Citrix Systems XenServer 6.2.0 User Manual

Citrix XenServer ® 6.2.0 Quick Start Guide

Published Tuesday, 25 June 2013

1.0 Edition

Citrix XenServer ® 6.2.0 Quick Start Guide

Copyright © 2013 Citrix Systems. Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Version: 6.2.0

Citrix, Inc.
851 West Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
United States of America

Disclaimers

This document is furnished "AS IS." Citrix, Inc. disclaims all warranties regarding the contents of this document,
including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. This
document may contain technical or other inaccuracies or typographical errors. Citrix, Inc. reserves the right to
revise the information in this document at any time without notice. This document and the software described
in this document constitute confidential information of Citrix, Inc. and its licensors, and are furnished under a
license from Citrix, Inc.

Citrix Systems, Inc., the Citrix logo, Citrix XenServer and Citrix XenCenter, are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc.
and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office
and in other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Trademarks

Citrix®
XenServer ®
XenCenter ®

Contents

1. Welcome ....................................................................................................... 1

2. Installing XenServer and XenCenter .............................................................. 3

2.1. Installing the XenServer Host ........................................................................................ 3

2.2. Installing XenCenter ..................................................................................................... 5

2.3. Connecting XenCenter to the XenServer Host ................................................................ 5

2.3.1. Licensing XenServer ........................................................................................... 6

3. Creating a Pool of XenServer Hosts .............................................................. 7

3.1. Creating a Pool ............................................................................................................ 7

3.2. Setting Up Networks for the Pool ................................................................................. 8

3.2.1. Bonding NICs .................................................................................................... 9

3.3. Setting Up Shared Storage for the Pool ....................................................................... 10

4. Creating Virtual Machines ........................................................................... 13

4.1. Creating a Windows 7 (32-bit) VM .............................................................................. 13

4.2. Migrating Running VMs between Hosts in a Pool ......................................................... 17

4.3. Making VM Templates ................................................................................................ 18

4.3.1. Creating a VM Template from an Existing VM ................................................... 19

4.3.2. Creating a VM Template from a VM Snapshot ................................................... 19

4.4. Creating VMs from a VM Template ............................................................................. 19

A. System Requirements ................................................................................. 21

A.1. System Requirements ................................................................................................ 21

A.1.1. XenServer Host System Requirements .............................................................. 21

A.1.2. XenCenter System Requirements ..................................................................... 22

A.1.3. Supported Guest Operating Systems ................................................................ 22

A.2. Pool Requirements ..................................................................................................... 22

iii

Chapter 1. Welcome

The XenServer Quick Start Guide steps through the installation and configuration essentials to get XenServer and
its graphical, Windows-based user interface, XenCenter, up and running. After installation, it takes you through
the process of creating Windows virtual machines (VMs) and then making customized virtual machine templates
from which you can quickly create multiple, similar VMs. Finally, this guide demonstrates how to create a pool of
hosts, which provides the foundation to migrate running VMs between hosts using XenMotion.

Focusing on the most basic deployment scenarios, this guide aims to get you set up quickly.

This guide is primarily intended for new users of XenServer and XenCenter. It is intended for those who wish to
administer XenServer using XenCenter. For information on how to administer XenServer using the Linux-based xe
commands through the XenServer Command Line Interface (CLI), please refer to the XenServer Administrator's
Guide.

This guide will take you through:

• Installing XenServer and XenCenter

• Installing XenServer on a physical host

• Installing XenCenter

• Connecting XenCenter to the XenServer host

• Activating XenServer

• Creating Virtual Machines

• Creating a Windows VM

• Making VM templates: from an existing VM and from a VM snapshot

• Creating VMs from VM templates

• Creating a Pool of XenServer Hosts

• Creating a pool of hosts

• Setting up shared storage for the pool

• Copying VMs to shared storage

• Migrating running VMs between hosts in a pool (XenMotion)

Terminology and Abbreviations

• Host — a physical computer that runs XenServer

• Virtual Machine (VM) — a computer composed entirely of software that can run its own operating system and
applications as if it were a physical computer; a VM behaves exactly like a physical computer and contains its
own virtual (software-based) CPU, RAM, hard disk and network interface card (NIC)

• Pool — a single managed entity that binds together multiple XenServer hosts and their VMs

• Storage Repository (SR) — a storage container in which virtual disks are stored

XenServer Major Components

XenServer is a complete server virtualization platform, optimized for both Windows and Linux virtual servers,

with all the capabilities required to create and manage a virtual infrastructure.

XenServer runs directly on server hardware without requiring an underlying operating system, which results in
an efficient and scalable system. XenServer works by abstracting elements from the physical machine (such as
hard drives, resources and ports) and allocating them to the virtual machines (VMs) running on it.

1

XenServer lets you create VMs, take VM disk snapshots and manage VM workloads.

