Parallels Cloud Server - 6.0 Installation Manual

Parallels Cloud Server 6.0

Installation Using PXE

August 11, 2015

Copyright © 1999-2015 Parallels IP Holdings GmbH and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Parallels IP Holdings GmbH
Vordergasse 59
8200 Schaffhausen
Switzerland
Tel: + 41 52 632 0411
Fax: + 41 52 672 2010
www.odin.com
Copyright © 1999-2015 Parallels IP Holdings GmbH and its affiliates. All rights reserved.
This product is protected by United States and international copyright laws. The product’s underlying technology,
patents, and trademarks are listed at http://www.odin.com/trademarks.
Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, Windows NT, Windows Vista, and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation.
Apple, Mac, the Mac logo, Mac OS, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, FaceTime HD camera and iSight are trademarks of Apple
Inc., registered in the US and other countries.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................... 4

Preparing for PXE Installation ................................................................................... 5

Choosing Servers ............................................................................................................ 5

Installing Software on the PXE Server .............................................................................. 6

Configuring the TFTP Server ............................................................................................ 6

Setting Up a DHCP Server .............................................................................................. 8

Setting Up an HTTP Server .............................................................................................. 8

Configuring the Parallels Server ....................................................................................... 9

Installing Virtuozzo 7 ............................................................................................... 10

Creating a Kickstart File .......................................................................................... 11

Standard Kickstart Options ............................................................................................ 11

Virtuozzo Kickstart Options ............................................................................................ 12

Kickstart File Example ................................................................................................... 18

Copying the Kickstart File .............................................................................................. 20

Starting Installation ........................................................................................................ 20

Index ........................................................................................................................ 22

C

HAPTER

1

Introduction

This guide provides information on installing Virtuozzo 7 over a network using a PXE (Preboot
Execution Environment) server. You will also learn how to upgrade your existing system to Virtuozzo
7 over a network.

You can install Virtuozzo in a PXE environment using one of the following ways:

• Manual installation. When performing this kind of installation, you are asked questions by the

Virtuozzo installer and define the necessary installation and configuration settings. Manual
installation is recommended if you plan to install the product on a small number of physical
servers.

• Unattended installation. In this kind of installation, the Virtuozzo installer uses a kickstart file to

determine the necessary installation and configuration settings. Unattended installation
assumes that no interaction is required on your part and is recommended if you plan to install
the product on a multitude of physical servers.

To install Virtuozzo 7 over a network, you need to complete the following steps:

1 Prepare for installation from a PXE server.
2 Create a kickstart file. This step is only required if you plan to automate the procedure of

deploying Virtuozzo on your servers.

3 Install Virtuozzo.

All these steps are explained in the following chapters in detail.

Configuring the Parallels Server............................................................................... 9

C

HAPTER

2

Preparing for PXE Installation

The process of preparing for installation over network with a PXE server includes the following
steps:

1 Choosing servers for the PXE installation.
2 Installing the necessary software on the PXE server.
3 Configuring the TFTP server.
4 Setting up a DHCP server.
5 Setting up an HTTP server.
6 Configuring the Parallels server.

All these steps are described below in detail.

In This Chapter

Choosing Servers ................................................................................................... 5

Installing Software on the PXE Server ...................................................................... 6

Configuring the TFTP Server ................................................................................... 6

Setting Up a DHCP Server ...................................................................................... 8

Setting Up an HTTP Server ..................................................................................... 8

Choosing Servers

First, you should decide on the servers to participate in the PXE installation. You need these
servers:

• PXE server. This is a server allowing your Parallels servers to boot and install Virtuozzo over the

network. Any server capable of running a Linux operating system and having a network
interface card (NIC) can play the role of a PXE server.

• DHCP server. This is a standard DHCP server serving computers on your network with the

necessary TCP/IP settings. You can use an existing DHCP server, if you have one, or set up a
DHCP server from scratch. In the latter case, you can install it on the PXE server or use a
dedicated server.

• Parallels server. This is a server running Virtuozzo. The server must meet the requirements

described in the Preparing for Installation chapter of the Virtuozzo 7 Installation Guide. In

Preparing for PXE Installation

addition to the requirements listed in this chapter, the server must have a NIC with PXE support
to be able to boot from the PXE server.

