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Bug 873545 - virt-install parameter sparse=false doesn't take effect
Summary: virt-install parameter sparse=false doesn't take effect
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Classification: Red Hat
Component: python-virtinst
Version: 6.4
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
medium
medium
Target Milestone: rc
: ---
Assignee: Giuseppe Scrivano
QA Contact: Virtualization Bugs
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks: 994246
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2012-11-06 07:18 UTC by tingting zheng
Modified: 2019-02-15 13:31 UTC (History)
7 users (show)

Fixed In Version: python-virtinst-0.600.0-20.el6
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2014-10-14 06:23:23 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Product Errata RHBA-2014:1444 0 normal SHIPPED_LIVE python-virtinst bug fix and enhancement update 2014-10-14 01:05:50 UTC

Description tingting zheng 2012-11-06 07:18:31 UTC 
Description
virt-install parameter sparse=false doesn't take effect

Version
python-virtinst-0.600.0-12.el6.noarch
libvirt-0.10.2-7.el6.x86_64

How reproducible:
100%

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Use virt-install to install a guest,add parameter sparse=false
# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /root/Desktop/RHEL6.3-20120613.2-Server-x86_64-DVD1.iso --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img,size=5,sparse=false
Starting install...
Allocating 'demo1.img'                                                                                                     | 6.0 GB     00:00    
Creating domain...

# ll -lsh /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
0 -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 5.0G Nov  6 11:37 /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img

# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 5.0G (5368709120 bytes)
disk size: 0

2.After install the guest,check the disk:
# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 5.0G (5368709120 bytes)
disk size: 1.7G

# ll -lsh /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
1.8G -rw-------. 1 qemu qemu 5.0G Nov  6 11:35 /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
                                                                                                             |    0 B     00:00    
Actual results：
virt-install parameter sparse=false doesn't take effect,as steps show.

Expected results:
virt-install parameter sparse=false take effect

Additional info:
Comment 2 tingting zheng 2012-12-12 06:54:34 UTC 
Do more test,and found that parameter --nonsparse doesn't work for virt-clone.
Steps:
1.Prepare a guest with sparse disk.
# virsh dumpxml test
……
 <disk type='file' device='disk'>
      <driver name='qemu' type='raw' cache='none'/>
      <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img'/>
      <target dev='hda' bus='ide'/>
      <address type='drive' controller='0' bus='0' target='0' unit='0'/>
    </disk>
……

# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 6.0G (6442450944 bytes)
disk size: 3.3G

# ll -lsh /var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img
3.4G -rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 6.0G Dec 12 13:21 /var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img

2.Use virt-clone to clone the guest,add parameter --nonsparse
virt-clone -o test -n test-clone -f /tmp/test.img --nonsparse
Cloning test.img                                                                           | 6.0 GB     02:39     
Clone 'test-clone' created successfully.

3.Check the disk of the new cloned guest,it is still sparse.
# qemu-img info /tmp/test.img
image: /tmp/test.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 6.0G (6442450944 bytes)
disk size: 3.3G

# ll -lsh /tmp/test.img
3.3G -rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 6.0G Dec 12 13:27 /tmp/test.img
Comment 4 hyao@redhat.com 2013-09-25 08:12:23 UTC 
Reproduced the bug with the following package: 
# rpm -qa libvirt python-virtinst
python-virtinst-0.600.0-18.el6.noarch
libvirt-0.10.2-26.el6.x86_64

And the value of sparse are yes or no in error notification are not same with the value in manual: true or false.

# virt-install -n T -r 1024 --vcpus=2 --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/T.img,size=4 -l $URL --nonsparse
ERROR    Cannot mix --file, --nonsparse, or --file-size with --disk options. Use --disk PATH[,size=SIZE][,sparse=yes|no]


in the manual
sparse
             whether to skip fully allocating newly created storage. Value is ’true’ or ’false’.
             Default is ’true’ (do not fully allocate).
Comment 5 Jens Kuehnel 2013-10-24 15:11:58 UTC 
Reproduced the bug with the following packages from current RHEL6.4:
rpm -qa libvirt python-virtinst
libvirt-0.10.2-18.el6_4.14.x86_64
python-virtinst-0.600.0-15.el6.noarch

1.) sparse=no or sparse=false makes no change
2.) mixing --disk and -f does not work (as documented)
3.) using only -f and the other "obsolte" paramters work.

