This page describes the installation procedure of a XenServer Cloud Node, and its configuration integrate it in the abiCloud platform.
XenServer installation
To install XenServer, the installations ISOs must be downloaded from the Citrix website: http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/lp/lp_1688622.asp
Download the Product Installer and the Linux Guest Support images. By default, XenServer comes only with support for Windows Guests, so Linux Guest Support ISO must be downloaded if you plan to deploy Linux images.
Optionally, XenCenter can be downloaded and installed on a machine to manage XenServer from a user-friendly interface.
Once images are downloaded, refer to XenServer official installation instructions to install it on the Cloud Node: http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/20642-102-641940/xs-55-installation-guide.pdf
Creating the Abiquo Storage Repository (optional)
An Storage Repository is a place that XenServer will use to store virtual images disk data. Several types of Storage Repositories are supported by XenServer (including LVM volumes, iSCSI, NFS, etc), and abiCloud uses a NFS Storage Repository to access to the image files that will be deployed to XenServer.
This repository can be created after installing XenServer, but it is not mandatory. The abiCloud platform will create and configure it (if not present) before deploying any image to XenServer.
Anyway, the Abiquo repository can be created connecting to the XenServer console and typing the following command
(for example: xe sr-create name-label=Abiquo type=nfs content-type=user host-uuid=6c631237-137f-4c8b-a0a4-66ae14aec007 device-config:server=nfs-devel device-config:serverpath=/opt/vm_repository)
Using XenCenter
The Abiquo repository can also be created using XenCenter GUI. Just follow these steps to create it:
- Open the New Repository wizard.
- Select NFS VHD option and click Next.
- Fill the form specifying a Name (can be any, but Abiquo is recommended) and a Share Name (for example: nfs-devel:/opt/vm_repository) and click Finish.
 | Restore default Repository When creating a repository using the wizard, it automatically sets it as the default repository. It is important to restore the previous default repository, since XenServer will move images to the default repository before starting them. |
External Resources
XenServer Documentation Index
Direct Booting a VHD in XenServer
