XEN: Unable to add a new disk using virt-manager to para-virtual DomU's

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Support Pack 2

Situation

When attempting to add a disk or other storage device using "Virt-Manager," the process fails.

Resolution

This is currently a known issue with SLES 10 SP2. Further the documentation states that at this time, the GUI does not support the adding or removal of storage devices or disks. As a result, at this time, this functionality is not supported for para-virutal domains.

Further, attempting to use the "add storage device" functions in SLES 10 SP2 may be unpredictable. Specifically, it has been noted that:

A failure message may appear, however when the machine is rebooted the new device is added
Multiple attempts to add the a disk may result in virtual disks pointed at the same disk. This may prevent the DomU from booting
Failures are sporadic and unpredictable. Depending on the guest, it may or may not work

Please see the documentation for instructions on using command line utilities to create and/or add disks to DomU's.

Additional Information

For more information on the manual creation and adding of disk images, please refer to the SUSE Linux Virtualization Documentation.

Disclaimer

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