Citrix Systems Essential Citrix Tools for Virtual Machines: Cloning and XenServer Tools Overview
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be sure to follow the appropriate preparation procedure for the VM (see Section 9.9, “Preparing for Cloning a Windows VM Using VSS” for Windows and Section 5.7, “Preparing to Clone a Linux VM” for Linux).

Note:

Templates cannot be used as normal VMs.

XenServer has two mechanisms for cloning VMs:

1.A full copy

2.Copy-on-Write (CoW)

The faster Copy-on-Write (CoW) mode only writes modified blocks to disk and is only supported for file- backed VMs. CoW is designed to save disk space and allow fast clones, but will slightly slow down normal disk performance. A template can be fast-cloned multiple times without slowdown.

Note:

If a template is cloned into a VM and the clone converted back into a template, disk performance can linearly decrease depending on the number of times this has happened. In this event, the vm-copyCLI command can be used to perform a full copy of the disks and restore expected levels of disk performance.

Notes for Resource Pools

If you create a template on a server where all VM virtual disks are on shared Storage Repositories (SR), the template cloning operation will be forwarded to any server in the pool that can access the shared SRs. However, if you create the template from a VM virtual disk that only has a local SR, then the template clone operation can only execute on the server that can access that SR.

2.2.3. Importing an Exported VM

You can create a VM by importing an existing exported VM. Like cloning, exporting and importing a VM is fast way to create additional VMs of a certain configuration so that you can increase the speed of your deployment. You might, for example, have a special-purpose server configuration that you use many times. Once you have set up a VM the way you want it, you can export it, and import it later to create another copy of your specially-configured VM. You can also use export and import to move a VM to a XenServer host that is in another resource pool.

For details and procedures on importing and exporting VMs, see Chapter 11, Importing and Exporting VMs.

2.3. XenServer Tools

XenServer Tools must be installed for each Virtual Machine (Windows and Linux) in order for the VM to have a fully supported configuration, and to be able to use the XenServer management tools (the xe CLI or XenCenter). A Windows VM will function without them, but performance will be significantly hampered unless the tools are installed.

Without the tools being installed, you cannot:

•Cleanly shut down a VM

•Cleanly reboot a VM

•Suspend a VM

•Migrate a running VM (XenMotion)

•Use the checkpoint and roll back feature

•Dynamically adjust the number of vCPUs assigned to a running Linux VM- Windows VMs require a reboot for this to take effect

For further information about XenServer Tools see Section 9.3, “XenServer Tools”

