Logical Domains 1.3 Administration Guide

Introduction to Virtual Disks

A virtual disk contains two components: the virtual disk itself as it appears in a guest domain, and the virtual disk backend, which is where data is stored and where virtual I/O ends up. The virtual disk backend is exported from a service domain by the virtual disk server (vds) driver. The vds driver communicates with the virtual disk client (vdc) driver in the guest domain through the hypervisor using a logical domain channel (LDC). Finally, a virtual disk appears as /dev/[r]dsk/cXdYsZ devices in the guest domain.

The virtual disk backend can be physical or logical. Physical devices can include the following:

Logical devices can be any of the following:

Figure 6–1 Virtual Disks With Logical Domains

Diagram shows how virtual disk elements, which include components in the guest and service domains, communicate through the logical domain channel.