Install XenServer 7 on USB

scottalanmiller

@BRRABill said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

The other key tip is to move the logging off the USB.

Did we ever decide if the swap file was a danger as well? (A danger to prematurely burning out the USB cells.)

Everything that writes anything more than a config file should be off of the USB. Swap on USB would be insanely slow AND kill it quickly. Basically you should never allow swapping AND logging should be external.

hobbit666

Installed it on USB device but it won't boot? Any ideas?

thwr

@hobbit666 I'm not into XS, but a few ideas:

Flash drive visible in UEFI?
Selected as (first) boot device?
Valid boot loader / partition?
Correct partition alignment? Boot partition should begin at sector 2048 on most systems (RPi for example is an exception, it expects the boot partition to start at 8192.
Boot partition marked as bootable?
Does it boot on another system?

hobbit666

Flash drive visible in UEFI?

Not sure is XenServer UEFI? or is it legacy boot?

Selected as (first) boot device?

Yes

Valid boot loader / partition?

Not sure yet but when plugged into a windows machine there are several partions

Correct partition alignment? Boot partition should be at sector 2048 on most systems (RPi for example is an exception, it expects the boot partition to start at 8192.

Boot partition marked as bootable?

Again not sure as i'm installing from XenSercer Media I would of thought it would install and make it bootable??

Does it boot on another system?

No

thwr

@hobbit666 said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

Flash drive visible in UEFI?

Not sure is XenServer UEFI? or is it legacy boot?

UEFI is a management system on your mainboard that replaces the BIOS completly. There may be something that looks like a BIOS, but this is just for compatibility. So that totally depends on your your board, not the OS.

Selected as (first) boot device?

Yes

Valid boot loader / partition?

Not sure yet but when plugged into a windows machine there are several partions

Correct partition alignment? Boot partition should be at sector 2048 on most systems (RPi for example is an exception, it expects the boot partition to start at 8192.

Boot partition marked as bootable?

PowerShell (on a Windows machine where your stick is plugged in. Could be you'll need elevated privileges):

Get-WmiObject Win32_DiskPartition | select Name,Index,BlockSize,Bootable,StartingOffset

Sources:

Way easier on a Linux machine:

fdisk -l

Again not sure as i'm installing from XenSercer Media I would of thought it would install and make it bootable??

Does it boot on another system?

No

thwr

@thwr said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

@hobbit666 said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

Sorry, got your question wrong:

Not sure is XenServer UEFI? or is it legacy boot?

UEFI is a management system on your mainboard that replaces the BIOS completly. There may be something that looks like a BIOS, but this is just for compatibility. So that totally depends on your your board, not the OS.

Just found this: http://xenserver.org/discuss-virtualization/virtualization-blog/entry/xenserver-6-5-can-do-true-uefi-boot.html

Like I said, I'm not into XS, but the headline in this post looks like it tries to boot in BIOS mode by default, but you can make it UEFI aware. Maybe wait for someone who knows XS before you try it

Is your server configured to boot in BIOS or UEFI mode? Switching to BIOS mode seems to be a quick workaround, saving you from compiling parts of XS from source.

hobbit666

This was going onto a Dell Server so I guessing that is legacy BIOS so to speak not UEFI anyway.

hobbit666

Should mention this is on a Dell R510 server (I thought it was a R710 but remembered I used that in my ESXi farm)

Going to try it again and play with BIOS settings.
(Did try Hyper-V which did work from USB but couldn't find NIC )

DustinB3403

My thought is that the system is not booting from the "C: drive" which is actually the USB.

That the BIOS is defaulting to some other boot device, be it the CD/DVD or the array.

The array would be my guess.

BRRABill

Getting my T320 to boot off of USB is a little ... odd. You have to go into an option that looks like the hard drive, but the USB is also listed there.

But you said it was already booting an OS off of USB, so I am sure you are aware of that.

BRRABill

@DustinB3403 said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

My thought is that the system is not booting from the "C: drive" which is actually the USB.

That the BIOS is defaulting to some other boot device, be it the CD/DVD or the array.

The array would be my guess.

That's kind of what I was trying to say, but you said it better.

But since he's already booted off USB on this server, I assumed that was not the case.

DustinB3403

It might be that with a different USB in the system (are there multiple USB ports available that are available inside of this server?) it's assigning it the letter "D:" or something like that.

travisdh1

@DustinB3403 said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

20 dollars a piece.

http://m.staples.com/PNY-64GB-Turbo-USB-30-Flash-Drive/product_338640

Micro Center has 64GB for $13. Best warranty you'll find is the real reason I like those tho, if it ever goes bad they'll replace it.

BRRABill

@travisdh1 said i

Micro Center has 64GB for $13. Best warranty you'll find is the real reason I like those tho, if it ever goes bad they'll replace it.

I'm a little OCD so I've been buying the little teeny ones that go flush on the server.

But your link looks like a great option.

travisdh1

@BRRABill said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

@travisdh1 said i

Micro Center has 64GB for $13. Best warranty you'll find is the real reason I like those tho, if it ever goes bad they'll replace it.

I'm a little OCD so I've been buying the little teeny ones that go flush on the server.

But your link looks like a great option.

They're great for the internal USB port, which most servers have. I don't have any 1U servers, they might not fit something that short.

hobbit666

would you adam and eve it!!!!!

re-created the install USB stick. Used disk part on the 64GB and "cleaned" it. Re-installed and it boots first time

BRRABill

@scottalanmiller said

Everything that writes anything more than a config file should be off of the USB. Swap on USB would be insanely slow AND kill it quickly. Basically you should never allow swapping AND logging should be external.

Question 1:
Even though I set up logging to be external, it still seems to write data to the boot device. (Not sure if this still happens in XS7. Just set it up tonight.)
Is there an amount of writing that would be OK? Like a few KB a day? Or would we prefer to see NO log writing?

Question 2:
How does one go about disabling swapping on XS?

scottalanmiller

@BRRABill said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

Question 1:
Even though I set up logging to be external, it still seems to write data to the boot device. (Not sure if this still happens in XS7. Just set it up tonight.)
Is there an amount of writing that would be OK? Like a few KB a day? Or would we prefer to see NO log writing?

Ideally, no writing. If something is logging, even just once in a while, we have to ask... why?

scottalanmiller

@BRRABill said in Install XenServer 7 on USB:

Question 2:
How does one go about disabling swapping on XS?

remove the swap entry from /etc/fstab

BRRABill

@scottalanmiller said

Ideally, no writing. If something is logging, even just once in a while, we have to ask... why?

For some reason XS keeps writing to the boot disk even after you move the logging. There is a workaround, but it never worked for me without changing permissions.