HP BL680c XenServer Virtual Machine Installation 4.1.0 - Page 7

2

Chapter 2. Creating VMs

This chapter provides an overview of how VMs are created and lists virtual memory and virtual disk size

minimums, describes the differences in virtual device support for the members of the XenServer product

family. This chapter also discusses physical to virtual conversion (P2V), cloning templates, and importing

previously-exported VMs.

2.1. Overview

VMs are created from

templates

. A template is a "gold image" that contains all the various configuration

settings to instantiate a specific VM. XenServer ships with a base set of templates, which range from generic

"raw" VMs that can boot an OS vendor installation CD (Windows) or run an installation from a network

repository (Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise 10) to complete pre-configured OS instances

(Debian Etch and Sarge).

There are three basic methods by which VMs are created using templates:

•

using a complete pre-configured template (Debian Sarge and Etch Linux)

•

Installing from a CD or an

ISO image

onto the appropriate template (Windows 2000 SP4/Windows 2003

Server/Windows XP SP2/Windows Vista, RHEL 5.0, CentOS 5.0)

•

Installing from vendor media on a network installation server directly onto a template (Red Hat Enterprise

Linux 4.x and 5.0, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1)

Creating VMs by installing Windows operating systems onto the appropriate templates is described in Chap-

ter 3,

Installing Windows VMs

.

Creating VMs by installing Linux operating systems onto the appropriate templates is described in Chapter 4,

Installing Linux VMs

.

Additionally, VMs can be created by

•

performing a physical to virtual (P2V) conversion on an existing physical server (Red Hat Enterprise Linux

3.6, 3.8, 4.1-4.4, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP2 and SP3)

•

importing an existing, exported VM

•

converting an existing VM to a template

These methods are describe in this chapter.

2.2. Virtual memory and disk size limits

In general, when installing VMs, be sure to follow the memory and disk space guidelines of the operating

system and any relevant applications that you want to run when allocating resources such as memory and

disk space.

Note that individual versions of the operating systems may also impose their own maximum limits on the

amount of memory supported (for example, for licensing reasons). Also, since XenServer Express Edition

only supports a maximum of 4GB of physical RAM for the XenServer Host, 4GB is the upper limit for a

VM on this platform.

Section	Page
XenServer Virtual Machine Installation Guide	1
Table of Contents	4
Chapter 1. About this document	6
1.1. Overview	6
1.2. How this Guide relates to other documentation	6
Chapter 2. Creating VMs	7
2.1. Overview	7
2.2. Virtual memory and disk size limits	7
2.3. XenServer product family virtual device support	8
2.4. Physical to Virtual Conversion (P2V)	9
2.4.1. General Guidelines for Virtualizing Physical Servers	10
2.5. Cloning an existing VM	11
2.6. Importing an exported VM	11
2.6.1. Exporting a VM	12
2.6.2. Importing a VM	12
Chapter 3. Installing Windows VMs	14
3.1. Making the ISO available to XenServer Hosts	14
3.1.1. Copying ISOs to local storage	15
3.2. Windows paravirtualized drivers	16
3.3. Remote Desktop	16
3.4. Preparing to clone a Windows VM	17
3.5. Release Notes	18
3.5.1. General Windows Issues	18
3.5.2. Windows 2003 Server	18
3.5.3. Windows XP SP2	18
3.5.4. Windows 2000 Server	18
3.5.5. Windows Vista	18
Chapter 4. Installing Linux VMs	19
4.1. Installation of a built-in distribution	20
4.2. Installing Linux from vendor media to a VM	20
4.3. Installing Linux from a network installation server to a VM	22
4.4. Physical-to-Virtual Installation of a Linux VM	23
4.4.1. Guest Installation Network	23
4.5. Installing the Linux guest agent	24
4.6. Preparing to clone a Linux VM	25
4.6.1. Machine Name	25
4.6.2. IP address	25
4.6.3. MAC address	26
4.7. Time handling in Linux VMs	26
4.8. Configuring VNC for VMs	26
4.8.1. Setting up Red Hat-based VMs for VNC	26
4.8.1.1. Determining the location of your VNC configuration file	27
4.8.1.2. Configuring GDM to use VNC	27
4.8.1.3. Firewall settings	28
4.8.1.4. VNC screen resolution	28
4.8.2. Setting up SLES-based VMs for VNC	29
4.8.2.1. Checking for a VNCserver	29
4.8.2.2. Enabling Remote Administration	29
4.8.2.3. Modifying the xinetd configuration	30
4.8.2.4. Firewall settings	30
4.8.2.5. VNC screen resolution	31
4.8.3. Setting up Debian-based VMs for VNC	32
4.8.4. Checking runlevels	32
4.9. Release Notes	32
4.9.1. Debian Sarge 3.1 and Etch 4.0	32
4.9.2. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3	33
4.9.3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4	33
4.9.3.1. Preparing a RHEL 4.x guest for P2V	34
4.9.4. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5	34
4.9.5. CentOS 4	35
4.9.6. CentOS 5	35
4.9.7. SUSE Enterprise Linux 9	35
4.9.8. SUSE Enterprise Linux 10 SP1	35
4.9.9. Oracle Enterprise Linux 5	35
Chapter 5. Updating VMs	36
5.1. Updating Windows operating systems	36
5.2. Updating paravirtualized drivers for Windows VMs	36
5.3. Updating Linux kernels and guest utilities	37
Appendix A. Creating ISO images	38
Appendix B. Setting Up a Red Hat Installation Server	39
B.1. Copy installation media	39
B.2. Enable remote access	39
B.2.1. NFS	39
B.2.2. FTP	40
B.2.3. HTTP	40
Appendix C. Troubleshooting VM problems	41
C.1. VM crashes	41
C.1.1. Linux VMs	41
C.1.2. Windows VMs	41
C.2. Troubleshooting boot problems on Linux VMs	42

HP BL680c XenServer Virtual Machine Installation 4.1.0 - Page 7

Creating VMs, 2.1. Overview, 2.2. Virtual memory and disk size limits

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