Chapter 11. Managing storage for virtual machines

You can manage virtual machine storage using the CLI or the web console.

This documentation provides information on how to manage virtual machine storage using the virsh command.

11.1. Understanding virtual machine storage

The following sections provide information about storage for virtual machines (VMs), including information about storage pools, storage volumes, and how they are used to provide storage for VMs.

11.1.1. Virtual machine storage

The following provides information about how storage pools and storage volumes are used to create storage for virtual machines (VMs).

A storage pool is a quantity of storage managed by the host and set aside for use by VMs. Storage volumes can be created from space in the storage pools. Each storage volume can be assigned to a VM as a block device, such as a disk, on a guest bus.

Storage pools and volumes are managed using libvirt. With the libvirt remote protocol, you can manage all aspects of VM storage. These operations can be performed on a remote host. As a result, a management application that uses libvirt, such as the RHEL web console, can be used to perform all the required tasks for configuring the storage for a VM.

The libvirt API can be used to query the list of volumes in the storage pool or to get information regarding the capacity, allocation, and available storage in the storage pool. A storage volume in the storage pool may be queried to get information such as allocation and capacity, which may differ for sparse volumes.

For storage pools that support it, the libvirt API can be used to create, clone, resize, and delete storage volumes. The APIs can also be used to upload data to storage volumes, download data from storage volumes, or wipe data from storage volumes.

Once a storage pool is started, a storage volume can be assigned to a VM using the storage pool name and storage volume name instead of the host path to the volume in the XML configuration files of the VM.

11.1.2. Storage pools

A storage pool is a file, directory, or storage device, managed by libvirt to provide storage to virtual machines (VMs). Storage pools are divided into storage volumes that store VM images or are attached to VMs as additional storage. Multiple VMs can share the same storage pool, allowing for better allocation of storage resources.

Storage pools can be persistent or transient:

A persistent storage pool survives a system restart of the host machine.
A transient storage pool only exists until the host reboots.

The virsh pool-define command is used to create a persistent storage pool, and the virsh pool-create command is used to create a transient storage pool.

Storage pool storage types

Storage pools can be either local or network-based (shared):

Local storage pools
Local storage pools are attached directly to the host server. They include local directories, directly attached disks, physical partitions, and Logical Volume Management (LVM) volume groups on local devices.
Local storage pools are useful for development, testing, and small deployments that do not require migration or large numbers of VMs.
Networked (shared) storage pools
Networked storage pools include storage devices shared over a network using standard protocols.

Storage pool usage example

To illustrate the available options for managing storage pools, the following describes a sample NFS server that uses mount -t nfs nfs.example.com:/path/to/share /path/to/data.

A storage administrator could define an NFS Storage Pool on the virtualization host to describe the exported server path and the client target path. This will allow libvirt to perform the mount either automatically when libvirt is started or as needed while libvirt is running. Files with the NFS Server exported directory are listed as storage volumes within the NFS storage pool.

When the storage volume is added to the VM, the administrator does not need to add the target path to the volume. They just needs to add the storage pool and storage volume by name. Therefore, if the target client path changes, it does not affect the VM.

When the storage pool is started, libvirt mounts the share on the specified directory, just as if the system administrator logged in and executed mount nfs.example.com:/path/to/share /vmdata. If the storage pool is configured to autostart, libvirt ensures that the NFS shared disk is mounted on the directory specified when libvirt is started.

Once the storage pool is started, the files in the NFS shared disk are reported as storage volumes, and the storage volumes' paths may be queried using the libvirt API. The storage volumes' paths can then be copied into the section of a VM’s XML definition that describes the source storage for the VM’s block devices. In the case of NFS, an application that uses the libvirt API can create and delete storage volumes in the storage pool (files in the NFS share) up to the limit of the size of the pool (the storage capacity of the share).

Stopping (destroying) a storage pool removes the abstraction of the data, but keeps the data intact.

Not all storage pool types support creating and deleting volumes. Stopping the storage pool (pool-destroy) undoes the start operation, in this case, unmounting the NFS share. The data on the share is not modified by the destroy operation, despite what the name of the command suggests. For more details, see man virsh.

Supported and unsupported storage pool types

The following is a list of storage pool types supported by RHEL:

Directory-based storage pools
Disk-based storage pools
Partition-based storage pools
GlusterFS storage pools
iSCSI-based storage pools
LVM-based storage pools
NFS-based storage pools
vHBA-based storage pools with SCSI devices
Multipath-based storage pools
RBD-based storage pools

The following is a list of libvirt storage pool types that are not supported by RHEL:

Sheepdog-based storage pools
Vstorage-based storage pools
ZFS-based storage pools

11.1.3. Storage volumes

Storage pools are divided into storage volumes. Storage volumes are abstractions of physical partitions, LVM logical volumes, file-based disk images, and other storage types handled by libvirt. Storage volumes are presented to VMs as local storage devices, such as disks, regardless of the underlying hardware.

On the host machine, a storage volume is referred to by its name and an identifier for the storage pool from which it derives. On the virsh command line, this takes the form --pool storage_pool volume_name.

For example, to display information about a volume named firstimage in the guest_images pool.

# virsh vol-info --pool guest_images firstimage
  Name:             firstimage
  Type:             block
  Capacity:         20.00 GB
  Allocation:       20.00 GB

11.2. Managing storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following documentation provides information on how to manage virtual machine (VM) storage using the virsh command-line utility.

Using virsh, you can add, remove, and modify VM storage, as well as view information about VM storage.

Note

In many cases, storage for a VM is created at the same time the VM is created. Therefore, the following information primarily relates to advanced management of VM storage.

11.2.1. Viewing virtual machine storage information using the CLI

The following provides information about viewing information about storage pools and storage volumes using the CLI.

11.2.1.1. Viewing storage pool information using the CLI

Procedure

Use the virsh pool-list command to view storage pool information.

# virsh pool-list --all --details
 Name                State    Autostart  Persistent    Capacity  Allocation   Available
 default             running  yes        yes          48.97 GiB   23.93 GiB   25.03 GiB
 Downloads           running  yes        yes         175.62 GiB   62.02 GiB  113.60 GiB
 RHEL8-Storage-Pool  running  yes        yes         214.62 GiB   93.02 GiB  168.60 GiB

Additional resources

For information on the available virsh pool-list options, see the relevant man pages.

11.2.1.2. Viewing storage volume information using the CLI

The following provides information on viewing information about storage pools. You can view a list of all storage pools in a specified storage pool and details about a specified storage pool.

Procedure

Use the virsh vol-list command to list the storage volumes in a specified storage pool.

