On Feb 17, 2008 5:08 PM, Carlos E. R.
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The Sunday 2008-02-17 at 17:18 +0100, Anders Johansson wrote:
What on earth is it wanting the network for? Is there some other way to mount the virtual disk without such a thing?
Why are you opposed to it?
Because an attempt to modify my network setup without proper explanation is unjustified and unnecessary. I do not see why creating a network device is needed to _mount_ a disk.
It smells of virus or trojan. :-/
Just to make it clear: a network block device is not a network device, it is a way to access a block device (disk) over a network connection
Well, that's better. But I don't see why it needs a network connection to mount a local file.
[...]
Demonstration:
nimrodel:/Reserva/vmware/Virtual Machines/Windows Me # file /Reserva/vmware/Virtual\ Machines/Windows\ Me/Windows\ Me-flat.vmdk /Reserva/vmware/Virtual Machines/Windows Me/Windows Me-flat.vmdk: x86 boot sector
nimrodel:/Reserva/vmware/Virtual Machines/Windows Me # vmware-mount.pl -p Windows\ Me.vmdk
-------------------------------------------- VMware for Linux - Virtual Hard Disk Mounter Version: 1.0 build-56528 Copyright 1998 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. -- VMware Confidential --------------------------------------------
Nr Start Size Type Id Sytem -- ---------- ---------- ---- -- ------------------------ 1 63 16771797 BIOS C Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
Offset is 63*512. So:
nimrodel:/Reserva/vmware/Virtual Machines/Windows Me # losetup -o 32256 /dev/loop5 Windows\ Me-flat.vmdk
nimrodel:/Reserva/vmware/Virtual Machines/Windows Me # file -s /dev/loop5 /dev/loop5: x86 boot sector, code offset 0x58, OEM-ID "MSWIN4.1", sectors/cluster 8, reserved sectors 34, Media descriptor 0xf8, heads 255, hidden sectors 63, sectors 16771792 (volumes > 32 MB) , FAT (32 bit), sectors/FAT 16347, reserved3 0x800000, serial number 0x432917ea, label: "BOOT-VMWARE"
nimrodel:/Reserva/vmware/Virtual Machines/Windows Me # mount -o ro /dev/loop5 ../mnt1/ nimrodel:/Reserva/vmware/Virtual Machines/Windows Me # ls ../mnt1/ .windows-label Data PropiedadesSistema.ps autoexec.bat config.bak netlog.txt ut .windows-serial Desinstalados PropiedadesSistemaPorConexion.ps bootlog.prv config.sys nvidia windows 0_Disco_C_hdc1_320.0_GB Images Recycled bootlog.txt gs scandisk.log 0_Notas_Midnight_Comander My Documents WUTemp cabs hp2P.ps setupxlg.txt
See? There is no need to warn about wrong kernel version, use any network, etc. I did it. It just took some time for me to think it out, I thought I would have to use the device mapper when I discovered the -o option for losetup.
I think they call that "whistling to your grave", or something like that. Seriously, the above creates a situation where both vmware and suse think they own the drive and are maintaining there own caches, etc. This gets extremely dangerous if they both start making changes. ie. they both can claim an inode for different uses. lots of other issues. So _if_ you want direct access like this, you have to use a CFS (cluster file system). Those are typically implemented via a network!!!! And I don't know any that are multi-OS. I have not followed this thread, so I don't know what vmware is suggesting, but I would just share the drive out of the guest and use NFS or CIFS to mount it on the host. Those are layered protocols that live above the base local filesystem. Greg -- Greg Freemyer Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer First 99 Days Litigation White Paper - http://www.norcrossgroup.com/forms/whitepapers/99%20Days%20whitepaper.pdf The Norcross Group The Intersection of Evidence & Technology http://www.norcrossgroup.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org