libvirt/docs/drvesx.html.in

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<h1>VMware ESX hypervisor driver</h1>
<ul id="toc"></ul>
<p>
The libvirt VMware ESX driver can manage VMware ESX/ESXi 3.5/4.0 and
VMware GSX 2.0, also called VMware Server 2.0, and possibly later
versions.
</p>
<h2><a name="prereq">Deployment pre-requisites</a></h2>
<p>
None. Any out-of-the-box installation of ESX/GSX should work. No
preparations are required on the server side, no libvirtd must be
installed on the ESX server. The driver uses version 2.5 of the remote,
SOAP based
<a href="http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk25pubs/ReferenceGuide/">
VMware Virtual Infrastructure API</a> (VI API) to communicate with the
ESX server, like the VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client does. Since
version 4.0 this API is called
<a href="http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk400pubs/ReferenceGuide/">
VMware vSphere API</a>.
</p>
<h2><a name="uri">Connections to the VMware ESX driver</a></h2>
<p>
Some example remote connection URIs for the driver are:
</p>
<pre>
esx://example.com (ESX over HTTPS)
gsx://example.com (GSX over HTTPS)
esx://example.com/?transport=http (ESX over HTTP)
esx://example.com/?no_verify=1 (ESX over HTTPS, but doesn't verify the server's SSL certificate)
</pre>
<h3><a name="uriformat">URI Format</a></h3>
<p>
URIs have this general form ('[...]' marks an optional part).
</p>
<pre>
type://[username@]hostname[:port]/[?extraparameters]
</pre>
<p>
The <code>type://</code> is either <code>esx://</code> or
<code>gsx://</code> and the driver selects the default port depending
on it. For ESX the default HTTPS port is 443, for GSX it is 8333. If
the port parameter is given, it overrides the default port.
</p>
<h4>Extra parameters</h4>
<p>
Extra parameters can be added to a URI as part of the query string
(the part following '?'). The driver understands the extra parameters
shown below.
</p>
<table class="top_table">
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Values</th>
<th>Meaning</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<code>transport</code>
</td>
<td>
<code>http</code> or <code>https</code>
</td>
<td>
Overrides the default HTTPS transport. For ESX the default
HTTP port is 80, for GSX it is 8222.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<code>vcenter</code>
</td>
<td>
Hostname of a VMware vCenter or <code>*</code>
</td>
<td>
In order to perform a migration the driver needs to know the
VMware vCenter for the ESX server. If set to <code>*</code>,
the driver connects to the vCenter known to the ESX server.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<code>no_verify</code>
</td>
<td>
<code>0</code> or <code>1</code>
</td>
<td>
If set to 1, this disables libcurl client checks of the server's
SSL certificate. The default value it 0.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<code>auto_answer</code>
</td>
<td>
<code>0</code> or <code>1</code>
</td>
<td>
If set to 1, the driver answers all
<a href="#questions">questions</a> with the default answer.
If set to 0, questions are reported as errors. The default
value it 0.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<h3><a name="auth">Authentication</a></h3>
<p>
In order to perform any useful operation the driver needs to log into
the ESX server. Therefore, only <code>virConnectOpenAuth</code> can be
used to connect to an ESX server, <code>virConnectOpen</code> and
<code>virConnectOpenReadOnly</code> don't work.
To log into an ESX server or vCenter the driver will request
credentials using the callback passed to the
<code>virConnectOpenAuth</code> function. The driver passes the
hostname as challenge parameter to the callback. This enables the
callback to distinguish between requests for ESX server and vCenter.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Note</strong>: During the ongoing driver development, testing
is done using an unrestricted <code>root</code> account. Problems may
occur if you use a restricted account. Detailed testing with restricted
accounts has not been done yet.
</p>
<h2><a name="questions">Questions blocking tasks</a></h2>
<p>
Some methods of the VI API start tasks, for example
<code>PowerOnVM_Task()</code>. Such tasks may be blocked by questions
if the ESX server detects an issue with the domain that requires user
interaction. The ESX driver cannot prompt the user to answer a
question, libvirt doesn't have an API for something like this.
</p>
<p>
The VI API provides the <code>AnswerVM()</code> method to
programmatically answer a questions. So the driver has two options
how to handle such a situation: either answer the questions with the
default answer or report the question as an error and cancel the
blocked task if possible. The
<a href="#uriformat"><code>auto_answer</code></a> query parameter
controls the answering behavior.