# virsh vol-list --pool RHEL8-Storage-Pool --details
 Name                Path                                               Type   Capacity  Allocation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 .bash_history       /home/VirtualMachines/.bash_history       file  18.70 KiB   20.00 KiB
 .bash_logout        /home/VirtualMachines/.bash_logout        file    18.00 B    4.00 KiB
 .bash_profile       /home/VirtualMachines/.bash_profile       file   193.00 B    4.00 KiB
 .bashrc             /home/VirtualMachines/.bashrc             file   1.29 KiB    4.00 KiB
 .git-prompt.sh      /home/VirtualMachines/.git-prompt.sh      file  15.84 KiB   16.00 KiB
 .gitconfig          /home/VirtualMachines/.gitconfig          file   167.00 B    4.00 KiB
 RHEL8_Volume.qcow2  /home/VirtualMachines/RHEL8_Volume.qcow2  file  60.00 GiB   13.93 GiB

Note

For information on the available virsh vol-list options, see the relevant man pages.

Use the virsh vol-info command to list the storage volumes in a specified storage pool.

# vol-info --pool RHEL8-Storage-Pool --vol RHEL8_Volume.qcow2
Name:           RHEL8_Volume.qcow2
Type:           file
Capacity:       60.00 GiB
Allocation:     13.93 GiB

Note

For information on the available virsh vol-info options, see the relevant man pages.

11.2.2. Creating and assigning storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following is a high-level procedure for creating and assigning storage for virtual machines (VMs):

Create storage pools
Create one or more storage pools from available storage media. For a list of supported storage pool types, see Storage pool types.
- To create persistent storage pools, use the virsh pool-define and virsh pool-define-as commands.
  The virsh pool-define command uses an XML file for the pool options. The virsh pool-define-as command places the options in the command line.
- To create temporary storage pools, use the virsh pool-create and virsh pool-create-as commands.
  The virsh pool-create command uses an XML file for the pool options. The virsh pool-create-as command places the options in the command line.

Note

All examples and procedures in this documentation are for creating persistent storage pools using the virsh pool-define command. For more information on the virsh pool-create, virsh pool-define-as, and virsh pool-create-as commands, see the relevant man pages.

Create storage volumes
Create one or more storage volumes from the available storage pools.
Note
All examples and procedures in this documentation are for creating storage using the virsh vol‑create command. For more information on the virsh vol-create-as command, see the relevant man pages.
Assign storage devices to a VM
Assign one or more storage devices abstracted from storage volumes to a VM.

The following sections provide information on creating and assigning storage using the CLI:

11.2.2.1. Creating and assigning directory-based storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating directory-based storage pools and storage volumes, and assigning volumes to virtual machines.

11.2.2.1.1. Creating directory-based storage pools using the CLI

The following provides instructions for creating directory-based storage pools.

Procedure

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

Note

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Define the storage pool target path
Use the virsh pool-build command to create a storage pool target path for a pre-formatted file system storage pool, initialize the storage source device, and define the format of the data.
```
# virsh pool-build guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs built

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 8
  drwx------.  2 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 ..
```

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

Verify that the storage pool was created correctly, the sizes reported are as expected, and the state is reported as running. Verify there is a lost+found directory in the target path on the file system, indicating that the device is mounted.

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.1.2. Directory-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for a directory-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for a directory-based storage pool.

Table 11.1. Directory-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='dir'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The path specifying the target. This will be the path used for the storage pool.	`<target> <path>target_path</path> </target>`

Example

The following is an example of an XML file for a storage pool based on the /guest_images directory:

<pool type='dir'>
  <name>dirpool</name>
  <target>
    <path>/guest_images</path>
  </target>
</pool>

11.2.2.2. Creating and assigning disk-based storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating disk-based storage pools and storage volumes and assigning volumes to virtual machines.

11.2.2.2.1. Creating disk-based storage pools using the CLI

The following provides instructions for creating disk-based storage pools.

Recommendations

Be aware of the following before creating a disk-based storage pool:

Depending on the version of libvirt being used, dedicating a disk to a storage pool may reformat and erase all data currently stored on the disk device. It is strongly recommended that you back up the data on the storage device before creating a storage pool.
VMs should not be given write access to whole disks or block devices (for example, /dev/sdb). Use partitions (for example, /dev/sdb1) or LVM volumes.
If you pass an entire block device to a VM, the VM will likely partition it or create its own LVM groups on it. This can cause the host machine to detect these partitions or LVM groups and cause errors.

Procedure

Relabel the disk with a GUID Partition Table (GPT) disk label. GPT disk labels allow for creating up to 128 partitions on each device.

# parted /dev/sdb
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sdb
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) mklabel
New disk label type? gpt
(parted) quit
Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.
#

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

Note

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Define the storage pool target path
Use the virsh pool-build command to create a storage pool target path for a pre-formatted file-system storage pool, initialize the storage source device, and define the format of the data.
```
# virsh pool-build guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs built

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 8
  drwx------.  2 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 ..
```
Note
Building the target path is only necessary for disk-based, file system-based, and logical storage pools. If libvirt detects that the source storage device’s data format differs from the selected storage pool type, the build fails, unless the overwrite option is specified.

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.2.2. Disk-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for a directory-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for a disk-based storage pool.

Table 11.2. Disk-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='disk'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The path specifying the storage device. For example, `/dev/sdb`.	`<source> <path>source_path</path> </source>`
The path specifying the target device. This will be the path used for the storage pool.	`<target> <path>target_path</path> </target>`

Example

The following is an example of an XML file for a disk-based storage pool:

<pool type='disk'>
  <name>phy_disk</name>
  <source>
    <device path='/dev/sdb'/>
    <format type='gpt'/>
  </source>
  <target>
    <path>/dev</path>
  </target>
</pool>

11.2.2.3. Creating and assigning filesystem-based storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating directory-based storage pools and storage volumes, and assigning volumes to virtual machines.

11.2.2.3.1. Creating filesystem-based storage pools using the CLI

The following provides instructions for creating filesystem-based storage pools.

Recommendations

Do not use this procedure to assign an entire disk as a storage pool (for example, /dev/sdb). VMs should not be given write access to whole disks or block devices. This method should only be used to assign partitions (for example, /dev/sdb1) to storage pools.

Procedure

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

Note

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Define the storage pool target path
Use the virsh pool-build command to create a storage pool target path for a pre-formatted file-system storage pool, initialize the storage source device, and define the format of the data.
```
# virsh pool-build guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs built

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 8
  drwx------.  2 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 ..
```

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.3.2. Filesystem-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for a directory-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for a filesystem-based storage pool.

