Citrix Systems 5.6 manuale d’uso

Citrix XenServer ® 5.6 Administrator's Guide Published June 2010 1.1 Edition[...]

Citrix XenServer ® 5.6 Administrator's Guide Copyright © 2009 Citrix All Rights Reserved. V ersion: 5.6 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,[...]

iii T able of Cont ents Document Overview .................................................................................... 1 H o w t h i s G u i d e r e l a t e s t o o t h e r d o c u m e n t a t i o n .................................................................................. 1 Managing users ...........................................[...]

iv C r e a t i n g a r e s o u r c e p o o l ............................................................................................................. 2 0 C r e a t i n g h e t e r o g e n e o u s r e s o u r c e p o o l s .......................................................................................... 2 1 A d d i n g s h a r e d s t [...]

v S t o r a g e O v e r v i e w ....................................................................................................................... 3 0 S t o r a g e R e p o s i t o r i e s ( S R s ) ................................................................................................... 3 0 V i r t u a l D i s k I m a g e s ( V D I [...]

vi C r e a t i n g a s h a r e d E q u a l L o g i c S R .................................................................................. 4 1 EqualLogic VDI Snapshot space allocation with XenServer EqualLogic Adapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 C r e a t i n g a V D I u s i n g t h e C L I ................................[...]

vii A d j u s t i n g t h e d i s k I O s c h e d u l e r ............................................................................................. 6 1 V i r t u a l d i s k Q o S s e t t i n g s ............................................................................................................. 6 1 Configuring VM memory ..............[...]

viii I n i t i a l n e t w o r k i n g c o n f i g u r a t i o n ............................................................................................. 7 2 M a n a g i n g n e t w o r k i n g c o n f i g u r a t i o n ................................................................................................ 7 2 C r e a t i n g n e t w [...]

ix W orkload Balancing ................................................................................. 85 W h a t ’ s N e w ? ............................................................................................................................ 8 5 N e w F e a t u r e s .....................................................................[...]

x C o n f i g u r i n g W o r k l o a d B a l a n c i n g S e t t i n g s ........................................................................................ 9 8 T o display the Workload Balancing Configuration dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 A d j u [...]

xi M o d i f y i n g t h e A g g r e s s i v e n e s s S e t t i n g ................................................................... 1 0 7 Receiving Reports by Email Automatically (Report Subscriptions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 T o c o n f i g u r e r e p o r t s u b s c r i p t i o n[...]

xii D i s p l a y i n g W o r k l o a d B a l a n c i n g R e p o r t s ................................................................................. 1 1 7 R e p o r t G e n e r a t i o n F e a t u r e s ........................................................................................ 1 1 7 T o o l b a r Bu t t o n s ....................[...]

xiii R e s t o r i n g a V M t o i t s p r e v i o u s s t a t e ..................................................................................... 1 2 9 D e l e t i n g a s n a p s h o t .................................................................................................. 1 2 9 S n a p s h o t T e m p l a t e s ....................[...]

xiv C o m m a n d t y p e s ...................................................................................................................... 1 4 4 P a r a m e t e r t y p e s ............................................................................................................... 1 4 5 L o w - l e v e l p a r a m c o m m a n d s .......[...]

xv l i c e n s e - s e r v e r - a d d r e s s ............................................................................................... 1 5 8 l i c e n s e - s e r v e r - p o r t .................................................................................................... 1 5 8 h o s t - l i c e n s e - a d d ........................[...]

xvi p a t c h - p r e c h e c k ........................................................................................................ 1 6 5 p a t c h - u p l o a d ........................................................................................................... 1 6 5 P B D c o m m a n d s ...............................................[...]

xvii s r - c r e a t e ................................................................................................................. 1 7 5 s r - d e s t r o y ............................................................................................................... 1 7 5 s r - f o r g e t ...................................................[...]

xviii v d i - i n t r o d u c e ........................................................................................................... 1 9 1 v d i - r e s i z e ................................................................................................................ 1 9 1 v d i - s n a p s h o t .........................................[...]

xix v m - d i s k - a d d ............................................................................................................ 2 0 5 v m - d i s k - l i s t ............................................................................................................. 2 0 6 v m - d i s k - r e m o v e .........................................[...]

xx p o o l - r e t r i e v e - w l b -r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s ............................................................................ 2 1 2 p o o l - r e t r i e v e - w l b -r e p o r t ........................................................................................... 2 1 2 p o o l - s e n d - w l b - c o n f i g u r a t i o n [...]

1 Document Overview This document is a system administrator's guide to XenServer™, the platform virtualization solution from Citrix®. It describes the tasks involved in configuring a XenServer deployment-- in particular , how to set up storage, networking and resource pools, and how to administer XenServer hosts using the xe command line in[...]

2 Managing users When you first install XenServer , a user account is added to XenServer automatically . This account is the local super user (LSU), or root, which is authenticated locally by the XenServer computer . The local super user (LSU) , or root, is a special user account used for system administration and has all rights or permissions. In [...]

3 XenCenter T erm XenServer CLI T erm Users Subjects Add users Add subjects Understanding Active Directory authentication in the XenServer environment Even though XenServers are Linux-based, XenServer lets you use Active Directory accounts for XenServer user accounts. T o do so, it passes Active Directory credentials to the Active Directory domain [...]

4 configurations, the active directory server may provide the DNS itself. This can be achieved either using DHCP to provide the IP address and a list of DNS servers to the XenServer host, or by setting values in the PIF objects or using the installer if a manual static configuration is used. Citrix recommends enabling DHCP to broadcast host names. [...]

5 1. Configure the DNS server t o use on your X enServer hosts: xe pif-reconfigure-ip mode=static dns= < dnshost > 2. Manually set the management in terface to use a PIF that is on the same ne twork as your DNS server: xe host-management-reconfigure pif-uuid= < pif_in_the_dns_subnetwork > Note: External authen tication is a per-host pro[...]

6 xe subject-list Y ou may wish to apply a filter to the list, for example to get the subject identifier for a user named user1 in the testad domain, you could use the following command: xe subject-list other-config:subject-name=' < domainuser > ' 2. Remove the user using the subject-remove command, passing in the subject identifie[...]

7 When you leave the domain (that is, disable Active Directory authentication and disconnect a pool or server from its domain), any users who authenticat ed to the pool or server with Active Directory credentials are disconnected. Use XenCenter to leave an AD domain. See the XenCenter help for more information. Alternately run the pool-disable-exte[...]

8 The local super user (LSU), or root, is a special user account used for system administration and has all rights or permissions. In XenServer , the local super user is the default account at installation. The LSU is authenticated via XenServer and not external authentication service, so if the external authentication service fails, the LSU can st[...]

9 A user's role can be changed in two ways: 1. Modify the subject -> role mapping (this requires the assign/modify role permission, only available to a Pool Administrator .) 2. Modify the user's containing group membership in Active Directory . Definitions of RBA C roles and permissions The following table summarizes which permissions [...]

10 Role permissions Pool Admin Pool Operator VM Power Admin VM Admin VM Operator Read Only VM change CD media XXXXX View VM consoles XXXXX XenCenter view mgmt ops XXXXX Cancel own tasks XXXXXX Read audit logs XXXXXX Configure, Initialize, Enable, Disable WLB X X Apply WLB Optimization Recommendations X X Modify WLB Report Subscriptions X X Accept W[...]

11 Table 2. Definitions of permissions Permission Allows Assignee T o Rationale/Comments Assign/modify roles • Add/remove users • Add/remove roles from users • Enable and disable Active Directory integration (being joined to the domain) This permission lets the user grant himself or herself any permission or perform any task. W arning: This r[...]

12 Permission Allows Assignee T o Rationale/Comments Pool management • Set pool properties (naming, default SRs) • Enable, disable, and configure HA • Set per-VM HA restart priorities • Enable, disable, and configure Workload Balancing (WLB) • Add and remove server from pool • Emergency transition to master • Emergency master address [...]

13 Permission Allows Assignee T o Rationale/Comments VM advanced operations • Adjust VM memory (through Dynamic Memory Control) • Create a VM snapshot with memory , take VM snapshots, and roll-back VMs • Migrate VMs • Start VMs, including specifying physical server • Resume VMs This permission provides the assignee with enough privileges [...]

14 Permission Allows Assignee T o Rationale/Comments Accept WLB Placement Recommendations • Select one of the servers Workload Balancing recommends for placement ("star" recommendations) Display WLB Configuration • View WLB settings for a pool as shown on the WLB tab Generate WLB Reports • View and run WLB reports, including the Poo[...]

