Building a XenServer ISO and Backup Target off Host

DustinB3403

So in building on the chain of conversations we've had, building out XenServer to Run from USB using mDADm RAID 10 we're at the point now that we need to build yet another server. It's best practice to separate the rolls of our physical servers. In this case we are effectively building a NAS for our XenServer environment.

So setup another physical server and get it setup. Here's a pretty straight forward guide to Building an ISO Repo on your XenServer. Just be certain to change the targets to be your RAID Array rather then the 8GB partition of XenServer.

Once that is done, download your favorite Linux ISO. I'm using Ubuntu Server because I was experiencing some issues with CentOS and don't really care to troubleshoot it at this time. So... Create a new VM on your ISO XenServer Server, allocating most of the RAID10 Array to the VM and boot from the Linux ISO you've downloaded.

Install the roles you need, in this case a file server. And let it complete the installation.

Alternative to the Ubuntu SMB File server you can install a Windows File Server if you have the licensing to support it.

scottalanmiller

For those following along, ISO repos are low priority so this a great place to use a repurposed desktop, an older server or a low cost NAS device. ReadyNAS and Synology two bay units are perfect for this.

DustinB3403

Once this VM is up and running, time to jump back to your primary virtualization server. From here, we need to download our backup appliance.

This tool is open source, and creates full backups. It's called NAUBackup.

So first lets make sure we're into the correct directory.

    cd /
    wget https://github.com/NAUbackup/VmBackup/archive/master.zip
    unzip master
    cd /VmBackup-master

Now you should have a folder on the root partition named "VmBackup-Master" lets jump into that.

So now we have several items. We care about "example.cfg" and "VmBackup.py" (.py is short for Python) This is the tool that will be doing the backup process for us. But before we dig into that we need to make sure our Ubuntu File Server is configured.

scottalanmiller

@Danp said:

@scottalanmiller I see lots of different models from ReadyNAS and Synology. Are there specific models that should be used in a small business environment?

In specific reference to an ISO store, or in a more general context?

Danp

@scottalanmiller said:

In specific reference to an ISO store, or in a more general context?

In a more general context, SMB backup, etc.

scottalanmiller

@Danp said:

@scottalanmiller said:

In specific reference to an ISO store, or in a more general context?

In a more general context, SMB backup, etc.

I forked a new thread then

DustinB3403

For anyone looking to build a backup target from Ubuntu this video here is just slightly out of date but will get you up and running.

At the part where he is adding an SMB user perform

    newuser SMBUSERNAME

Follow the prompts

   At the SMB user portion, enter the above users name and password.

Youtube Video

scottalanmiller

And you can do it on CentOS with NFS too: http://mangolassi.it/topic/6130/linux-lab-project-building-a-simple-linux-nfs-server