Table 11.3. Filesystem-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='fs'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The path specifying the partition. For example, `/dev/sdc1`	`<source> <device path=device_path />`
The file system type, for example ext4.	`<format type=fs_type /> </source>`
The path specifying the target. This will be the path used for the storage pool.	`<target> <path>path-to-pool</path> </target>`

Example

The following is an example of an XML file for a storage pool based on the /dev/sdc1 partition:

<pool type='fs'>
  <name>guest_images_fs</name>
  <source>
    <device path='/dev/sdc1'/>
    <format type='auto'/>
  </source>
  <target>
    <path>/guest_images</path>
  </target>
</pool>

11.2.2.4. Creating and assigning GlusterFS storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating directory-based storage pools and storage volumes, and assigning volumes to virtual machines.

11.2.2.4.1. Creating GlusterFS-based storage pools using the CLI

GlusterFS is a user space file system that uses File System in Userspace (FUSE). The following provides instructions for creating GlusterFS-based storage pools.

Prerequisites

Before a GlusterFS-based storage pool can be created on a host, a Gluster server must be prepared.

Obtain the IP address of the Gluster server by listing its status with the following command:

# gluster volume status
Status of volume: gluster-vol1
Gluster process                           Port	Online	Pid
------------------------------------------------------------
Brick 222.111.222.111:/gluster-vol1       49155	  Y    18634

Task Status of Volume gluster-vol1
------------------------------------------------------------
There are no active volume tasks

If not installed, install the glusterfs-fuse package.

If not enabled, enable the virt_use_fusefs boolean. Check that it is enabled.

# setsebool virt_use_fusefs on
# getsebool virt_use_fusefs
virt_use_fusefs --> on

After ensuring that the required packages are installed and enabled, continue creating the storage pool.

Procedure

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Define the storage pool target path
Use the virsh pool-build command to create a storage pool target path for a pre-formatted file system storage pool, initialize the storage source device, and define the format of the data.
```
# virsh pool-build guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs built

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 8
  drwx------.  2 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 ..
```
Note
Building the target path is only necessary for disk-based, file system-based, and logical storage pools. If libvirt detects that the source storage device’s data format differs from the selected storage pool type, the build fails, unless the overwrite option is specified.

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.4.2. GlusterFS-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for a GlusterFS-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for a GlusterFS-based storage pool.

Table 11.4. GlusterFS-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='gluster'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The hostname or IP address of the Gluster server	`<source> <name=gluster-name />`
The name of the Gluster server	`<name>name</name>`
The path on the Gluster server used for the storage pool.	`<dir path=gluster-path /> </source>`

Example

The following is an example of an XML file for a storage pool based on the Gluster file system at 111.222.111.222:

<pool type='gluster'>
  <name>Gluster_pool</name>
  <source>
    <host name='111.222.111.222'/>
    <dir path='/'/>
    <name>gluster-vol1</name>
  </source>
</pool>

11.2.2.5. Creating and assigning iSCSI-based storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating iSCSI-based storage pools and storage volumes, securing iSCSI-based storage pools with libvirt secrets, and assigning volumes to virtual machines.

Recommendations

Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) is a network protocol for sharing storage devices. iSCSI connects initiators (storage clients) to targets (storage servers) using SCSI instructions over the IP layer.

Using iSCSI-based devices to store virtual machines allows for more flexible storage options, such as using iSCSI as a block storage device. The iSCSI devices use a Linux-IO (LIO) target. This is a multi-protocol SCSI target for Linux. In addition to iSCSI, LIO also supports Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).

If you need to prevent access to an iSCSI storage pool, you can secure it using a libvirt secret.

Prerequisites

Before you can create an iSCSI-based storage pool, you must create iSCSI targets. You can create iSCSI targets are created using the targetcli package, which provides a command set for creating software-backed iSCSI targets.
For more information and instructions on creating iSCSI targets, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Storage Administration Guide.

11.2.2.5.1. Creating iSCSI-based storage pools using the CLI

The following provides instructions for creating iSCSI-based storage pools.

Procedure

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.5.2. iSCSI-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for an iSCSI-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for an iSCSI-based storage pool.

Table 11.5. iSCSI-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='iscsi'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The name of the host	`<source> <host name=hostname />`
The iSCSI IQN	`<device path= iSCSI_IQN /> </source>`
The path specifying the target. This will be the path used for the storage pool.	`<target> <path>/dev/disk/by-path</path> </target>`
[Optional] The IQN of the iSCSI initiator. This is only needed when the ACL restricts the LUN to a particular initiator.	`<initiator> <iqn name='initiator0' /> </initiator>`

Note

The IQN of the iSCSI initiator can be determined using the virsh find-storage-pool-sources-as iscsi command.

Example

The following is an example of an XML file for a storage pool based on the specified iSCSI device:

<pool type='iscsi'>
  <name>iSCSI_pool</name>
  <source>
    <host name='server1.example.com'/>
    <device path='iqn.2010-05.com.example.server1:iscsirhel7guest'/>
  </source>
  <target>
    <path>/dev/disk/by-path</path>
  </target>
</pool>

11.2.2.5.3. Securing iSCSI storage pools with libvirt secrets

User name and password parameters can be configured with virsh to secure an iSCSI storage pool. This can be configured before or after the pool is defined, but the pool must be started for the authentication settings to take effect.

The following provides instructions for securing iSCSI-based storage pools with libvirt secrets.

Note

This procedure is required if a user_ID and password were defined when creating the iSCSI target.

Procedure

Create a libvirt secret file with a challenge-handshake authentication protocol (CHAP) user name. For example:

<secret ephemeral='no' private='yes'>
    <description>Passphrase for the iSCSI example.com server</description>
    <usage type='iscsi'>
        <target>iscsirhel7secret</target>
    </usage>
</secret>

Define the libvirt secret with the virsh secret-define command.
# virsh secret-define secret.xml

Verify the UUID with the virsh secret-list command.