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Contents Citrix XenServer 6.2.0 Virtual Machine Users Guide Trademarks Contents VM Migration with XenMotion and Storage XenMotion Importing the Demo Linux Virtual Appliance Windows VM Release Notes Setting Up a Red Hat Installation Server Overview About this DocumentXenServer Documentation Creating VMs Virtual MachinesOther Methods of VM Creation XenServer Tools Importing an Exported VMPage Supported Guests, Virtual Memory, and Disk Size Limits Supported Guests and Allocating ResourcesOperating System Minimum Maximum Minimum Disk Space 4GB 8GB Experimental Guests Operating SystemXenServer Product Family Virtual Device Support Deprecated GuestsVirtual device Linux VMs Windows VMs VM Block Devices Available Windows Templates Basic Procedure for Creating a Windows VMCreating Windows VMs Template Name DescriptionAttaching an ISO Image Library Using XenCenter to Create a VMTo create a Windows 7 32-bit VM Page Using the CLI to Create a Windows VM Installing a Windows VM from an ISO Repository Using the CLICreating Linux VMs Install From Network From CD Repository Distribution VendorCreating a Linux VM by Installing from a Physical CD/DVD Creating a Linux VM by Installing From an ISO Image Network Installation NotesTo install Debian using a preseed file Advanced Operating System Boot ParametersTo install Rhel Using a Kickstart File Installing the Linux Guest Agent To install the guest agentAdditional Installation Notes for Linux Distributions Linux Distribution Installation NotesMachine Name Preparing to Clone a Linux VMAdditional Debian Notes IP addressPage XenMotion VM Migration with XenMotion and Storage XenMotionXenMotion and Storage XenMotion Storage XenMotionLive VDI Migration Migrating a VM using XenCenterLimitations and Caveats To Move Virtual Disks Updating Windows Operating Systems To uninstall the XenServer ToolsUpdating VMs Updating XenServer Tools for Windows VMsPage Managing vApps in XenCenter Creating a vApp using XenCenterVApps Creating vAppsDeleting vApps Start and shutdown vApps using XenCenterDeleting vApps using XenCenter To start a vAppTo export a vApp Importing and Exporting vAppsTo import a vApp Reset XenDesktop Shared Desktop Mode VM Boot BehaviorPersist XenDesktop Private Desktop Mode Advanced Notes for Virtual MachinesInstalldir/xensetup.exe /S /norestart To enable the Windows XenServer VSS provider Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service VSS providerConnecting to a Windows VM Using Remote Desktop To Enable Remote Desktop on a Windows VMTime Handling in Windows VMs Time Handling in Linux VMsTo set individual Linux VMs to maintain independent times Installing a VM from Reseller Option Kit BIOS-locked MediaGuest OS Dependent wallclock Independent wallclock Using XenCenter Preparing for Cloning a Windows VM Using VSSUsing the CLI Assigning a GPU to a Windows VM for Use with XenDesktop Cloning Windows VMsTo detach a Windows VM from a GPU using XenCenter To assign a GPU to a Windows VM using XenCenterTo assign a GPU to a Windows VM using xe CLI To detach a Windows VM from a GPU using the xe CLIDetach the GPU from the VM by entering the following Importing the Demo Linux Virtual Appliance To Import the Demo Linux Virtual Appliance Using XenCenterUseful Tests Page Supported Formats Importing and Exporting VMsFormat Description Open Virtualization Format OVF and OVA Attribute DescriptionDisk Image Formats VHD and Vmdk XVA FormatOperating System Fixup XVA Version 1 FormatImporting VMs Transfer VMTo use the RawVDI transfer protocol To Import VMs from OVF/OVA using XenCenter Importing VMs from OVF/OVAPage To Import VMs from a Disk Image using XenCenter Importing Disk ImagesTo Import VMs from XVA Files VM using XenCenter Importing VMs from XVAExporting VMs To Import a VM from XVA using the xe CLIExporting VMs as OVF/OVA To Export VMs as OVF/OVA using XenCenter To Export VMs as XVA Files using XenCenter Exporting VMs as XVATo Export VMs as XVA Files using the xe CLI Appendix A. Windows VM Release Notes Release NotesAppendix B. Linux VM Release Notes Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5 toRed Hat Enterprise Linux Preparing a Rhel 4.5 to 4.8 guest for cloningSuse Enterprise Linux 10 SP1 CentOSOracle Enterprise Linux Suse Enterprise Linux 10 SP3Ubuntu Creating an ISO on a Linux computer Appendix C. Creating ISO ImagesOn a Windows computer Appendix D. Enabling VNC for Linux VMs Enabling a Graphical Console on Debian Squeeze VMsDetermining the Location of your VNC Configuration File Configuring GDM to use VNCFirewall Settings VNC Screen ResolutionEnabling VNC for RHEL, CentOS, or OEL 6.x VMs Create the xinetd.d file, /etc/xinetd.d/vnc-server-streamModifying the xinetd Configuration Setting up SLES-based VMs for VNCEnabling Remote Administration Checking for a VNC ServerTo Open the VNC Port on Sles 10.x VMs Firewall Checking Runlevels To Open the VNC Port on Sles 11.x VMs FirewallEnable Remote Access Appendix E. Setting Up a Red Hat Installation ServerCopying Installation Media NFSFTP HttpVM Crashes Appendix F. Troubleshooting VM ProblemsTo enable saving of Linux VM crash dumps Controlling Linux VM Crashdump BehaviourTroubleshooting Boot Problems on Linux VMs
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