Creating Virtual Disks

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Data modules are self-contained packages of individual datasets. This are shipped as virtual disks for use with WormBase virtual machines.

Users can mix-and-match data modules. And since many modules change only infrequently, this minimizes the size of files necessary for download.

Create a new virtual disk

1. Shut down your VMX

2. In the console application of VMServer, click "Edit virtual machine settings"

3. Click "Add"

4. Select "Hard Drive" and then "next"

5. Choose SCSI

6. Enter the path: /usr/local/vmx/20GB.vmdk/20GB.vmdk

7. Boot your virtual machine

8. Partition

sudo fdisk /dev/[partition path] options, in order: n p 1 w


9. Format

sudo mkfs -t ext3 /dev/[partition path]1


To use a virtual disk:

1. Copy the base size of interest

cp -r 20GB.vmdk c_briggsae-CB25-2007.02.00.gff

Format: genus_species-VERSION-YEAR.MONTH.DAY.type

mount the drive

- mkdir /usr/local/mysql/data/remanei_preliminary-2005.08.00 // This should probably be dynamic sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/[partition path]1 /usr/local/mysql/data/remanei_preliminary-2005.08.00



Mounting drives automatically:

We do not want to use fstab for mounting drives. Instead, these should be mounted by a shell script after boot. We will mount these DIRECTLY to where they should be in the file system


  1. The legacy C. briggsae database

cd /usr/local/mysql/data

  1. Do a conditioanl check to see if dataset is available
  2. Clear out debris

rm -rf briggsae_CB25 mkdir briggsae_20070200_CB25 [species]_[YEAR][MONTH][DAY]_[VERSION] sudo mount -t ext3 /dev/sdb1 /usr/local/mysql/data/briggsae_20070200_CB25 ln -s briggsae_20070200_CB25 briggsae_CB25

briggsae CB25 /dev/sdb1 remanei prelimianry /dev/sdc1