Citrix Systems 5.6 manual VBD commands, VBD parameters

VBD commands

Commands for working with VBDs (Virtual Block Devices).

A VBD is a software object that connects a VM to the VDI, which represents the contents of the virtual disk. The VBD has the attributes which tie the VDI to the VM (is it bootable, its read/write metrics, and so on), while the VDI has the information on the physical attributes of the virtual disk (which type of SR, whether the disk is shareable, whether the media is read/write or read only, and so on).

The VBD objects can be listed with the standard object listing command (xe vbd-list), and the parameters manipulated with the standard parameter commands. See the section called “Low-level param commands” for details.

VBD parameters

VBDs have the following parameters:

Parameter Name	Description	Type
uuid	the unique identifier/object	read only
	reference for the VBD
vm-uuid	the unique identifier/object	read only
	reference for the VM this VBD
	is attached to
vm-name-label	the name of the VM this VBD	read only
	is attached to
vdi-uuid	the unique identifier/object	read only
	reference for the VDI this
	VBD is mapped to
vdi-name-label	the name of the VDI this VBD	read only
	is mapped to
empty	if true, this represents an	read only
	empty drive
device	the device seen by the guest,	read only
	for example hda1
userdevice	user-friendly device name	read/write
bootable	true if this VBD is bootable	read/write
mode	the mode the VBD should be	read/write
	mounted with
type	how the VBD appears to the	read/write
	VM, for example disk or CD
currently-attached	True if the VBD is currently	read only
	attached on this host, false
	otherwise

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