Ubuntu Debian Host - Guest Disk Directory Configuation

[kasper]

Newbie.   Using Debian based system with multple drives using EXT4.  Unsure how to configure one of the drives as dedicated to guests.  Create mount point in /mnt or /media or under the host user home directory?   How to create a 'logical' reference to the mount point that best integrates with a gui file manager and host VMWare Workstation gui?  What permissions to assign to the mount point that holds the VMWare Workstation guests (755)?  

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[RaSystemlord]

Usually, in my own use I have not bothered to make any automated/permanent arrangements. Doing it in an interactive manner has been enough. Not sure what your case is, but I assume that your Host is Debian-based. What the guest is, does matter. I assume you use NAT at the VM.

As "dedicated to guest", in my system doesn't mean anything. I'm dealing with SHARES not disks - I cannot see why something else is good to do anyway.

At host, you can make a Samba share (windows-like system). Other systems, like NFS, are possible, but that is different.

At the guest, if it is Linux:
- when using the same user name / password combination, the share will be visible and it can be mounted as a share.

- if the guest has a different user name, you can use the Host user name, like it is asked in interactive menu
- you can also use any other user name, which has the permissions on the host
- the guest will remember the login, however, you need to select that after each reboot, from Networking menus

It would be more complicated, if you mean with "dedicated" something like wanting to LIMIT the use to one particular guest, only. I cannot see why HOST wouldn't have all the permissions in a workstation-scenario and that complexity does not exist then.

Typically, you don't give permissions to mount points (nor shares), but folders and files. In the system above, you don't need specific file/folder permission limitations either. Of course, you can use more complicated than 775-things, but I cannot see why.

This "interactive"-thingy, is different on different debian-linuxes. I'm not using pure debian and when I once looked at the networking - I guess it is OK after all when you get used to it - but at first I found the system disturbing. In Kubuntu and Ubuntu Studio, those things are quite alright (and I trust in pure Ubuntu as well).

As final notes, if not obvious:
- Windows guest uses normal Windows mounting since Samba is a windows-like share
- you can mount any network share on any system in the Host networking, if you use NAT. That is what I always do, since I use network drives, not other computers. If you have several Hosts and several Guests, I guess using a network drive is the way to go anyway (or a file server, if you like that)
- network drive is usually very, very slow compared to local nVME M.2...so there is a definite limitation

I hope this gives some ideas, even if it isn't exactly what you want. 

[kasper]

Thank you for the information.   Not sure if you understood my question.   I may not have provided enough detail in the original post.

Host: Debian Linux.  2 disks.   One contains the host.   The other is blank.   I want to add it and use it exclusively for guests.   I am unclear if I should setup the new disk under /mnt, /media, or under the user home directory.   Once it is setup, what can I do to make it as easy as possible to reference in the VMWare Workstation administration gui for guests?

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[RaSystemlord]

OK, but my point was that you don't use disks, you use shares - or folders (for other people or for other systems, I don't know which or both) ... read further.

You still didn't clarify. What you mean by "a guest" (if you have ONLY one meaning for that - you could have two different for what I know) and what does this expression mean "VMWare Workstation administration gui for guests"?

Anyway, it is basic networking OR local permission admin OR both. Nothing directly to do with VMware.

I also said that different "debian-based-systems" have very different GUIs - and different versions have different GUIs. You did not define.

[Morc001]

@kasper On Windows, you can attach a whole physical disk or partition to the VM. Although if you run VMWare Workstation with a regular user the UI prompts for admin permissions, but if I recall correctly even then you can't attach the disk and you need to run the UI itself as admin.

I don't have experience with Linux, but I don't think you need anything else than on Windows. I would definitely not create a partition, especially not mount a disk/partition on the host at all. You may need to run VMWare Workstation as root though as non-root users will not have read/write access to raw devices.

