Create a VOI/TCI image source VM

Restrictions and guidelines

• ARM hosts do not support VOI/TCI desktop images in current software version.

• The C200V endpoints support only Windows 10 version 1709.

• Before creating a VOI/TCI desktop image for a C201V endpoint, register the C201V endpoint with Space Console, and view the endpoint type on Space Console:

  • For user endpoints whose model is VOI/TCI-Default string, create a flavor named Default string, and make sure the resource parameters of that flavor are the same as those of the flavor for C201V endpoints. For more information about flavor configuration, see "Flavors."

  • The user endpoints whose model is VOI/TCI-C201V use the default C201V flavor on Space Console.

Procedure

1. From the left navigation pane, select Images.

2. Click the Image Source VMs tab, and click Create.

3. In the dialog box that opens, select Create Image Source VM for the creation type, and then click Next.

4. Select image type VOI/TCI, configure basic information for the image source VM, and then click OK.

5. Configure basic settings and advanced settings for the image source VM, and click Next.

6. Verify that the image source VM configuration is correct, and click Finish.

Parameters

Basic Info

• Parent Image: Select a parent image for the image source VM. If you need to build a child image based on the parent image on Space Console, you must select the parent image. A child image can be used only when the child image and its parent image both exist on Space Console. You can use the child image to install differentiated software and quickly generate a new image. Space Console does not support building a child image for a VOI/TCI parent image based on a VHD file.

• Host: Select the host where the image source VM resides.

• System Image: Pure ISO image for the operating system used by the image source VM.

VMs

• Type: Specify a disk type for the image source VM. Available options include File and Block. Options for the File type include New File or Existing File. The default disk type is New File.

  • New File: For the VM, a file is a disk based on a virtual disk file. This disk type is more manageable than the block device disk type. If you select this option, an empty storage file is created as the disk of the VM.

  • Existing File: Specify an existing storage volume that is not used by other VMs. You can select a volume from the local file directory, shared file system, or network file system storage pool as the disk of the VM.

  • Block: A block device is also called a raw device that does not have a file system, for example, a storage LUN on an IP SAN or FC SAN. Block devices are typically used in a virtualization environment that requires high performance, for example, databases and high-performance I/O compute. Select this option to an existing storage volume that is not used by other VMs as the disk for the VM. You can select a volume from the RBD, iSCSI, FC, or LVM logic storage pool as the disk of the VM.

• Path: This path is used to store the source image VM, not the desktop image. To avoid the unavailability of VM high availability function or insufficient space in the local file directory, choose a shared storage path.

• Configuration: Configuration of the image source VM. You can refer to VOI/TCI endpoint configuration defined in Flavors. Make sure the model of the selected flavor is the same as that of user endpoints. For example, if the user endpoint model is C206V, select the flavor named C206V. When you create an IDV image source VM, the configuration in the selected flavor is the recommended values for best experience. As a best practice, do not modify it. For a general scenario, configure the settings as needed based on hardware configuration of endpoints and introduction to the VOI/TCI endpoint disk space usage in Flavors. The system determines the system disk size of a desktop image based on the system disk size of the image source VM, not the flavor specified when the image source VM is cloned or converted as the desktop image. If the configured system disk size of the image source VM is larger than that of the endpoint, the endpoint system disk size takes effect.

• Network: Select the vSwitch for the image source VM network communication.

• Operating Mode: Set the CPU operating mode. Options include Compatible, Host Matching, and Passthrough. By default, the CPU operating mode is Passthrough.

  • Compatible: Virtualizes physical CPUs of different models into vCPUs of the same model. This mode feature high migration compatibility.

  • Host Matching: Virtualizes physical CPUs of different models into vCPUs of different models. This mode features low migration compatibility but provides better performance for VM operating systems than the Compatible mode.

  • Passthrough: Directly passes physical CPUs to VMs. This mode features low migration compatibility but provides better performance for VM operating systems than the Compatible mode and Host Matching mode. VMs using the passthrough CPU operating mode can be migrated only between hosts with the same CPU model. ARM hosts support only the passthrough mode.

• File Name: Enter the file name of the disk if a new file is used as the disk. Select a disk formatting mode, VOI/TCI image source VM only support Intelligent (qcow2).

• Provision: Select a storage volume provision mode. Options include Thin (the default), Lazy Zeroed, and Eager Zeroed. This field is required when the disk type is New File.

  • Thin: Allocates only as much storage space as the storage volume needs for its initial operations when the storage volume is created. If the storage volume needs more storage space later, the system allocates as much storage space as the volume would require based on the specified maximum storage size.

  • Lazy Zeroed: Allocates the specified maximum storage size to the storage volume when the storage volume is created. Data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out on first write from the VM.

  • Eager Zeroed: Allocates the specified maximum storage size to the storage volume when the storage volume is created. Data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out during creation. It might take a longer time to create storage volumes in this format than to create storage volumes of other formats.

• Disk Cluster Size: Set the smallest amount of disk space that can be used to store a file. The default is 256 KB. If a file is larger than a disk cluster, it is stored in multiple disk clusters. If a file is smaller than a disk cluster, it is stored in a dedicated disk cluster. A shared file system is mainly used to store VM image files. As a best practice, set the value of this parameter as large as possible to enhance disk read performance and save disk space. You must configure this parameter when you add an intelligent disk.

• Bus Type: Select a bus type. Options include IDE, USB, High-Speed (the default), and High-Speed SCSI.

• Cache Mode: Select a cache mode for VM storage files. Options include Directsync, Writethrough, Writeback, and None. The default cache mode is Directsync.

  • Directsync: The system reads data from the physical disk.

  • Writethrough: The system writes data to the host cache, and then to the physical disk.

  • Writeback: The system writes data to the VM cache, then to the host cache, and finally to the physical disk.

  • None: The system writes data to the VM cache, and then to the physical disk.

• HugePage: Before performing HugePage configuration on the VM, enable HugePage on the host, and shutdown the VM. The HugePage feature is mutually exclusive with the memory reservation, memory limitation, resource priority, and memory ballooning features.

• Boot Firmware: Select a firmware boot mode based on the startup mode of VOI/TCI endpoints. Options include BIOS and UEFI. Endpoints with Intel 10 and later support only UEFI. Endpoints with Intel 9 and earlier support CSM (UEFI and BIOS), but BIOS is recommended. As a best practice, select the BIOS startup method for localized terminals. 32-bit operating systems do not support UEFI boot.