15 uuid( RO): 0165f154-ba3e-034e-6b27-5d271af109ba name ( RO): pool-admin description ( RO): The Pool Administrator role can do anything uuid ( RO): b9ce9791-0604-50cd-0649-09b3284c7dfd name ( RO): pool-operator description ( RO): The Pool Operator can do anything but access Dom0 and mange subjects and roles uuid( RO): 7955168d-7bec-10ed-105f-c6a7e[...]

16 uuid ( RO): bb6dd239-1fa9-a06b-a497-3be28b8dca44 subject-identifier ( RO): S-1-5-21-1539997073-1618981536-2562117463-2244 other-config (MRO): subject-name: example01user_vm_admin; subject-upn: user_vm_admin@XENDT.NET; subject-uid: 1823475908; subject-gid: 1823474177; subject-sid: S-1-5-21-1539997073-1618981536-2562117463-2244; subject-gecos[...]

17 T o change a subject's RBAC r ole: T o change a user's role it is necessary to remove them from their existing role, and add them to a new role: 1. Run the commands: xe subject-role-remove uuid= < subject uuid > role-name= < role_name_to_remove > xe subject-role-add uuid= < subject uuid > role-name= < role_name[...]

18 Ho w does XenServ er compute the r oles for the session? 1. The subject is authenticated via the Active Directory server to verify which containing groups the subject may also belong to. 2. XenServer then verifies which roles have been assigned both to the subject, and to its containing groups. 3. As subjects can be members of multiple Active Di[...]

19 XenServer hosts and resource pools This chapter describes how resource pools can be created through a series of examples using the xe command line interface (CLI). A simple NFS-based shared storage configuration is presented and a number of simple VM management examples are discussed. Procedures for dealing with physical node failures are also d[...]

20 Note: The requir ement for a XenServer host to have a sta tic IP address to be part of a resource pool also applies to server s providing shar ed NFS or iSCSI stor age f or the pool. Although not a strict technical requirement for creating a resource pool, the advantages of pools (for example, the ability to dynamically choose on which XenServer[...]

21 xe pool-param-set name-label= < "New Pool" > uuid= < pool_uuid > Creating heterogeneous resource pools Note: Heter ogeneous resour ce pool creation is only available for XenServer Enterprise or Platinum editions. T o learn more about X enSer ver editions and to find out how t o upgrade, visit the Citrix website her e here X[...]

22 Adding NFS shared storage to a resource pool using the CLI 1. Open a console on any XenServer host in the pool. 2. Create the storage repository on < server:/path > by issuing the command xe sr-create content-type=user type=nfs name-label= < "Example SR" > shared=true device-config:server= < server > device-config[...]

23 High A vailability This section explains the XenServer implementation of virtual machine high availability (HA), and how to configure it using the xe CLI. Note: XenServer HA is only available with XenServer Advanced edition or above. T o find out about XenServer editions, visit the Citrix website her e . HA Ov erview When HA is enabled, XenServe[...]

24 running on it to be stopped. The other servers will detect that the VMs are no longer running and the VMs will be restarted according to the restart priorities assign to them. The fenced server will enter a reboot sequence, and when it has restarted it will try to re-join the resource pool. Configur ation Requir ements T o use the HA feature, yo[...]

25 1 | 2 | 3 when a pool is overcommited the HA mechanism will attempt to restart protected VMs with the lowest restart priority first best-effort VMs with this priority setting will be restarted only when the system has attempted to restart protected VMs ha-always-run=false VMs with this parameter set will not be restarted The restart priorities d[...]

26 4. Run the pool-ha-compute-max-host-failures-to-tolerate command. This command returns the maximum number of hosts that can fail before there are insufficient resources to run all the protected VMs in the pool. xe pool-ha-compute-max-host-failures-to-tolerate The number of failures to tolerate determines when an alert is sent: the system will re[...]

27 XenCenter offers you a dialog box to automate disabling the protection if you click on the Shutdown button of a protected VM. Note: If you shut down a VM from within the guest, and the VM is protect ed, it is automatically restarted under the HA f ailure conditions. This helps ensur e that oper ator error (or an err ant progr am that mist akenly[...]

28 Balancing's Host Power Management feature, use the pool-send-wlb-configuration command with the ParticipatesInPowerManagement= < true > config:set_host_configuration= < true > arguments. T o enable Host Po w er On using the CLI 1. Run the command: xe host-set-power-on host=<host uuid> power-on-mode=("" , "[...]

29 • Possible values : • An empty string, representing power-control disabled • "iLO". Lets you specify HP iLO. • "DRAC". Lets you specify Dell DRAC. T o use DRAC, you must have already installed the Dell supplemental pack. • "wake-on-lan". Lets you specify W ake on LAN. • Any other name (used to specify a [...]

30 Storage This chapter discusses the framework for storage abstractions. It describes the way physical storage hardware of various kinds is mapped to VMs, and the software objects used by the XenServer host API to perform storage-related tasks. Detailed sections on each of the supported storage types include procedures for creating storage for VMs[...]

31 configuration fields that are used to connect to and interact with a given storage target. For example, NFS device configuration includes the IP address of the NFS server and the associated path that the XenServer host mounts. PBD objects manage the run-time attachment of a given SR to a given XenServer host. CLI operations relating to PBDs are [...]

32 VHD-based VDIs VHD files may be chained , allowing two VDIs to share common data. In cases where a VHD-backed VM is cloned, the resulting VMs share the common on-disk data at the time of cloning. Each proceeds to make its own changes in an isolated copy-on-write (CoW) version of the VDI. This feature allows VHD-based VMs to be quickly cloned fro[...]

33 reported for the SR will depend on the number of snapshots, and the amount of difference data written to a disk between each snapshot. L VM-based space utilization differs depending on whether an L VM SR is upgraded or created as a new SR in XenServer . Upgraded L VM SRs will retain a base node that is fully inflated to the size of the virtual d[...]

34 SRs can also be destroyed when no longer in use to free up the physical device, or forgotten to detach the SR from one XenServer host and attach it to another . See the section called “Destroying or forgetting a SR” for details. Note: When specifying Stor ageLink configur ation for a XenServer host or pool, supply either the default creden t[...]

35 xe vdi-create sr-uuid= < sr-uuid > type=user virtual-size= < virtual-size > name-label= < VDI name > sm-config:type=raw 2. Attach the new virtual disk to a VM and use your normal disk tools within the VM to partition and format, or otherwise make use of the new disk. Y ou can use the vbd-create command to create a new VBD to [...]

36 xe sr-probe type=lvmoiscsi device-config:target=192.168.1.10 device-config:targetIQN=iqn.192.168.1.10:filer1 Error code: SR_BACKEND_FAILURE_107 Error parameters: , The SCSIid parameter is missing or incorrect, <?xml version="1.0" ?> <iscsi-target> <LUN> <vendor> IET </vendor> <LUNid> 0 </LUNid[...]

37 SR type device-config parameter , in order of dependency Can be probed? Required for sr-create? netapp target No Y es username No Y es password No Y es chapuser No No chappassword No No aggregate No * Y es FlexV ols No No allocation No No asis No No nfs server No Y es serverpath Y es Y es lvm device No Y es ext device No Y es equallogic target N[...]

38 SR type device-config parameter , in order of dependency Can be probed? Required for sr-create? provision-type Y es No protocol Y es No provision-options Y es No raid-type Y es No * Aggregate probing is only possible at sr-create time. It needs to be done there so that the aggregate can be specified at the point that the SR is created. † Stora[...]

39 dm-multipath tools in linux, device mapper nodes are not automatically created for all LUNs on the system, and it is only when LUNs are actively used by the storage management layer that new device mapper nodes are provisioned. It is unnecessary therefore to use any of the dm-multipath CLI tools to query or refresh DM table nodes in XenServer . [...]

40 The maximum supported VDI sizes are: Storage type Maximum VDI size EXT3 2TB L VM 2TB Netapp 2TB EqualLogic 15TB ONT AP(NetApp) 12TB Local L VM The Local L VM type presents disks within a locally-attached V olume Group. By default, XenServer uses the local disk on the physical host on which it is installed. The Linux Logical V olume Manager (L VM[...]

41 Parameter Name Description Required? Device device name on the local host to use for the SR Y es T o create a local ext SR on /dev/sdb use the following command: xe sr-create host-uuid= < valid_uuid > content-type=user name-label= < "Example Local EXT3 SR" > shared=false device-config:device=/dev/sdb type=ext udev The u[...]