# virsh secret-list
UUID                                  Usage
-------------------------------------------------------------------
2d7891af-20be-4e5e-af83-190e8a922360  iscsi iscsirhel7secret

Assign a secret to the UUID in the output of the previous step using the virsh secret-set-value command. This ensures that the CHAP username and password are in a libvirt-controlled secret list. For example:
```
# MYSECRET=`printf *%s "password123" | base64`
# virsh secret-set-value 2d7891af-20be-4e5e-af83-190e8a922360 $MYSECRET
```
Add an authentication entry in the storage pool’s XML file using the virsh edit command, and add an <auth> element, specifying authentication type, username, and secret usage.
For example:
```
<pool type='iscsi'>
  <name>iscsirhel7pool</name>
    <source>
       <host name='192.168.122.1'/>
       <device path='iqn.2010-05.com.example.server1:iscsirhel7guest'/>
       <auth type='chap' username='redhat'>
          <secret usage='iscsirhel7secret'/>
       </auth>
    </source>
  <target>
    <path>/dev/disk/by-path</path>
  </target>
</pool>
```
Note
The <auth> sub-element exists in different locations within the virtual machine’s <pool> and <disk> XML elements. For a <pool>, <auth> is specified within the <source> element, as this describes where to find the pool sources, since authentication is a property of some pool sources (iSCSI and RBD). For a <disk>, which is a sub-element of a domain, the authentication to the iSCSI or RBD disk is a property of the disk. In addition, the <auth> sub-element for a disk differs from that of a storage pool.
```
<auth username='redhat'>
  <secret type='iscsi' usage='iscsirhel7secret'/>
</auth>
```
To activate the changes, the storage pool must be activated. If the pool has already been started, stop and restart the storage pool:
# virsh pool-destroy iscsirhel7pool
# virsh pool-start iscsirhel7pool

11.2.2.6. Creating and assigning LVM-based storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating LVM-based storage pools and storage volumes and assigning volumes to virtual machines.

11.2.2.6.1. Creating LVM-based storage pools using the CLI

The following provides instructions for creating LVM-based storage pools.

Recommendations

Be aware of the following before creating an LVM-based storage pool:

LVM-based storage pools do not provide the full flexibility of LVM.
libvirt supports thin logical volumes, but does not provide the features of thin storage pools.
LVM-based storage pools are volume groups. You can create volume groups using Logical Volume Manager commands or virsh commands. To manage volume groups using the virsh interface, use the virsh commands to create volume groups.
For more information about volume groups, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Logical Volume Manager Administration Guide.
LVM-based storage pools require a full disk partition. If activating a new partition or device with these procedures, the partition will be formatted and all data will be erased. If using the host’s existing Volume Group (VG) nothing will be erased. It is recommended to back up the storage device before starting.

Procedure

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

Note

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.6.2. LVM-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for an LVM-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for a LVM-based storage pool.

Table 11.6. LVM-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='logical'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The path to the device for the storage pool	<source> <device path='device_path' />`
The name of the volume group	`<name>VG-name</name>`
The virtual group format	`<format type='lvm2' /> </source>`
The target path	`<target> <path=target_path /> </target>`

Note

If the logical volume group is made of multiple disk partitions, there may be multiple source devices listed. For example:

<source>
  <device path='/dev/sda1'/>
  <device path='/dev/sdb3'/>
  <device path='/dev/sdc2'/>
  ...
</source>

Example

The following is an example of an XML file for a storage pool based on the specified LVM:

<pool type='logical'>
  <name>guest_images_lvm</name>
  <source>
    <device path='/dev/sdc'/>
    <name>libvirt_lvm</name>
    <format type='lvm2'/>
  </source>
  <target>
    <path>/dev/libvirt_lvm</path>
  </target>
</pool>

11.2.2.7. Creating and assigning network-based storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating network-based storage pools and storage volumes and assigning volumes to virtual machines.

Prerequisites

To create a Network File System (NFS)-based storage pool, an NFS Server should already be configured to be used by the host machine. For more information about NFS, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Storage Administration Guide.
Ensure that the required utilities for the file system being used are installed on the host. For example, cifs-utils for Common Internet File Systems (CIFS) or glusterfs.fuse for GlusterFS.

11.2.2.7.1. Creating network-based storage pools using the CLI

The following provides instructions for creating network-based storage pools.

Procedure

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

Note

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Define the storage pool target path
Use the virsh pool-build command to create a storage pool target path for a pre-formatted file system storage pool, initialize the storage source device, and define the format of the data.
```
# virsh pool-build guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs built

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 8
  drwx------.  2 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root 4096 May 31 19:38 ..
```

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.7.2. NFS-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for an NFS-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for an NFS-based storage pool.

Table 11.7. NFS-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='netfs'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The hostname of the network server where the mount point is located. This can be a hostname or an IP address.	`<source> <host name=hostname` `/>`
The format of the storage pool	One of the following: `<format type='nfs' />` `<format type='glusterfs' />` `<format type='cifs' />`
The directory used on the network server	`<dir path=source_path` `/> </source>`
The path specifying the target. This will be the path used for the storage pool.	`<target> <path>target_path</path> </target>`

Example

The following is an example of an XML file for a storage pool based on the /home/net_mount directory of the file_server NFS server:

<pool type='netfs'>
  <name>nfspool</name>
  <source>
    <host name='file_server'/>
    <format type='nfs'/>
    <dir path='/home/net_mount'/>
  </source>
  <target>
    <path>/var/lib/libvirt/images/nfspool</path>
  </target>
</pool>

11.2.2.8. Creating and assigning vHBA-based storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about creating vHBA-based storage pools and storage volumes and assigning volumes to virtual machines (VMs).

11.2.2.8.1. Recommendations

N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) is a software technology that allows sharing of a single physical Fibre Channel host bus adapter (HBA). This allows multiple VMs to see the same storage from multiple physical hosts, and thus allows for easier migration paths for the storage. As a result, there is no need for the migration to create or copy storage, as long as the correct storage path is specified.

In virtualization, the virtual host bus adapter, or vHBA, controls the Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) for VMs. For a host to share one Fibre Channel device path between multiple VMs, you must create a vHBA for each VM. A single vHBA cannot be used by multiple VMs.

Each vHBA for NPIV is identified by its parent HBA and its own World Wide Node Name (WWNN) and World Wide Port Name (WWPN). The path to the storage is determined by the WWNN and WWPN values. The parent HBA can be defined as scsi_host# or as a WWNN/WWPN pair.

Note

If a parent HBA is defined as scsi_host# and hardware is added to the host machine, the scsi_host# assignment may change. Therefore, it is recommended that you define a parent HBA using a WWNN/WWPN pair.

It is recommended that you define a libvirt storage pool based on the vHBA, because this preserves the vHBA configuration.

Using a libvirt storage pool has two primary advantages:

The libvirt code can easily find the LUN’s path via virsh command output.
You can migrate a VM requires only defining and starting a storage pool with the same vHBA name on the target machine. To do this, the vHBA LUN, libvirt storage pool and volume name must be specified in the VM’s XML configuration.