</p>
<h2><a name="xmlspecial">Specialties in the domain XML config</a></h2>
<p>
There are several specialties in the domain XML config for ESX domains.
</p>
<h3>Restrictions</h3>
<p>
There are some restrictions for some values of the domain XML config.
The driver will complain if this restrictions are violated.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
Memory size has to be a multiple of 4096
</li>
<li>
Number of virtual CPU has to be 1 or a multiple of 2
</li>
<li>
Valid MAC address prefixes are <code>00:0c:29</code> and
<code>00:50:56</code>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>Datastore references</h3>
<p>
Storage is managed in datastores. VMware uses a special path format to
reference files in a datastore. Basically, the datastore name is put
into squared braces in front of the path.
</p>
<pre>
[datastore] directory/filename
</pre>
<p>
To define a new domain the driver converts the domain XML into a
VMware VMX file and uploads it to a datastore known to the ESX server.
Because multiple datastores may be known to an ESX server the driver
needs to decide to which datastores the VMX file should be uploaded.
The driver deduces this information from the path of the source of the
first file-based harddisk listed in the domain XML.
</p>
<h3>Available hardware</h3>
<p>
VMware ESX supports different models of SCSI controllers and network
cards.
</p>
<h4>SCSI controller models</h4>
<dl>
<dt><code>buslogic</code></dt>
<dd>
BusLogic SCSI controller for older guests.
</dd>
<dt><code>lsilogic</code></dt>
<dd>
LSI Logic SCSI controller for recent guests.
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
Here a domain XML snippet:
</p>
<pre>
...
&lt;disk type='file' device='disk'&gt;
&lt;driver name='<strong>lsilogic</strong>'/&gt;
&lt;source file='[local-storage] Fedora11/Fedora11.vmdk'/&gt;
&lt;target dev='sda' bus='scsi'/&gt;
&lt;/disk&gt;
...
</pre>
<h4>Network card models</h4>
<dl>
<dt><code>vlance</code></dt>
<dd>
AMD PCnet32 network card for older guests.
</dd>
<dt><code>vmxnet</code>, <code>vmxnet3</code></dt>
<dd>
Special VMware VMXnet network card, requires VMware tools inside
the guest.
</dd>
<dt><code>e1000</code></dt>
<dd>
Intel E1000 network card for recent guests.
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
Here a domain XML snippet:
</p>
<pre>
...
&lt;interface type='bridge'&gt;
&lt;mac address='00:50:56:25:48:c7'/&gt;
&lt;source bridge='VM Network'/&gt;
&lt;model type='<strong>e1000</strong>'/&gt;
&lt;/interface&gt;
...
</pre>
<h2><a name="importexport">Import and export of domain XML configs</a></h2>
<p>
The ESX driver currently supports a native config format known as
<code>vmware-vmx</code> to handle VMware VMX configs.
</p>
<h3><a name="xmlimport">Converting from VMware VMX config to domain XML config</a></h3>
<p>
The <code>virsh domxml-from-native</code> provides a way to convert an
existing VMware VMX config into a domain XML config that can then be
used by libvirt.