• HTTP or FTP server. This is a server storing the Virtuozzo installation files. You can use an

existing HTTP server, if you have one, or set up an HTTP server from scratch. In the latter case,
you can install it on the PXE server or use a dedicated server.

This guide assumes that you will store the installation files on an HTTP server and use HTTP as
the installation protocol.

Installing Software on the PXE Server

Next, you are supposed to install the necessary software on the PXE server. First of all, you need to
install a Linux operating system on the server. There are no specific requirements for which
operating system to use, so you can choose any (e.g., CentOS 6 or Fedora 17).

Once your system is up and running, install the following packages:

• tftp-server

• httpd (Install this package only if you plan to deploy the PXE and HTTP servers on the same

physical server.)

• syslinux

• dhcp (Install this package only if you plan to deploy the PXE and DHCP servers on the same

physical server.)

Assuming that your PXE server is running an RHEL-like operating system, you can use the yum
utility to install the packages:

# yum install tftp-server dhcp httpd syslinux

Configuring the TFTP Server

In the next step, you need to configure the TFTP server that you installed in the previous step. This
section describes the process of configuring the TFTP server for BIOS-based systems. For
information on how to configure the TFTP server for installing Virtuozzo on EFI-based systems, see
Configuring for EFI in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide at
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/docs/en­US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/Installation_Guide/s1-netboot-pxe-config-efi.html.

To configure the TFTP server:

1 On the PXE server, open the /etc/xinetd.d/tftp file, and edit it as follows:

service tftp
{
disable = no
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes

6

Preparing for PXE Installation

user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -v -s /tftpboot
per_source = 11
cps = 100 2
flags = IPv4
}

Once you are done, save the file.

2 Copy the following files to the /tftpboot directory (if this directory does not exist, create it

under the root (/) directory):

• vmlinuz

• initrd.img

• menu.c32

• pxelinux.0

These files are necessary to start the installation of Virtuozzo. You can find the first two files in
the /isolinux directory of the Virtuozzo distribution. The menu.c32 and pxelinux.0 files
are located in the syslinux installation directory on the PXE server (usually, this is the
/usr/share/syslinux or /usr/lib/syslinux directory).

3 Create the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg directory, and inside this directory, make the

default file.

4 Open the default file for editing, and add the following strings to it:

default menu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 100
ontimeout PCS
menu title Parallels Boot Menu
label PCS
menu label Install Parallels Cloud Server
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img ksdevice=eth0

For detailed information on the parameters you can specify in the

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file and their configuration, see the documentation for
syslinux and its man pages.

5 Restart the xinetd service:

# /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

6 If necessary, configure your firewall on the PXE server to allow access to the TFTP server.

Note: When running the TFTP server, you might get the "Permission denied" error. In this case, you
may try to fix the problem by running the following command on the server: # restorecon -Rv
/tftboot/.

7

Preparing for PXE Installation

Setting Up a DHCP Server

Now you can proceed with configuring a DHCP server. To configure the DHCP server for installing
Virtuozzo over the network, open the dhcpd.conf file (usually, it is located in the /etc or

/etc/dhcp directory) for editing and add the following strings to this file:

next-server PXE_SERVER_IP_ADDRESS;
filename "/pxelinux.0";

where PXE_SERVER_IP_ADDRESS is the IP address of your PXE server.

Note: To configure a DHCP server for installation on EFI-based systems, specify filename
"/bootx64.efi" instead of filename "/pxelinux.0" in the dhcpd.conf file (where
/bootx64.efi is the directory to which you copied the EFI boot images when setting up the TFTP

server).

Setting Up an HTTP Server

Now that you have set up the TFTP and DHCP servers, you need to make the Virtuozzo distribution
files available for installation over the network. To do this:

1 Set up an HTTP server. You can also use an existing HTTP server, if you have one.
2 Copy the contents of your Virtuozzo installation DVD to some directory on the HTTP server

(e.g., /var/www/html/pcs).

3 On the PXE server, open the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file for editing, and

specify the path to the Virtuozzo installation files on the HTTP server.

Note: For EFI-based systems, the file you need to edit has the name of

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/efidefault or
/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/PXE_Server_IP_Address.