Note

Before creating a vHBA, it is recommended that you configure storage array (SAN)-side zoning in the host LUN to provide isolation between VMs and prevent the possibility of data corruption.

To create a persistent vHBA configuration, first create a libvirt 'scsi' storage pool XML file. For information on the XML file, see Creating vHBAs. When creating a single vHBA that uses a storage pool on the same physical HBA, it is recommended to use a stable location for the <path> value, such as one of the /dev/disk/by-{path|id|uuid|label} locations on your system.

When creating multiple vHBAs that use storage pools on the same physical HBA, the value of the <path> field must be only /dev/, otherwise storage pool volumes are visible only to one of the vHBAs, and devices from the host cannot be exposed to multiple VMs with the NPIV configuration.

For more information on <path> and the elements in <target>, see upstream libvirt documentation.

Prerequisites

Before creating a vHBA-based storage pools with SCSI devices, create a vHBA.

11.2.2.8.2. Creating vHBAs

The following provides instructions on creating a virtual host bus adapter (vHBA).

Procedure

Locate the HBAs on your host system, using the virsh nodedev-list --cap vports command.
The following example shows a host that has two HBAs that support vHBA:
```
# virsh nodedev-list --cap vports
scsi_host3
scsi_host4
```

View the HBA’s details, using the virsh nodedev-dumpxml HBA_device command.

# virsh nodedev-dumpxml scsi_host3

The output from the command lists the <name>, <wwnn>, and <wwpn> fields, which are used to create a vHBA. <max_vports> shows the maximum number of supported vHBAs. For example:

<device>
  <name>scsi_host3</name>
  <path>/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:10:00.0/host3</path>
  <parent>pci_0000_10_00_0</parent>
  <capability type='scsi_host'>
    <host>3</host>
    <unique_id>0</unique_id>
    <capability type='fc_host'>
      <wwnn>20000000c9848140</wwnn>
      <wwpn>10000000c9848140</wwpn>
      <fabric_wwn>2002000573de9a81</fabric_wwn>
    </capability>
    <capability type='vport_ops'>
      <max_vports>127</max_vports>
      <vports>0</vports>
    </capability>
  </capability>
</device>

In this example, the <max_vports> value shows there are a total 127 virtual ports available for use in the HBA configuration. The <vports> value shows the number of virtual ports currently being used. These values update after creating a vHBA.

Create an XML file similar to one of the following for the vHBA host. In these examples, the file is named vhba_host3.xml.
This example uses scsi_host3 to describe the parent vHBA.
```
<device>
  <parent>scsi_host3</parent>
  <capability type='scsi_host'>
    <capability type='fc_host'>
    </capability>
  </capability>
</device>
```
This example uses a WWNN/WWPN pair to describe the parent vHBA.
```
<device>
  <name>vhba</name>
  <parent wwnn='20000000c9848140' wwpn='10000000c9848140'/>
  <capability type='scsi_host'>
    <capability type='fc_host'>
    </capability>
  </capability>
</device>
```
Note
The WWNN and WWPN values must match those in the HBA details seen in the previous step.
The <parent> field specifies the HBA device to associate with this vHBA device. The details in the <device> tag are used in the next step to create a new vHBA device for the host. For more information on the nodedev XML format, see the libvirt upstream pages.
Note
The virsh command does not provide a way to define the parent_wwnn, parent_wwpn, or parent_fabric_wwn attributes.
Create a VHBA based on the XML file created in the previous step using the virsh nodev-create command.
```
# virsh nodedev-create vhba_host3
Node device scsi_host5 created from vhba_host3.xml
```

Verify the new vHBA’s details (scsi_host5) using the virsh nodedev-dumpxml command:

# virsh nodedev-dumpxml scsi_host5
<device>
  <name>scsi_host5</name>
  <path>/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:04.0/0000:10:00.0/host3/vport-3:0-0/host5</path>
  <parent>scsi_host3</parent>
  <capability type='scsi_host'>
    <host>5</host>
    <unique_id>2</unique_id>
    <capability type='fc_host'>
      <wwnn>5001a4a93526d0a1</wwnn>
      <wwpn>5001a4ace3ee047d</wwpn>
      <fabric_wwn>2002000573de9a81</fabric_wwn>
    </capability>
  </capability>
</device>

11.2.2.8.3. Creating vHBA-based storage pools using the CLI

The following provides instructions for creating vHBA-based storage pools.

Prerequisites

Ensure that there are vHBAs. For more information, see Creating vHBAs.

Procedure

Define the storage pool in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage pool parameters required for the new device.
For information on the required parameters, refer to Parameters.
Create a storage pool
Use the virsh pool-define command to create a persistent storage pool based on the XML file created in the previous step.
```
# virsh pool-define ~/guest_images.xml
  Pool defined from guest_images_fs
```

You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh pool-define command.

Verify that the pool was created

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify that the pool was created.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   no

Start the storage pool
Use the virsh pool-start command to mount the storage pool.
```
# virsh pool-start guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs started
```
Note
The virsh pool-start command is only necessary for persistent storage pools. Transient storage pools are automatically started when they are created.
[Optional] Turn on autostart
By default, a storage pool defined with the virsh command is not set to automatically start each time libvirtd starts. Use the virsh pool-autostart command to configure the storage pool to autostart.
```
# virsh pool-autostart guest_images_fs
  Pool guest_images_fs marked as autostarted
```

Verify the Autostart state

Use the virsh pool-list command to verify the Autostart state.

# virsh pool-list --all

  Name                 State      Autostart
  -----------------------------------------
  default              active     yes
  guest_images_fs      inactive   yes

Verify the storage pool

# virsh pool-info guest_images_fs
  Name:           guest_images_fs
  UUID:           c7466869-e82a-a66c-2187-dc9d6f0877d0
  State:          running
  Persistent:     yes
  Autostart:      yes
  Capacity:       458.39 GB
  Allocation:     197.91 MB
  Available:      458.20 GB

# mount | grep /guest_images
  /dev/sdc1 on /guest_images type ext4 (rw)

# ls -la /guest_images
  total 24
  drwxr-xr-x.  3 root root  4096 May 31 19:47 .
  dr-xr-xr-x. 25 root root  4096 May 31 19:38 ..
  drwx------.  2 root root 16384 May 31 14:18 lost+found

11.2.2.8.4. vHBA-based storage pool parameters

The following provides information about the required parameters for a vHBA-based storage pool and an example.

Parameters

The following table provides a list of required parameters for the XML file for a vHBA-based storage pool.