This does not work:
--disk sparse=false,path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/$newhostname.disk,size=200

This works as expected:
-f /var/lib/libvirt/images/$newhostname.disk -s 200 --nonsparse
and creates a sparse 200G file.
Comment 6 Martin Tessun 2013-10-24 15:42:29 UTC 
(In reply to Jens Kuehnel from comment #5)
> Reproduced the bug with the following packages from current RHEL6.4:
> rpm -qa libvirt python-virtinst
> libvirt-0.10.2-18.el6_4.14.x86_64
> python-virtinst-0.600.0-15.el6.noarch

Ok, my versions slightly differ as I am using libvirt-0.10.2-18.el6_4.9.x86_64

> 
> 1.) sparse=no or sparse=false makes no change

Installing with the following commandline:
# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /VirtualMachines/ISO/RHEL6.4-20130130.0-Server-x86_64-DVD1.iso --disk path=/VirtualMachines/demo1.img,size=5,sparse=false
lasts a long time to create the 5GB disk, so I believe this is not sparse (writing 18MB per second;) but we check:

qemu-img info /VirtualMachines/demo1.img
image: /VirtualMachines/demo1.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 5.0G (5368709120 bytes)
disk size: 5.0G

So this is indeed no sparse file.

Deleting the file and doing again with sparse=true:
[mtessun@mtessun ~]$ qemu-img info /VirtualMachines/demo1.img
image: /VirtualMachines/demo1.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 5.0G (5368709120 bytes)
disk size: 0

So this seems to work for me.

> 2.) mixing --disk and -f does not work (as documented)

Ok. This is expected isn't it?

> 3.) using only -f and the other "obsolte" paramters work.
> 
> This does not work:
> --disk sparse=false,path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/$newhostname.disk,size=200
> 
> This works as expected:
> -f /var/lib/libvirt/images/$newhostname.disk -s 200 --nonsparse
> and creates a sparse 200G file.

Did it create a sparse file? Or a nonsparse file?

Testing with the old (obsoleted) parameters works as well here:
# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /VirtualMachines/ISO/RHEL6.4-20130130.0-Server-x86_64-DVD1.iso -f /VirtualMachines/demo1.img -s 5 --nonsparse

again creates a 5GB disk nonsparse
and

# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /VirtualMachines/ISO/RHEL6.4-20130130.0-Server-x86_64-DVD1.iso -f /VirtualMachines/demo1.img -s 5

creates a sparse file.
Comment 7 Martin Tessun 2013-10-24 15:58:01 UTC 
Just did a second test with the exact same versions as mentioned in comment #5:

just did a second test:

[root@inf13 ~]# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /VirtualMachines/test.iso --disk sparse=false,path=/VirtualMachines/test.img,size=5

Starting install...
Creating storage file test.img                                                                                                                     | 5.0 GB     00:32     
Creating domain...                                                                                                                                 |    0 B     00:00     
WARNING  Unable to connect to graphical console: virt-viewer not installed. Please install the 'virt-viewer' package.
Domain installation still in progress. You can reconnect to 
the console to complete the installation process.
[root@inf13 ~]# qemu-img info /VirtualMachines/test.img 
image: /VirtualMachines/test.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 5.0G (5368709120 bytes)
disk size: 5.0G

This time with the following versions:
[root@inf13 ~]# rpm -q -a libvirt python-virtinst
libvirt-0.10.2-18.el6_4.14.x86_64
python-virtinst-0.600.0-15.el6.noarch
Comment 8 Jens Kuehnel 2013-10-24 16:12:26 UTC 
(In reply to Martin Tessun from comment #7)

> [root@inf13 ~]# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c
> /VirtualMachines/test.iso --disk
> sparse=false,path=/VirtualMachines/test.img,size=5

Yes, works here as well when I put it else where. Please put the image into /var/lib/libvirt/images/ and try again.
Comment 9 Jens Kuehnel 2013-10-24 16:15:10 UTC 
Hi,
work also when using pool like this:
--disk pool=default,size=20,sparse=false
Comment 10 Martin Tessun 2013-10-25 06:28:59 UTC 
(In reply to Jens Kuehnel from comment #8)
> (In reply to Martin Tessun from comment #7)
> 
> > [root@inf13 ~]# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c
> > /VirtualMachines/test.iso --disk
> > sparse=false,path=/VirtualMachines/test.img,size=5
> 
> Yes, works here as well when I put it else where. Please put the image into
> /var/lib/libvirt/images/ and try again.

