FAQ

While XenServer can be controlled completely from the command line, most find it preferable to use the XenCenter GUI for setup and control. XenCenter requires that it be run under Windows.

In the root home directory you will find a "XenCenter.zip" file (for XenServer 4) or "XenCenter.msi" file (for XenServer 5) containing the XenCenter installer. Simply download that file and execute the XenCenter.msi file or unzip XenCenter.zip and execute the XenCenterSetup executable.

The easiest way to download the file would be via scp. If you do not have a scp client for your system you may obtain one freely from the PuTTY download page here:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

If you've exhausted the IP addresses that were originally configured with your XenServer system you can request additional IP address blocks. Different size address blocks are available (4 IPs, 8 IPs, 16 IPs). When requesting additional IPs you should specifically request that a full network block be assigned.

Regardless of what size you are assigned, you will need to use three of the IP addresses for administrative purposes (specifically one as a network address, one as a broadcast address and one as the "default gateway").

If you ordered 4 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.252 as the netmask.

If you ordered 8 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.248 as the netmask.

If you ordered 16 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.240 as the netmask.

If you ordered 32 IP addresses then use 255.255.255.224 as the netmask.

For purposes of an example, we'll assume that you have been assigned 8 additional IP addresses; specifically the 192.168.1.0/29 address block (192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.7 with a netmask of 255.255.255.248).

The first IP address (192.168.1.0) will be used as a network address. You do not need to do anything with that IP address.

The second IP address (192.168.1.1) will be used as the default gateway address. This IP address needs to be configured on the XenServer system. create the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-dummy0 file. In that file you would add the following:

# Dummy interface for subnet 192.168.1.0/29
DEVICE=dummy0
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=no
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
IPADDR=192.168.1.1
NETMASK=255.255.255.248
DNS1=173.252.208.226
ARP=yes

Now issue the following command:

ifup dummy0

The 192.168.1.1 IP address should now be pingable.

For the third through seventh IP addresses (192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.6) you need to issue the following commands:

ip route add 192.168.1.2 dev xenbr0
ip route add 192.168.1.3 dev xenbr0
ip route add 192.168.1.4 dev xenbr0
ip route add 192.168.1.5 dev xenbr0
ip route add 192.168.1.6 dev xenbr0

You need to *also* add those commands to the end of the /etc/rc.local file so that the routes are established any time you reboot the server.

The last IP address (192.168.1.7) will be used as a broadcast address. You do not need to do anything with that IP address.

If you want to upload an ISO image to the server and make it available for use with the installation of a VPS you can do so by creating a local ISO storage repository.

In XenServer 5 this has already been set up for you. You will find an ISO storage repository configured for the /iso_import/images directory. Simply copy your ISO images to that directory and rescan the repository with this command:

xe sr-scan uuid=`xe sr-list | /usr/bin/perl -e \
'while (<STDIN>) { if (/^uuid.* ([^ ]*)$/) { $uuid = $1; } \
if (/name-label \( RW\): ISOs/) { last; } } print "$uuid";'`

Your ISO images should now be available to you in the XenCenter client.

For XenServer 4 you start by creating a directory where you would like to copy your ISO images to (we'll assume /var/opt/xen/iso_import for this example):

mkdir -p /var/opt/xen/iso_import

Now copy your ISO images to the /var/opt/xen/iso_import directory.

Now create a repository with this command (in this example we'll name it "ISOs"):

xe sr-create name-label=ISOs type=iso \
device-config:location=/var/opt/xen/iso_import device-config:legacy_mode=true content-type=iso

Lastly you need to attach the ISO library with this command:

xe-mount-iso-sr /var/opt/xen/iso_import

Your ISO images should now appear in XenCenter.

  - http://citrix.com/English/ps2/products/feature.asp?contentID=1297948
  - http://xen.xensource.com/
  - http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/
  - http://bugzilla.xensource.com/bugzilla/index.cgi