This first article will walk through the process of installing and configuring\u00a0Citrix XenServer<\/strong>. Future additions to this article will walk through adding virtual machine storage repositories, XenServer pooling, creating virtual machines on the XenServer, as well as managing XenServers with XenCenter and Xen Orchestra as discussed above series.<\/p>\n All in all this server is primed to be a stellar\u00a0XenServer<\/strong>\u00a0so let\u2019s begin the installation process.<\/p>\n 1.<\/strong>\u00a0The first step in the installation is to download the\u00a0XenServer ISO<\/strong>\u00a0file. This can easily be accomplished by visiting the link above or using the \u2018wget<\/strong>\u2018 utility on a Linux system.<\/p>\n Now burn the ISO to a CD or using \u2018dd<\/strong>\u2018 to copy the ISO to a flash drive.<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong>\u00a0Now place the media into the system that\u00a0XenServer<\/strong>\u00a0will be installed and boot to that media. Upon successful boot the user should be greeted by the wonderful\u00a0Citrix XenServer<\/strong>\u00a0boot splash.<\/p>\n XenServer Boot Menu<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 3.<\/strong>\u00a0At this point simply press\u00a0enter<\/strong>\u00a0to begin the booting process. This will boot the user into the XenServer installer. The first screen will ask the user to provide a\u00a0language<\/strong>\u00a0selection.<\/p>\n Select XenServer Installation Language<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 4.<\/strong>\u00a0The next screen asks the user to confirm the reason for booting to this media as well as provide the option to load extra hardware drivers if needed. In this particular case, it is to install XenServer to the machine so it is safe to click \u201cOK<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n Load XenServer Device Driver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 5.<\/strong>\u00a0The next prompt is the obligatory\u00a0EULA<\/strong>\u00a0(End User License Agreement). Feel free to read the whole thing, as your supposed to anyways right, otherwise using the keyboard arrows move the cursor over to the \u201cAccept EULA<\/strong>\u201d button and hit enter.<\/p>\n Accept License Agreement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 6.<\/strong>\u00a0The next screen requests the installation device. In this example the\u00a0RAID<\/strong>\u00a0setup on the server is where XenServer will be installed.<\/p>\n The\u00a0RAID<\/strong>\u00a0system is reflected as \u201csda \u2013 556 GB [IBM ServeRAID-MR10k]<\/strong>\u201d For this guide, thin provisioning is not necessary. Make sure the the asterisk\u00a0( * )<\/strong>\u00a0character is next to the hard drive selection to install XenServer and tab to the \u201cOK<\/strong>\u201d button.<\/p>\n Select XenServer Virtual Machine Storage<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 7.<\/strong>\u00a0The next screen will prompt the user for the location of the installation files. Since the installer was boot locally with a CD\/DVD\/USB, make sure to select the \u201cLocal Media<\/strong>\u201d option.<\/p>\n Select XenServer Installation Source<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 8.<\/strong>\u00a0The next step allows for the installation of\u00a0Supplemental Packs<\/strong>\u00a0(SP) at the time of install. For this guide, none of the supplemental packs available will be installed at this point but will be covered later once XenServer is up and running.<\/p>\n Select Supplemental Packs<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 9.<\/strong>\u00a0The next screen will ask if the user wishes to verify that the installer media is not corrupt. Generally this is a good idea but is a personal choice. All in all the verification on this test server took about 3 minutes from a CD.<\/p>\n Verify XenServer Installation Media<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Checking Base Pack<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Verification Successful<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n 10.<\/strong>\u00a0Once the verification is completed, if selected during install, the XenServer installer will ask the user to setup some system information.<\/p>\n The first prompt will be to set the root user\u2019s password. Now, since XenServer will be the underlying system to potentially several important virtualized servers, it is imperative that the password be secured as well as sufficiently complex!<\/p>\n Important<\/strong>: Do not forget this password either as there will not be any other users on the system once the installer finishes!<\/p>\n Set XenServer Root Password<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 11.<\/strong>\u00a0The next screen will ask the user to chose a management interface. The number of interfaces that shows up will vary from system to system and the management interface doesn\u2019t have to be a separate interface. A separate interface can be used to secure administrative access to the hypervisor itself.<\/p>\n Configure XenServer Network<\/p>\n 12.<\/strong>\u00a0Once the management interface is selected, the system will prompt for how to obtain an IP address for the management interface. This step will obviously vary from site to site as well.<\/p>\n Set XenServer IP Address<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 13.<\/strong>\u00a0After determining the IP address information for the XenServer, the system will ask for a\u00a0hostname<\/strong>\u00a0to be set as well as\u00a0DNS<\/strong>\u00a0server configuration.<\/p>\n Hostname and DNS Configuration<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 14.<\/strong>\u00a0The next three screens will go through the steps of setting up time zones as well as the method for keeping track of time. Generally,\u00a0Network Time Protocol<\/strong>\u00a0is suggested for\u00a0keeping system time synchronized<\/a>\u00a0on systems but again this will vary from location to location.<\/p>\n If a network time server isn\u2019t available or the XenServer doesn\u2019t have access to the Internet time servers, the installer will allow for manual time setting.<\/p>\n Set Time Zone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Set Time Using NTP<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Add NTP Servers<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 15.