KBOX Trial and disk usage - do I have to have 250gb of free space?
There has been a little confusion on disk usage with the KBOX Trial, so hopefully, this post will clarify the options. First, the background. KBOX is distributed as an OVF (Open Virtualization Format), which is a standard way to define and distribute virtual machine disks and their machine definition. We are targeting VMWare's various products that support OVF import, which includes all current VMWare products for Windows and Linux Hosts (VMWare Player, VMware Server, VMWare Workstation), as well as the most recent versions of ESX and Virtual Center (VMWare Fusion does not support OVF at this time).
When you import OVF files into Player, Server or Workstation, the disk defaults to a "growable" disk, meaning it will initially only take up about as much space as the OVF file itself. ESX, however, has no way to import an OVF as a "thin" disk, which is ESX's variable size disk format. This means that you must have 250gb of space available in ESX in order to import the Trial KBOX. So, if you don't have 250gb of space available on an ESX server, your best option is to install the free VMWare Player or VMWare Server on a Windows or Linux host.
When you import OVF files into Player, Server or Workstation, the disk defaults to a "growable" disk, meaning it will initially only take up about as much space as the OVF file itself. ESX, however, has no way to import an OVF as a "thin" disk, which is ESX's variable size disk format. This means that you must have 250gb of space available in ESX in order to import the Trial KBOX. So, if you don't have 250gb of space available on an ESX server, your best option is to install the free VMWare Player or VMWare Server on a Windows or Linux host.
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Posted by:
airwolf
14 years ago
Ah, yes! You are correct. I'm glad to see KACE listened to feedback, as always!
Posted by:
tstaub
14 years ago
ORIGINAL: chrisgrim
Airwolf, I believe that you did your trial before we started distributing the KBOX with a standard OVF. With the OVF and VMWare Server, Player or Workstation, the initial size requirement is only a couple of GB, and it will grow with usage.
+1
The OVF format plays well with thin disk (growable disk) for VMwar Server, Player, and Workstation. But, unfortunately not ESX.
I have verified with a few customers during evals that this is the expected behavior.
Posted by:
airwolf
14 years ago
I understand the limitation, but I can't imagine anyone would want to purchase hardware upgrades to run a 21-day trial. Running the trial on VMWare Server with a USB drive is how I believe we ended up getting our test VM to work (can't remember exactly, but I know we tried quite a few different methods). Would it be too much to ask for multiple VM options? Why not create multiple VMs and allow users to choose between virtual disk maximums of 50GB, 150GB, and 250GB? For trial users, most should not require more than a few hundred MB - much less 50GB or more. I'm simply suggesting some legacy support for smaller drives - if hardware requirements are reduced, KACE may have more customers choose to run the trial version. Increasing the maximum size of a VM is much easier than trying to shrink it.
Using VMware Player or Workstation are options as well, but we found the test to be very beneficial when the trial VM was run on a dedicated machine that runs 24/7. So, desktop users are fine, but it's not viable on a laptop if you plan on taking it home with you every night.
Using VMware Player or Workstation are options as well, but we found the test to be very beneficial when the trial VM was run on a dedicated machine that runs 24/7. So, desktop users are fine, but it's not viable on a laptop if you plan on taking it home with you every night.
Posted by:
chrisgrim
14 years ago
Airwolf, I believe that you did your trial before we started distributing the KBOX with a standard OVF. With the OVF and VMWare Server, Player or Workstation, the initial size requirement is only a couple of GB, and it will grow with usage.
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