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[RaSystemlord]

IF the question is about how to operate on the Linux HOST, here are some points, depending on the Linux and its version:

• extra disks produce icons on the desktop, where you can open them
• if you want permanently have them appear in the File Browser, whatever it is in a different Linux version, you may need to introduce the disk in "/etc/fstab" - file. Please make a backup from the file prior to fiddling with it perhaps, using the GUI, you can create a visible mount point to the disk, without fstab. Then, I'm not sure it is accessible (to a VM guest) before you click it on the Host

I know that you can use "D$" in Windows to access the entire disk. But not everything that is possible, is something that you should do. When using disks as a "file server", you use SHARES, not disks. Using mount points in Linux is just asking for trouble - but when doing it correctly, it probably works well.

Using Samba in Linux, it might not be installed by default. Depending on the Linux, when trying to do that, it might give you the packages that you need to install (it used to be "sambafilesystem" smbfs, but it is something else now), I mean on the Guest side. It is very easy to find instructions to Linux with Google. For instance, for Samba Server, here is the first that I found "htt-startstory...www.zentyal.com/news/linux-samba-server/"

[RaSystemlord]

Sorry, for the second post, but this thingy stuck with the previous message - yes, I tried 3 times to go forward with that posts, but it always stuck. 

To the end - if you get instruction in the form of text-file-edits and command line commands - those are probably NOT version dependent. It doesn't mean that in a certain Linux version, you NEED TO use text-file-edits or command line, but for giving precise and universal instructions, those are good instructions.

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[Morc001]

@RaSystemlord: using patches over patches when you have a direct solution is not a solution. D$ is not equivalent to using the raw disk. The way you can use a raw disk on a Windows host in a VM should be able to be done on a Linux host as well. There can be several reasons when using a share or remote filesystem is not a solution. Stop suggesting solutions the OP did not ask for!

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[RaSystemlord]

If the thread starts with "Newbie" - I will never stop suggesting solutions that were not asked. This is about understanding the text - not just understanding the words that are written.

This is a discussion Forum - you can widen the discussion as you want. The text is cheap.

I appreciate you answering about raw devices & stuff. I PERSONALLY  couldn't care less using them, but when reading our combined responses - if not very obvious - Kasper will do whatever he wants.

Stop treating people like they would be children and couldn't understand different approaches.

[louyo]

I just put entries into fstab, I don't try to limit to virtual machines, you would probably have to change permissions for user/group to do  that. I have Vmware, Vmware2, etc. Total of 4 drives for VM's, one drive also hosts Timeshift snapshots.

"we the unwilling are led by the unknowing"

[Morc001]

@kasper: An obvious, but convuluted solution if raw disk access is not available is to set up iSCSI server on the host and attach the disk via iSCSI.

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[kasper]

Thanks to everyone for the posts.   I like working both the command line and gui environments.   When it comes to base metal (adding disks) I prefer the former.  It seems under certain conditions disks would be added in the /mnt directory way back when.   Now the general convention is /media and to use UUID= in the fstab file.  On the new drive the convention I use is to setup a directory, say vm, and set the access permissions on it to:

sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /media/name of disk

Now I can place my virtual machines here.   Is there another recommended convention for this particular setup?

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[Morc001]

Darn, I completely misunderstood your question. I'd create a separate folder under /, let's say /VMs and mount the disk under that. I think, although I did not read upon that, /media is used for removable media. After setting the proper permissions you can use that to store your VMs. On Windows I let Workstation use it's default VM folder, which is under Documents folder in the user's home. Previously I put them in a folder on a secondary drive.

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[richard612]

OP: None of the above.  Assuming you want to pass the entire drive through to a VM [as a raw block device], you don't need to format it.  Omit it from fstab as it won't be mounted on the host.

In VMware Workstation you'll add as a physical disk:

Enter the path to the device (this example has the ID for one of my disks -- yours will be different):

Inside the VM you'll now have a new drive which you can partition and format as-needed.