7.2 Viewing Virtual Disk Configuration in the Orchestration Console

You can visually expose a vDisk Grid object in the Orchestration Console in two ways:

Figure 7-2 The Virtual Disk Info/Groups Page

The page that opens under the Info tab includes fields where you can configure the general information and attributes (facts) of the vDisk.

NOTE:Whenever you make changes to vDisk object facts, the write icon is superimposed on the object’s icon , signifying that the object has been changed. If you want to save the changes you have made, click the Save button on the Orchestration Console toolbar.

This section includes the following additional information:

7.2.1 Virtual Disk Information Panel

The Virtual Disk Information panel on the Info page includes the following fields:

NOTE:Tool tip text is displayed when you mouse over any of these fields.

Type: This drop-down list lets you select one of the vDisk types as the VM host sees it:

  • file: Specifies this vDisk as a file-backed disk.

  • block: Specifies this vDisk as a block device.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.type:

<fact name="vdisk.type" value="file" type="String" />

Description: Describes the vDisk with any text that you choose.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.description:

<fact name="vdisk.description" value="" type="String" />

For a vDisk discovered and managed by the xen provisioning adapter or the kvm provisioning adapter, this field is usually blank. Because this is a free form field, you can enter any text you want here. For a vDisk discovered and managed by the vsphere provisioning adapter, this field is populated with a display name label obtained by vSphere and mapped to this vDisk by the Orchestration Server.

Healthy: For a vDisk managed by any supported hypervisor, this check box is selected by default, which designates the vDisk as being in good health.

NOTE:We recommend that you do not change the Healthy value from its default.

In the Fact Editor, this is fact is listed as vdisk.health:

<fact name="vdisk.health" value="true" type="Boolean" />

Moveable: When this check box is selected (its value is true), the vDisk is moveable, which means that the disk image can be copied to a different repository when the VM moves.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.moveable:

<fact name="vdisk.moveable" value="true" type="Boolean" />

If Moveable is not selected, the disk image must stay at its current location because it cannot be copied or moved. By default upon discovery, if the server sees that this vDisk is an ISO image, the fact is set to false because it is assumed that the administrator doesn’t want to copy ISO images from one location to another.

Whenever you want to prevent a vDisk from being moved, you can deselect this check box.

The vDisk is not deleted during a VM Delete/Destroy action if this check box is deselected.

NOTE:In Cloud Manager 2.0, block type disks (that is, pDisks) are not moveable, even if you change this setting.

Mode: Specifies the mode of the vDisk as made available and supported by the provisioning adapter:

  • r = read only

  • w = read/write

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.mode:

<fact name="vdisk.mode" value="w" type="String" />

VM: (Read Only) Specifies the name of the VM that uses this vDisk.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.vm:

<fact name="vdisk.vm" value="mysql" type="String" />

This is a fact junction referencing the associated VM. Conversely, the resource.vm.vdisks fact visible from the VM Grid object is a fact junction showing the associated vDisks associated with the VM.

Repository: The storage location containing the vDisk image on the VM host.

Changing this fact after discovery only corrects a possible incorrectly discovered fact. Changing the storage location does not move the vDisk.

In general terms, a block type Repository represents a container for physical devices you can use for VM disks. For the xen and kvm provisioning adapters, a block type Repository represents a Volume Group on a VM host. If you select this type, the physical disks (Logical Volumes) on that VM host are listed.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.repository:

<fact name="vdisk.repository" value="zos" type="String" />

Physical Disk: Indicates the name of the pDisk to which this vDisk is associated.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.pdisk:

You can edit this fact only if a block type Repository is selected for the vdisk.repository fact. When you make that selection, a drop-down list of Physical Disks becomes available for this field.

<fact name="vdisk.pdisk" value="" type="String" />

Although there might be several pDisks available in the block Repository, you can select only one.

Location: For file-backed disks, this fact represents the file system path to the vDisk image in the specified repository.

For example, a vDisk located on an NFS repository datastore would show the URI to the NFS share with the path to the disk appended to it.