42 Parameter Name Description Optional? target the IP address or hostname of the EqualLogic array that hosts the SR no username the login username used to manage the LUNs on the array no password the login password used to manage the LUNs on the array no storagepool the storage pool name no chapuser the username to be used for CHAP authentication y[...]

43 then the plug-in will use all of the space on the SAN for creating VDIs. When the SR is created, a small amount of meta data is created, called the SR Management V olume. This will be displayed as the smallest volume (30MB). All of the VDIs in the SR are created with 100% space reserved for snapshots by default. This will also override the Group[...]

44 The easiest way to create NetApp SRs is to use XenCenter . See the XenCenter help for details. See the section called “Creating a shared NetApp SR over iSCSI” for an example of how to create them using the xe CLI. FlexV ols NetApp uses FlexV ols as the basic unit of manageable data. There are limitations that constrain the design of NetApp-b[...]

45 Thick or thin provisioning When creating NetApp storage, you can also choose the type of space management used. By default, allocated space is thickly provisioned to ensure that VMs never run out of disk space and that all virtual allocation guarantees are fully enforced on the filer . Selecting thick provisioning ensures that whenever a VDI (LU[...]

46 • General information on NetApp products • Data ONT AP • FlexV ol • FlexClone • RAID-DP • Snapshot • FilerView Creating a shar ed NetApp SR ov er iSCSI Device-config parameters for netapp SRs: Parameter Name Description Optional? target the IP address or hostname of the NetApp server that hosts the SR no port the port to use for co[...]

47 Note: This works on new VDI creation in the selected FlexV ol, or on all FlexV ols during an SR scan and overrides any manual siz e adjustments made by the administr ator to the SR Fle xV ols. T o create a NetApp SR, use the following command. xe sr-create host-uuid= < valid_uuid > content-type=user name-label= < "Example shared [...]

48 HBAs are identical to those for Fibre Channel HBAs, both of which are described in the section called “Creating a shared L VM over Fibre Channel / iSCSI HBA or SAS SR (lvmohba)” . Shared iSCSI support using the software iSCSI initiator is implemented based on the Linux V olume Manager (L VM) and provides the same performance benefits provide[...]

49 Once the HBA is physically installed into the XenServer host, use the following steps to configure the HBA: 1. Set the IP networking configuration for the HBA. This example assumes DHCP and HBA port 0. Specify the appropriate values if using static IP addressing or a multi-port HBA. /opt/QLogic_Corporation/SANsurferiCLI/iscli -ipdhcp 0 2. Add a [...]

50 Parameter Name Description Optional? chapuser the username to be used for CHAP authentication no chappassword the password to be used for CHAP authentication no port the network port number on which to query the target no usediscoverynumber the specific iscsi record index to use no T o create a shared lvmoiscsi SR on a specific LUN of an iSCSI t[...]

51 xe sr-probe type=lvmohba host-uuid=1212c7b3-f333-4a8d-a6fb-80c5b79b5b31 Error code: SR_BACKEND_FAILURE_90 Error parameters: , The request is missing the device parameter, <?xml version="1.0" ?> <Devlist> <BlockDevice> <path> /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-360a9800068666949673446387665336f </path> <vendor> [...]

52 Note: Y ou can use the BRAND_CONSOLE; Repair Storage Repository function to retry the PBD creation and plugging portions of the sr-create operation. This can be v aluable in cases where the L UN zoning was incorrect for one or more hosts in a pool when the SR w as creat ed. Correct the z oning f or the affect ed hos ts and use the Repair Stor ag[...]

53 mode export. Asynchronous exports acknowledge writes that are not actually on disk, and so administrators should consider the risks of failure carefully in these situations. The XenServer NFS implementation uses TCP by default. If your situation allows, you can configure the implementation to use UDP in situations where there may be a performanc[...]

54 XenServer support for Fibre Channel does not support direct mapping of a LUN to a VM. HBA-based LUNs must be mapped to the host and specified for use in an SR . VDIs within the SR are exposed to VMs as standard block devices. Citrix Stor ageLink Gatew ay (CSL G) SRs The CSLG storage repository allows use of the Citrix StorageLink service for nat[...]

55 Parameter name Description Optional? storagePoolId The storage pool ID within the specified storage system to use for allocating storage No username The username to use for connection to the StorageLink service Y es * password The password to use for connecting to the StorageLink service Y es * cslport The port to use for connecting to the Stora[...]

56 Parameter name Description Optional? physical-size The total size of the SR in MB. Each pool will be created with a size equal to physical-size divided by pool-count. Y es * * Required when specifying the sm-config:pool-count parameter Note: When a new NetApp SR is created using Stor ageLink, by default a single Fle xV ol is created for the SR t[...]

57 xe sr-probe type=cslg device-config:target=192.168.128.10 <csl__storageSystemInfoList> <csl__storageSystemInfo> <friendlyName>5001-4380-013C-0240</friendlyName> <displayName>HP EVA (5001-4380-013C-0240)</displayName> <vendor>HP</vendor> <model>EVA</model> <serialNum>50014380013C02[...]

58 Y ou can use grep to filter the sr-probe output to just the storage pool IDs xe sr-probe type=cslg device-config:target=192.168.128.10 | grep storageSystemId <storageSystemId>EMC__CLARIION__APM00074902515</storageSystemId> <storageSystemId>HP__EVA__50014380013C0240</storageSystemId> <storageSystemId>NETAPP__LUN__0AD[...]

59 Destro ying or forgetting a SR Y ou can destroy an SR, which actually deletes the contents of the SR from the physical media. Alternatively you can forget an SR, which allows you to re-attach the SR, for example, to another XenServer host, without removing any of the SR contents. In both cases, the PBD of the SR must first be unplugged. Forgetti[...]

60 Resizing an SR If you have resized the LUN on which a iSCSI or HBA SR is based, use the following procedures to reflect the size change in XenServer: 1. iSCSI SRs - unplug all PBDs on the host that reference LUNs on the same target. This is required to reset the iSCSI connection to the target, which in turn will allow the change in LUN size to b[...]

61 1. Shutdown the VM. 2. Use the xe CLI to identify the UUIDs of the VDIs to be moved. If the VM has a DVD drive its vdi-uuid will be listed as <not in database> and can be ignored. xe vbd-list vm-uuid= < valid_vm_uuid > Note: The vbd-list command displays both the VBD and VDI UUIDs. Be sure to recor d the VDI UUIDs r ather than the VB[...]

62 Remember t o set the scheduler to cfq on the SR, and to ensure tha t the PBD has been re-plugged in order for the scheduler chang e to tak e eff ect. The first parameter is qos_algorithm_type . This parameter needs to be set to the value ionice , which is the only type of QoS algorithm supported for virtual disks in this release. The QoS paramet[...]

63 Configuring VM memory When a VM is first created, it is allocated a fixed amount of memory . T o improve the utilization of physical memory in your XenServer environment, you can use Dynamic Memory Control (DMC), a memory management feature that enables dynamic reallocation of memory between VMs. XenCenter provides a graphical display of memory [...]

64 • Dynamic Minimum Memory: A lower memory limit that you assign to the VM. • Dynamic Higher Limit: An upper memory limit that you assign to the VM. For example, if the Dynamic Minimum Memory was set at 512 MB and the Dynamic Maximum Memory was set at 1024 MB this would give the VM a Dynamic Memory Range (DMR) of 512 - 1024 MB, within which, i[...]

65 1. T arget Mode: The administrator specifies a memory target for the guest.XenServer adjusts the guest's memory allocation to meet the target. Specifying a target is particularly useful in virtual server environments, and in any situation where you know exactly how much memory you want a guest to use. XenServer will adjust the guest's [...]

66 Operating System Supported Memory Limits x64 ≥ 2 GB ≤ 32 GB 4.5 - 4.8 x86 ≥ 256 MB ≤ 16 GB Cent0S Linux 5.0 - 5.4 x86 x64 ≥ 512 MB ≤ 16 GB 4.5 - 4.8 x86 ≥ 256 MB ≤ 16 GB RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.0 - 5.4 x86 x64 ≥ 512 MB ≤ 16 GB Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.0 - 5.4 x86 x64 ≥ 512 MB ≤ 16 GB 10 (SP1, SP2) x86 x64 ≥ 512 MB ?[...]

67 1. Find the uuid of the required VM: xe vm-list 2. Note the uuid, and then run the command param-name=memory-dynamic : xe vm-param-get uuid= < uuid > param-name=memory-dynamic-{min,max} For example, the following displays the dynamic maximum memory properties for the VM with uuid beginning ec77 xe vm-param-get uuid= ec77a893-bff2-aa5c-7e[...]

