Because the size of files you can upload can be quite large (several GB), unexpected interruption of the upload process (such as when a power failure occurs) might cause these large files to remain in one of the transfer locations, which could cause a significant and unanticipated load on server resources. Although Cloud Manager makes every effort to clean up these files, you need to know where to locate them so that you can manually delete them in the event of unusual circumstances.
This section includes the following information:
When you drag a file from the local file system and drop it on the VNC window, the first move for that file is to the Cloud Manager Web Service. Cloud Manager displays messages on the VNC console, such as this:
Uploading (18%): filename.xxx
The files are physically uploaded to <ncm_writable_location>/.cloudmanager/plugins/cloudManager/workloads/vmUploadedFiles.
If you are uploading multiple files, some browsers are able to copy them in parallel. You will see these messages change, referencing one file and then another, and back again. The upload does not progress to the next stage (publishing) until all of the files are copied to the Web Server.
The Web Server performs an auto-delete of files copied in the upload session if:
The Web Server is rebooted or restarted.
The user performing the file upload logs out, ending the session.
Errors occur in the client or server during the file upload.
When files are moved to the publishing stage of the upload process.
The next stage of the file upload publishes the files to the Orchestration datagrid repository located on the Orchestration Server at /var/opt/novell/zenworks/zos/server/dataGrid/files/upload/virtualmachines/<vmid>/. At this transfer stage, Cloud Manager displays messages on the VNC console such as:
Publishing (18%): filename.xxx
NOTE:If you are publishing multiple files, Cloud Manager moves them in sequence, so messages on the VNC toolbar do not show operations alternating between files. The upload does not progress to the next stage (mounting) until all of the files are copied to the grid repository.
After all of the files are uploaded from the Application Server location to the datagrid repository, a Mounting CD-ROM message is displayed on the VNC Console while the Cloud Manager “back end” handles the files in the following sequence:
The Orchestration Server starts an Apply Config job to compress and consolidate the uploaded files into a single .iso file following the pattern DataImage_<vdiskId>.iso.
An Orchestration joblet runs and copies the .iso file to a temporary folder location used by the Orchestration Agent that is responsible for running vsphere jobs: <Agent_Install_dir?>/node.default\<HostName>\dataGrid\upload\virtualmachines\<vmid>\<vdiskId>.iso.
The vCenter Server uploads the .iso file from the Agent location to the vSphere ESXi host (that is, the location where the VM is running), and then into the /file_transfer subfolder of the VM’s repository.
An Orchestration Server job removes the file from the temporary, agent location.
The CD mounting stage can take the most time in the file upload process because of the hops between locations that are managed by the Orchestration Server. Cloud Manager retains the successfully uploaded files in its internal system for two days. At the end of this period, the Orchestration Server uses a scheduled job to auto-eject any mounted CD-ROM and to delete the associated uploaded files.
This cleanupFileTransfers job runs every day to detect old files (more than two days old) and remove the files from the datastore. It can be configured to increase or decrease its effective date range, depending on your need to maintain file upload storage and usage.