Indeed. That's interessting. Installing in /var/lib/libvirt/images does not respect the sparse-flag.

[root@inf13 ~]# virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=false,path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img,size=5

Starting install...
Creating domain...                                                                                                                          |    0 B     00:00     
WARNING  Unable to connect to graphical console: virt-viewer not installed. Please install the 'virt-viewer' package.
Domain installation still in progress. You can reconnect to 
the console to complete the installation process.

[root@inf13 ~]# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img 
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 5.0G (5368709120 bytes)
disk size: 0

I did try with filename /var/lib/libvirt/test.img again, an the file is created correctly.


This looks to me as if it is intentional (as it only does not work when using /var/lib/libvirt/images as destination), but undocumented.

Con someone please confirm?
Comment 11 Martin Tessun 2013-10-25 06:57:34 UTC 
I did now run all three "possible" creation scripts that where discussed here with --debug switch.

I stripped the definition of the domains, as this is not of interest.

Running with --debug:

1. Usinf /var/lib/libvitrt/images as a path (DEFAULT_POOL_PATH):

[root@inf13 ~]# virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=false,path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Launched with command line:
/usr/sbin/virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024 --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=false,path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/test.img,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Requesting libvirt URI default
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Received libvirt URI qemu:///system
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Requesting virt method 'default', hv type 'default'.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Received virt method 'hvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Hypervisor name is 'kvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    --graphics compat generated: vnc
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Path '/var/lib/libvirt/images' is target for pool 'default'. Creating volume 'test.img'.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Path '/var/lib/libvirt/images' is target for pool 'default'. Creating volume 'test.img'.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    DistroInstaller location is a local file/path: /tmp/test.iso
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Guest.has_install_phase: True

Starting install...
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Creating storage volume 'test.img' with xml:
<volume>
  <name>test.img</name>
  <capacity>5368709120</capacity>
  <allocation>0</allocation>           <====== This should be equal to capacity!!!
  <target>
    <format type='raw'/>
  </target>
</volume>

Allocating 'test.img'                                                                                                                       | 5.0 GB     00:00     
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:58 DEBUG    Storage volume 'test.img' install complete.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:40:59 DEBUG    Generated install XML: 
...

So the image gets created from some xml-file in this case.


2. Creating disk in /var/lib/libvirt

[root@inf13 ~]# virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=false,path=/var/lib/libvirt/test.img,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    Launched with command line:
/usr/sbin/virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024 --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=false,path=/var/lib/libvirt/test.img,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    Requesting libvirt URI default
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    Received libvirt URI qemu:///system
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    Requesting virt method 'default', hv type 'default'.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    Received virt method 'hvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    Hypervisor name is 'kvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    --graphics compat generated: vnc
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    DistroInstaller location is a local file/path: /tmp/test.iso
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:42:32 DEBUG    Guest.has_install_phase: True

Starting install...
Creating storage file test.img                                                                                                              | 5.0 GB     00:36     
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:43:09 DEBUG    Generated install XML: 
...

This time the file is created "manully" not vir libvirt.


3. Using pool=default (DEFAULT_POOL) instead of disk=

[root@inf13 ~]# virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=false,pool=default,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Launched with command line:
/usr/sbin/virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024 --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=false,pool=default,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Requesting libvirt URI default
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Received libvirt URI qemu:///system
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Requesting virt method 'default', hv type 'default'.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Received virt method 'hvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Hypervisor name is 'kvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    --graphics compat generated: vnc
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    DistroInstaller location is a local file/path: /tmp/test.iso
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Guest.has_install_phase: True

Starting install...
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Creating storage volume 'demo1.img' with xml:
<volume>
  <name>demo1.img</name>
  <capacity>5368709120</capacity>
  <allocation>5368709120</allocation>
  <target>
    <format type='raw'/>
  </target>
</volume>

Allocating 'demo1.img'                                                                                                                      | 5.0 GB     00:00     
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Storage volume 'demo1.img' install complete.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:46:43 DEBUG    Generated install XML: 
...

Here again the image is created via libvirt, but this time the allocation policy matches.


