OVF chunkSize Support

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tomysshadow
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OVF chunkSize Support

Post by tomysshadow »

So I was following a How to Geek article on porting a VM from VMWare to VirtualBox, but my USB Stick is FAT32 and so it can't handle files over 4 GB. Using VMWare's OVFTool I used the chunkSize command to split the vmdk files into 200 MB chunks. However, VirtualBox doesn't seem to support this feature, as importing the appliance reports a file is missing. Can this feature be added? I think all it involves is combining the produced vmdk files into one before the appliance is imported.
socratis
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Re: OVF chunkSize Support

Post by socratis »

This feature is supported. You didn't go into enough details to let us know what failed, what file was missing, the steps to reproduce the problem, the article that you read. Do you mind sharing that information?
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AUser
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Re: OVF chunkSize Support

Post by AUser »

Don't really like to bump old threads, but this is really the only thread I've found on this issue anywhere.

I'm having the same issue. Using VMware's OVFTool and using the chunkSize command, VirtualBox fails to import the VM. I'm using VirtualBox 6.1.32 on Windows 10.

This is the error(I've renamed the name of the VMs and locations):
Error opening 'C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Virtual Machines\AVM\AVM-disk1.vmdk' for reading (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND).


Result Code:
VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)
Component:
ApplianceWrap
Interface:
IAppliance {86a98347-7619-41aa-aece-b21ac5c1a7e6}


The VM files to import consist of the OVF file, mf file, and the disk file but the disk file(s) have an additional extension of .000000000 etc if you use the chunkSize command with ovftool.
scottgus1
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Re: OVF chunkSize Support

Post by scottgus1 »

AUser wrote:Using VMware's OVFTool and using the chunkSize command
I'm not too sure about using VMware, so could you please tell us what this command does? Also a screenshot, perhaps, of what is inside the OVA?
AUser wrote:Error opening 'C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Virtual Machines\AVM\AVM-disk1.vmdk' for reading (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND).
This means Virtualbox thinks the file isn't there. Is it?

After attempting this import, go to C:\Users\{youraccount}\.Virtualbox, and zip & post the VboxSVC.log, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
mpack
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Re: OVF chunkSize Support

Post by mpack »

I've never heard of it, but it sounds like an OVF variant that uses something like the split2g vmdk - though somehow supporting image chunks other than 2GB in size.

It would only be useful to people who don't know how to format removable drives in NTFS or exFAT, and given that only one other person has asked about this feature in six years then I wouldn't expect the devs to leap into action to cater for it.
AUser
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Re: OVF chunkSize Support

Post by AUser »

scottgus1 wrote:
AUser wrote:Using VMware's OVFTool and using the chunkSize command
I'm not too sure about using VMware, so could you please tell us what this command does? Also a screenshot, perhaps, of what is inside the OVA?
AUser wrote:Error opening 'C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Virtual Machines\AVM\AVM-disk1.vmdk' for reading (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND).
This means Virtualbox thinks the file isn't there. Is it?

After attempting this import, go to C:\Users\{youraccount}\.Virtualbox, and zip & post the VboxSVC.log, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
No problem. OVFTool converts VMware's default VM format to OVF format. I'm too new of a user to post the where to download OVFTool, but you can easily search for it and test this as well.
The error occurs when you use the chunkSize option when running ovftool.

The file is not there. When using the chunksize command the disks are split up so that there names would be AVM-disk1.vmdk.000000000, AVM-disk1.vmdk.000000001, etc. I'm assuming that VirtualBox is ignoring the chunksize option in the OVF file and only looking for the disk name. For example, there is a part at nearly the very top of the OVF file that is:
<References>
<File ovf:chunkSize="2147483648" ovf:href="AVM-disk1.vmdk" ovf:id="file1" ovf:size="2049916928"/>
</References>

I'll have to send the log another day, but as mentioned it is easy to replicate.
AUser
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Re: OVF chunkSize Support

Post by AUser »

mpack wrote:I've never heard of it, but it sounds like an OVF variant that uses something like the split2g vmdk - though somehow supporting image chunks other than 2GB in size.

It would only be useful to people who don't know how to format removable drives in NTFS or exFAT, and given that only one other person has asked about this feature in six years then I wouldn't expect the devs to leap into action to cater for it.
That is about right, but your view on usefulness is a bit narrow. There are some situations where those file systems cannot be used.
fth0
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Re: OVF chunkSize Support

Post by fth0 »

AUser wrote:I'm assuming that VirtualBox is ignoring the chunksize option in the OVF file and only looking for the disk name.
Yes, VirtualBox 6.1.32 (and 6.1.97) ignores the chunkSize attribute. You can either not use it, or modify the OVF/OVA yourself before importing the VM into VirtualBox, as if the chunkSize attribute had never been used.
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