Table 11.8. vHBA-based storage pool parameters

Description	XML
The type of storage pool	`<pool type='scsi'>`
The name of the storage pool	`<name>name</name>`
The identifier of the vHBA. The `parent` attribute is optional.	`<source> <adapter type='fc_host' [parent=parent_scsi_device] wwnn='WWNN' wwpn='WWPN' /> </source>`
The target path. This will be the path used for the storage pool.	`<target> <path=target_path /> </target>`

Important

When the <path> field is /dev/, libvirt generates a unique short device path for the volume device path. For example, /dev/sdc. Otherwise, the physical host path is used. For example, /dev/disk/by-path/pci-0000:10:00.0-fc-0x5006016044602198-lun-0. The unique short device path allows the same volume to be listed in multiple virtual machines (VMs) by multiple storage pools. If the physical host path is used by multiple VMs, duplicate device type warnings may occur.

Note

The parent attribute can be used in the <adapter> field to identify the physical HBA parent from which the NPIV LUNs by varying paths can be used. This field, scsi_hostN, is combined with the vports and max_vports attributes to complete the parent identification. The parent, parent_wwnn, parent_wwpn, or parent_fabric_wwn attributes provide varying degrees of assurance that after the host reboots the same HBA is used.

If no parent is specified, libvirt uses the first scsi_hostN adapter that supports NPIV.
If only the parent is specified, problems can arise if additional SCSI host adapters are added to the configuration.
If parent_wwnn or parent_wwpn is specified, after the host reboots the same HBA is used.
If parent_fabric_wwn is used, after the host reboots an HBA on the same fabric is selected, regardless of the scsi_hostN used.

Examples

The following are examples of XML files for vHBA-based storage pools.

The following is an example of a storage pool that is the only storage pool on the HBA:

<pool type='scsi'>
  <name>vhbapool_host3</name>
  <source>
    <adapter type='fc_host' wwnn='5001a4a93526d0a1' wwpn='5001a4ace3ee047d'/>
  </source>
  <target>
    <path>/dev/disk/by-path</path>
  </target>
</pool>

The following is an example of a storage pool that is one of several storage pools that use a single vHBA and uses the parent attribute to identify the SCSI host device:

<pool type='scsi'>
  <name>vhbapool_host3</name>
  <source>
    <adapter type='fc_host' parent='scsi_host3' wwnn='5001a4a93526d0a1' wwpn='5001a4ace3ee047d'/>
  </source>
  <target>
    <path>/dev/disk/by-path</path>
  </target>
</pool>

11.2.2.9. Creating and assigning storage volumes using the CLI

The following provides information on creating storage volumes from storage pools and assigning the storage volumes to virtual machines using the CLI. The procedure is the same for all types of storage pools.

Prerequisites

Storage pools on the host with unallocated space

11.2.2.9.1. Procedure

Define a storage volume in an XML file
Create a temporary XML file containing the storage volume’s parameters.
The following is a list of required storage volume parameters:
- name - The name of the storage volume.
- allocation - The total storage allocation for the storage volume.
- capacity - The logical capacity of the storage volume. If the volume is sparse, this value can differ from the allocation value.
- target - The path to the storage volume on the host system, and optionally its permissions and label.
  The following shows an example of a storage volume definition XML file. In this example, the file is saved to ~/guest_volume.xml.
```
  <volume>
    <name>volume1</name>
    <allocation>0</allocation>
    <capacity>20</capacity>
    <target>
      <path>/var/lib/virt/images/sparse.img</path>
    </target>
  </volume>
```
Create and assign the storage volume
The virsh vol-create and virsh vol-create-as commands are used to create storage volumes from most storage pools types.
The following is a list of the storage pool types that do not support the virsh vol-create and virsh vol-create-as commands and the methods to use with each of them to create storage volumes:
- GlusterFS-based - Use the qemu-img command to create storage volumes.
- iSCSI-based - Prepare the iSCSI LUNs in advance on the iSCSI server.
- Multipath-based - Use the multipathd command to prepare or manage the multipath.
- vHBA-based - Prepare the fibre channel card in advance.
Use the virsh vol-create command to create and assign the storage volume based on the XML file. Specify the virtual machine to which the storage volume will be assigned in the virsh vol-create command.
```
# virsh vol-create guest_images_dir ~/guest_volume.xml
  Vol volume1 created
```
Note
You can delete the XML file created in step 1 after running the virsh vol-create command.
For GlusterFS-based, multipath-based, and RBD-based storage pools, describe the storage volume using the following XML format and add it to the domain XML:
```
  <disk type='network' device='disk'>
    <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
    <source protocol='gluster' name='Volume1/Image'>
      <host name='example.org' port='6000'/>
    </source>
    <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
    <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x03' function='0x0'/>
  </disk>
```
For multipath-based storage pools, describe the storage volume using the following XML format and add it to the domain XML:
```
<disk type='block' device='disk'>
<driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
<source dev='/dev/mapper/mpatha' />
<target dev='sdc' bus='scsi'/>
</disk>
```
For RBD-based storage pools, describe the storage volume using the following XML format and add it to the domain XML:
```
  <disk type='network' device='disk'>
    <driver name='qemu' type='raw'/>
    <source protocol='rbd' name='pool/image'>
      <host name='mon1.example.org' port='6321'/>
    </source>
    <target dev='vdc' bus='virtio'/>
  </disk>
```

11.2.3. Deleting storage for virtual machines using the CLI

The following provides information about deleting storage pools and storage volumes using the CLI.

11.2.3.1. Deleting storage pools using the CLI

The following provides information on deleting storage pools.

Prerequisites

To avoid negatively affecting other virtual machines that use the storage pool you want to delete, it is recommended that you stop the storage pool and release any resources being used by it.

Procedure

List the defined storage pools using the virsh pool-list command.

# virsh pool-list --all
Name                 State      Autostart
-------------------------------------------
default              active     yes
Downloads            active     yes
RHEL8-Storage-Pool   active     yes

Stop the storage pool you want to delete using the virsh pool-destroy command.
```
# virsh pool-destroy Downloads
Pool Downloads destroyed
```
(Optional) For some types of storage pools, you can optionally remove the directory where the storage pool resides using the virsh pool-delete command. Note that to remove the directory where the storage pool resides, it must be empty.
```
# virsh pool-delete Downloads
Pool Downloads deleted
```
Delete the definition of the storage pool using the virsh pool-undefine command.
```
# virsh pool-undefine Downloads
Pool Downloads has been undefined
```

Confirm that the storage pool was deleted.

# virsh pool-list --all
Name                 State      Autostart
-------------------------------------------
default              active     yes
RHEL8-Storage-Pool   active     yes

11.2.3.2. Deleting storage volumes using the CLI

The following provides information on deleting storage volumes using the CLI.