Assuming that you have the installation files in the /var/www/html/pcs directory on the
HTTP server with the IP address of 198.123.123.198 and the DocumentRoot directory is set
to /var/www/html, you can add the following option to the append line of the default file
to make the Virtuozzo files accessible over HTTP:

method=http://198.123.123.198/pcs

So your default file should look similar to the following:

default menu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 100
ontimeout PCS
menu title Parallels Boot Menu
label PCS
menu label Install Parallels Cloud Server
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img ksdevice=eth0 method=http://198.123.123.198/pcs

8

Preparing for PXE Installation

Configuring the Parallels Server

Before you can start the Virtuozzo installation, configure each server where you plan to install the
product to boot from the network. To do this:

1 Switch on the server.
2 Enter the BIOS setup.
3 Enable the network boot.

9

C

HAPTER

3

Installing Virtuozzo 7

Now that you have prepared all the servers, you can start the Virtuozzo installation:

1 Restart the Parallels server after configuring its BIOS settings to boot from the network.

Note: If you plan to perform an unattended installation of Virtuozzo, you need to additionally create a
kickstart file. See Creating a Kickstart File (p. 11) for information about creating kickstart files and
installing Virtuozzo with these files.

2 Once the server boots, you see a dialog box asking you to select the system to install. So if you

followed the example in the Configuring the TFTP Server (p. 6) section, you see the following
dialog:

Select the entry for Virtuozzo (Install Parallels Cloud Server in our case), and press Enter.

3 Follow the on-screen instructions to install Virtuozzo. For details, consult the Virtuozzo 7

Installation Guide.

Starting Installation ................................................................................................. 20

C

HAPTER

4

Creating a Kickstart File

If you plan to perform an unattended installation of Virtuozzo, you can use a kickstart file. A
kickstart file is a simple text file containing the information used by the Virtuozzo installer to install
and configure your physical server. The format of kickstart files used in Virtuozzo installations is
similar to that used to perform an unattended installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). To
create a kickstart file, you can use your favorite text editor.

You can include in your Virtuozzo kickstart file two groups of options:

• The first group comprises the same options that you use when installing any RHEL-like

distribution.

• The second group comprises the options specific to Virtuozzo.

Both groups of options are described in the following sections in detail.

In This Chapter

Standard Kickstart Options ..................................................................................... 11

Virtuozzo Kickstart Options ..................................................................................... 12

Kickstart File Example ............................................................................................ 18

Copying the Kickstart File ....................................................................................... 20

Standard Kickstart Options

Your kickstart file may include any of the standard Linux options used in kickstart files for installing
Linux operating systems. For the full list of these options and their explanations, consult the
respective Linux documentation (e.g., the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide).

Listed below are the mandatory options and commands that you must include in each kickstart file:

Option Description

auth

bootloader

install

Specifies authentication options for the Parallels physical server.

Specifies the way of installing the bootloader.
Tells the system to install Virtuozzo either from nfs or url (for FTP and HTTP installations,

respectively).

Specify this option to perform a clean installation of Virtuozzo.

keyboard

Sets the system keyboard type.

Creating a Kickstart File

lang

Sets the language to use during installation and the default language to use on the installed
system.

part

rootpw

timezone

zerombr

Notes:

1. You can specify the cmdline option to install Virtuozzo in a completely non-interactive command-line
mode, without starting the X Window System.

2. When installing Virtuozzo with Virtuozzo storage, you can use the autopart option to create the
default partition layout and the default configuration for chunk servers and clients. To make a custom
layout and configuration, use the part option and create the required partitions. You will then need to
use the pstorage command to configure the partitions for chunk serves and clients. See Virtuozzo
Kickstart Options for details.

Creates partitions on the server.

Sets the system's root password.

Sets the system time zone.

Cleans all partition tables on disk drives.

Note: This option should follow clearpart --all.

Kickstart options for upgrading to Virtuozzo 7

When creating a kickstart file to use for upgrading existing installations of Parallels Server Bare
Metal to Virtuozzo 7, use the following options:

• bootloader

• keyboard

• lang

• timezone

You must also specify the upgrade option instead of install to tell the installer to upgrade the
system rather than to perform a fresh installation of Virtuozzo 7.

Virtuozzo Kickstart Options

Along with standard Linux options, Virtuozzo provides a number of specific parameters and
keywords that you need to add to your kickstart file.

The table below lists all available parameters and keywords.