XenCenter is a graphical, Windows-based user interface. XenCenter allows you to manage XenServer hosts, pools
and shared storage, and to deploy, manage and monitor VMs from your Windows desktop machine.

The XenCenter Help is also a great resource for getting started with XenCenter.

References

[XS Guest] Citrix XenServer 6.2.0 Virtual Machine User's Guide.

[XS Admin] Citrix XenServer 6.2.0 Administrator's Guide.

[Installation] Citrix XenServer 6.2.0 Installation Guide.

2

Chapter 2. Installing XenServer and XenCenter

This chapter steps through installing XenServer on a single physical host, installing XenCenter on a Windows
computer, and connecting them to form the infrastructure for creating and running virtual machines (VMs).

To get started, you need at least two separate physical computers: one to be the XenServer host and the other
to run the XenCenter application. The XenServer host computer is dedicated entirely to the task of running
XenServer — hosting VMs — and is not used for other applications. The computer that runs XenCenter can be
any general-purpose Windows computer that satisfies the hardware requirements and can be used to run other
applications too. For a detailed description of the system requirements, see Appendix A, System Requirements.

You will also need the main XenServer installation CD, which contains the basic packages required to set up
XenServer on your host and install XenCenter on your Windows computer. If you do not have the installation CD,
you can download a digital copy and burn it to a CD. To download the installer, visit www.citrix.com/xenserver.

In this chapter, you will:

• Install the XenServer host

• Install XenCenter

• Connect XenCenter to the XenServer host

• Activate XenServer

2.1. Installing the XenServer Host

All hosts have at least one IP address associated with them. If you want to configure a static IP address for the
host (instead of using DHCP), it is helpful to have the static IP address on hand before beginning this procedure.

To install the XenServer host

1. Insert the main installation CD into the DVD drive of the host computer.

Warning:

Installing XenServer will overwrite data on any hard drives that you select to use for the
installation. Back up any data that you wish to preserve before proceeding.

2. Restart the host computer.

3. Boot from the DVD drive (if necessary, see your hardware vendor documentation for information on

changing the boot order).

4. Following the initial boot messages and the Welcome to XenServer screen, select your keyboard layout for

the installation.

Tip:

Throughout the installation, quickly advance to the next screen by pressing F12. For general
help, press F1.

5. When the Welcome to XenServer Setup screen is displayed, select Ok.

6. Read and accept the XenServer End User License Agreement (EULA).

Note:

If you now see a System Hardware warning screen and suspect that hardware virtualization
assist support is available on your system, check the support site of your hardware
manufacturer for BIOS upgrades.

3

7. Select Ok to perform a clean installation.

Note:

If this is an upgrade, see the XenServer Installation Guide for details.

8. If you have multiple hard disks, choose a Primary Disk for the installation. Select Ok.

Choose which disk(s) you would like to use for virtual machine storage. Choose Ok.

9. Select Local media as your installation source.

Note:

For information on using HTTP, FTP, or NFS as your installation source, see the XenServer
Installation Guide.

10. When prompted about if you would like to install any supplemental packs, choose No to continue.

11. Select Skip Verification, and then choose Ok.

Note:

If you encounter problems during installation, it is recommended that you verify the
installation source.

12. Set and confirm a root password, which the XenCenter application will use to connect to the XenServer host.

13. Set up the management interface that will be used to connect to XenCenter.

If your computer has multiple network interface cards (NICs), select the NIC which you want to use for
management traffic (typically the first NIC). A network port that is not tagged as a VLAN is required for the
management interface.

14. Configure the Management NIC IP address with a static IP address or to use DHCP.

15. Specify the hostname and the DNS configuration, manually or automatically via DHCP.

If manually configuring the DNS, enter the IP addresses of your primary (required), secondary (optional),
and tertiary (optional) DNS servers in the fields provided.

16. Select your time zone — the geographical area and then city.

17. Specify how you would like the server to determine local time: using NTP or manual time entry. Choose Ok.

If using NTP, you can then specify if the DHCP sets the time server, or enter at least one NTP server name
or IP address in the fields below.

18. Select Install XenServer.

19. If you elected to set the date and time manually, you are prompted to do so.

20. From the Installation Complete screen, eject the installation CD from the drive, and then select Ok to reboot

the server.

After the server reboots, XenServer displays xsconsole, a system configuration console.

Note:

Make note of the IP address displayed. You will use this when you connect XenCenter to the
host.

4

2.2. Installing XenCenter

XenCenter is typically installed on your local workstation or laptop.

To install XenCenter

1. Insert the main installation CD into the DVD drive of the computer which you want to run XenCenter.

2. Open the client_install folder on the CD. Double-click XenCenter.msi to begin the installation.

3. Follow the Setup wizard, which allows you to modify the default destination folder and then to install

XenCenter.

2.3. Connecting XenCenter to the XenServer Host

This procedure lets you add a host to XenCenter.

To connect XenCenter to the XenServer host

1. Launch XenCenter.

The program opens to the Home tab.

5