Prerequisites

To avoid negatively affecting virtual machines that use the storage volume you want to delete, it is recommended that you release any resources using it.

Procedure

List the defined storage volumes in a storage pool using the virsh vol-list command. The command must specify the name or path of a storage volume.

# virsh vol-list --pool RHEL8-Storage-Pool
 Name                 Path
---------------------------------------------------------------
 .bash_history        /home/VirtualMachines/.bash_history
 .bash_logout         /home/VirtualMachines/.bash_logout
 .bash_profile        /home/VirtualMachines/.bash_profile
 .bashrc              /home/VirtualMachines/.bashrc
 .git-prompt.sh       /home/VirtualMachines/.git-prompt.sh
 .gitconfig           /home/VirtualMachines/.gitconfig
 RHEL8_Volume.qcow2   /home/VirtualMachines/RHEL8_Volume.qcow2

Delete storage volumes using the virsh vol-delete command. The command must specify the name or path of the storage volume and the storage pool from which the storage volume is abstracted.
```
# virsh vol-delete --pool RHEL-Storage-Pool RHEL8_Volume.qcow2
Pool RHEL8_Volume.qcow2 deleted
```

11.3. Managing storage for virtual machines using the web console

Using the RHEL 8 web console, you can manage various aspects of a virtual machine’s (VM’s) storage. You can use the web console to:

11.3.1. Viewing storage pool information using the web console

The following procedure describes how to view detailed storage pool information about the virtual machine (VM) storage pools that the web console session can access.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

Click Storage Pools at the top of the Virtual Machines interface. The Storage Pools window appears, showing a list of configured storage pools.
The information includes the following:
- Name - The name of the storage pool.
- Size - The size of the storage pool.
- Connection - The connection used to access the storage pool.
- State - The state of the storage pool.
Click the row of the storage whose information you want to see.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with the following information about the selected storage pool:
- Path - The path to the storage pool.
- Persistent - Whether or not the storage pool is persistent.
- Autostart - Whether or not the storage pool starts automatically.
- Type - The type of the storage pool.
To view a list of storage volumes created from the storage pool, click Storage Volumes.
The Storage Volumes pane appears, showing a list of configured storage volumes with their sizes and the amount of space used.

Additional resources

For instructions on viewing information about all of the VMs to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.1, “Viewing a virtualization overview in the web console”.
For instructions on viewing basic information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.3, “Viewing basic virtual machine information in the web console”.
For instructions on viewing resource usage for a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.4, “Viewing virtual machine resource usage in the web console”.
For instructions on viewing disk information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.5, “Viewing virtual machine disk information in the web console”.
For instructions on viewing virtual network interface information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.6, “Viewing and editing virtual network interface information in the web console”.

11.3.2. Creating storage pools using the web console

A virtual machine (VM) requires a file, directory, or storage device that can be used to create storage volumes to store the VM image or act as additional storage. You can create storage pools from local or network-based resources that you can then use to create the storage volumes.

To create storage pools using the RHEL web console, see the following procedure.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage virtual machines (VMs), you must install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

Click Storage Pools at the top of the Virtual Machines tab. The Storage Pools window appears, showing a list of configured storage pools.
Click Create Storage Pool. The Create Storage Pool dialog appears.
Enter the following information in the Create Storage Pool dialog:
- Name - The name of the storage pool.
- Type - The type of the storage pool. This can be a file-system directory, a network file system, an iSCSI target, a physical disk drive, or an LVM volume group.
- Target Path - The storage pool path on the host’s file system.
- Startup - Whether or not the storage pool starts when the host boots.
Click Create. The storage pool is created, the Create Storage Pool dialog closes, and the new storage pool appears in the list of storage pools.

Additional resources

For more information about storage pools, see Understanding storage pools.
For instructions on viewing information about storage pools using the web console, see Viewing storage pool information using the web console.

11.3.3. Removing storage pools using the web console

You can remove storage pools to free up resources on the host or on the network to improve system performance. Deleting storage pools also frees up resources that can then be used by other virtual machines (VMs).

Important

Unless explicitly specified, deleting a storage pool does not simultaneously delete the storage volumes inside that pool.

To delete a storage pool using the RHEL web console, see the following procedure.

Note

If you want to temporarily deactivate a storage pool instead of deleting it, see Deactivating storage pools using the web console

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, you must install the web console VM plug-in.
If you want to delete a storage volume along with the pool, you must first detach the disk from the VM.

Procedure

Click Storage Pools at the top of the Virtual Machines tab. The Storage Pools window appears, showing a list of configured storage pools.
In the Storage Pools window, click the storage pool you want to delete.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected storage pool and controls for deactivating or deleting the VM.
Click Delete.
A confirmation dialog appears.
Optional: To delete the storage volumes inside the pool, select the check box in the dialog.
Click Delete.
The storage pool is deleted. If you had selected the checkbox in the previous step, the associated storage volumes are deleted as well.

Additional resources

For more information about storage pools, see Understanding storage pools.
For instructions on viewing information about storage pools using the web console, see viewing storage pool information using the web console.

11.3.4. Deactivating storage pools using the web console

If you do not want to permanently delete a storage pool, you can temporarily deactivate it instead.

When you deactivate a storage pool, no new volumes can be created in that pool. However, any virtual machines (VMs) that have volumes in that pool will continue to run. This is useful for a number of reasons, for example, you can limit the number of volumes that can be created in a pool to increase system performance.

To deactivate a storage pool using the RHEL web console, see the following procedure.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage virtual machines (VMs), you must install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

Click Storage Pools at the top of the Virtual Machines tab. The Storage Pools window appears, showing a list of configured storage pools.
In the Storage Pools window, click the storage pool you want to deactivate.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected storage pool and controls for deactivating and deleting the VM.
Click Deactivate.
The storage pool is deactivated.

Additional resources

For more information about storage pools, see Understanding storage pools.
For instructions on viewing information about storage pools using the web console, see Viewing storage pool information using the web console.

11.3.5. Creating storage volumes using the web console

To create a functioning virtual machine (VM) you require a local storage device assigned to the VM that can store the VM image and VM-related data. You can create a storage volume in a storage pool and assign it to a VM as a storage disk.