12

Creating a Kickstart File

General Parameters

server and virtual machines and Containers and use it to make the

• --disagree

$FC_SERVER=http://myrepository.com

Parameter Description
key <key>

cep [--agree|--disagree] Mandatory. Specify whether you want to participate in the Parallels Customer

Mandatory. Installs the Virtuozzo product key on the server. This key is
needed to start using the Virtuozzo 7 software.

Experience Program.

• --agree. Join the program. In this case, Parallels will periodically

collect the information about the configuration of your physical

product better fit your needs. No private information like your
name, e-mail address, phone number, and keyboard input will be
collected.

. Do not join the program.

vznetcfg

vziptables

vztturlmap

Optional. Invokes the vznetcfg utility with the specified options. This
parameter accepts all options that you can normally pass to vznetcfg. The
options and their values should be separated by an equals sign (for example,
vznetcfg --net=virt_network1:eth0).

For detailed information on the vznecfg options, refer to the vznetcfg
section in the Virtuozzo 7 Command-Line Reference Guide.

Deprecated. To configure iptables modules for Containers, use the
NETFILTER parameter in the Container configuration file (for details, see the
Virtuozzo Command Line Reference Guide).

Optional. Sets the URL of the repository and repository mirrors to use for
handling EZ OS and application templates.

By default, Virtuozzo uses the following URLs:

• http://fedora.redhat.com for handling Fedora-related

templates.

• http://mirror.centos.org for handling CentOS-related

templates.

• http://archive.ubuntu.com for handling Ubuntu-related

templates.

• http://download.opensuse.org for handling openSUSE-

related templates.

• ftp://ftp.suse.com for handling SUSE-related templates.

• ftp://ftp.de.debian.org for handling Debian-related

templates.

• http://vzdownload.swsoft.com for obtaining specific

software packages for the aforementioned Linux distributions.
These packages are necessary for the correct operation of your
OS templates.

To use your own URL, you first need to specify the name of the respective
Linux distribution, followed by = and the desired URL (e.g.,

to redefine the default

13

Creating a Kickstart File

repository for Fedora). To use several URLs, separate them by space.

Note: Some Linux distributions (e.g., Red Hat Enterprise Linux

centos-6-x86_64

Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server), you

•

and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) do not have official
repositories. So you should manually create software repositories
before starting to use OS templates for such distributions. Refer to
the Virtuozzo 7 Templates Management Guide to learn how you
can do it.

up2date

nosfxtemplate

%eztemplates

Optional. Does the following:

1. Configure the repositories with updates for Virtuozzo software and
templates.

2. Check the repositories for available updates.

3. Download and install the updated packages, if any, on the server.

Using this option, you can ensure that you have the latest Virtuozzo software
packages and templates right after the installation, without the need to
manually check for updates.

Optional. Skips installing the pre-created and pre-cached EZ templates on the
server. The current version of Virtuozzo is shipped with only one pre-created
and pre-cached OS EZ template -

Optional. Installs EZ templates on the server. All available templates are listed
in the /Packages directory of the Virtuozzo distribution. You can easily
identify them by the -ez-number.swsoft.noarch.rpm ending (e.g.,
centos-6-x86-ez-3.0.0-14.swsoft.noarch.rpm).

The names of the templates must be specified without the ending and
separated by the new-line character, for example:

%eztemplates
centos-6-x86
devel-centos-6-x86

When using this parameter, keep in mind the following:

.

• If you specify an empty list, no templates will be installed on the

server.

• If you skip this parameter, all templates included in the Virtuozzo

distribution will be installed on the server.

• You can indicate the --cache argument next to a respective OS

template to cache it after installation. To cache all specified OS
templates, specify --cache after %eztemplates.

Note: To cache OS templates for some Linux distributions (e.g.

should first create special repositories storing the necessary
software packages for these OS templates. Refer to the
Virtuozzo 7 Templates Management Guide to learn how you can
do it.

This option must be specified as the first one after the keys.

ignoredisk

Optional. Ignores the specified drives or all drives except the one specified.
Used with one of the following arguments:

14

Creating a Kickstart File

• --drives=<drive>[,...]

• --ip-scope-end

A comma-separated list of drives to ignore. If a server has drives
other than those specified in this option, the installer will ask what
to do with them.

