#+TITLE: XenServer Admin Scripts

N.B.: As I no longer use XenServer in a professional capacity, I have no plans to update this repository with code improvements, enhancements, or bug fixes.

These are works in progress for performing common XenServer CLI tasks. They are somewhat site-specific and have some known bugs.

This minimal documentation began as solely internal development notes before public release and needs enhancement.

• Assumptions

  • name labels are unique among each type of object (VM, SR, network...); exception is local storage
  • name labels of default templates have not been changed from original values
  • each host has one local storage repository with name label 'Local storage' (only relevant if local storage is used)
  • host name label is same as hostname

• Environment variables These are used to set the XE_EXTRA_ARGS environment variable if it is not set:

  • XE_SERVER
  • XE_PORT
  • XE_USER
  • XE_PASSWORD

• Reasons

  • common multi-step tasks are tedious with =xe=
  • name labels are more user-friendly than UUIDs
  • =vm-uninstall= leaves orphan VDIs ...to be completed.

• Example of VM installation Note that =xs-vm-install-vm-from-template= is slated for major revision, although the command-line syntax is not expected to be changed significantly. #+BEGIN_SRC sh

  xs-vm-install-from-template -h

  /root/bin/xs-vm-install-from-template: option requires an argument -- h

  Install a VM from a bare template.

  Usage: xs-vm-install-from-template [OPTION] [...]

  -l VM NAME LABEL -c NUMBER OF VCPUS -m MEMORY SIZE in MB -h DISK SIZE in GB -s STORAGE REPOSITORY NAME LABEL or UUID -n NETWORK NAME LABEL or UUID -p MAC ADDRESS (00:16:3e:xx:xx:xx) -t TEMPLATE NAME LABEL or UUID -d DISTRIBUTION (CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian) -v VERSION -a ARCHITECTURE (i386, x86_64) -i INSTALLATION REPOSITORY URL -k KICKSTART FILE URL -r PRESEED FILE URL -o LOG FILE LOCATION

  xs-vm-install-from-template -l iptest -c 1 -m 4096 -h 15 -s 'Local storage' -n vlan-996 -t 'CentOS 6 (32-bit)' -i http://10.1.0.1/CentOS/6/os/i386 -k http://10.1.0.1/linux-install/centos/centos-vm-tmp.ks

  This template appears to be for CentOS.

  This template appears to be for CentOS 6.

  This template appears to be for a 32-bit installation.

  Log xe commands to iptest.log [y/N]?:

  VM name label: iptest Virtual CPUs: 1 Memory size: 4096 MB Disk size: 15 GB Storage repository name label: Local storage Storage repository host: Storage repository UUID: 377d59f2-007a-b064-b1da-48309111b875 Network name label: vlan-996 Network UUID: 9923fbcb-a495-933a-3b4c-ab9264db3060 Template name label: CentOS 6 (32-bit) Template UUID: f544f1ac-401a-6720-fa0b-5f679617cbf5 Distribution: CentOS Version: 6 Architecture: i386 Installation repository URL: http://10.1.0.1/CentOS/6/os/i386 PV args: ks=http://10.1.0.1/linux-install/centos/centos-vm-tmp.ks ksdevice=bootif

  Immediately start VM for installation [y/N]?:

  Continue [y/N]?: y Installing from template...done. VM UUID: e0c5be69-2332-06b2-4f34-98b3bb2c249b Setting VCPUs...done. Setting memory limits...done. Destroying virtual disk image...done. Creating virtual disk image...done. VDI UUID: f6943978-5400-4c0c-bcdf-13dd171758a3 Creating virtual block device...done. VBD UUID: 47653165-d6c8-f468-468b-3301ab1f5466 Creating virtual interface...done. VIF UUID: 7883b029-0bbf-ac5e-e685-a0dc1449dda6 Setting installation repository...done. Setting boot parameters...done.

  The following command can be used to recreate this VM:

  /root/bin/xs-vm-install-from-template -l iptest -c 1 -m 4096 -h 15 -s 377d59f2-007a-b064-b1da-48309111b875 -n 9923fbcb-a495-933a-3b4c-ab9264db3060 -t f544f1ac-401a-6720-fa0b-5f679617cbf5 -d CentOS -v 6 -a i386 -i http://10.1.0.1/CentOS/6/os/i386 -k http://10.1.0.1/linux-install/centos/centos-vm-tmp.ks #+END_SRC

• Remaining work ** xs-* scripts [2/10]

  • [ ] set arg vars to avoid env vars; always initialize vars!
  • [ ] NFS mount scripts from XenGateway
  • [X] default to localhost for xs-vm-provision-local
  • [ ] =vm_host()= is a mess
  • [ ] vm-vnc-toggle for PV
  • [X] make VM a positional arg for xs-vm-*
  • [ ] use space-delimited lists instead of arrays where practical
  • [ ] consider more default verbosity with option to disable
  • [ ] use bash regex matching instead of grep *** xs-vm-provision-local
  • [ ] rename to xs-vm-provision
  • [ ] support shared storage (default to host's/pool's default) *** xs-vif-create/destroy
  • [ ] automatically plug/unplug VIFs on running VMs *** xs-vm-install-from-template
  • [ ] use =xs-functions=
  • [ ] check for/reduce/remove hard-coded site-specific stuff
  • [ ] INSTALL_REPO_URL_BASE as optional environment variable
  • [ ] use pedantic [[http://www.iec.ch/][IEC]] units instead of ambiguous MB/GB
  • [ ] cli bug?
  • [X] set VCPUs
  • [ ] HVM-boot-params for Other install media
  • [X] correct default PV-args for RHEL/CentOS vs. Debian/Ubuntu
  • [ ] prompt for PV-args with default string shown
  • [ ] prompt with default in case of only one option
  • [ ] PV text/vnc console connection option
  • [ ] interactive bugs
    • [ ] empty string for dist
    • [ ] empty string for arch
    • [ ] empty string for version? *** xs-vm-xenstore-config
  • [X] use name label as default hostname