How To
Summary
This document provides step-by-step instructions for creating a bootable AIX OVA image on a VM using the create_ova command.
Objective
The create_ova command is used to create a single-volume raw disk image and to export the contents of a raw disk image to a compatible OVA package format. You can import the OVA package into any cloud service that supports the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) packaging standard. The imported OVA package can be deployed as a virtual machine.
Steps
crete_ova command goes through three phases.
PHASE I - Restore backup to target disk using alt_disk_mksysb.
PHASE II - dd image copy from target disk to ova directory specified.
PHASE III - Create the tar archive (OVA)
In this example, the cloud OS level is 7300-01-01-2246 and the free disk available for alt_disk_mksysb restore is hdisk2 with a size of 20GB.
Make sure the output directory for the OVA package has at least twice the size of the target disk we specify.
Note: The time taken to complete create_ova mainly depends on the Disk IOPS. IBM Power Virtual Server offers you the option to select an I/O operation per second (IOPS) based storage as per your requirement. Each of the storage pools supports multiple storage tiers. The storage tiers are based on different IOPS levels. In this test, we used a VM with 5000 IOPS disk, 2 CPUs, 12GB RAM, and ova_create completed in 20 minutes.
Storage tier details can be checked in the PowerVS UI: Select the VM and Scroll down to see attached volumes.
The table below shows the supported storage tiers with the corresponding IOPS.
Read the document below to learn more about Storage Tier.
PHASE II - dd image copy from target disk to ova directory specified.
PHASE III - Create the tar archive (OVA)
In this example, the cloud OS level is 7300-01-01-2246 and the free disk available for alt_disk_mksysb restore is hdisk2 with a size of 20GB.
# oslevel -s
7300-01-01-2246
# lspv
hdisk0 00c5d3c8c4b3de8f rootvg active
hdisk1 00c5d3c8c4872421 datavg active
hdisk2 00fa00d66c59c9d7 None
The mksysb backup is stored in the /backup filesystem, and /ova_backup is the filesystem to store ova package.
# df -gt
Filesystem GB blocks Used Free %Used Mounted on
/dev/fslv01 65.00 0.26 64.74 1% /ova_backup
/dev/fslv02 25.00 11.11 13.89 45% /backup
Make sure the output directory for the OVA package has at least twice the size of the target disk we specify.
# ls -lrt /backup
-rw-r--r-- 1 root system 11821568000 Jun 04 07:17 mksysb_backup
Executing create_ova command:
# create_ova -o /ova_backup -d hdisk2 -i /backup/mksysb_backup -t aix
Executing command:
/usr/lib/instl/inuextendblv -N
Initializing resources ...
Checking for resource group MKSYSB...Checking /tmp space requirement...done
x ./bosinst.data
Checking hdisk2 space requirement...done
Executing command:
alt_disk_mksysb -B -c /dev/vty0 -d hdisk2 -m /backup/mksysb_backup
Restoring /image.data from mksysb image.
Checking disk sizes.
Creating cloned rootvg volume group and associated logical volumes.
Creating logical volume alt_hd5.
Creating logical volume alt_hd6.
Creating logical volume alt_hd8.
Creating logical volume alt_hd4.
Creating logical volume alt_hd2.
Creating logical volume alt_hd9var.
Creating logical volume alt_hd3.
Creating logical volume alt_hd1.
Creating logical volume alt_hd10opt.
Creating logical volume alt_hd11admin.
Creating logical volume alt_lg_dumplv.
Creating logical volume alt_livedump.
Creating logical volume alt_repo00.
Creating /alt_inst/ file system.
Creating /alt_inst/admin file system.
Creating /alt_inst/home file system.
Creating /alt_inst/opt file system.
Creating /alt_inst/tmp file system.
Creating /alt_inst/usr file system.
Creating /alt_inst/usr/sys/inst.images file system.
Creating /alt_inst/var file system.
Creating /alt_inst/var/adm/ras/livedump file system.
Restoring mksysb image to alternate disk(s).
Linking to 64bit kernel.
Changing logical volume names in volume group descriptor area.
Fixing LV control blocks...
forced unmount of /alt_inst/var/adm/ras/livedump
forced unmount of /alt_inst/var/adm/ras/livedump
forced unmount of /alt_inst/var
forced unmount of /alt_inst/var
forced unmount of /alt_inst/usr/sys/inst.images
forced unmount of /alt_inst/usr/sys/inst.images
forced unmount of /alt_inst/usr
forced unmount of /alt_inst/usr
forced unmount of /alt_inst/tmp
forced unmount of /alt_inst/tmp
forced unmount of /alt_inst/opt
forced unmount of /alt_inst/opt
forced unmount of /alt_inst/home
forced unmount of /alt_inst/home
forced unmount of /alt_inst/admin
forced unmount of /alt_inst/admin
forced unmount of /alt_inst
forced unmount of /alt_inst
Fixing file system superblocks...
Checking for resource group PIPEVIEWER...Installing filesets ...
