date and time of last
modification to virtual disk. This property is read-
only.
modification-time-epoch
Numeric property describing the modification-time pro-
perty in seconds since the epoch (seconds since 00:00:00
UTC, Jan. 1, 1970). This property is read-only.
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description
String property that contains the comment given when the
virtual disk was created or cloned. This property is
read-only.
type
String property that contains the type of virtual disk:
vmdk, vdi, or raw. This property is read-only.
sparse
Boolean property that is true if the virtual disk is in
sparse format. This property is read-only.
owner
String property that contains the user name of the owner
of the virtual disk. This property is editable.
SUB-COMANDS
The vdiskadm subcommands and their arguments are described
in the following subsections.
vdiskadm create
vdiskadm create -s size [-t type[:opt],[opt]
[-c comment] vdname
Creates a new virtual disk of the specified size and at the
location specified by vdname. If vdname includes a path to
the virtual disk, the directories that follow from that path
will be created during creation of the virtual disk. This
subcommand has the options listed below.
-t type[:opt],[opt]
Specifies the type of virtual disk to be created. The
default type is vmdk. For vmdk and vdi types the default
option is sparse. For type raw the default option is
fixed.
-c comment
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Comment that can be attached to virtual disk.
vdiskadm destroy
vdiskadm destroy [-r] vdnamesnapshot
Destroys the specified virtual disk or snapshot. By default,
the destroy operation fails if the specified virtual disk
contains snapshots. This subcommand has the option listed
below.
-r
Recursively destroys the virtual disk, including all
snapshots associated with the virtual disk.
vdiskadm snapshot
vdiskadm snapshot vdname@snapname
Creates a snapshot of the virtual disk with the specified
snapname. This subcommand has no options.
vdiskadm rollback
vdiskadm rollback [-r] snapshot
Roll back the virtual disk to a previous snapshot. When a
virtual disk is rolled back, all data that has changed since
the snapshot is discarded, and the virtual disk reverts to
the state at the time of the snapshot. By default, the com-
mand refuses to roll back to a snapshot other than the most
recent one. In order to roll back further, all intermediate
snapshots must be destroyed by specifying the -r option.
This subcommand has the option listed below.
-r
Recursively destroy any snapshots more recent than the
one specified.
vdiskadm clone
vdiskadm [-c comment] vdnamesnapshot clonevdname
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Creates a clone of the specified snapshot or virtual disk.
The clone is created with the type and option and the size
of the virtual disk being cloned. If clonevdname includes a
path the directories that flow from that path will be
created during creation of the cloned virtual disk. By
default, a merged clone image is created. This subcommand
has the option listed below.
-c comment
Comment that can be attached to cloned virtual disk.
vdiskadm move
vdiskadm move vdname dir
Moves a specified virtual disk into the specified directory.
The virtual disk maintains the same name. The new directory
must exist. This subcommand has no options.
vdiskadm rename
vdiskadm rename vdnamesnapshot vdnamesnapshot
Renames a virtual disk or snapshot. This subcommand has no
options.
vdiskadm list
vdiskadm list [-fp]vdname
Lists a specified virtual disk and its snapshots. This sub-
command has the options listed below.
-f
Gives a list of all files associated with the virtual
disk. This list includes the store file and the extents.
-p
Lists the files in an easily parsable format, prefixing
the files with a label of file:, snapshot:, or store.
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vdiskadm verify
vdiskadm verify vdname
Returns an error if the virtual disk cannot be recognized or
opened by Solaris xVM. This subcommand has no options.
vdiskadm prop-get
vdiskadm prop-get [-l] -p property vdname
Returns the value of the property for the specified virtual
disk. A property value of all displays all native and user-
defined properties for the virtual disk. This subcommand has
the options listed below.
-l
Gives additional property information, such as the
writeable status of property.
-p property
Specifies the property being queried and displays the
value of the property. For the property all, the name of
the property, a colon, and a space are displayed before
the value of the property.
vdiskadm prop-set
vdiskadm prop-set -p property=value vdname
Sets the value of the specified property for the specified
virtual disk. property can be a native or a user-defined
property, but must be writable. Can be used to change the
value of a property added with the prop-add subcommand. This
subcommand has the option listed below.
-p property=value
Specifies the property being set.
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vdiskadm prop-add
vdiskadm -p property=value vdname
Adds the user-defined property with the specified value to
the specified virtual disk. Returns an error if the property
already exists. The user-defined property name must contain
a colon character (:). This subcommand has the option listed
below.
-p property=value
Specifies the property being added.
vdiskadm prop-del
vdiskadm prop-del -p property vdname
Deletes a user-defined property from the specified virtual
disk. This subcommand has the option listed below.
-p property
Specifies the property being deleted.
vdiskadm help
vdiskadm help [command]
Displays a general or command-specific help message. This
subcommand has only the command name optional argument.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Creating a vmdk Sparse File
The following command creates a virtual disk named disk1 of
size 8 GB in the directory /guests/disks.
# vdiskadm create -s 8g -t vmdk:sparse /guests/disks/disk1
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Example 2 Creating a Snapshot
The following command creates a snapshot of the virtual disk
located at /guests/disks/disk1. The snapshot is named
install.
# vdiskadm snapshot /guests/disks/disk1@install
Example 3 Creating and Destroying Snapshots
The following commands create two snapshots, named install
and bfu, of the virtual disk located at /guests/disks/disk1.
The third command destroys the newly created snapshot
install.
# vdiskadm snapshot /guests/disks/disk1@install
# vdiskadm snapshot /guests/disks/disk1@bfu
# vdiskadm destroy /guests/disks/disk1@install
Example 4 Rolling Back a Virtual Disk
The following command reverts the contents of the virtual
disk to the snapshot named install, deleting all intermedi-
ate snapshots.
# vdiskadm rollback -r /guests/disks/disk1@install
Example 5 Listing a Virtual Disk and Snapshots
The following command lists all of the images associated
with the virtual disk /guests/disks/disk1.
# vdiskadm list /guests/disks/disk1
disk1@install
disk1@bfu
disk1
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Example 6 Creating a Clone
The following command creates a new virtual disk that is a
coalesced copy of the virtual disk /guests/disks/disk1. The
clone is created in the same format (that is, vmdk:sparse)
as the original virtual disk.
# vdiskadm clone /guests/disks/disk1 /guests/clone/clonedisk1
Example 7 Adding a User-defined Property
The following command adds a user-defined property to the
virtual disk and assigns it the specified value. This pro-
perty name was chosen to represent the source and require-
ments of this virtual disk data using the required colon to
delineate the fields.
# vdiskadm prop-add -p com.sun:required-nic=2 /guests/disks/disk1
ATRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
ATRIBUTE TYPE ATRIBUTE VALUE
Availability SUNWvdisk
Interface Stability Uncommitted
SEE ALSO
virsh(1M), virt-install(1M), attributes(5), xVM(5)
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