• --only-use=<drive>

Ignore every drive except the specified.

pvaagent

pvamn --ip <IP_address> [-­hostname <hostname>] [--pswd

<passwd>]

Optional. Downloads and installs the PVA Agent and Parallels Power Panel
components on the server. After doing so, you can register the server with the
Virtual Automation application and to use this application to manage virtual
machines and Containers residing on it via a standard web browser.

Tthe PVA Agent and Parallels Power Panel components are downloaded from
the official repository.

Optional. Creates a special Container on the server and install the PVA
Management Server and Control Center components in the Container. Once
the Container is created and the components are installed, the Container
starts acting as the Master Server, ensuring the communication between the
server and Virtual Automation.

The pvamn option is used with the following parameters:

• --ip (mandatory): the IP address to assign to the PVA

Management Server.

• --hostname (optional): the hostname to assign to PVA

Management Server.

• --pswd (mandatory for upgrade): the password to log in to the

PVA Management Node. When upgrading your system, use this
option only if you want to reinstall the Management Node;
otherwise, skip this parameter.

If you use several parameters, separate them by spaces (for example,

pvamn --ip 10.10.10.10 --hostname hostname.com).

Once the installation is complete, you can log in to Virtual Automation by
opening http://IP_address_or_hostname in the browser and using the
root user name and the password you set as the value of the rootpw
option (see Standard Kickstart Options (p. 11)). If you upgrade the system,
use the root user name and the password specified after the --pswd
parameter.

The PVA Management Node and Control Center components are
downloaded from the official repository.

prlnet [--ip-scope-start

<start_IP_addr> --ip-scope-end
<end_IP_addr>] [--ip
<adapter_IP_addr>[/mask]] [--
dhcp-ip <DHCP_IP_addr>] --name
<name>

Note: For more information on using Virtual Automation for
managing servers with Virtuozzo, refer to the Virtual Automation
Administrator's User's Guide.

Optional. Defines the range of IP addresses the DHCP server will be able to
allocate to virtual machines in host-only networks; virtual adapter IP address
and subnet mask; DHCP server IP address; and virtual network name.

If you omit one or more parameters, the following default values will be used:

• --ip-scope-start: 10.37.130.1,

: 10.37.130.254,

15

Creating a Kickstart File

• --ip: 10.37.130.2/255.255.255.0,

• --dhcp-ip

: 10.37.130.1.

%packages

Specifies the package groups to install on the server:

• @base and @core (mandatory). Installs the packages required for

the correct operation of your system.

• @vz (mandatory). Installs the packages specific to the OS

virtualization part of Virtuozzo.

• @ps (mandatory). Installs the packages specific to the hardware

virtualization part of Virtuozzo.

• @clustering (optional). Installs the packages required for

creating clusters from Virtuozzo systems.

• @templates (optional). Installs all templates included in the

Virtuozzo distribution. If you want to install specific templates only,
use the %eztemplates option.

• @pstorage (optional). Installs the packages required for setting

up a Virtuozzo storage cluster and configuring the server as an
MDS server, a chunk server, or a client.

• @optional (optional). Installs additional packages that are not

installed with Virtuozzo by default.

Parameters Specific to Virtuozzo storage

pstorage mds_create <name> -­ip=<IP_address>

Does the following:

• Creates a Virtuozzo storage cluster with the name of <name>. A name

may contain the characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, minus (-) and underscore (_)
signs.

16

• Configures the server as a metadata server for the Virtuozzo storage

cluster and binds the MDS service to the IP address of
<IP_address>.

Metadata servers are part of any Virtuozzo storage cluster. They store metadata
about chunk servers, data chunks, and chunk replicas. You must set up at least
one metadata server for a cluster to function.

Notes:

1. MDS servers must have static IP addresses assigned. If you are
using DHCP, you should map an IP address to the MAC address of
the MDS server.

2. For detailed information on deploying and managing Virtuozzo
storage clusters, consult the Virtuozzo storage Administrator's Guide.

3. The current version of Virtuozzo storage supports setting up one
cluster per kickstart file. So when specifying several pstorage
commands, make sure that all commands use the same cluster name.

Creating a Kickstart File

pstorage clusterpw <passwd>

, if you are creating the default partition

Mandatory. Creates a new or supplies the existing password when creating or
joining Virtuozzo storage clusters.