Checking /tmp space requirement...done
Checking /var space requirement...done
Checking /opt space requirement...done
AIX generic repository 10 MB/s | 20 MB 00:01
AIX noarch repository 1.6 MB/s | 3.2 MB 00:02
AIX 7.3 specific repository 3.0 MB/s | 402 kB 00:00
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
Package Arch Version Repository Size
================================================================================
Installing:
pv ppc 1.8.5-1 AIX_Toolbox 86 k
Upgrading:
gettext ppc 0.21-2 AIX_Toolbox 14 M
Installing dependencies:
libtextstyle ppc 0.21-2 AIX_Toolbox 1.1 M
libgomp ppc 1:10-1 AIX_Toolbox_73 14 k
libgomp10 ppc 10.3.0-5 AIX_Toolbox_73 2.0 M
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install 4 Packages
Upgrade 1 Package
Total download size: 17 M
Downloading Packages:
(1/5): libgomp-10-1.aix7.3.ppc.rpm 317 kB/s | 14 kB 00:00
(2/5): libtextstyle-0.21-2.aix7.1.ppc.rpm 12 MB/s | 1.1 MB 00:00
(3/5): pv-1.8.5-1.aix7.1.ppc.rpm 824 kB/s | 86 kB 00:00
(4/5): libgomp10-10.3.0-5.aix7.3.ppc.rpm 14 MB/s | 2.0 MB 00:00
(5/5): gettext-0.21-2.aix7.1.ppc.rpm 36 MB/s | 14 MB 00:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 35 MB/s | 17 MB 00:00
Running transaction check
Transaction check succeeded.
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded.
Running transaction
Preparing : 1/1
Installing : libgomp10-10.3.0-5.ppc 1/6
Running scriptlet: libgomp10-10.3.0-5.ppc 1/6
Installing : libgomp-1:10-1.ppc 2/6
Installing : libtextstyle-0.21-2.ppc 3/6
Running scriptlet: gettext-0.21-2.ppc 4/6
Upgrading : gettext-0.21-2.ppc 4/6
Running scriptlet: gettext-0.21-2.ppc 4/6
Installing : pv-1.8.5-1.ppc 5/6
Running scriptlet: gettext-0.19.8.1-5.ppc 6/6
Cleanup : gettext-0.19.8.1-5.ppc 6/6
Running scriptlet: gettext-0.21-2.ppc 6/6
Verifying : libtextstyle-0.21-2.ppc 1/6
Verifying : pv-1.8.5-1.ppc 2/6
Verifying : libgomp-1:10-1.ppc 3/6
Verifying : libgomp10-10.3.0-5.ppc 4/6
Verifying : gettext-0.21-2.ppc 5/6
Verifying : gettext-0.19.8.1-5.ppc 6/6
Upgraded:
gettext-0.21-2.ppc
Installed:
pv-1.8.5-1.ppc libtextstyle-0.21-2.ppc libgomp-1:10-1.ppc
libgomp10-10.3.0-5.ppc
Complete!
done
Checking /ova_backup space requirement...done
Checking for resource group aix_1716992556.img...
20480+0 records in9.2MiB/s] [19.5MiB/s] [===================================================================================> ] 99% ETA 0:00:00
20480+0 records out
20.0GiB 0:17:28 [19.5MiB/s] [19.5MiB/s] [===================================================================================>] 100%
41943040+0 records in
41943040+0 records out
done
Checking for resource group aix_1716992556.ova.gz...
Checking /ova_backup space requirement...done
a ./aix_1716992556.ovf 4 blocks
a ./aix_1716992556.img 41943040 blocks
20.0GiB 0:00:59 [ 343MiB/s] [ 343MiB/s] [===================================================================================>] 100%
Done verifying resources.
#
This successfully created a bootable OVA package of VM.
# df -gt
Filesystem GB blocks Used Free %Used Mounted on
/dev/fslv01 65.00 8.07 56.93 13% /ova_backup
# ls -lrt /ova_backup
-rw-r--r-- 1 root system 8385651562 Jun 04 08:41 aix_1716992556.ova.gz
The create_ova command automatically installs the dependent software such as pipe viewer, rpm, and yum before generating the contents of the OVA package without user intervention.
Note: The time taken to complete create_ova mainly depends on the Disk IOPS. IBM Power Virtual Server offers you the option to select an I/O operation per second (IOPS) based storage as per your requirement. Each of the storage pools supports multiple storage tiers. The storage tiers are based on different IOPS levels. In this test, we used a VM with 5000 IOPS disk, 2 CPUs, 12GB RAM, and ova_create completed in 20 minutes.
Storage tier details can be checked in the PowerVS UI: Select the VM and Scroll down to see attached volumes.
The table below shows the supported storage tiers with the corresponding IOPS.
Read the document below to learn more about Storage Tier.
Additional Information
| SUPPORT |
|---|
|
If you require more assistance, use the following step-by-step instructions to contact IBM to open a case for software with an active and valid support contract. 1. Document (or collect screen captures of) all symptoms, errors, and messages related to your issue. 2. Capture any logs or data relevant to the situation. 3. Contact IBM to open a case: -For electronic support, see the IBM Support Community: 4. Provide a clear, concise description of the issue. - For guidance, see: Working with IBM AIX Support: Describing the problem. 5. If the system is accessible, collect a system snap, and upload all of the details and data for your case. - For guidance, see: Working with IBM AIX Support: Collecting snap data |
Related Information
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Document Information
Modified date:
11 June 2024
UID
ibm17156250