XenServer 5.6 Online HTML Guides from Citrix

Citrix XenServer ® 5.6 Virtual Machine Installation Guide
Release 5.6
http://docs.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/5.6.0/1.0/en_gb/guest.html

Citrix XenServer ® 5.6 Administrator's Guide
Release 5.6
http://docs.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/5.6.0/1.0/en_gb/reference.html

Citrix XenServer ® 5.6 Xe Command Line Interface CLI reference
Release 5.6
http://docs.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/5.6.0/1.0/en_gb/reference.html#cli

For your convenience inside there is the entire administration summary

Citrix XenServer ® 5.6 Administrator's Guide

TIP: use your browser built in search text feature by pressing Ctrl-f keyboard combination or use search function on the right column of this blog.

 

Document Overview

How this Guide relates to other documentation

Managing users

Authenticating users using Active Directory (AD)

Configuring Active Directory authentication

User authentication

Removing access for a user

Leaving an AD domain

Role Based Access Control

Roles

Definitions of RBAC roles and permissions

Working with RBAC using the xe CLI

To list all the available defined roles in XenServer

To display a list of current subjects:

To add a subject to RBAC

To assign an RBAC role to a created subject

To change a subject's RBAC role:

Auditing

Audit log xe CLI commands

To obtain all audit records from the pool

To obtain audit records of the pool since a precise millisecond timestamp

To obtain audit records of the pool since a precise minute timestamp

How does XenServer compute the roles for the session?

XenServer hosts and resource pools

Hosts and resource pools overview

Requirements for creating resource pools

Creating a resource pool

Creating heterogeneous resource pools

Adding shared storage

Removing a XenServer host from a resource pool

High Availability

HA Overview

Overcommitting

Overcommitment Warning

Host Fencing

Configuration Requirements

Restart priorities

Enabling HA on a XenServer pool

Removing HA protection from a VM using the CLI

Recovering an unreachable host

Shutting down a host when HA is enabled

Shutting down a VM when it is protected by HA

Host Power On

Powering on hosts remotely

Using the CLI to Manage Host Power On

To enable Host Power On using the CLI

To turn on hosts remotely using the CLI

Configuring a Custom Script for XenServer's Host Power On Feature

Key/Value Pairs

host.power_on_mode

host.power_on_config

Sample Script

Storage

Storage Overview

Storage Repositories (SRs)

Virtual Disk Images (VDIs)

Physical Block Devices (PBDs)

Virtual Block Devices (VBDs)

Summary of Storage objects

Virtual Disk Data Formats

VHD-based VDIs

VHD Chain Coalescing

Space Utilization

LUN-based VDIs

Storage configuration

Creating Storage Repositories

Upgrading LVM storage from XenServer 5.0 or earlier

LVM performance considerations

VDI types

Creating a raw virtual disk using the xe CLI

Converting between VDI formats

Probing an SR

Storage Multipathing

Storage Repository Types

Local LVM

Creating a local LVM SR (lvm)

Local EXT3 VHD

Creating a local EXT3 SR (ext)

udev

ISO

EqualLogic

Creating a shared EqualLogic SR

EqualLogic VDI Snapshot space allocation with XenServer EqualLogic Adapter

Creating a VDI using the CLI

NetApp

Creating a shared NetApp SR over iSCSI

Managing VDIs in a NetApp SR

Taking VDI snapshots with a NetApp SR

Software iSCSI Support

Managing Hardware Host Bus Adapters (HBAs)

Removing HBA-based SAS, FC or iSCSI device entries

LVM over iSCSI

Creating a shared LVM over Fibre Channel / iSCSI HBA or SAS SR (lvmohba)

NFS VHD

LVM over hardware HBA

Citrix StorageLink Gateway (CSLG) SRs

Managing Storage Repositories

Introducing an SR

Resizing an SR

Converting local Fibre Channel SRs to shared SRs

Moving Virtual Disk Images (VDIs) between SRs

Copying all of a VM's VDIs to a different SR

Copying individual VDIs to a different SR

Adjusting the disk IO scheduler

Virtual disk QoS settings

 

Configuring VM memory

The concept of dynamic range

The concept of static range

DMC Behaviour

How does DMC Work?