68 Update indi vidual memory properties W arning: Citrix advises not to change the static minimum level as this is set at the supported level per operating sys tem – ref er to the memory constr aints table for mor e details. Update the dynamic memory properties of a VM. 1. Find the uuid of the required VM: xe vm-list 2. Note the uuid, and then us[...]

69 Networking This chapter discusses how physical network interface cards (NICs) in XenServer hosts are used to enable networking within Virtual Machines (VMs). XenServer supports up to 16 physical network interfaces (or up to 16 of bonded network interfaces) per XenServer host and up to 7 virtual network interfaces per VM. Note: XenServer provides[...]

70 Netw ork objects There are three types of server-side software objects which represent networking entities. These objects are: • A PIF , which represents a physical network interface on a XenServer host. PIF objects have a name and description, a globally unique UUID, the parameters of the NIC that they represent, and the network and server th[...]

71 Using VLANs with dedicated st orage NICs Dedicated storage NICs can be configured to use native VLAN / access mode ports as described above for management interfaces, or with trunk ports and XenServer VLANs as described above for virtual machines. T o configure dedicated storage NICs, see the section called “Configuring a dedicated storage NIC[...]

72 Note: Bonding is set up with an Up Delay of 31000ms and a Down Delay of 200ms. The seemingly long Up Delay is purposeful because of the time tak en by some switches to actually start routing traf fic. Without it, when a link comes back after failing, the bond might rebalance traf fic onto it befor e the switch is ready to pass tra ffic. If you w[...]

73 • use an internal network • support advanced operations such as VLANs or NIC bonding T o add or remove networks using XenCenter , refer to the XenCenter online Help. To add a new network using the CLI 1. Open the XenServer host text console. 2. Create the network with the network-create command, which returns the UUID of the newly created ne[...]

74 xe vlan-create network-uuid= < network_uuid > pif-uuid= < pif_uuid > vlan=5 5. Attach VM VIFs to the new network. See the section called “Creating networks in a standalone server” for more details. Creating NIC bonds on a standalone host Citrix recommends using XenCenter to create NIC bonds. For details, refer to the XenCenter he[...]

75 8. Use the pif-reconfigure-ip command to remove the IP address configuration from the non-bonded PIF previously used for the management interface. This step is not strictly necessary but might help reduce confusion when reviewing the host networking configuration. xe pif-reconfigure-ip uuid= < old_management_pif_uuid > mode=None 9. Move ex[...]

76 W arning: Do not att empt to crea te network bonds while HA is enabled. The process of bond creation will dis turb the in-progr ess HA heartbeating and cause hosts to self-fence (shut themselves down); subsequently they will lik ely fail to reboot pr operly and will need the host-emergency-ha-disable command t o recov er . Adding NIC bonds t o n[...]

77 a. Use the host-list command to find the UUID of the host being configured: xe host-list b. Use the pif-list command to determine the UUID of bond PIF on the new host. Include the host- uuid parameter to list only the PIFs on the host being configured: xe pif-list network-name-label= < network_name > host-uuid= < host_uuid > c. Use t[...]

78 To add NIC bonds to the pool master and other hosts 1. Use the network-create command to create a new pool-wide network for use with the bonded NICs. This step should only be performed once per pool. The UUID of the new network is returned. xe network-create name-label= < bond0 > 2. Use XenCenter or the vm-shutdown command to shut down all[...]

79 Configuring a dedicated st orage NIC XenServer allows use of either XenCenter or the xe CLI to configure and dedicate a NIC to specific functions, such as storage traffic. Assigning a NIC to a specific function will prevent the use of the NIC for other functions such as host management, but requires that the appropriate network configuration be [...]

80 • changing the hostname • adding or removing DNS servers • changing IP addresses • changing which NIC is used as the management interface • adding a new physical NIC to the server Hostname The system hostname is defined in the pool-wide database and modified using the xe host-set-hostname- live CLI command as follows: xe host-set-hostn[...]

81 2. Use the host-list CLI command to confirm that the member host has successfully reconnected to the master host by checking that all the other XenServer hosts in the pool are visible: xe host-list Changing the IP address of the master XenServer host requires additional steps because each of the member hosts uses the advertised IP address of the[...]

82 W arning: Once the management interf ace is disabled, you will hav e to log in on the physic al host console to perf orm management t asks and ext ernal interfaces such as X enCenter will no longer work. Adding a new ph ysical NIC Install a new physical NIC on a XenServer host in the usual manner . Then, after restarting the server , run the xe [...]

83 1. Use XenCenter or the vm-shutdown command to shut down all VMs in the pool to force existing VIFs to be unplugged from their networks. xe vm-shutdown uuid= < vm_uuid > 2. Use the host-management-disable command to disable the management interface: xe host-management-disable 3. Use the pif-forget command to remove the two incorrect PIF re[...]

84 Finally , re-plug the PIF or reboot the host for the change to take effect. Rec ov ering from a bad netw ork configur ation In some cases it is possible to render networking unusable by creating an incorrect configuration. This is particularly true when attempting to make network configuration changes on a member XenServer host. If a loss of net[...]

85 Workload Balancing What's New? This topic describes new features and changes from the previous release of Workload Balancing. New F eatures Workload Balancing now provides a series of features that work together to facilitate reducing power during off-peak work hours. This includes functionality that automatically adjusts your Workload Bala[...]

86 • Improved Error Messages . Improved error messages make issues easier to understand. Also, error messages are now documented with suggested actions. In addition, this release of W orkload Balancing is aware of the XenServer Dynamic Memory Control feature — Workload Balancing considers a virtual machine's memory range and target when pr[...]

87 Workload Balancing works by evaluating the utilization of workloads across a pool and, when a host exceeds its threshold, relocating it to a less-taxed host in the pool. T o rebalance workloads, Workload Balancing moves workloads to keep hosts in balance. T o ensure the rebalancing and placement recommendations align with your environment's[...]

88 • Command Line . If you install Workload Balancing from the command line, the prerequisites are not checked. For Msiexec properties, see CTX124480 . When you install Workload Balancing, Setup creates the data store by installing it across the network onto the database. (Y ou do not need to run Workload Balancing Setup locally on the database s[...]

89 • Memory: 2GB recommended (1GB of RAM required) • Disk Space: • SQL Server Express: 4GB • SQL Server: 20GB (approximate amount consumed) Citrix recommends that the Workload Balancing server have a minimum of a dual-core processor . W orkload Balancing Data Stor e Requir ements This topic provides information about the SQL Server versions[...]

90 • SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode (Mixed Mode authentication) If you create an account on the database for use during Setup, the account must have sysadmin privileges for the database instance where you want to create the Workload Balancing data store. Operating S ystem Language Support Workload Balancing is supported on the followi[...]

91 WLB Acc ess Control P ermissions When Role Based Access Control (RBAC) is implemented in your environment, all user roles can display the WLB tab. However , not all roles can perform all operations. The following table lists the minimum role administrators require to use Workload Balancing features: T ask Minimum Required Role Configure, Initial[...]

92 T o install W orkload Balancing serv er The following procedure installs Workload Balancing on one computer: 1. Launch the Workload Balancing Setup wizard from Autorun.exe, and select the W orkload Balancing option. Note: If you are installing on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7 and the User Account Control (UA C) is enabled, rig[...]

93 • SQL Server Authentication . T o select this option, you must have configured SQL Server to support Mixed Mode authentication. Note: Citrix recommends clicking T est Connect to ensure Setup can use the credentials you provided to contact the database server . 8. In the Database Information page, select Install a new Workload Balancing data st[...]

94 • If you used the Setup wizard, the log is at C:Documents and SettingsusernameLocal SettingsT emp msibootstrapper2CSM_MSI_Install.log (by default). On Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, this log is at C:UsersusernameAppDataLocalT empmsibootstrapper2CSM_MSI_Install.log. User name is the name of the user logged on during installat[...]

95 The time it tak es to upgrade the server may be affected by the distribution of the database file group. Additional time ma y be requir ed to perform file group mo ves during the upgrade. In addition, the siz e of the database a ff ects the time required to perf orm an upgrade. Upgrading W orkload Balancing on the Same Operating S ystem If you o[...]

96 After W orkload Balancing is running for a period of time, if you do not receive optimal placement recommenda tions, Citrix strongly recommends you evalua te your performance thresholds as described in the section called “Using Workload Balancing Reports f or T asks” . It is critical to set W orkload Balancing to the correct thr esholds for [...]

97 This must be the account or group that was configured during the installation of the Workload Balancing Server . For information, see the section called “Authorization for Workload Balancing ” . 6. In the XenServer Credentials section, enter the user name and password for the pool you are configuring (typically the password for the pool mast[...]

