Good afternoon. I am having trouble trying to set up shared folders in the guest VM using VirtualBox hypervisor. No matter what configuration is defined in my XML, it never works, I mean, no shared folder is added/specifyed, then, inside the guest, when I try to mount the folder, I always get a protocol error. If I use VirtualBoxManage, I can add/specify shared folders easily and mount it with no problem. I need to use libvirt in order to deal, in a generalized way, with the process of creating shared folders in all hypervisors supported by libvirt, otherwise my problem would be solved already. I must not use specific commands of a certain hypervisor (such as VirtualBoxManage's). How does libvirt allow me to set up shared folders? Does it use VirtualBoxManage for VBox hypervisors? If so, how do I use it? I've read the documentation and followed it in defining my XMLs. Thanks anyway! -- Guilherme Santos G. Baptista Undergraduate in Computer Science at UFCG LSD - Distributed Systems Laboratory

A shared folder will probably just map to this XML snippet:

<source dir='/home/guilhermesgb/Desktop/SharedFolder'/>

mount_tag="SharingName" security_model="passthrough" />

mount_tag="SharingName" security_model="passthrough" />

2011/6/7 Guilherme Santos <guisgb13(a)gmail.com&gt;: >> A shared folder will >> probably just map to this XML snippet: >> >> <filesystem type='mount'> >> <source dir='/home/guilhermesgb/Desktop/SharedFolder'/> >> >> <target dir='myshare1'/> >> >> </filesystem> > > I see. I also tried this XML configuration you gave as an example, but it > wouldn't work. And now I know why... > >> <shareddir fstype="ext4" path="/home/guilhermesgb/Desktop/SharedFolder" >> mount_tag="SharingName" security_model="passthrough" /> >> >> Where did you find this? This is not libvirt XML. > > I found it searching through Google: > http://www.mail-archive.com/libvir-list@redhat.com/msg27808.html - altough I > just used it as a last resort, as anything else would work. Ah, that was just some idea that never got implemented. > We have chosen to use libvirt in order to deal, in a generalized way, with > the > process of starting virtual machines, stopping them, executing remote > commands and creating shared folders. > As we saw that libvirt cannot handle with executing remote commands without > any manual configuration by us (setting up consoles, through ssh, etc.), we > will basically use a shared folder to store scripts that are to be executed > by the guest, and the guest would have a running daemon that monitors this > shared folder and executes everything in it. > > Do you know how could I share a folder with a VBox guest through actual > Libvirt code? Oh, I missed to CC you on this patch: https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2011-June/msg00315.html That makes libvirt support VirtualBox shared folders. > We are also trying to do this through the Java binding, but it won't work > either. As you said, it's not supported yet. > We will eventually have to do this for all other hypervisors supported by > Libvirt, so I'd like to know: which hypervisors have this shared folder > funcionality supported by Libvirt? The <filesystem> element is supported for Qemu and also for LXC and OpenVZ judging by the codebase. Matthias > We are very thankful for your answers and willing to see new feature in the > next version! > > 2011/6/7 Matthias Bolte <matthias.bolte(a)googlemail.com&gt; >> >> 2011/6/6 Guilherme Santos <guisgb13(a)gmail.com&gt;: >> > Well, I am still with that problem, attempting to create shared folders, >> > so >> > I will try to be more specific and then maybe somebody can help me. >> >> Your problem is simple, libvirt currently doesn't support shared >> folder for VirtualBox. I'll have a look at it and if it's simple to >> implement you might see it in libvirt 0.9.3. >> >> >> >> > When I say "I am trying to set up shared folders", I mean that I set >> > this >> > configuration in my XML description: >> > >> > <filesystem type='template' accessmode='mapped'> >> > <source name='/home/guilhermesgb/Desktop/SharedFolder/> >> > <target dir='/home/tarciso/Desktop/SharedFolder'/> >> > </filesystem> >> >> VirtualBox shared folders don't support setting an access mode. The >> target dir will map to the name of the shared folder in the guest. >> Also the template type is OpenVZ specific. A shared folder will >> probably just map to this XML snippet: >> >> <filesystem type='mount'> >> <source dir='/home/guilhermesgb/Desktop/SharedFolder'/> >> <target dir='myshare1'/> >> </filesystem> >> >> You might also specify the <readonly/> option. >> >> > This was my last attempt. I also tried all other combinations, with >> > accessmodes "passthrough" and "squash", for filesystem type "mount" too. >> > >> > I can't send you any error messages neither printscreens because my >> > problem >> > is that anything happens, the domain is started properly but no shared >> > folder is specified so I can mount it, using command "sudo mount -t >> > vboxsf >> > SharedFolder /home/tarciso/Desktop/SharedFolder". I always get a >> > protocol >> > error. >> > >> > I was expecting libvirt to automatically do this step for me, so I >> > wouldn't >> > need to do it manually through vbox GUI or VBoxManage. >> >> As I said libvirt just doesn't support this yet, but I'll look at it. >> >> > During my searches through the web, I found this other option, although >> > I >> > can't be sure if it is implemented, as the libvirt website says nothing >> > about it: defining an XML file with this configuration: >> > >> > <shareddir fstype="ext4" >> > path="/home/guilhermesgb/Desktop/SharedFolder" >> > mount_tag="SharingName" security_model="passthrough" /> >> >> Where did you find this? This is not libvirt XML. >> >> > And then mounting it with proper command (the same as before, now with >> > the >> > mount_tag specified: "sudo mount -t vboxsf SharingName >> > /home/tarciso/Desktop/SharedFolder" . Unfortunatelly the same error >> > persists. >> > >> > Am I missing something? >> >> No, it is exactly as expected, but it'll improve. >> >> Matthias >> >> > Sorry if my first message was hard to understand. Thanks. >> > >> > 2011/6/1 Guilherme Santos <guisgb13(a)gmail.com&gt; >> >> >> >> Good afternoon. >> >> >> >> I am having trouble trying to set up shared folders in the guest VM >> >> using >> >> VirtualBox hypervisor. No matter what configuration is defined in my >> >> XML, it >> >> never works, I mean, no shared folder is added/specifyed, then, inside >> >> the >> >> guest, when I try to mount the folder, I always get a protocol error. >> >> >> >> If I use VirtualBoxManage, I can add/specify shared folders easily and >> >> mount it with no problem. >> >> >> >> I need to use libvirt in order to deal, in a generalized way, with the >> >> process of creating shared folders in all hypervisors supported by >> >> libvirt, >> >> otherwise my problem would be solved already. I must not use specific >> >> commands of a certain hypervisor (such as VirtualBoxManage's). >> >> >> >> How does libvirt allow me to set up shared folders? Does it use >> >> VirtualBoxManage for VBox hypervisors? If so, how do I use it? >> >> I've read the documentation and followed it in defining my XMLs. >> >> >> >> Thanks anyway! >> >> -- >> >> Guilherme Santos G. Baptista >> >> Undergraduate in Computer Science at UFCG >> >> LSD - Distributed Systems Laboratory >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > Guilherme Santos G. Baptista >> > Graduando em Ciência da Computação pela UFCG >> > LSD - Laboratório de Sistemas Distribuídos >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > libvirt-users mailing list >> > libvirt-users(a)redhat.com >> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/libvirt-users >> > > > > > -- > Guilherme Santos G. Baptista > Graduando em Ciência da Computação pela UFCG > LSD - Laboratório de Sistemas Distribuídos >