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8.7. Storage Tasks

8.7.1. Populating the ISO Storage Domain

An ISO storage domain is attached to a data center. ISO images must be uploaded to it. Red Hat Virtualization provides an ISO uploader tool that ensures that the images are uploaded into the correct directory path, with the correct user permissions.
The creation of ISO images from physical media is not described in this document. It is assumed that you have access to the images required for your environment.

Procedure 8.19. Populating the ISO Storage Domain

  1. Copy the required ISO image to a temporary directory on the system running Red Hat Virtualization Manager.
  2. Log in to the system running Red Hat Virtualization Manager as the root user.
  3. Use the engine-iso-uploader command to upload the ISO image. This action will take some time. The amount of time varies depending on the size of the image being uploaded and available network bandwidth.

    Example 8.1. ISO Uploader Usage

    In this example the ISO image RHEL6.iso is uploaded to the ISO domain called ISODomain using NFS. The command will prompt for an administrative user name and password. The user name must be provided in the form user name@domain.
    # engine-iso-uploader --iso-domain=ISODomain upload RHEL6.iso
The ISO image is uploaded and appears in the ISO storage domain specified. It is also available in the list of available boot media when creating virtual machines in the data center to which the storage domain is attached.

8.7.2. Moving Storage Domains to Maintenance Mode

A storage domain must be in maintenance mode before it can be detached and removed. This is required to redesignate another data domain as the master data domain.

Important

You cannot move a storage domain into maintenance mode if a virtual machine has a lease on the storage domain. The virtual machine needs to be shut down, or the lease needs to be to removed or moved to a different storage domain first. See the Virtual Machine Management Guide for information about virtual machine leases.
Expanding iSCSI domains by adding more LUNs can only be done when the domain is active.

Procedure 8.20. Moving storage domains to maintenance mode

  1. Shut down all the virtual machines running on the storage domain.
  2. Click the Storage resource tab and select a storage domain.
  3. Click the Data Centers tab in the details pane.
  4. Click Maintenance to open the Storage Domain maintenance confirmation window.
  5. Click OK to initiate maintenance mode. The storage domain is deactivated and has an Inactive status in the results list.
You can now edit, detach, remove, or reactivate the inactive storage domains from the data center.

Note

You can also activate, detach and place domains into maintenance mode using the Storage tab on the details pane of the data center it is associated with.

8.7.3. Editing Storage Domains

You can edit storage domain parameters through the Administration Portal. Depending on the state of the storage domain, either active or inactive, different fields are available for editing. Fields such as Data Center, Domain Function, Storage Type, and Format cannot be changed.
  • Active: When the storage domain is in an active state, the Name, Description, Comment, Warning Low Space Indicator (%), Critical Space Action Blocker (GB), Wipe After Delete, and Discard After Delete fields can be edited. The Name field can only be edited while the storage domain is active. All other fields can also be edited while the storage domain is inactive.
  • Inactive: When the storage domain is in maintenance mode or unattached, thus in an inactive state, you can edit all fields except Name, Data Center, Domain Function, Storage Type, and Format. The storage domain must be inactive to edit storage connections, mount options, and other advanced parameters. This is only supported for NFS, POSIX, and Local storage types.

    Note

    iSCSI storage connections cannot be edited via the Administration Portal, but can be edited via the REST API. See Updating an iSCSI Storage Connection in the REST API Guide.

Procedure 8.21. Editing an Active Storage Domain

  1. Click the Storage resource tab and select a storage domain.
  2. Click Manage Domain.
  3. Edit the available fields as required.
  4. Click OK.

Procedure 8.22. Editing an Inactive Storage Domain

  1. Click the Storage resource tab and select a storage domain.
  2. If the storage domain is active, click the Data Center tab in the details pane and click Maintenance.
  3. Click Manage Domain.
  4. Edit the storage path and other details as required. The new connection details must be of the same storage type as the original connection.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click the Data Center tab in the details pane and click Activate.

8.7.4. Updating OVFs

By default, OVFs are updated every 60 minutes. However, if you have imported an important virtual machine or made a critical update, you can update OVFs manually.

Procedure 8.23. Updating OVFs

  1. Use the Storage resource tab, tree mode, or the search function to find and select the appropriate storage domain in the results list.
  2. Right-click the storage domain and select Update OVFs.
The OVFs are updated and a message appears in the Events tab.

8.7.5. Activating Storage Domains from Maintenance Mode

If you have been making changes to a data center's storage, you have to put storage domains into maintenance mode. Activate a storage domain to resume using it.
  1. Click the Storage resource tab and select an inactive storage domain in the results list.
  2. Click the Data Centers tab in the details pane.
  3. Select the appropriate storage domain and click Activate.

    Important

    If you attempt to activate the ISO domain before activating the data domain, an error message displays and the domain is not activated.

8.7.6. Removing a Storage Domain

You have a storage domain in your data center that you want to remove from the virtualized environment.

