How to save an existing disk image from one node of a Testbed

If you have not done so yet:

• ​Register for an account
• ​Make a reservation on the Scheduler for a given testbed

Lets assume that you registered as user 'bob' and made a reservation for the 'sb1' testbed. You then access the 'sb1' console using the command:

 ssh bob@console.sb1.orbit-lab.org

Getting Started

Then, to save the existing disk image on node (1,1) of the 'sb1' testbed, use the command:

 omf save -n node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org 
 # will save the current disk image on node [1,1] of the 'sb1' testbed

The output of this image saving process will look like the following:

INFO NodeHandler: OMF Experiment Controller 5.4 (git c005675)
INFO NodeHandler: Slice ID: pxe_slice 
INFO NodeHandler: Experiment ID: pxe_slice-2013-02-06t14.14.46-05.00
INFO NodeHandler: Message authentication is disabled
INFO Experiment: load system:exp:stdlib
INFO property.resetDelay: resetDelay = 230 (Fixnum)
INFO property.resetTries: resetTries = 1 (Fixnum)
INFO Experiment: load system:exp:eventlib
INFO Experiment: load system:exp:saveNode
INFO property.node: node = "node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org" (String)
INFO property.pxe: pxe = "1.1.6" (String)
INFO property.domain: domain = "grid.orbit-lab.org" (String)
INFO property.started: started = "false" (String)
INFO property.image: image = nil (NilClass)
INFO property.resize: resize = nil (NilClass)
WARN exp: Saving only works for ext2/ext3 partitions and MBR (msdos) partition tables. Saving any other filesystem or partition table type will produce a 0 byte image.
INFO Topology: Loading topology 'node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org'.
INFO Experiment: Resetting resources
INFO stdlib: Waiting for nodes (Up/Down/Total): 0/1/1 - (still down: node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org) [0 sec.]
.
.
.
INFO stdlib: Waiting for nodes (Up/Down/Total): 0/1/1 - (still down: node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org) [80 sec.]
INFO ALL_UP: Event triggered. Starting the associated tasks.
INFO node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org:  
INFO node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org: - Saving image of '/dev/sda' on node 'node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org'
INFO node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org:   to the file 'ssugrim-node-node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org-2013-02-06-14-16-23.ndz' on host '10.10.0.42'
INFO node1-1.sb1.orbit-lab.org:  
INFO property.started: started = "true" (String)
INFO exp:  
INFO exp: - Saving process started at: Wed Feb 06 14:16:27 -0500 2013
INFO exp:   (this may take a while depending on the size of your image)
INFO Experiment: DONE!
INFO ExecApp: Application 'commServer' finished
INFO run: Experiment sb1_2008_07_20_23_38_04 finished after 9:19
done.

At the end of the saving process, you will have disk image file with the name: "node-1-1-2008-07-20-23-39-39.ndz" in the directory "/export/orbit/image/tmp" on the machine with the host name "frisbee". These information are all provided in the output displayed above.

You can then:

• install this disk image on a set of nodes, using the instructions described in this tutorial. In this example, to install the newly created disk image on node (1,2):

    omf load -t node1-2.sb1.orbit-lab.org -i bob-node-1-1-2008-07-20-23-39-39.ndz
    # will install the disk image on node [1,2] of the 'sb1' testbed
  
  

• only for the purpose of making a backup of your image: log into the "repository" machine, and copy your image to your backup storage.

Learning More

The above disk image saving process is implemented as a special orbit experiment. As such, its execution will results in a log file as with any other orbit experiment. This log file should look like this​.

Each image created by the above saving process is a full hard-disk image, which can have arbitrary large file size (>200Mo or even more). As storage on the "frisbee" machine is limited, please be considerate in the number of images you save/use, and move any unused images to your own archival storage.

The generic omf command used above is the access point to control various ORBIT functions, such as the saving of a disk image from a node, with the sub-command "save". To see a list of all the available omf commands, you should type "omf help".

Finally, the complete available option/commands for the save function are given by "omf help save":

omf save --help
Save a disk image from a given node into an archive file
Usage:
      omf save -n NODE [-h] [-c AGGREGATE]
 
      With: 
      -h, --help          print this help message
      -n, --node NODE     a valid description of a single node
                          (no default here, you have to enter a node!)
      -r, --resize SIZE   Resizes the first partition to SIZE GB or to maximum size if SIZE=0 or
                          leave x percent of free space if SIZE=x%
 
      Some Examples: 
                    omf save -n omf.nicta.node1
                    omf save -n omf.nicta.node3 -c grid