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Since your XenServer machine is Linux-based, there are some challenges in getting/putting data from/to a removable USB device. The lab I work in is isolated from our corporate network, so I've come up with four handy solutions that I'd like to share here over the coming weeks:
- Accessing an NTFS USB drive in XenServer
- Formatting a USB drive exclusively for XenServer
- Accessing CIFS shares in XenServer
- OpenFiler virtual machine, and getting data inside it for sharing
First off: Once you've plugged a USB drive into you XenServer machine, how do you access the data therein? The first thing to do is logon to the Control Domain, usually through XenCenter, and type the command:
fdisk -l
Notice that the fdisk command shows the disks that XenServer knows about. I've highlighted here (in red) an NTFS USB drive that I've plugged into the XenServer. Notice also that the device name is /dev/sdc, and that the first partition on that device has itself a device name of /dev/sdc1. In this example, the local disk on which I've installed XenServer is /dev/sda, which has three partitions (shown first in the listing).
Accessing an NTFS USB drive in XenServer
Here I've plugged in an NTFS USB drive, and I've established that XenServer (Linux) knows the first partition by the name /dev/sdc1. Since this is a disk device, we need to "mount" it into the Linux filesystem. In this way, it will become a part of the filesystem hierarchy. The only thing I need is an empty directory to mount "over". Most Linux distributions come with an empty /mnt directory for just this purpose:
mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt
Note that the target directory of your mount has to exist, and any files that existed in that directory will be "hidden" until you un-mount the device (see later for un-mounting). There's nothing special about the directory you mount over - it's a regular directory. What I usually end up doing is creating another directory inside of /mnt to mount my disk over. That way I can have many "mount points" if I want to transfer data between them.
The big drawback with mounting an NTFS drive is that it's supported in read-only mode only. This isn't usually a problem with software like NTFS-3G being available, but Citrix doesn't support the installation of any software inside of the XenServer Control Domain.
But at least now I can use regular Linux commands to copy data from the drive, for example you could import an already backed-up VM straight from the drive, using something like:
xe vm-import filename='/mnt/backups/Windows XP.xva'
This assumes that there was an existing folder in the root of the mounted partition called backups.
Before unplugging the USB drive, you'll need to "un-mount" the drive, making sure that your current working directory is not somewhere down the /mnt path (or wherever you've mounted the device):
cd /
umount /mnt
Now you can safely unplug the USB drive from the XenServer machine.
Make sure you stop by for part 2 next week!
Comments (14)
Jun 13
Kevin Bacon says:
Note that this no longer works in XenServer 5.5.Note that this no longer works in XenServer 5.5.
Jul 22
Anonymous says:
I have just tried it with Xenserver 5.5 and it works fine !I have just tried it with Xenserver 5.5 and it works fine !
Jul 22
Anonymous says:
I have just tried it with Xenserver 5.5 and it works fine !I have just tried it with Xenserver 5.5 and it works fine !
Aug 10
Anonymous says:
working for me...boom! roasted!working for me...boom! roasted!
Aug 11
Anonymous says:
This no longer works in XenServer 5.5. [root@xenserver iso_import]# mou...This no longer works in XenServer 5.5.
[root@xenserver iso_import]# mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
mount: unknown filesystem type 'ntfs'
Sep 21
Anonymous says:
Hey. Did you find how to mount the ntfs usb flashdrive? When I try I always get...Hey. Did you find how to mount the ntfs usb flashdrive?
When I try I always get the error: mount: unknown filesystem type 'ntfs'
But I can't believe that XenServer can not supports NTFS.
Sep 22
Anonymous says:
Confirmed, 5.5 no comes with NTFS support, piece of crap!!! ls /lib...Confirmed, 5.5 no comes with NTFS support, piece of crap!!!
ls /lib/modules/2.6.18-128.1.6.el5.xs5.5.0.496.1012xen/kernel/fs/
9p binfmt_aout.ko efs gfs2 lockd nls squashfs
adfs binfmt_misc.ko exportfs hfs minix qnx4 sysv
affs cachefiles ext3 hfsplus msdos quota_v1.ko udf
autofs cifs fat hpfs ncpfs quota_v2.ko ufs
autofs4 coda freevxfs isofs nfs reiserfs vfat
befs configfs fscache jbd nfs_common romfs xfs
bfs cramfs fuse jfs nfsd smbfs
Oct 13
Anonymous says:
I have ubuntu 8.04 server edition installed as a guest system and would like to ...I have ubuntu 8.04 server edition installed as a guest system and would like to mount a usb drive to the ubuntu guest operating system. could anyone hint me how to do it? thank you!!
Oct 17
Olivier Withoff says:
Using XenCenter, under the Storage tab of the Ubuntu VM, the USB drive should be...Using XenCenter, under the Storage tab of the Ubuntu VM, the USB drive should be visible as an attachable drive. Once attached you should be able to use "fdisk -l" at the CLI in the VM to find what the device name is, then mount that device over a suitable mount point. Best regards, Olivier.
Oct 17
Anonymous says:
Hi - Can someone please confirm that mounting an NTFS USB drive directly to Xen...Hi -
Can someone please confirm that mounting an NTFS USB drive directly to XenServer 5.5 is supported? Given the date of this posting (25 Feb, 2009), seems like it should work. Thanks in advance!
Oct 17
Olivier Withoff says:
Mounting NTFS disks is no longer supported since 5.5, apparently in an effort to...Mounting NTFS disks is no longer supported since 5.5, apparently in an effort to reduce the footprint of Dom0 (5.5 was released in spring of 2009). The only way I've found to solve this is to (effectively) plug the USB drive into a Windows VM. A USB drive plugged into the XenServer host will appear as a drive that you can attach using the Storage tab of the VM being used. This can then be used in the normal way as a removable drive in Windows (XP is easier, W2K3 seems to require a visit to the Disk Manager). Best regards, Olivier.
Oct 17
Chris Klann says:
Hi Oliver - Thanks for the response - great approach. If I attach the NTF...Hi Oliver -
Thanks for the response - great approach. If I attach the NTFS USB drive to a Windows VM, can I then copy it to a new VM as a bootable image? If so, what's a good way to accomplish?
Thanks in advance
- Chris
Oct 19
Olivier Withoff says:
Hello Chris, I'm not sure what it is you're copying, but my approach is to have ...Hello Chris,
I'm not sure what it is you're copying, but my approach is to have a 1TB Buffalo network storage unit that I carve up into CIFS shares. That way I can copy whatever I need to it, from my USB drive (using an XP VM). CIFS is still supported using the usual CLI "mount" commands (in fact internally that's how we're able to use CIFS ISO stores).
Cheers, Olivier.
Oct 18
Anonymous says:
I just had a "duh" moment, and used FTP to get the files from the Windows VM to ...I just had a "duh" moment, and used FTP to get the files from the Windows VM to dom0. Thanks again for the insights.
- Chris
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