Procedure 8.24. Removing a Storage Domain

  1. Click the Storage resource tab and select the appropriate storage domain in the results list.
  2. Move the domain into maintenance mode to deactivate it.
  3. Detach the domain from the data center.
  4. Click Remove to open the Remove Storage confirmation window.
  5. Select a host from the list.
  6. Click OK to remove the storage domain and close the window.
The storage domain is permanently removed from the environment.

8.7.7. Destroying a Storage Domain

A storage domain encountering errors may not be able to be removed through the normal procedure. Destroying a storage domain will forcibly remove the storage domain from the virtualized environment.

Procedure 8.25. Destroying a Storage Domain

  1. Use the Storage resource tab, tree mode, or the search function to find and select the appropriate storage domain in the results list.
  2. Right-click the storage domain and select Destroy to open the Destroy Storage Domain confirmation window.
  3. Select the Approve operation check box and click OK to destroy the storage domain and close the window.
The storage domain has been destroyed.

8.7.8. Detaching a Storage Domain from a Data Center

Detach a storage domain from the data center to migrate virtual machines and templates to another data center.

Procedure 8.26. Detaching a Storage Domain from the Data Center

  1. Click the Storage resource tab, and select a storage domain from the results list.
  2. Click the Data Centers tab in the details pane and select the storage domain.
  3. Click Maintenance to open the Maintenance Storage Domain(s) confirmation window.
  4. Click OK to initiate maintenance mode.
  5. Click Detach to open the Detach Storage confirmation window.
  6. Click OK to detach the storage domain.
The storage domain has been detached from the data center, ready to be attached to another data center.

8.7.9. Attaching a Storage Domain to a Data Center

Attach a storage domain to a data center.

Procedure 8.27. Attaching a Storage Domain to a Data Center

  1. Click the Storage resource tab, and select a storage domain from the results list.
  2. Click the Data Centers tab in the details pane.
  3. Click Attach to open the Attach to Data Center window.
  4. Select the radio button of the appropriate data center.
  5. Click OK to attach the storage domain.
The storage domain is attached to the data center and is automatically activated.

8.7.10. Disk Profiles

Disk profiles define the maximum level of throughput and the maximum level of input and output operations for a virtual disk in a storage domain. Disk profiles are created based on storage profiles defined under data centers, and must be manually assigned to individual virtual disks for the profile to take effect.

8.7.10.1. Creating a Disk Profile

Create a disk profile. This procedure assumes you have already defined one or more storage quality of service entries under the data center to which the storage domain belongs.

Procedure 8.28. Creating a Disk Profile

  1. Click the Storage resource tab and select a data storage domain.
  2. Click the Disk Profiles sub tab in the details pane.
  3. Click New.
  4. Enter a name for the disk profile in the Name field.
  5. Enter a description for the disk profile in the Description field.
  6. Select the quality of service to apply to the disk profile from the QoS list.
  7. Click OK.
You have created a disk profile, and that disk profile can be applied to new virtual disks hosted in the data storage domain.

8.7.10.2. Removing a Disk Profile

Remove an existing disk profile from your Red Hat Virtualization environment.

Procedure 8.29. Removing a Disk Profile

  1. Click the Storage resource tab and select a data storage domain.
  2. Click the Disk Profiles sub tab in the details pane.
  3. Select the disk profile to remove.
  4. Click Remove.
  5. Click OK.
You have removed a disk profile, and that disk profile is no longer available. If the disk profile was assigned to any virtual disks, the disk profile is removed from those virtual disks.

8.7.11. Viewing the Health Status of a Storage Domain

Storage domains have an external health status in addition to their regular Status. The external health status is reported by plug-ins or external systems, or set by an administrator, and appears to the left of the storage domain's Name as one of the following icons:
  • OK: No icon
  • Info:
  • Warning:
  • Error:
  • Failure:
To view further details about the storage domain's health status, select the storage domain and click the Events sub-tab.
The storage domain's health status can also be viewed using the REST API. A GET request on a storage domain will include the external_status element, which contains the health status.
You can set a storage domain's health status in the REST API via the events collection. For more information, see Adding Events in the REST API Guide.

8.7.12. Setting Discard After Delete for a Storage Domain

When the Discard After Delete check box is selected, a blkdiscard command is called on a logical volume when it is removed and the underlying storage is notified that the blocks are free. The storage array can use the freed space and allocate it when requested. Discard After Delete only works on block storage. The flag is not available on the Red Hat Virtualization Manager for file storage, for example NFS.

Restrictions:

  • Discard After Delete is only available on block storage domains, such as iSCSI or Fibre Channel.
  • The underlying storage must support Discard.
Discard After Delete can be enabled both when creating a block storage domain or when editing a block storage domain. See Section 8.5, “Adding Block Storage” and Section 8.7.3, “Editing Storage Domains”.