98 Configuring Anti virus Software By default, most antivirus programs are configured to scan all files on the hard disk. If an antivirus program scans the frequently active Workload Balancing database, it impedes or slows down the normal operation of Workload Balancing. Consequently , you must configure antivirus software running on your Workload [...]

99 Before you edit your thresholds, you might find it handy to generate a the section called “Host Health History” report for each physical host in the pool. Y ou can use either the Workload Balancing Configuration properties in XenCenter or the XE commands to modify the configuration settings. T o update the credentials XenServer and the Workl[...]

100 weekdays or weekends as a group when specifying days. For the hour , you can choose any hour and you can specify minutes in 15-minute intervals. T o set an optimization mode for all time periods 1. In the Resources pane of XenCenter , select XenCenter > your-resource-pool . 2. In the Properties pane, click the WLB tab. 3. On the WLB tab, cli[...]

101 Acc epting Optimization Rec ommendations Aut omatically Workload Balancing lets you configure for it to accept optimization recommendations on your behalf and perform the optimization actions it recommends automatically . This feature is required when you configure for hosts with light workloads to be powered down automatically (Maximum Density[...]

102 If W orkload Balancing detects a performance issue while the pool is in Maximum Density mode, it attempts to address the issue by recommending migrating workloads among the powered-on hosts. If Workload Balancing cannot resolve the issue using this method, it attempts to power-on a host. (Workload Balancing determines which host(s) to power-on [...]

103 better with certain types of hardware), consider if you need to locate the virtual machines hosting these workloads in different pools. Because power management and VM consolidation are managed at the pool level, you should design pools so they contain workloads that you want consolidated at the same rate, factoring in considerations such as th[...]

104 Workload Balancing determines whether to recommend relocating a workload and whether a physical host is suitable for a virtual-machine workload by evaluating: • Whether a resource's critical threshold is met on the physical host • (If the critical threshold is met) the importance assigned to a resource Note: T o preven t data from appe[...]

105 The effect of the weighting varies according to the placement strategy you selected. For example, if you selected Maximum Performance and you set Network Writes towards Less Important , if the Network Writes on that server exceed the critical threshold you set, Workload Balancing still makes a recommendation to place a virtual machine's wo[...]

106 2. In the Properties pane, click the WLB tab. 3. In the WLB tab, click Configure WLB . 4. In the left pane, select Excluded Hosts . 5. In Excluded Hosts page, select the hosts for which you do not want WLB to recommend alternate placements and optimizations. Configuring Optimization Interv als, Report Subscriptions, and Data St orage Workload B[...]

107 balancing from generating "artificial" recommendations for this period by setting the Relocation interval to more than an hour . • If server loads and activity increase gradually in your environment, you may want to increase the number of minutes for the optimization interval. When Automation is configured, it is especially importan[...]

108 Example recommendation: [1] Move VM07 to host18 [2] Move VM07 to host20 [3] Move VM07 to host18. If 3 was specified for x , this is an example where W orkload Balancing would not automatically apply the recommendation yet. The recommendations have to be exact: notice the move to the host is not the same for all three recommendations. When you s[...]

109 If you want t o use the default report deliv ery mechanism, no additional component installations or configur ations are requir ed. T o configur e report subscriptions 1. In the Resources pane of XenCenter , select XenCenter > your-resource-pool . 2. In the Properties pane, click the WLB tab. 3. In the WLB tab, click Configure WLB . 4. In th[...]

110 its historical records of performance metrics and your placement strategy . The optimal server is the server with the most stars. • One of the servers with star ratings listed under the Optimal Server command. Five stars indicates the most-recommended (optimal) server and five empty stars indicates the least-recommended server . Accepting Opt[...]

111 • Uninstalling Workload Balancing Disabling W orkload Balancing Y ou can disable Workload Balancing for a resource pool, either temporarily or permanently: • T emporarily . Disabling W orkload Balancing temporarily stops XenCenter from displaying recommendations for the specified resource pool. When you disable Workload Balancing temporaril[...]

112 Y ou must enter all the informa tion that you would normally enter when you initially configure a resource pool for use with W orkload Balancing. For information, see the section called “Initializing W orkload Balancing ” or the section called “Updating W orkload Balancing Creden tials” . Updating W orkload Balancing Credentials After i[...]

113 c. In the WLB Server Credentials section, enter the user name (for example, workloadbalancing_user) and password the computers running XenServer will use to connect to the Workload Balancing server . This must be the account or group that was configured during the installation of the W orkload Balancing Server . For information, see the section[...]

114 If an optimal server is not available, the words Click here to suspend the VM appear in the Enter Maintenance Mode dialog box. In this case, Workload Balancing does not recommend a placement because no host has suf ficient resources to run this virtual machine. Y ou can either suspend this virtual machine or exit Maintenance Mode and suspend a [...]

115 at which you want to generate the report, the days on which you want to generate it, and when you want to start and stop automatic report delivery . Using W orkload Balancing Reports for T asks The Workload Balancing reports can help you perform capacity planning, determine virtual server health, and evaluate the effectiveness of your configure[...]

116 • Deliver On . The day of the week you want Workload Balancing to generate and deliver the report. The schedule you are creating does not become active until you set this field to a day . Leaving this field at None means that no reports will be generated for this subscription. • Starting . The date you want Workload Balancing to begin gener[...]

117 Export . Lets you export the report as an Acrobat (.PDF) file or as an Excel file with a .XLS extension. Find . Lets you search for a word in a report, such as the name of a virtual machine. T o print a W orkload Balancing report Citrix recommends printing Workload Balancing reports in Landscape orientation. 1. After generating the report, clic[...]

118 Table 4. Report Toolbar Buttons Document Map . Lets you display a document map that helps you navigate through long reports. Page Forward/Back . Lets you move one page ahead or back in the report. Back to Parent Report . Lets you return to the parent report when working with drill-through reports. Stop Rendering . Cancels the report generation.[...]

119 Workload Balancing displays the average for each hour for the time period you set. The data point is based on a utilization average for that hour for all days in the time period. For example, in a report for May1, 2009 to May 15, 2009, the A verage CPU Usage data point represents the resource utilization of all fifteen days at 12:00 hours combi[...]

120 • Event Action . The action that occurred. For definitions of these actions, see the section called “Audit Log Event Names” . • Succeeded . This provides that status of the action (that is, whether or not it was successful). Audit Log E vent Names The following table defines some events that appear frequently in the XenServer Audit Log [...]

121 Note: The High, Medium, and Low threshold rang es are based on the Critical threshold value you set when you initialized W orkload Balancing. P ool Health History This report provides a line graph of resource utilization on all physical hosts in a pool over time. It lets you see the trend of resource utilization - if it tends to be increasing i[...]

122 • T o Host . The physical server where the virtual machine was moved. • Time . The time when the optimization occurred. Virtual Machine Motion History This line graph displays the number of times virtual machines moved on a resource pool over a period of time. It indicates if a move resulted from an optimization recommendation and to which [...]

123 Backup and recovery This chapter presents the functionality designed to give you the best chance to recover your XenServer from a catastrophic failure of hardware or software, from lightweight metadata backups to full VM backups and portable SRs. Backups Citrix recommends that you frequently perform as many of the following backup procedures as[...]

124 xe vm-export vm= < vm_uuid > filename= < backup > --metadata Full metadata backup and disaster recovery (DR) This section introduces the concept of Portable Storage Repositories (Portable SRs), and explains how they work and how to use them as part of a DR strategy . DR and metadata back up ov erview XenServer 5.6 introduces the con[...]

125 On the XenServer host menu-driven text console, under the Backup, Update and Restore menu there are options which provide a more user-friendly interface to these scripts. The operations should only be performed on the pool master . Y ou can use these menu options to perform 3 operations: • Schedule a regular metadata backup to the default poo[...]

126 7. Every time a new SR is created the storage is checked to see if it contains an existing SR. If so, an option is presented allowing re-attachment of the existing SR. If this option is not displayed the parameters specified during SR creation are not correct. 8. Select Reattach . 9. Select the new SR in the tree view and then select the Storag[...]

127 storage types the storage repository must have been upgraded if it was created on a previous version of XenServer and the volume must be in the default format ( type=raw volumes cannot be snapshotted). The snapshotting operation is a 2 step process: • Capturing metadata as a template. • Creating a VDI snapshot of the disk(s). Three types of[...]