Memory constraints

Supported operating systems

xe CLI commands

Display the dynamic memory properties of a VM

Updating memory properties

Update individual memory properties

Upgrade issues

Workload Balancing interaction

Networking

Network objects

Networks

VLANs

Using VLANs with host management interfaces

Using VLANs with virtual machines

Using VLANs with dedicated storage NICs

Combining management interfaces and guest VLANs on a single host NIC

NIC bonds

Initial networking configuration

Managing networking configuration

Creating networks in resource pools

Creating VLANs

Creating NIC bonds on a standalone host

Creating a NIC bond on a dual-NIC host

Controlling the MAC address of the bond

Reverting NIC bonds

Creating NIC bonds in resource pools

Adding NIC bonds to an existing pool

Configuring a dedicated storage NIC

Controlling Quality of Service (QoS)

Changing networking configuration options

DNS servers

Changing IP address configuration for a standalone host

Changing IP address configuration in resource pools

Management interface

Disabling management access

Adding a new physical NIC

NIC/PIF ordering in resource pools

Re-ordering NICs

Networking Troubleshooting

Recovering from a bad network configuration

 

Workload Balancing

New Features

Changes

Workload Balancing Overview

Workload Balancing Installation Overview

Supported XenServer Versions

Supported Operating Systems

Recommended Hardware

Workload Balancing Data Store Requirements

Operating System Language Support

Preinstallation Considerations

Installing Workload Balancing

To verify your Workload Balancing installation

Configuring Firewalls

Upgrading Workload Balancing

Upgrading SQL Server

Upgrading Workload Balancing and the Operating System

Initializing Workload Balancing

Authorization for Workload Balancing

Configuring Antivirus Software

Configuring Workload Balancing Settings

Adjusting the Optimization Mode

Fixed

Scheduled

To set an optimization mode for all time periods

To specify times when the optimization mode will change automatically

To edit or delete an automatic optimization interval

Optimizing and Managing Power Automatically

Enabling Workload Balancing Power Management

Designing Environments for Power Management and VM Consolidation

To apply optimization recommendations automatically

To select servers for power management

Changing the Critical Thresholds

To change the critical thresholds

Tuning Metric Weightings

Excluding Hosts from Recommendations

Configuring Optimization Intervals, Report Subscriptions, and Data Storage

To configure the data storage period

VM Optimization Criteria

Number of Times an Optimization Recommendation is Made

Setting the Minimum Optimization Severity

Modifying the Aggressiveness Setting

Receiving Reports by Email Automatically (Report Subscriptions)

Choosing an Optimal Server for VM Initial Placement, Migrate, and Resume

To resume a virtual machine on the optimal server

Accepting Optimization Recommendations

Administering Workload Balancing

Reconfiguring a Pool to Use Another WLB Server

Updating Workload Balancing Credentials

Uninstalling Workload Balancing

Customizing Workload Balancing

Entering Maintenance Mode with Workload Balancing Enabled

Working with Workload Balancing Reports

Subscribing to Workload Balancing Reports

Using Workload Balancing Reports for Tasks

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Your Optimization Thresholds

Generating and Managing Workload Balancing Reports

To subscribe to a Workload Balancing report

To cancel a report subscription

To navigate in a Workload Balancing Report

To print a Workload Balancing report

To export a Workload Balancing report

Displaying Workload Balancing Reports

Toolbar Buttons

Workload Balancing Report Glossary

Pool Optimization Performance History

Pool Audit Log History

Audit Log Event Names

Pool Health

Pool Health History

Pool Optimization History

Virtual Machine Motion History

Virtual Machine Performance History

 

Backup and recovery

Full metadata backup and disaster recovery (DR)

DR and metadata backup overview

Backup and restore using xsconsole

Moving SRs between hosts and Pools

Using Portable SRs for Manual Multi-Site Disaster Recovery

VM Snapshots

Quiesced Snapshots

Snapshots with memory

Creating a VM Snapshot

Creating a snapshot with memory

To list all of the snapshots on a XenServer pool

To list the snapshots on a particular VM

Restoring a VM to its previous state

Deleting a snapshot

Snapshot Templates

Exporting a snapshot to a template

Advanced Notes for Quiesced Snapshots

Coping with machine failures

Member failures

Master failures

Pool failures

Coping with Failure due to Configuration Errors

Physical Machine failure

Monitoring and managing XenServer

Customizing Alerts

Configuring Email Alerts

Custom Fields and Tags

Custom Searches

Determining throughput of physical bus adapters

 

Troubleshooting

Sending host log messages to a central server

XenCenter logs

Troubleshooting connections between XenCenter and the XenServer host