<\/strong>\u00a0At this point all of the initial configuration parameters will be complete and the XenServer installer will be ready to begin the installation of the hypervisor.<\/p>\n WARNING<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Continuing at this point\u00a0WILL ERASE ALL DATA<\/strong>\u00a0on the target disks!<\/p>\n Confirm XenServer Installation Drive<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 16.<\/strong>\u00a0The installation will take some time but a progress bar will be displayed. Once the installer is done, it will prompt the user to restart the system to boot to the newly installed hypervisor (be sure to remove the XenServer installation disk upon reboot).<\/p>\n Preparing XenServer Installation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n XenServer Installation Complete<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 17.<\/strong>\u00a0Upon removing the installation media and rebooting the system, the user should be presented with the\u00a0Citrix XenServer<\/strong>\u00a0splash page. Allow the system to continue booting.<\/p>\n Citrix XenServer Booting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 18.<\/strong>\u00a0Once the booting has completed, the system will present the\u00a0XenServer control<\/strong>\u00a0page.<\/p>\n XenServer Configuration Page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Congratulations!\u00a0XenServer<\/strong>\u00a0was successfully installed and is now ready to have any hotfixes\/supplemental packs applied, storage repositories designated, and ultimately virtual machines created. The next step in this series will address the methods available to patch a XenServer system with patches from Citrix.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Patching a\u00a0XenServer<\/strong>\u00a0install is a crucial task to ensure security updates are applied to vulnerable XenServer installs. While in theory the hypervisor is secure from the virtual machines it supports, there are still some potential issues that could happen and Citrix, as well as the rest of the open source community, do their best to provide code updates for these vulnerabilities as they are discovered.<\/p>\n Install XenServer Patches in Linux \u2013 Part 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That being said, these updates aren\u2019t applied automatically by default and require administrator interaction. Patches also aren\u2019t always security issues. Many times patches will provide increased functionality to the virtual machines hosted on the XenServer. Applying these updates is typically very easy and straight forward and can be done remotely or with local media (local to the\u00a0XenServer<\/strong>).<\/p>\n While this article is going to walk through applying patches to one XenServer, it is important to note that in the event that multiple pooled XenServers need updated, tools exist to allow the pool master to push the updates out to all of the other XenServers in the pool!<\/p>\n Let\u2019s begin the process of updating a single XenServer by means of local media. Local in this instance means that the administrator has put the update files onto a CD\/DVD\/USB or similar device and will physically connect this media to the XenServer needing updated.<\/p>\n The first step in this whole process is to obtain the patches. Publicly available patches can be obtained from the following URL:<\/p>\n This guide is going to walk through installing the\u00a0XenServer 6.5 SP1<\/strong>\u00a0patch both using local media as well as remotely sending the update files to the server and then updating remotely.<\/p>\n The patch files are located here:\u00a0http:\/\/support.citrix.com\/article\/CTX142355<\/a><\/p>\n This supplemental pack contains a lot of the patches already put out for\u00a0XenServer 6.5<\/strong>. It is important to note Citrix\u2019s notes about any patch as many patches require other patches be installed\u00a0BEFORE!<\/strong>\u00a0The only prerequisite for this patch is that\u00a0XenServer 6.5 be installed<\/a>\u00a0(which should be covered already).<\/p>\n The file can be downloaded via\u00a0http<\/strong>\u00a0or via the\u00a0wget<\/strong>\u00a0tool.<\/p>\n Once the file is downloaded, the contents of the zip file need to be extracted. This can be accomplished with gui tools or via the command line using the \u2018unzip<\/strong>\u2018 tool.<\/p>\n Upon successful completion, two files should now exist in the current working directory. The one of importance will be the file with the extension \u2018.xsupdate<\/strong>\u2018.<\/p>\nSystem Requirements<\/h4>\n
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Test System Configuration<\/h4>\n
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Installation of Citrix Xenserver 6.5 Guide<\/h3>\n
# wget -c http:\/\/downloadns.citrix.com.edgesuite.net\/10175\/XenServer-6.5.0-xenserver.org-install-cd.iso\r\n<\/pre>\n
# dd if=XenServer-6.5.0-xenserver.org-install-cd.iso of=<\/path\/to\/usb\/drive>\r\n<\/pre>\n
![\"XenServer](\"https:\/\/www.tecmint.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/XenServer-Installation-Guide.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nInstalling XenServer 6.5 Patches with Local Media and Remotely \u2013 Part 2<\/h1>\n
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# wget -c http:\/\/downloadns.citrix.com.edgesuite.net\/10340\/XS65ESP1.zip\r\n<\/pre>\n
Installing Patches with Local Media<\/h3>\n
# unzip XS65ESP1.zip\r\n<\/pre>\n
XenServer Installation and Configuration Guide \u2013 Part 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Citrix offers such a solution, known as\u00a0XenServer<\/strong>, which utilizes the popular\u00a0Linux Xen hypervisor<\/strong>. The Xen hypervisor is referred to as a \u201cbare-metal hypervisor<\/strong>\u201d meaning that it is installed to the physical server and acts as a resource manager for all of the virtualized server instances that will be run on top of Xen.<\/p>\n This contrasts to systems such as\u00a0Virtualbox<\/a>\u00a0which require a Linux\/Mac\/Windows operating system to be installed and then virtual machines created within the Virtualbox application. This type of hypervisor is generally referred to as a hosted hypervisor. Both types of hypervisors have their place and benefits but this particular article is going to look at the bare-metal hypervisor in XenServer.<\/p>\n In this 5-article\u00a0Citrix Xenserver<\/strong>\u00a0series, we will going to cover the following topics:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n