</p>
<pre>
$ cat &gt; demo.vmx &lt;&lt; EOF
#!/usr/bin/vmware
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
floppy0.present = "false"
nvram = "Fedora11.nvram"
deploymentPlatform = "windows"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
tools.upgrade.policy = "useGlobal"
powerType.powerOff = "default"
powerType.powerOn = "default"
powerType.suspend = "default"
powerType.reset = "default"
displayName = "Fedora11"
extendedConfigFile = "Fedora11.vmxf"
scsi0.present = "true"
scsi0.sharedBus = "none"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
memsize = "1024"
scsi0:0.present = "true"
scsi0:0.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/498076b2-02796c1a-ef5b-000ae484a6a3/Fedora11/Fedora11.vmdk"
scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"
ide0:0.present = "true"
ide0:0.clientDevice = "true"
ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
ide0:0.startConnected = "false"
ethernet0.present = "true"
ethernet0.networkName = "VM Network"
ethernet0.addressType = "vpx"
ethernet0.address = "00:50:56:91:48:c7"
chipset.onlineStandby = "false"
guestOSAltName = "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32-Bit)"
guestOS = "rhel5"
uuid.bios = "50 11 5e 16 9b dc 49 d7-f1 71 53 c4 d7 f9 17 10"
snapshot.action = "keep"
sched.cpu.min = "0"
sched.cpu.units = "mhz"
sched.cpu.shares = "normal"
sched.mem.minsize = "0"
sched.mem.shares = "normal"
toolScripts.afterPowerOn = "true"
toolScripts.afterResume = "true"
toolScripts.beforeSuspend = "true"
toolScripts.beforePowerOff = "true"
scsi0:0.redo = ""
tools.syncTime = "false"
uuid.location = "56 4d b5 06 a2 bd fb eb-ae 86 f7 d8 49 27 d0 c4"
sched.cpu.max = "unlimited"
sched.swap.derivedName = "/vmfs/volumes/498076b2-02796c1a-ef5b-000ae484a6a3/Fedora11/Fedora11-7de040d8.vswp"
tools.remindInstall = "TRUE"
EOF
$ virsh -c esx://example.com domxml-from-native vmware-vmx demo.vmx
Enter username for example.com [root]:
Enter root password for example.com:
&lt;domain type='vmware'&gt;
&lt;name&gt;Fedora11&lt;/name&gt;
&lt;uuid&gt;50115e16-9bdc-49d7-f171-53c4d7f91710&lt;/uuid&gt;
&lt;memory&gt;1048576&lt;/memory&gt;
&lt;currentMemory&gt;1048576&lt;/currentMemory&gt;
&lt;vcpu&gt;1&lt;/vcpu&gt;
&lt;os&gt;
&lt;type arch='i686'&gt;hvm&lt;/type&gt;
&lt;/os&gt;
&lt;clock offset='utc'/&gt;
&lt;on_poweroff&gt;destroy&lt;/on_poweroff&gt;
&lt;on_reboot&gt;restart&lt;/on_reboot&gt;
&lt;on_crash&gt;destroy&lt;/on_crash&gt;
&lt;devices&gt;
&lt;disk type='file' device='disk'&gt;
&lt;driver name='lsilogic'/&gt;
&lt;source file='[local-storage] Fedora11/Fedora11.vmdk'/&gt;
&lt;target dev='sda' bus='scsi'/&gt;
&lt;/disk&gt;
&lt;interface type='bridge'&gt;
&lt;mac address='00:50:56:91:48:c7'/&gt;
&lt;source bridge='VM Network'/&gt;
&lt;/interface&gt;
&lt;/devices&gt;
&lt;/domain&gt;
</pre>
<h3><a name="xmlexport">Converting from domain XML config to VMware VMX config</a></h3>
<p>
The <code>virsh domxml-to-native</code> provides a way to convert a
domain XML config into a VMware VMX config.
</p>
<pre>
$ cat &gt; demo.xml &lt;&lt; EOF
&lt;domain type='vmware'&gt;
&lt;name&gt;Fedora11&lt;/name&gt;
&lt;uuid&gt;50115e16-9bdc-49d7-f171-53c4d7f91710&lt;/uuid&gt;
&lt;memory&gt;1048576&lt;/memory&gt;
&lt;currentMemory&gt;1048576&lt;/currentMemory&gt;
&lt;vcpu&gt;1&lt;/vcpu&gt;
&lt;os&gt;
&lt;type arch='x86_64'&gt;hvm&lt;/type&gt;
&lt;/os&gt;
&lt;devices&gt;
&lt;disk type='file' device='disk'&gt;
&lt;driver name='lsilogic'/&gt;
&lt;source file='[local-storage] Fedora11/Fedora11.vmdk'/&gt;
&lt;target dev='sda' bus='scsi'/&gt;
&lt;/disk&gt;
&lt;interface type='bridge'&gt;
&lt;mac address='00:50:56:25:48:c7'/&gt;
&lt;source bridge='VM Network'/&gt;
&lt;/interface&gt;
&lt;/devices&gt;
&lt;/domain&gt;
EOF
$ virsh -c esx://example.com domxml-to-native vmware-vmx demo.xml
Enter username for example.com [root]:
Enter root password for example.com:
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
guestOS = "other-64"
uuid.bios = "50 11 5e 16 9b dc 49 d7-f1 71 53 c4 d7 f9 17 10"
displayName = "Fedora11"
memsize = "1024"
numvcpus = "1"
scsi0.present = "true"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi0:0.present = "true"
