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Use the Containerized Data Importer (CDI) to import a virtual machine image into a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) by using a DataVolume. You can attach a DataVolume to a virtual machine for persistent storage.

The virtual machine image can be hosted at an HTTP or HTTPS endpoint, or built into a container disk and stored in a container registry.

When you import a disk image into a PVC, the disk image is expanded to use the full storage capacity that is requested in the PVC. To use this space, the disk partitions and file system(s) in the virtual machine might need to be expanded.

The resizing procedure varies based on the operating system installed on the virtual machine. Refer to the operating system documentation for details.

Prerequisites

CDI supported operations matrix

This matrix shows the supported CDI operations for content types against endpoints, and which of these operations requires scratch space.

Content types HTTP HTTPS HTTP basic auth Registry Upload

KubeVirt(QCOW2)

✓ QCOW2
✓ GZ*
✓ XZ*

✓ QCOW2**
✓ GZ*
✓ XZ*

✓ QCOW2
✓ GZ*
✓ XZ*

✓ QCOW2*
□ GZ
□ XZ

✓ QCOW2*
✓ GZ*
✓ XZ*

KubeVirt (RAW)

✓ RAW
✓ GZ
✓ XZ

✓ RAW
✓ GZ
✓ XZ

✓ RAW
✓ GZ
✓ XZ

✓ RAW*
□ GZ
□ XZ

✓ RAW*
✓ GZ*
✓ XZ*

✓ Supported operation

□ Unsupported operation

* Requires scratch space

** Requires scratch space if a custom certificate authority is required

About DataVolumes

DataVolume objects are custom resources that are provided by the Containerized Data Importer (CDI) project. DataVolumes orchestrate import, clone, and upload operations that are associated with an underlying PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC). DataVolumes are integrated with KubeVirt, and they prevent a virtual machine from being started before the PVC has been prepared.

Importing a virtual machine image into a PersistentVolumeClaim by using a DataVolume

You can import a virtual machine image into a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) by using a DataVolume.

The virtual machine image can be hosted at an HTTP or HTTPS endpoint, or the image can be built into a container disk and stored in a container registry.

To create a virtual machine from an imported virtual machine image, specify the image or container disk endpoint in the VirtualMachine configuration file before you create the virtual machine.

Prerequisites
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • Your cluster has at least one available PersistentVolume.

  • To import a virtual machine image you must have the following:

    • A virtual machine disk image in RAW, ISO, or QCOW2 format, optionally compressed by using xz or gz.

    • An HTTP endpoint where the image is hosted, along with any authentication credentials needed to access the data source. For example: http://www.example.com/path/to/data

  • To import a container disk you must have the following:

    • A container disk built from a virtual machine image stored in your container image registry, along with any authentication credentials needed to access the data source. For example: docker://registry.example.com/container-image

Procedure
  1. Optional: If your data source requires authentication credentials, edit the endpoint-secret.yaml file, and apply the updated configuration to the cluster:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: <endpoint-secret>
      labels:
        app: containerized-data-importer
    type: Opaque
    data:
      accessKeyId: "" (1)
      secretKey:   "" (2)
    1 Optional: your key or user name, base64 encoded
    2 Optional: your secret or password, base64 encoded
    $ oc apply -f endpoint-secret.yaml
  2. Edit the virtual machine configuration file, specifying the data source for the virtual machine image you want to import. In this example, a Fedora image is imported from an http source:

    apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1alpha3
    kind: VirtualMachine
    metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null
      labels:
        kubevirt.io/vm: vm-fedora-datavolume
      name: vm-fedora-datavolume
    spec:
      dataVolumeTemplates:
      - metadata:
          creationTimestamp: null
          name: fedora-dv
        spec:
          pvc:
            accessModes:
            - ReadWriteOnce
            resources:
              requests:
                storage: 10Gi
            storageClassName: local
          source:
            http: (1)
              url: "https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/33/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-33-1.2.x86_64.qcow2" (2)
              secretRef: "" (3)
              certConfigMap: "" (4)
        status: {}
      running: true
      template:
        metadata:
          creationTimestamp: null
          labels:
            kubevirt.io/vm: vm-fedora-datavolume
        spec:
          domain:
            devices:
              disks:
              - disk:
                  bus: virtio
                name: datavolumedisk1
            machine:
              type: "" (5)
            resources:
              requests:
                memory: 1.5Gi
          terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 60
          volumes:
          - dataVolume:
              name: fedora-dv
            name: datavolumedisk1
    status: {}
    1 The source type to import the image from. This example uses an HTTP endpoint. To import a container disk from a registry, replace http with registry.
    2 The source of the virtual machine image you want to import. This example references a virtual machine image at an HTTP endpoint. An example of a container registry endpoint is url: "docker://kubevirt/fedora-cloud-container-disk-demo:latest".
    3 The secretRef parameter is optional.
    4 The certConfigMap is required for communicating with servers that use self-signed certificates or certificates not signed by the system CA bundle. The referenced ConfigMap must be in the same namespace as the DataVolume.
    5 Specify type: dataVolume or type: "". If you specify any other value for type, such as persistentVolumeClaim, a warning is displayed, and the virtual machine does not start.
  3. Create the virtual machine:

    $ oc create -f vm-<name>-datavolume.yaml

    The oc create command creates the DataVolume and the virtual machine. The CDI controller creates an underlying PVC with the correct annotation, and the import process begins. When the import completes, the DataVolume status changes to Succeeded, and the virtual machine is allowed to start.

    DataVolume provisioning happens in the background, so there is no need to monitor it. You can start the virtual machine, and it will not run until the import is complete.

Verification
  1. The importer Pod downloads the virtual machine image or container disk from the specified URL and stores it on the provisioned PV. View the status of the importer Pod by running the following command:

    $ oc get pods
  2. Monitor the DataVolume status until it shows Succeeded by running the following command:

    $ oc describe dv <datavolume-name> (1)
    1 The name of the DataVolume as specified under dataVolumeTemplates.metadata.name in the virtual machine configuration file. In the example configuration above, this is fedora-dv.
  3. To verify that provisioning is complete and that the VMI has started, try accessing its serial console by running the following command:

    $ virtctl console <vm-fedora-datavolume>