To create storage volumes using the web console, see the following procedure.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, you must install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

Click Storage Pools at the top of the Virtual Machines tab. The Storage Pools window appears, showing a list of configured storage pools.
In the Storage Pools window, click the storage pool from which you want to create a storage volume.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected storage pool.
Click Storage Volumes next to the Overview tab in the expanded row.
The Storage Volume tab appears with basic information about existing storage volumes, if any.
Click Create Volume.
The Create Storage Volume dialog appears.
Enter the following information in the Create Storage Volume dialog:
- Name - The name of the storage volume.
- Size - The size of the storage volume in MiB or GiB.
- Format - The format of the storage volume. The supported types are qcow2 and raw.
Click Create.
The storage volume is created, the Create Storage Volume dialog closes, and the new storage volume appears in the list of storage volumes.

Additional resources

For more information about storage volumes, see Understanding storage volumes.
For information about adding disks to VMs using the web console, see Adding new disks to virtual machines using the web console.

11.3.6. Removing storage volumes using the web console

You can remove storage volumes to free up space in the storage pool, or to remove storage items associated with defunct virtual machines (VMs).

To remove storage volumes using the RHEL web console, see the following procedure.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, you must install the web console VM plug-in.
You must detach the volume from the VM.

Procedure

Click Storage Pools at the top of the Virtual Machines tab. The Storage Pools window appears, showing a list of configured storage pools.
In the Storage Pools window, click the storage pool from which you want to remove a storage volume.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected storage pool.
Click Storage Volumes next to the Overview tab in the expanded row.
The Storage Volume tab appears with basic information about existing storage volumes, if any.
Select the storage volume you want to remove.
Click Delete 1 Volume

Additional resources

For more information about storage volumes, see Understanding storage volumes.

11.3.7. Managing virtual machine disks using the web console

Using the RHEL 8 web console, you can manage the disks configured for the virtual machines to which the web console is connected.

You can:

11.3.7.1. Viewing virtual machine disk information in the web console

The following procedure describes how to view the disk information of a virtual machine (VM) to which the web console session is connected.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

Click the row of the VM whose information you want to see.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected VM and controls for shutting down and deleting the VM.
Click Disks.
The Disks pane appears with information about the disks assigned to the VM.

The information includes the following:

Device - The device type of the disk.
Used - The amount of the disk that is used.
Capacity - The size of the disk.
Bus - The bus type of the disk.
Access - Whether the disk is is writeable or read-only.
Source - The disk device or file.

Additional resources

For instructions on viewing information about all of the VMs to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.1, “Viewing a virtualization overview in the web console”.
For instructions on viewing information about the storage pools to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.2, “Viewing storage pool information using the web console”.
For instructions on viewing basic information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.3, “Viewing basic virtual machine information in the web console”.
For instructions on viewing resource usage for a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.4, “Viewing virtual machine resource usage in the web console”.
For instructions on viewing virtual network interface information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 6.2.6, “Viewing and editing virtual network interface information in the web console”.

11.3.7.2. Adding new disks to virtual machines using the web console

You can add new disks to virtual machines (VMs) by creating a new storage volume and attaching it to a VM using the RHEL 8 web console.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

In the Virtual Machines interface, click the row of the VM for which you want to create and attach a new disk.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected VM and controls for shutting down and deleting the VM.
Click Disks.
The Disks pane appears with information about the disks configured for the VM.
Click Add Disk.
The Add Disk dialog appears.
Select the Create New option.
Configure the new disk.
- Pool - Select the storage pool from which the virtual disk will be created.
- Name - Enter a name for the virtual disk that will be created.
- Size - Enter the size and select the unit (MiB or GiB) of the virtual disk that will be created.
- Format - Select the format for the virtual disk that will be created. The supported types are qcow2 and raw.
- Persistence - If checked, the virtual disk is persistent. If not checked, the virtual disk is transient.
  Note
  Transient disks can only be added to VMs that are running.
- Addditional Options - Set additional configurations for the virtual disk.
  - Cache - Select the type of cache for the virtual disk.
  - Bus - Select the type of bus for the virtual disk.
Click Add.
The virtual disk is created and connected to the VM.

Additional resources

For instructions on viewing disk information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 11.3.7.1, “Viewing virtual machine disk information in the web console”.
For information on attaching existing disks to VMs, see Section 11.3.7.3, “Attaching existing disks to virtual machines using the web console”.
For information on detaching disks from VMs, see Section 11.3.7.4, “Detaching disks from virtual machines”.

11.3.7.3. Attaching existing disks to virtual machines using the web console

The following procedure describes how to attach existing storage volumes as disks to a virtual machine (VM) using the RHEL 8 web console.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

In the Virtual Machines interface, click the row of the VM to which you want to attach an existing disk.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected VM and controls for shutting down and deleting the VM.
Click Disks.
The Disks pane appears with information about the disks configured for the VM.
Click Add Disk.
The Add Disk dialog appears.
Click the Use Existing radio button.
The appropriate configuration fields appear in the Add Disk dialog.
Configure the disk for the VM.
- Pool - Select the storage pool from which the virtual disk will be attached.
- Volume - Select the storage volume that will be attached.
- Persistence - Check to make the virtual disk persistent. Clear to make the virtual disk transient.
- Additional Options - Set additional configurations for the virtual disk.
  - Cache - Select the type of cache for the virtual disk.
  - Bus - Select the type of bus for the virtual disk.
Click Add
The selected virtual disk is attached to the VM.

Additional resources

For instructions on viewing disk information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 11.3.7.1, “Viewing virtual machine disk information in the web console”.
For information on creating new disks and attaching them to VMs, see Section 11.3.7.2, “Adding new disks to virtual machines using the web console”.
For information on detaching disks from VMs, see Section 11.3.7.4, “Detaching disks from virtual machines”.

11.3.7.4. Detaching disks from virtual machines

The following describes how to detach disks from virtual machines (VMs) using the RHEL 8 web console.

Prerequisites

To use the web console to manage VMs, install the web console VM plug-in.

Procedure

In the Virtual Machines interface, click the row of the VM from which you want to detach an existing disk.
The row expands to reveal the Overview pane with basic information about the selected VM and controls for shutting down and deleting the VM.
Click Disks.
The Disks pane appears with information about the disks configured for the VM.
Click the Remove button next to the disk you want to detach from the VM. A Remove Disk confirmation dialog appears.
In the confirmation dialog, click Remove.
The virtual disk is detached from the VM.

Additional resources

For instructions on viewing disk information about a selected VM to which the web console session is connected, see Section 11.3.7.1, “Viewing virtual machine disk information in the web console”.
For information on creating new disks and attaching them to VMs, see Section 11.3.7.2, “Adding new disks to virtual machines using the web console”.
For information on attaching existing disks to VMs, see Section 11.3.7.3, “Attaching existing disks to virtual machines using the web console”.