Note: Keeping plain-text passwords in the kickstart file is a security
risk if your network is not isolated. In this case, consider installing
Virtuozzo first and configuring Virtuozzo storage clusters manually later.

pstorage mds_join <name> -­ip=<IP_address>

pstorage reg_timeout <minutes>

pstorage cs_join <name>

[options]

Does the following:

• Configures the server as a metadata server for the Virtuozzo storage

cluster with the name of <name>.

• Sets the IP address of <IP_address> to connect to the metadata

server.

Sets the number of minutes during which MDS servers, chunk servers, and clients
can try to register with the master MDS server and join the cluster. Every minute,
one registration attempt is made. The default value is 0, which assumes that the
master MDS server is already up and running.

Configures the server as a chunk server for the Virtuozzo storage cluster with the
name of <name>. You can use the following options with this command:

• --mpoint=<MNT_POINT>. Specify the mount point under which the

chunk server is to be mounted on the server.

• --ssd=<MNT_POINT>,<SIZE>. Specify the mount point under which

the SSD drive is to be mounted on the server.

• --ssd=no. Specify this option to forbid the use of SSD drives for write

journaling.

• --tier=<TIER>. Specify the tier, from 0 to 3, defining the type of

storage to use for storing data chunks. You can use tiers to keep
different categories of data on different chunk servers.

pstorage client <name> [-­ssd=<MNT_POINT>|--ssd=no]

• --allow-system-disk. Allow creating chunk servers on system disks.

Have in mind that doing so may result in cluster performance
degradation.

Do not use the options, except for --ssd=no
layout and chunk server configuration using the autopart standard option.

Chunk servers store the contents of virtual machines and Containers as 64-MB
data chunks. All data chunks are replicated, and their replicas are stored on
different chunk servers. You must set up at least one chunk server for a cluster to
function.

Configures the server as a client for the Virtuozzo storage cluster with the name of
<name>.

You can use

• the --ssd=<MNT_POINT> option to manually specify the mount point

under which the SSD drive is to be mounted on the server. Do not use
this option if you are creating the default partition layout and chunk
server configuration using the autopart standard option.

• the --ssd=no option to forbid the use of SSD drives for storing the

local cache.

17

Creating a Kickstart File

Clients are computers with Virtuozzo 7 from where you run virtual machines and
Containers stored on your Virtuozzo storage.

pstorage key <key>

Optional. Installs the Virtuozzo storage product key on the server. This key is
needed to start using the Virtuozzo storage functionality.

Kickstart options for upgrading to Virtuozzo 7

You do not need to use any options specific to Virtuozzo in kickstart files to upgrade your system to
Virtuozzo 7. You can, however, specify any of the options listed in the table above, if necessary. In
this case, the specified options will redefine the ones in the original installation. For example, you
can use the --key option to install a new license for Virtuozzo 7 on the server or the --cep option
to cancel your participation in the Parallels Customer Experience Program.

Kickstart File Example

Below is an example of a kickstart file that you can use to install and configure Virtuozzo in
unattended mode. You can use this file as the basis for creating your own kickstart files.

# Install Virtuozzo
install
# Uncomment the line below to install Virtuozzo in a completely unattended mode
# cmdline
# Use the path of http://example.com/pcs to get the installation files.
url --url http://example.com/pcs

# Use English as the language during the installation and as the default system
language.

lang en_US.UTF-8
# Use the English keyboard type.
keyboard us

# Uncomment the line below to remove all partitions from the SDA hard drive and create
these partitions: /boot, /, /vz, and swap.

# clearpart --drives=sda --all --initlabel
# zerombr
part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=512
part / --fstype=ext4 --size=20096
part /vz --fstype=ext4 --size=40768 --grow
part swap --size=4000
# Use a DHCP server to obtain network configuration.
network --bootproto dhcp
# Set the root password for the server.
rootpw xxxxxxxxx
# Use the SHA-512 encryption for user passwords and enable shadow passwords.
auth --enableshadow --passalgo=sha512
# Set the system time zone to America/New York and the hardware clock to UTC.
timezone --utc America/New_York
# Set sda as the first drive in the BIOS boot order and write the boot record to mbr.
bootloader --location=mbr
# Tell the Virtuozzo installer to reboot the system after installation.
reboot
# Install the Virtuozzo license on the server.
key XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX

# Create the virt_network1 Virtual Network on the server and associate it with the
network adapter eth0.

vznetcfg --net=virt_network1:eth0

18

Creating a Kickstart File

# Configure the ip_tables ipt_REJECT ipt_tos ipt_limit modules to be loaded in
Containers.
# Use the http://myrepository.com to handle Fedora OS and application templates.

vztturlmap $FC_SERVER http://myrepository.com

# Install the listed EZ templates. Cache all OS templates after installation. Skip the
installation of pre-created templates.

nosfxtemplate
%eztemplates --cache
centos-6-x86_64
centos-6-x86
mailman-centos-6-x86_64
mailman-centos-6-x86
# Install the packages for Virtuozzo on the server.
%packages
@base
@core
@vz
@ps

Kickstart file example for installing on EFI-based systems

You can use the file above to install Virtuozzo on BIOS-based systems. For installation on EFI­based systems, you need to modify the following places in the file (the changes are highlighted in
bold):

# The following 4 commands are used to remove all partitions from the SDA hard drive
and create these partitions: /boot/efi (required for EFI-based systems), /boot, /, /vz,
and swap.
# clearpart --drives=sda --all --initlabel
part /boot/efi --fstype=efi --grow --maxsize=200 --size=20
part /boot --fstype=ext4 --size=512
part / --fstype=ext4 --size=20096
part /vz --fstype=ext4 --size=40768 --grow
part swap --size=4000
# Configure the bootloader.
bootloader --location=partition

Kickstart file example for upgrading to Virtuozzo 7

Below is an example of a kickstart file you can use to upgrade your system to Virtuozzo 7.

# Upgrade to Virtuozzo rather than perform a fresh installation.
upgrade
# Use the path of http://example.com/pcs to get the installation files.
url --url http://example.com/pcs
# Use English as the language during the upgrade and as the default system language.
lang en_US.UTF-8
# Use the English keyboard type.
keyboard us
# Set the system time zone to America/New York and the hardware clock to UTC.
timezone --utc America/New_York
# Upgrade the bootloader configuration.
bootloader --upgrade

19

Creating a Kickstart File

Copying the Kickstart File

To install Virtuozzo using a kickstart file, you first need to make the kickstart file accessible over the
network. To do this:

1 Copy the kickstart file to the same directory on the HTTP server where the Virtuozzo installation

files are stored (e.g., to /var/www/html/pcs).

2 Add the following string to the /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default file on the PXE server:

ks=HTTP_SERVER_ADDRESS/PATH_TO_KICKSTART_FILE

Note: For EFI-based systems, the file you need to edit has the name of

/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/efidefault or
/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/PXE_Server_IP_Address.

Assuming that the HTTP server has the IP address of 198.123.123.198, the DocumentRoot
directory is set to /var/www/html and the full path to your kickstart file on this server is

/var/www/html/pcs/ks.cfg, your default file may look like the following:

default menu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 100
ontimeout PCS
menu title Parallels Boot Menu
label PCS
menu label Install Parallels Cloud Server
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.img ks=http://198.123.123.198/pcs/ks.cfg
method=http://198.123.123.198/pcs ksdevice=eth0

Starting Installation

Now you can start installing Virtuozzo. To do this:

1 Restart the server (see Configuring the Parallels Server (p. 9)).
2 After the server boots, a dialog box is displayed asking you to select the system to install. So, if

you used the example in the Configuring the TFTP Server section (p. 6), the following dialog
window appears:

20

Creating a Kickstart File

Select the entry for Virtuozzo, and press Enter. The installation is launched automatically and
proceeds without your interaction.

21

Index

Index

C

Choosing Servers - 5
Configuring the Parallels Server - 9
Configuring the TFTP Server - 6
Copying the Kickstart File - 20
Creating a Kickstart File - 11

I

Installing Software on the PXE Server - 6
Installing Virtuozzo 7 - 10
Introduction - 4

K

Kickstart File Example - 18

P

Preparing for PXE Installation - 5

S

Setting Up a DHCP Server - 8
Setting Up an HTTP Server - 8
Standard Kickstart Options - 11
Starting Installation - 20

V

Virtuozzo Kickstart Options - 12