scsi0:0.deviceType = "scsi-hardDisk"
scsi0:0.fileName = "/vmfs/volumes/local-storage/Fedora11/Fedora11.vmdk"
ethernet0.present = "true"
ethernet0.networkName = "VM Network"
ethernet0.connectionType = "bridged"
ethernet0.addressType = "static"
ethernet0.address = "00:50:56:25:48:C7"
</pre>
<h2><a name="xmlconfig">Example domain XML configs</a></h2>
<h3>Fedora11 on x86_64</h3>
<pre>
&lt;domain type='vmware'&gt;
&lt;name&gt;Fedora11&lt;/name&gt;
&lt;uuid&gt;50115e16-9bdc-49d7-f171-53c4d7f91710&lt;/uuid&gt;
&lt;memory&gt;1048576&lt;/memory&gt;
&lt;currentMemory&gt;1048576&lt;/currentMemory&gt;
&lt;vcpu&gt;1&lt;/vcpu&gt;
&lt;os&gt;
&lt;type arch='x86_64'&gt;hvm&lt;/type&gt;
&lt;/os&gt;
&lt;devices&gt;
&lt;disk type='file' device='disk'&gt;
&lt;source file='[local-storage] Fedora11/Fedora11.vmdk'/&gt;
&lt;target dev='sda' bus='scsi'/&gt;
&lt;/disk&gt;
&lt;interface type='bridge'&gt;
&lt;mac address='00:50:56:25:48:c7'/&gt;
&lt;source bridge='VM Network'/&gt;
&lt;/interface&gt;
&lt;/devices&gt;
&lt;/domain&gt;
</pre>
<h2><a name="migration">Migration</a></h2>
<p>
A migration cannot be initiated on an ESX server directly, a VMware
vCenter is necessary for this. The <code>vcenter</code> query
parameter must be set either to the hostname or IP address of the
vCenter managing the ESX server or to <code>*</code>. Setting it
to <code>*</code> causes the driver to connect to the vCenter known to
the ESX server. If the ESX server is not managed by a vCenter an error
is reported.
</p>
<pre>
esx://example.com/?vcenter=example-vcenter.com
</pre>
<p>
Here an example how to migrate the domain <code>Fedora11</code> from
ESX server <code>example-src.com</code> to ESX server
<code>example-dst.com</code> implicitly involving vCenter
<code>example-vcenter.com</code> using <code>virsh</code>.
</p>
<pre>
$ virsh -c esx://example-src.com/?vcenter=* migrate Fedora11 esx://example-dst.com/?vcenter=*
Enter username for example-src.com [root]:
Enter root password for example-src.com:
Enter username for example-vcenter.com [administrator]:
Enter administrator password for example-vcenter.com:
Enter username for example-dst.com [root]:
Enter root password for example-dst.com:
Enter username for example-vcenter.com [administrator]:
Enter administrator password for example-vcenter.com:
</pre>
<h2><a name="scheduler">Scheduler configuration</a></h2>
<p>
The driver exposes the ESX CPU scheduler. The parameters listed below
are available to control the scheduler.
</p>
<dl>
<dt><code>reservation</code></dt>
<dd>
The amount of CPU resource in MHz that is guaranteed to be
available to the domain. Valid values are 0 and greater.
</dd>
<dt><code>limit</code></dt>
<dd>
The CPU utilization of the domain will be
limited to this value in MHz, even if more CPU resources are
available. If the limit is set to -1, the CPU utilization of the
domain is unlimited. If the limit is not set to -1, it must be
greater than or equal to the reservation.
</dd>
<dt><code>shares</code></dt>
<dd>
Shares are used to determine relative CPU
allocation between domains. In general, a domain with more shares
gets proportionally more of the CPU resource. Valid values are 0
and greater. The special values -1, -2 and -3 represent the
predefined shares level <code>low</code>, <code>normal</code> and
<code>high</code>.
</dd>
</dl>
<h2><a name="tools">VMware tools</a></h2>
<p>
Some actions require installed VMware tools. If the VMware tools are
not installed in the guest and one of the actions below is to be
performed the ESX server raises an error and the driver reports it.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<code>virDomainReboot</code>
</li>
<li>
<code>virDomainShutdown</code>
</li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="links">Links</a></h2>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/">
VMware vSphere Web Services SDK Documentation
</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_memory.pdf">
The Role of Memory in VMware ESX Server 3
</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="http://www.sanbarrow.com/vmx.html">
VMware VMX config parameters
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</body></html>