VMware虚拟磁盘 Virtual Disk Format 1.1 虚拟磁盘格式1.1 说明书

VMware Virtual Disks VMware虚拟磁盘
Virtual Disk Format 1.1 虚拟磁盘格式1.1


Virtual machines created with VMware products typically use virtual disks. The virtual disks,stored as files on the host computer or on a remote storage device, appear to the guest operating systems as standard disk drives.
This technical note begins with a high-level introduction to the layout of the files that make up a VMware virtual disk of the type used by VMware Workstation 4, VMware Workstation 5, VMware Workstation 6, VMware Player, VMware Fusion, VMware GSX Server 3, VMware Server, and VMware ESX Server 3. It then drills down into the details of the data structures inside those virtual disk files.
The document contains the following sections:
? Layout Basics on page 2
? The Descriptor File on page 3
? Simple Extents on page 7
? Hosted Sparse Extents on page 7
? ESX Server Sparse Extents on page 12
? Stream-Optimized Compressed Sparse Extents on page 14
? Glossary on page 18
使用VMware产品创建的虚拟机通常使用虚拟磁盘。作为主机或远程存储设备上的文件存储的虚拟磁盘在客户机操作系统中显示为标准磁盘驱动器。
本技术说明首先介绍构成VMware Workstation 4，VMware Workstation 5，VMware Workstation 6，VMware Player，VMware Fusion，VMware GSX Server 3所使用类型的VMware虚拟磁盘的文件布局，VMware Server和VMware ESX Server 3.然后，将详细介绍这些虚拟磁盘文件中的数据结构。
该文档包含以下部分：
？第2页的布局基础
？第3页的描述符文件
？第7页的简单范围
？托管稀疏范围第7页
？ESX Server稀疏范围（第12页）
？流优化的压缩稀疏范围第14页
？术语表第18页


Virtual machines created by VMware products other than VMware Workstation 4, VMware Workstation 5, VMware Workstation 6, VMware Fusion, VMware GSX Server 3, VMware Server, and VMware ESX Server 3 may use formats different from those described in this document. Key areas that are not discussed in this technical note include the following:
由VMware Workstation 4，VMware Workstation 5，VMware Workstation 6，VMware Fusion，VMware GSX Server 3，VMware Server和VMware ESX Server 3之外的VMware产品创建的虚拟机可能会使用与本文档中描述的格式不同的格式。本技术说明书中未讨论的关键领域包括：


? Virtual disks created in legacy mode in Workstation 5, or virtual disks created in ESX Server 2 or earlier, GSX Server 3 or earlier, Workstation 4 or earlier, or VMware ACE
? Device-backed virtual disks
? Encryption
? Encrypted extents
? Encrypted descriptor files
? Defragmenting a virtual disk
? Shrinking a virtual disk
? Consolidating virtual disks


？在Workstation 5中以旧版模式创建的虚拟磁盘，或在ESX Server 2或更早版本，GSX Server 3或更早版本，Workstation 4或更早版本中创建的虚拟磁盘或VMware ACE
？设备支持的虚拟磁盘
？加密
？加密范围
？加密描述符文件
？碎片整理虚拟磁盘
？缩小虚拟磁盘
？整合虚拟磁盘




Layout Basics
布局基础


VMware virtual disks can be described at a high level by looking at two key characteristics.
可以通过查看两个关键特征来高级描述VMware虚拟磁盘。


1） The virtual disk may use backing storage contained in a single file, or it may use storage that consists of a collection of smaller files.
虚拟磁盘可能会使用包含在单个文件中的备份存储，也可能使用由较小文件集合组成的存储。
2） All of the disk space needed for a virtual disk’s files may be allocated at the time the virtual disk is created, or the virtual disk may start small and grow only as needed to accomodate new data.
虚拟磁盘创建时可能会分配虚拟磁盘所需的所有磁盘空间，或虚拟磁盘启动时间较小，只能根据需要增加新数据。


   A particular virtual disk may have any combination of these two characteristics.
   特定虚拟盘可以具有这两个特征的任意组合。
   
         One common characteristic of recent-generation VMware virtual disks is that a text descriptor describes the layout of the data in the virtual disk. This descriptor may be saved as a separate file or may be embedded in a file that is part of a virtual disk. The section titled The Descriptor File on page 3 explains the information contained in the descriptor.
         新一代VMware虚拟磁盘的一个常见特征是文本描述符描述了虚拟磁盘中数据的布局。该描述符可以保存为单独的文件，也可以嵌入到作为虚拟磁盘一部分的文件中。第3页的“描述符文件”部分说明了描述符中包含的信息。


       The way a virtual disk uses storage space on a physical disk varies, depending on the type of virtual disk you select when you create the virtual machine.
       虚拟磁盘在物理磁盘上使用存储空间的方式根据您在创建虚拟机时选择的虚拟磁盘的类型而有所不同。


       Initially, for example, a virtual disk consists of only the base disk. If you take a snapshot of a virtual machine, its virtual disk includes both the base link and a delta link (referred to in some product documentation as a redo-log file). Changes the guest operating system has written to disk since you took the snapshot are stored in the delta link. It is possible for more than one delta link to be associated with a particular base disk.
       最初，例如，虚拟磁盘仅由基础磁盘组成。如果您拍摄虚拟机的快照，则其虚拟磁盘包括基本链接和增量链接（在某些产品文档中称为重做日志文件）。更改客户机操作系统已写入磁盘，因为您将快照存储在delta链接中。可以将多于一个的delta链接与特定的基本磁盘相关联。


      Think of the base disk and the delta links as links in a chain. The virtual disk consists of all the links in the chain.

将基础磁盘和三角洲链接视为链接中的链接。虚拟磁盘由链中的所有链接组成。

图：1

Each link in the chain is made up of one or more extents.
链中的每个链接都由一个或多个扩展区组成。

图2：

Extents that make up a link
组成链接的扩展区


     An extent is a region of physical storage, often a file, that is used by the virtual disk.
     一个扩展区是虚拟磁盘使用的物理存储区域，通常是一个文件。


     In the links diagram above, links B and C are necessarily made up of extents that begin small and grow over time, referred to as sparse extents. Link A can be made up of extents of any kind — sparse, preallocated, or even backed directly by a physical device.
     在上面的链接图中，链接B和C必须由开始小且随时间而增长的范围组成，称为稀疏范围。链接A可以由任何类型的范围组成 - 稀疏，预先分配，甚至由物理设备直接支持。