128 Creating a snapshot with memory Run the vm-checkpoint command, giving a descriptive name for the snapshot with memory , so that you can identify it later: xe vm-checkpoint vm= < vm uuid > new-name-label= < name of the checkpoint > When XenServer has completed creating the snapshot with memory - its uuid will be displayed. For exampl[...]

129 For example, specifying power-state=halted will select all VMs whose power-state field is equal to 'halted'. Where multiple VMs are matching, the option --multiple must be specified to perform the operation. The full list of fields that can be matched can be obtained by the command xe vm-list params=all . Locate the required VM and th[...]

130 1. Run the snapshot-list command to find the UUID of the snapshot or checkpoint that you want to revert to: xe snapshot-list 2. Note the UUID of the snapshot, and then run the snapshot-uninstall command to remove it: xe snapshot-uninstall snapshot-uuid= < snapshot-uuid > 3. This command alerts you to the VM and VDIs that will be deleted. [...]

131 This will list all of the templates on the XenServer host. Exporting a snapshot to a t emplate When you export a VM snapshot, a complete copy of the VM (including disk images) is stored as a single file on your local machine, with a .xva file extension. T o do this: 1. Use the command snapshot-export-to-template to create a new template file: x[...]

132 The mor e VBDs a ttached t o a VM, the mor e lik ely it is that this timeout may be reached. Citrix recommends att aching no more that 2 VBDs to a VM to avoid reaching the timeout. However , there is a workaround to this pr oblem. The pr obability of taking a successful VSS based snapshot of a VM with more than 2 VBDs can be increased manif old[...]

133 VSS snap of volumes hosted on dynamic disks in the Windows Guest : The vm-snapshot-with-quiesce CLI and the XenServer VSS hardware provider do not support snapshots of volumes hosted on dynamic disks on the Windows VM. Coping with machine failures This section provides details of how to recover from various failure scenarios. All failure recove[...]

134 If you repair or replace the server that was the original master , you can simply bring it up, install the XenServer host software, and add it to the pool. Since the XenServer hosts in the pool are enforced to be homogeneous, there is no real need to make the replaced server the master . When a member XenServer host is transitioned to being a m[...]

135 xe pool-emergency-transition-to-master xe pool-recover-slaves 2. If the commands succeed, restart the VMs. To restore a pool with all hosts failed 1. Run the command: xe pool-restore-database file-name= < backup > W arning: This command will only succeed if the targ et machine has an appropria te number of appropriat ely named NICs. 2. If[...]

136 Monitoring and managing XenServer XenServer and XenCenter provide access to alerts that are generated when noteworthy things happen. XenCenter provides various mechanisms of grouping and maintaining metadata about managed VMs, hosts, storage repositories, and so on. Note: Full monit oring and alerting functionality is only available is only a v[...]

137 • license_does_not_support_pooling • pbd_plug_failed_on_server_start • pool_master_transition The following alerts appear on the performance graphs in XenCenter . See the XenCenter online help for more information: • vm_cloned • vm_crashed • vm_rebooted • vm_resumed • vm_shutdown • vm_started • vm_suspended Customizing Alert[...]

138 alarm_trigger_sense high if alarm_trigger_level is a maximum value otherwise low if the alarm_trigger_level is a minimum value. (default high ) alarm_trigger_period number of seconds that values above or below the alarm threshold can be received before an alarm is sent (default 60 ) alarm_auto_inhibit_period number of seconds this alarm disable[...]

139 Alerts generated from XenServer can also be automatically e-mailed to the resource pool administrator , in addition to being visible from the XenCenter GUI. T o configure this, specify the email address and SMTP server: pool:other-config:mail-destination= < joe.bloggs@domain.tld > pool:other-config:ssmtp-mailhub= < smtp.domain.tld[:por[...]

140 Troubleshooting If you experience odd behavior , application crashes, or have other issues with a XenServer host, this chapter is meant to help you solve the problem if possible and, failing that, describes where the application logs are located and other information that can help your Citrix Solution Provider and Citrix track and resolve the i[...]

141 xe host-param-set uuid= < xenserver_host_uuid > logging:syslog_destination= < hostname > 2. Issue the command: xe host-syslog-reconfigure uuid= < xenserver_host_uuid > to enforce the change. (Y ou can also execute this command remotely by specifying the host parameter .) XenCenter logs XenCenter also has client-side log. This [...]

142 Appendix A. Command line interface This chapter describes the XenServer command line interface (CLI). The xe CLI enables the writing of scripts for automating system administration tasks and allows integration of XenServer into an existing IT infrastructure. The xe command line interface is installed by default on XenServer hosts and is include[...]

143 Example: On the local XenServer host: xe vm-list Example: On the remote XenServer host: xe vm-list -user < username > -password < password > -server < hostname > Shorthand syntax is also available for remote connection arguments: -u username -pw password -pwf password file -p port -s server Example: On a remote XenServer host:[...]

144 l, pressing T AB a second time will list the possibilities. This is particularly useful when specifying object UUIDs in commands. Note: When e xecuting commands on a r emote XenServer host, t ab completion does not normally work. Howe ver if you put the server , username, and passw ord in an en vironment variable called XE_EXTRA_ARGS on the mac[...]

145 • vm Note that not every value of < class > has the full set of < class > -param- commands; some have just a subset. P arameter types The objects that are addressed with the xe commands have sets of parameters that identify them and define their states. Most parameters take a single value. For example, the name-label parameter of [...]

146 < class > -param-get uuid= < uuid > param-name= < parameter > [param-key= < key > ] Returns the value of a particular parameter . If the parameter is a map, specifying the param-key will get the value associated with that key in the map. If param-key is not specified, or if the parameter is a set, it will return a string[...]

147 For scripting, a useful technique is passing --minimal on the command line, causing xe to print only the first field in a comma-separated list. For example, the command xe vm-list --minimal on a XenServer host with three VMs installed gives the three UUIDs of the VMs, for example: a85d6717-7264-d00e-069b-3b1d19d56ad9,aaa3eec5-9499-bcf3-4c03-af1[...]

148 CD commands Commands for working with physical CD/DVD drives on XenServer hosts. CD parameters CDs have the following parameters: Parameter Name Description T ype uuid unique identifier/object reference for the CD read only name-label Name for the CD read/write name-description Description text for the CD read/write allowed-operations A list of[...]

149 Parameter Name Description T ype missing true if SR scan operation reported this CD as not present on disk read only other-config A list of key/value pairs that specify additional configuration parameters for the CD read/write map parameter location The path on which the device is mounted read only managed true if the device is managed read onl[...]

150 Parameter Name Description T ype uuid The unique identifier/object reference for the console read only vm-uuid The unique identifier/object reference of the VM this console is open on read only vm-name-label The name of the VM this console is open on read only protocol Protocol this console uses. Possible values are vt100 : VT100 terminal, rfb [...]

151 Blocks other commands from executing until an object exists that satisfies the conditions given on the command line. x=y means "wait for field x to take value y", and x=/=y means "wait for field x to take any value other than y". Example: wait for a specific VM to be running xe event-wait class=vm name-label=myvm power-state[...]

152 Parameter Name Description T ype enabled false if disabled which prevents any new VMs from starting on them, which prepares the XenServer hosts to be shut down or rebooted; true if the host is currently enabled read only API-version-major major version number read only API-version-minor minor version number read only API-version-vendor identifi[...]

153 Parameter Name Description T ype host-metrics-live true if the host is operational read only logging The syslog_destination key can be set to the hostname of a remote listening syslog service. read/write map parameter allowed-operations lists the operations allowed in this state. This list is advisory only and the server state may have changed [...]

154 Parameter Name Description T ype uuid The unique identifier/object reference for the CPU read only number the number of the physical CPU core within the XenServer host read only vendor the vendor string for the CPU name, for example, "GenuineIntel" read only speed The CPU clock speed, in Hz read only modelname the vendor string for th[...]

155 backup file. The command should only be used from a remote off-host machine where you hav e space to hold the backup file. host-bugreport-upload host-bugreport-upload [ < host-selector > = < host_selector_value > ...] [url= < destination_url > ] [http-proxy= < http_proxy_name > ] Generate a fresh bug report (using xen-bu[...]

156 Reconfigure the management interface of this XenServer host. Use this command only if the XenServer host is in emergency mode, meaning that it is a member in a resource pool whose master has disappeared from the network and could not be contacted for some number of retries. host-enable host-enable [ < host-selector > = < host_selector_[...]

157 details. If not specified, all system status information is saved in the file. The parameter output may be tar .bz2 (the default) or zip ; if this parameter is not specified, the file is saved in tar.bz2 form. The host(s) on which this operation should be performed are selected using the standard selection mechanism (see host selectors above). [...]

