Re: [Xen-users] Using virt-install on LV

[John Haxby <john.haxby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Paola Salviato wrote:
> John Haxby wrote:
> > Paola Salviato wrote:
> > > I have no problems in creating VMs on image file with virt-install, 
> > > but despite my efforts to install a domU on a logical volume, I 
> > > haven't succeeded so far. Virt-install seems to be able to crate VMs 
> > > only on image files. I have tried to create the domU on a logical 
> > > volume by cloning the host (I'm using a red-hat), and failed (more 
> > > than once.
> > Why doesn't  "virt-install -file /dev/volgroup/logvol" work for you?
> >
> > jch
> What exactly is "-file" supposed to be?
> (probably it's a stupid question, but... )
You're probably expecting some magic that's not there and not needed.   
The "-file" option to virt-install simply names the file that's going to 
be used for the guest's disk image.   Don't forget that a logical volume 
_is_ a file, you can cat it, cp it, run wc on it.  You can even edit it 
with emacs.  There are a few things that are different to files in a 
file system: for instance if you copy /etc/passwd to it then it doesn't 
get truncated and, of course, you can run the various lv* commands on a 
logical volume and you can't on /etc/passwd.
Were you perhaps expecting virt-install to create the logical volume for 
you?   It doesn't: you need to create it yourself first with lvcreate.
But, really, the only magic is when virt-install comes to creating the 
guest's config.  If the file looks enough like a logical volume or a 
partition then it goes in the config as phy:... rather than file:... (I 
don't remember exactly, but it's quite possible that the name just needs 
to begin "/dev/" for it to go have a phy: back end.)
So I'll come back to my original question: why doesn't "virt-install 
-file /dev/volgroup/logvol" work for you?
jch

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