4. Just for completion again with pool but with sparse=true:

[root@inf13 ~]# virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=true,pool=default,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:25 DEBUG    Launched with command line:
/usr/sbin/virt-install --debug -n demo1 -r 1024 --vnc -c /tmp/test.iso --disk sparse=true,pool=default,size=5
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:25 DEBUG    Requesting libvirt URI default
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:25 DEBUG    Received libvirt URI qemu:///system
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:25 DEBUG    Requesting virt method 'default', hv type 'default'.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:25 DEBUG    Received virt method 'hvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:25 DEBUG    Hypervisor name is 'kvm'
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:25 DEBUG    --graphics compat generated: vnc
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:26 DEBUG    DistroInstaller location is a local file/path: /tmp/test.iso
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:26 DEBUG    Guest.has_install_phase: True

Starting install...
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:26 DEBUG    Creating storage volume 'demo1.img' with xml:
<volume>
  <name>demo1.img</name>
  <capacity>5368709120</capacity>
  <allocation>0</allocation>
  <target>
    <format type='raw'/>
  </target>
</volume>

Allocating 'demo1.img'                                                                                                                      | 5.0 GB     00:00     
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:26 DEBUG    Storage volume 'demo1.img' install complete.
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:54:26 DEBUG    Generated install XML: 
...

So here it works as expected again.
Comment 15 Cui Lei 2014-05-05 10:01:06 UTC 
I can reproduce the issue with:
python-virtinst-0.600.0-18.el6.noarch
libvirt-0.10.2-26.el6.x86_64

Verify the issue with:
python-virtinst-0.600.0-20.el6.noarch
virt-manager-0.9.0-20.el6.x86_64

1. virt-install -n demo1 -r 1024  --vnc -l http://tree.englab.nay.redhat.com/pub/rhel/released/RHEL-6/6.3/Server/x86_64/os/ --disk path=/var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img,size=2,sparse=false


# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo1.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 2.0G (2147483648 bytes)
disk size: 2.0G

2. virt-install -n demo2 -r 1024  --vnc -l http://tree.englab.nay.redhat.com/pub/rhel/released/RHEL-6/6.3/Server/x86_64/os/ -f /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo2.img -s 2 --nonsparse

Starting install...
Retrieving file vmlinuz...                                                                                                                                                              | 7.6 MB     00:00 ...
Retrieving file initrd.img...                                                                                                                                                           |  58 MB     00:00 ...
Allocating 'demo2.img'                                                                                                                                                                  | 2.0 GB     00:31
Creating domain...                                                                                                                                                                      |    0 B     00:00


# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo2.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo2.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 2.0G (2147483648 bytes)
disk size: 2.0G



3. # virt-install -n demo3 -r 1024  --vnc -l http://tree.englab.nay.redhat.com/pub/rhel/released/RHEL-6/6.3/Server/x86_64/os/ --disk pool=default,,size=2,sparse=false

Starting install...
Retrieving file vmlinuz...                                                                                                                                                              | 7.6 MB     00:00 ...
Retrieving file initrd.img...                                                                                                                                                           |  58 MB     00:00 ...
Allocating 'demo3.img'                                                                                                                                                                  | 2.0 GB     00:32
Creating domain...                                                                                                                                                                      |    0 B     00:00


# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo3.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo3.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 2.0G (2147483648 bytes)
disk size: 2.0G

4. Test sparse=true, correct either.
# virt-install -n demo4 -r 1024  --vnc -l http://tree.englab.nay.redhat.com/pub/rhel/released/RHEL-6/6.3/Server/x86_64/os/ --disk pool=default,,size=2,sparse=true

Starting install...
Retrieving file vmlinuz...                                                                                                                                                              | 7.6 MB     00:00 ...
Retrieving file initrd.img...                                                                                                                                                           |  58 MB     00:00 ...
Allocating 'demo4.img'                                                                                                                                                                  | 2.0 GB     00:00
Creating domain...                                                                                                                                                                      |    0 B     00:00


# qemu-img info /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo4.img
image: /var/lib/libvirt/images/demo4.img
file format: raw
virtual size: 2.0G (2147483648 bytes)
disk size: 0

So change the status from 'ON_QA' to 'VERIFIED'
Comment 16 errata-xmlrpc 2014-10-14 06:23:23 UTC 
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2014-1444.html
Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.