158 The host(s) on which this operation should be performed are selected using the standard selection mechanism (see host selectors above). host-is-in-emergency-mode host-is-in-emergency-mode Returns true if the host the CLI is talking to is currently in emergency mode, false otherwise. This CLI command works directly on slave hosts even with no ma[...]

159 host-license-view host-license-view [host-uuid= < XenServer_host_UUID > ] For XenServer (free edition), displays the contents of the XenServer host license. Note: This command only applies to free XenServer . X enSer ver 5.6 Advanced edition and higher use the host- apply-edition , license-server-address and license-server-port commands. [...]

160 Be careful when using this CLI command off-host and ensur e that you have network connectivity on the new interf ace. Use xe pif-reconfigure to set one up first. Otherwise, subsequent CLI commands will reach the XenServer hos t. host-pow er-on host-power-on [host= < host_uuid > ] T urns on power on XenServer hosts with Host Power On funct[...]

161 Change the hostname of the XenServer host specified by host-uuid . This command persistently sets both the hostname in the control domain database and the actual Linux hostname of the XenServer host. Note that hostname is not the same as the value of the name_label field. host-shutdo wn host-shutdown [ < host-selector > = < host_select[...]

162 Set the output of the specified logger . Log messages are filtered by the subsystem in which they originated and the log level of the message. For example, send debug logging messages from the storage manager to a file by running the following command: xe log-set-output key=sm level=debug output= <file:/tmp/sm.log> The optional parameter [...]

163 Netw ork commands Commands for working with networks. The network objects can be listed with the standard object listing command ( xe network-list ), and the parameters manipulated with the standard parameter commands. See the section called “Low-level param commands” for details. Network parameters Networks have the following parameters: P[...]

164 Parameter Name Description T ype other-config:ethtool-sg set to on to enable scatter gather , off to disable read write other-config:ethtool-tso set to on to enable tcp segmentation offload, off to disable read write other-config:ethtool-ufo set to on to enable UDP fragment offload, off to disable read write other-config:ethtool-gso set to on t[...]

165 Parameter Name Description T ype applied Whether or not the patch has been applied; true or false read only size Whether or not the patch has been applied; true or false read only patch-appl y patch-apply uuid= < patch_file_uuid > Apply the specified patch file. patch-clean patch-clean uuid= < patch_file_uuid > Delete the specified [...]

166 Parameter Name Description T ype sr-uuid the storage repository that the PBD points to read only device-config additional configuration information that is provided to the SR-backend-driver of a host read only map parameter currently-attached T rue if the SR is currently attached on this host, False otherwise read only host-uuid UUID of the phy[...]

167 The PIF objects can be listed with the standard object listing command ( xe pif-list ), and the parameters manipulated with the standard parameter commands. See the section called “Low-level param commands” for details. PIF parameters PIFs have the following parameters: Parameter Name Description T ype uuid the unique identifier/object refe[...]

168 Parameter Name Description T ype host-name-label the name of the XenServer host to which this PIF is connected read only IP-configuration-mode type of network address configuration used; DHCP or static read only IP IP address of the PIF , defined here if IP- configuration-mode is static; undefined if DHCP read only netmask Netmask of the PIF , [...]

169 Parameter Name Description T ype other-config:ethtool-rx set to on to enable receive checksum, off to disable read write other-config:ethtool-tx set to on to enable transmit checksum, off to disable read write other-config:ethtool-sg set to on to enable scatter gather , off to disable read write other-config:ethtool-tso set to on to enable tcp [...]

170 pif-plug pif-plug uuid= < uuid_of_pif > Attempt to bring up the specified physical interface. pif-reconfigur e-ip pif-reconfigure-ip uuid= < uuid_of_pif > [ mode= < dhcp > | mode= < static > ] gateway= < network_gateway_address > IP= < static_ip_for_this_pif > netmask= < netmask_for_this_pif > [DNS= <[...]

171 Parameter Name Description T ype master the unique identifier/object reference of XenServer host designated as the pool's master read only default-SR the unique identifier/object reference of the default SR for the pool read/write crash-dump-SR the unique identifier/object reference of the SR where any crash dumps for pool members are save[...]

172 Parameter Name Description T ype blobs binary data store read only wlb-url Path to the WLB server read only wlb-username Name of the user of the WLB service read only wlb-enabled T rue is WLB is enabled read/write wlb-verify-cert T rue if there is a certificate to verify read/write pool-designate-ne w-master pool-designate-new-master host-uuid=[...]

173 pool-ha-disable pool-ha-disable Disables the High Availability functionality on the resource pool. pool-join pool-join master-address= < address > master-username= < username > master-password= < password > Instruct a XenServer host to join an existing pool. pool-reco ver-sla v es pool-recover-slaves Instruct the pool master t[...]

174 Parameter Name Description T ype vendor name of the vendor who created this plugin read only copyright copyright statement for this SM plugin read only required-api-version minimum SM API version required on the XenServer host read only configuration names and descriptions of device configuration keys read only capabilities capabilities of the [...]

175 Parameter Name Description T ype physical-size total physical size of the SR, in bytes read only type type of the SR, used to specify the SR backend driver to use read only content-type the type of the SR's content. Used to distinguish ISO libraries from other SRs. For storage repositories that store a library of ISOs, the content-type mus[...]

176 sr-introduce sr-introduce name-label= < name > physical-size= < physical_size > type= < type > content-type= < content_type > uuid= < sr_uuid > Just places an SR record into the database. The device-config parameters are specified by device- config: < parameter_key > = < parameter_value > , for example:[...]

177 Parameter Name Description T ype name-description the description string of the T ask read only resident-on the unique identifier/object reference of the host on which the task is running read only status current status of the T ask read only progress if the T ask is still pending, this field contains the estimated percentage complete, from 0. [...]

178 T emplates are essentially VMs with the is-a-template parameter set to true . 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 (RHEL, CentO[...]

179 Parameter Name Description T ype memory-dynamic-min dynamic minimum memory in bytes. Currently unused, but if changed the same constraints for memory-dynamic-max must be obeyed. read/write memory-static-max statically-set (absolute) maximum memory in bytes. This is the main value used to determine the amount of memory assigned to a VM. read/wri[...]

180 Parameter Name Description T ype VCPUs-params configuration parameters for the selected VCPU policy . Y ou can tune a VCPU's pinning with xe vm-param-set uuid= < vm_uuid > VCPUs-params:mask=1,2,3 A VM created from this template will then run on physical CPUs 1, 2, and 3 only . Y ou can also tune the VCPU priority (xen scheduling)[...]

181 Parameter Name Description T ype actions-after-crash action to take if a VM based on this template crashes read/write console-uuids virtual console devices read only set parameter platform platform-specific configuration read/write map parameter allowed-operations list of the operations allowed in this state read only set parameter current-oper[...]

182 Parameter Name Description T ype PV-bootloader name of or path to bootloader read/write PV-bootloader-args string of miscellaneous arguments for the bootloader read/write last-boot-CPU-flags describes the CPU flags on which a VM based on this template was last booted; not populated for a template read only resident-on the XenServer host on whic[...]

183 Parameter Name Description T ype memory-actual the actual memory being used by a VM based on this template; 0 for a template read only VCPUs-number the number of virtual CPUs assigned to a VM based on this template; 0 for a template read only VCPUs-Utilization list of virtual CPUs and their weight read only map parameter os-version the version [...]

184 Parameter Name Description T ype guest-metrics-last-updated timestamp when the last write to these fields was performed by the in-guest agent, in the form yyyymmdd T hh:mm:ss z , where z is the single-letter military timezone indicator , for example, Z for UTC (GMT) read only actions-after-shutdown action to take after the VM has shutdown read/[...]

185 Parameter Name Description T ype blocked-operations lists the operations that cannot be performed on this template read/write map parameter last-boot-record record of the last boot parameters for this template, in XML format read only ha-always-run True if an instance of this template will always restarted on another host in case of the failure[...]

186 VBD commands Commands for working with VBDs (Virtual Block Devices). A VBD is a software object that connects a VM to the VDI, which represents the contents of the virtual disk. The VBD has the attributes which tie the VDI to the VM (is it bootable, its read/write metrics, and so on), while the VDI has the information on the physical attributes[...]

187 Parameter Name Description T ype storage-lock True if a storage-level lock was acquired read only status-code error/success code associated with the last attach operation read only status-detail error/success information associated with the last attach operation status read only qos_algorithm_type the QoS algorithm to use read/write qos_algorit[...]

