BRRABill's Field Report With XenServer
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@BRRABill said:
@DustinB3403 said:
Yes you can import the VM into Xenserver and remove the NIC from it.
You'd then administer the VM from within XenCenter or Xen Orchestra, it's simply disconnected from the network.
Just like if the cord was unplugged.
But can I actually SEE it? Like get the GUI of the server up on my screen?
Yes, from the XenCenter click on the VM and then the Console tab at the top of the screen. You may have to click inside of the black window that appears but it will be like you are standing in front of the keyboard.
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@BRRABill XS is really simple to "get" and understand.
Nothing is difficult about it at all.
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Can you run the "fixup" tool after importing a virtual disk?
I did not run it on import, and now of course, as it said it wouldn't, it won't boot.
I can just delete it and do it again. But was just wondering.
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will XenServer boot Windows based VHDs?
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I think so.
But I need to run their "fixup" program.
Which I am trying to figure out how to do after the fact.
More for knowledge sake. Like I said I can just redo the import,
But today is all about learning!
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@BRRABill said:
I think so.
But I need to run their "fixup" program.
Which I am trying to figure out how to do after the fact.
More for knowledge sake. Like I said I can just redo the import,
But today is all about learning!
while it's booting, press F8 to get into the options, just like a bare metal install.
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@Dashrender said:
while it's booting, press F8 to get into the options, just like a bare metal install.
I think I need to find a way to get the ISO file I need into XenServer.
Is that possible to do through XenCenter?
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@BRRABill said:
@Dashrender said:
while it's booting, press F8 to get into the options, just like a bare metal install.
I think I need to find a way to get the ISO file I need into XenServer.
Is that possible to do through XenCenter?
You need to create an external share, Windows of NFS, to host the ISO file.
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I followed this to create my ISO Library locally on the XS datastore
http://www.riverlite.co.uk/blog/xenserver-creating-a-local-iso-library/ -
@Dashrender said:
I followed this to create my ISO Library locally on the XS datastore
http://www.riverlite.co.uk/blog/xenserver-creating-a-local-iso-library/(shivers)
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@Dashrender said:
I followed this to create my ISO Library locally on the XS datastore
http://www.riverlite.co.uk/blog/xenserver-creating-a-local-iso-library/I wouldn't do this production. In a lab or test environment it is fine though.
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@coliver said:
@Dashrender said:
I followed this to create my ISO Library locally on the XS datastore
http://www.riverlite.co.uk/blog/xenserver-creating-a-local-iso-library/I wouldn't do this production. In a lab or test environment it is fine though.
Why?
You can use the available space outside of the boot partition for xen for this.
it's perfectly safe.
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@Dashrender said:
will XenServer boot Windows based VHDs?
Yes, it did after I used the "fixup" option.
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@DustinB3403 said:
@coliver said:
@Dashrender said:
I followed this to create my ISO Library locally on the XS datastore
http://www.riverlite.co.uk/blog/xenserver-creating-a-local-iso-library/I wouldn't do this production. In a lab or test environment it is fine though.
Why?
You can use the available space outside of the boot partition for xen for this.
it's perfectly safe.
I was wondering the same thing? I did this on my ESXi box for all of my ISOs.
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@BRRABill said:
@Dashrender said:
will XenServer boot Windows based VHDs?
Yes, it did after I used the "fixup" option.
Though I wonder if setting up a new VM and doing a bare metal restore of that server wouldn't be better than importing the VHD.
Still, pretty awesome either way.
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@BRRABill said:
@BRRABill said:
@Dashrender said:
will XenServer boot Windows based VHDs?
Yes, it did after I used the "fixup" option.
Though I wonder if setting up a new VM and doing a bare metal restore of that server wouldn't be better than importing the VHD.
Still, pretty awesome either way.
I wouldn't think so. You'd still have to uninstall the old hypervisor tools, and install the new hypervisor tools.
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Why not just install from scratch and copy the data over?
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@Dashrender said:
Why not just install from scratch and copy the data over?
I might just do that.
Though I am still hanging on hope that 2016 comes out sooner than later.
Then I don't have to do the process more than once.
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@BRRABill said:
Though I am still hanging on hope that 2016 comes out sooner than later.
I thought I heard Q3.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
For the most part a agree with this. Windows Admin already have or are aware of the tools to manage Hyper-V where as XenServer and ESXi require a new set of tools.
We were discussing this offline or in another thread. I'm not so convinced that this is a broadly true as people think. Tons of Windows Admins are unfamiliar with the tools you would expect them to know for this and even ones that use those tools, often they don't use them for Hyper-V and just log in through RDP to manage it. They might be familiar with the tools (maybe) but often don't even leverage them.
So true in my experience.
Learned a lot in the last couple years through VM's and the various and sundry things you need to poke to get them to work / manage them.