For block type disks, this fact contains the URI to the block device, for example /dev/hdc, which could represent a CD/DVD tray on a VM host.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.location:

<fact name="vdisk.location" value="/var/lib/xen/images/mysql/disk1" type="String" />

Size: The size (measured in MB) of this vDisk image.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.size:

<fact name="vdisk.size" value="2048" type="Integer" />

The disk size value for each moveable vDisk on a VM is aggregated by the Orchestration Server into the resource.vm.vdisksize fact, which is used to determine if the VM can relocate from one repository to another, given that the new repository has enough free space to store the VM.

Sparse Disk: When this check box is selected (its value is true), this is a sparse (thin) backed vDisk.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.sparse:

<fact name="vdisk.sparse" value="true" type="Boolean" />

Actual Size: The actual (sparse) size (measured in MB) of this virtual disk.

In the Fact Editor, this fact is listed as vdisk.size.actual:

<fact name="vdisk.size.actual" value="1024" type="Integer" />

7.2.2 Virtual Disk Policies Tab

The Policies tab opens a page that contains a policy viewer for each of the policies associated with a Grid object.

NOTE:You can edit a policy by right-clicking a policy icon, selecting Edit Policy, and clicking the Save icon.

7.2.3 Virtual Disk Health Debugger Tab

The Health Debugger is a common admin view in the Orchestration Console for most Grid objects. For information about this tool, see Health Debugger.

7.2.4 Virtual Disk Constraints/Facts Tab

To support constraining a VM’s provisioning actions based on more than one disk’s repository (that is, more than just resource.vm.repository), the vDisk can be referenced in constraints. The vDisk constraints are used to assign VM hosts during actions such as provisioning, building, or migrating. You can write constraints against attributes of disks (such as the repository where the vDisk resides) and against the available VM host repositories.

The Constraints/Facts tab opens a page that shows all of the effective constraints and facts for a Grid object. Each Grid object has an associated set of facts and constraints that define its properties. In essence, by building, deploying, and running jobs on the Orchestration Server, you can individually change the functionality of any and all system resources by managing an object’s facts and constraints.

The Orchestration Server assigns default values to each of the component facts. The following table lists the possible fact modes and their function:

Table 7-1 vDisk Fact Modes Displayed in the Constraints/Facts Tab

vDisk Mode Type

Mode Function

blank (no mode displayed)

read/write, not deleteable

del

read/write, deleteable

dynamic

read/write, not deleteable

dynamic, r/o

read only, not writable

r/o

read only

IMPORTANT:Several custom facts for the vDisk object can be added at discovery time, and vary according to the VM technology that manages the respective vDisk. These facts are documented in the NetIQ Cloud Manager Orchestration Developer Reference.

For more information about using the Fact Editor on this page to rename the Virtual Disk object, see Section 7.2.5, Virtual Disk Object Naming and Renaming.

7.2.5 Virtual Disk Object Naming and Renaming

Some resource names are generated by the Orchestration system and can therefore have generic, arbitrary names such as mysql-vdisk1, mysql-vdisk2, and so on. A Virtual Disk (vDisk) you name at creation time might also change later in its purpose or facilities.

The object’s display name is visible in the Orchestration Console interface, the interfaces, and in optional zos and zosadmin commands. As the number of these vDisk objects grows in your grid, you might find it helpful or necessary to rename them, assigning more meaningful, intuitive names to suit the purpose of the object.

NOTE:Resource object groups (that is, the folders that contain these vDisk objects) can also be renamed. Objects such as jobs, events, and users cannot be renamed.

A vDisk object’s name is stored in the ${objectType}.displayname fact, which exists on every Grid object type, even those objects that cannot be renamed.

You can rename a vDisk object in the Orchestration Console by using one of three methods:

  • Right-click the vDisk object in the Explorer tree, then select Rename to allow editing of the display name.

  • Triple-click the vDisk object in the Explorer tree to allow editing of the display name.

  • In the Constraints/Facts page, select the vDisk object .displayname fact and then open the Fact Editor to specify a new value for the fact.

As you use one of these methods, notice that the fact value is prepopulated with the ${objectType}.id fact. This functions as the name value for the object name until you decide to change it.

NOTE:Even after being renamed, the vDisk object retains its associated resource ID in the .id fact. This is not editable.

For more information about making the Resource object display names visible from the zos or zosadmin command line, see the NetIQ Cloud Manager 2.1.5 Orchestration Server Command Line Reference.