188 Create a new VBD on a VM. Appropriate values for the device field are listed in the parameter allowed-VBD-devices on the specified VM. Before any VBDs exist there, the allowable values are integers from 0-15. If the type is Disk , vdi-uuid is required. Mode can be RO or RW for a Disk. If the type is CD , vdi-uuid is optional; if no VDI is speci[...]

189 VDI parameters VDIs have the following parameters: Parameter Name Description T ype uuid the unique identifier/object reference for the VDI read only name-label the name of the VDI read/write name-description the description string of the VDI read/write allowed-operations a list of the operations allowed in this state read only set parameter cu[...]

190 Parameter Name Description T ype managed true if the VDI is managed read only xenstore-data data to be inserted into the xenstore tree ( /local/domain/0/backend/ vbd/ < domid > / < device-id > /sm- data ) after the VDI is attached. This is generally set by the SM backends on vdi_attach . read only map parameter sm-config SM dependen[...]

191 allocat ed SR does become full, disk space must be made available either on the SR targ et substra te or by deleting unused VDIs in the SR. Note: Some SR types might r ound up the virtual-size value to mak e it divisible by a configur ed block size. v di-destroy vdi-destroy uuid= < uuid_of_vdi > Destroy the specified VDI. Note: In the cas[...]

192 Produces a read-write version of a VDI that can be used as a reference for backup and/or template creation purposes. Y ou can perform a backup from a snapshot rather than installing and running backup software inside the VM. The VM can continue running while external backup software streams the contents of the snapshot to the backup media. Simi[...]

193 Parameter Name Description T ype MTU Maximum T ransmission Unit of the VIF in bytes. This parameter is read-only , but you can override the MTU setting with the mtu key using the other-config map parameter . For example, to reset the MTU on a virtual NIC to use jumbo frames: xe vif-param-set uuid= < vif_uuid > other-config:mtu=9000 re[...]

194 Parameter Name Description T ype other-config:promiscuous true to a VIF to be promiscuous on the bridge, so that it sees all traffic over the bridge. Useful for running an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) or similar in a VM. read write network-uuid the unique identifier/object reference of the virtual network to which this VIF is connected read[...]

195 Attempts to detach the VIF from the VM while it is running. VLAN commands Commands for working with VLANs (virtual networks). T o list and edit virtual interfaces, refer to the PIF commands, which have a VLAN parameter to signal that they have an associated virtual network (see the section called “PIF commands” ). For example, to list VLANs[...]

196 Note: All writable VM par ameter v alues can be chang ed while the VM is running , but the new par ameters ar e not applied dynamically and will not be applied until the VM is r ebooted. Parameter Name Description T ype uuid the unique identifier/object reference for the VM read only name-label the name of the VM read/write name-description the[...]

197 Parameter Name Description T ype VCPUs-params configuration parameters for the selected VCPU policy . Y ou can tune a VCPU's pinning with xe vm-param-set uuid= < vm_uuid > VCPUs-params:mask=1,2,3 The selected VM will then run on physical CPUs 1, 2, and 3 only . Y ou can also tune the VCPU priority (xen scheduling) with the cap an[...]

198 Parameter Name Description T ype actions-after-crash action to take if the VM crashes. For PV guests, valid parameters are: preserve (for analysis only), coredump_and_restart (record a coredump and reboot VM), coredump_and_destroy (record a coredump and leave VM halted), restart (no coredump and restart VM), and destroy (no coredump and leave V[...]

199 Parameter Name Description T ype HVM-shadow-multiplier Floating point value which controls the amount of shadow memory overhead to grant the VM. Defaults to 1.0 (the minimum value), and should only be changed by advanced users. read/write PV-kernel path to the kernel read/write PV-ramdisk path to the initrd read/write PV-args string of kernel c[...]

200 Parameter Name Description T ype start-time timestamp of the date and time that the metrics for the VM were read, in the form yyyymmdd T hh:mm:ss z , where z is the single-letter military timezone indicator , for example, Z for UTC (GMT) read only install-time timestamp of the date and time that the metrics for the VM were read, in the form yyy[...]

201 Parameter Name Description T ype PV-drivers-up-to-date flag for latest version of the paravirtualized drivers for the VM read only memory memory metrics reported by the agent on the VM read only map parameter disks disk metrics reported by the agent on the VM read only map parameter networks network metrics reported by the agent on the VM read [...]

202 Parameter Name Description T ype snapshot_time the timestamp of the snapshot operation that created this VM snapshot read only memory-target the target amount of memory set for this VM read only blocked-operations lists the operations that cannot be performed on this VM read/write map parameter last-boot-record record of the last boot parameter[...]

203 vm-cd-insert vm-cd-insert cd-name= < name_of_cd > [ < vm-selector > = < vm_selector_value > ...] Insert a CD into the virtual CD drive. This command will only work if there is one and only one empty CD device attached to the VM. When there are two or more empty CD devices, use the xe vbd-insert command and specify the UUIDs of[...]

204 For example: xe vm-compute-maximum-memory vm=testvm total=`xe host-list params=memory-free --minimal` This command uses the value of the memory-free parameter returned by the xe host-list command to set the maximum memory of the VM named testvm . The VM or VMs on which this operation will be performed are selected using the standard selection m[...]

205 List the data sources that can be recorded for a VM. The VM or VMs on which this operation should be performed are selected using the standard selection mechanism (see VM selectors ). Optional arguments can be any number of the VM parameters listed at the beginning of this section. vm-data-source-query vm-data-source-query data-source= < nam[...]

206 The disk-size parameter can be specified in bytes or using the IEC standard suffixes KiB (2 10 bytes), MiB (2 20 bytes), GiB (2 30 bytes), and T iB (2 40 bytes). The VM or VMs on which this operation should be performed are selected using the standard selection mechanism (see VM selectors ). Optional arguments can be any number of the VM parame[...]

207 The filename parameter can also point to an XV A-format VM, which is the legacy export format from XenServer 3.2 and is used by some third-party vendors to provide virtual appliances. This format uses a directory to store the VM data, so set filename to the root directory of the XV A export and not an actual file. Subsequent exports of the impo[...]

208 Migrate the specified VMs between physical hosts. The host parameter can be either the name or the UUID of the XenServer host. By default, the VM will be suspended, migrated, and resumed on the other host. The live parameter activates XenMotion and keeps the VM running while performing the migration, thus minimizing VM downtime to less than a s[...]

209 Shut down the specified VM. The VM or VMs on which this operation should be performed are selected using the standard selection mechanism (see VM selectors ). Optional arguments can be any number of the VM parameters listed at the beginning of this section. Use the force argument to cause an ungraceful shutdown, similar to pulling the plug on a[...]

210 vm-vif-list vm-vif-list [ < vm-selector > = < vm_selector_value > ...] Lists the VIFs from the specified VMs. The VM or VMs on which this operation should be performed are selected using the standard selection mechanism (see VM selectors ). Note that the selectors operate on the VM records when filtering, and not on the VIF values. [...]

211 pool-certificate-list XenServer ’s Workload Balancing component lets you use certificates to secure communication between XenServer pools and the Workload Balancing server . Y ou can either use the default certificate, which is created automatically during Workload Balancing installation, or you can specify a certificate you have already crea[...]

212 pool-param-set pool-param-set wlb-verify-cert= < true > uuid= < uuid_of_pool > Run this command on the pool, after running the pool-certificate-sync command, to make XenServer always verify the certificate when communicating with the Workload Balancing server . Tip: Pressing the T ab k ey automatically populat es the UUID of the poo[...]

213 xe pool-retrieve-wlb-report report=optimization_performance_history poolid= < 51e411f1-62f4-e462-f1ed-97c626703cae > utcoffset= < -5 > start= < -3 > end= < 0 > filename= < /optimization_performance_history.txt > xe pool-retrieve-wlb-report report=pool_health_history poolid= < 51e411f1-62f4-e462-f1ed-[...]

214 Index A AMD-V (AMD hardware virtualization), 19 C CD commands, xe CLI, 148 CLI (see command line interface) Command line interface (CLI) basic xe syntax, 142 Bonding commands, 147 CD commands, 148 command types, 144 console commands, 149 event commands, 150 host (XenServer host) commands, 151 log commands, 161 low-level list commands, 146 low-l[...]

215 member , 133, 133 removing XenServer host from, 22 requirements for creating, 19 S SAN (see Storage Area Network) Shared network attached storage (NFS), 52 Shared storage, 21 Storage Area Network, 47 Storage Manager commands, xe CLI, 173 Storage repository (SR) CD-ROM, 41 commands, xe CLI, 174 DVD-ROM, 41 Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN[...]