Citrix Systems 6.2.0 manual Operating System Fixup, XVA Version 1 Format

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11.1.4. XVA Version 1 Format

XVA Version 1 is the original format specific to Xen-based hypervisors for packaging an individual VM as a single file archive, including a descriptor and disk images. Its file extension is ova.xml.

The descriptor (file extension ova.xml) specifies the virtual hardware of a single VM.

The disk image format is a directory of files. The directory name corresponds to a reference name in the descriptor and contains 1 file for each 1 GB chunk of the disk image. The base name of each file includes the chunk number in decimal. It contains 1 block of the disk image in raw binary format, compressed with gzip.

Important:

If a VM is exported from a XenServer host and then imported into another XenServer host with a different CPU type, it may not run properly. For example, a Windows VM created on a XenServer host with an Intel® VT Enabled CPU, and then exported, may not run when imported into a XenServer host with an AMD-VTM CPU.

11.2. Operating System Fixup

When importing a virtual appliance or disk image created and exported from a virtualization platform other than XenServer, it may be necessary to configure or "fix up" the VM before it will boot properly on a XenServer host.

XenCenter includes an advanced hypervisor interoperability feature — Operating System Fixup — which aims to ensure a basic level of interoperability for VMs that you import into XenServer. You need to use Operating System Fixup when importing VMs from OVF/OVA packages and disk images created on other virtualization platforms.

The Operating System Fixup process addresses the operating system device and driver issues inherent when moving from one hypervisor to another, attempting to repair boot device-related problems with the imported VM that might prevent the operating system within from booting in a XenServer environment. This feature is not designed to perform conversions from one platform to another.

Note:

This feature requires an ISO storage repository with 40 MB of free space and 256 MB of virtual memory.

Operating System Fixup is supplied as an automatically booting ISO image that is attached to the DVD drive of the imported VM. It performs the necessary repair operations when the VM is first started, and then shuts down the VM. The next time the new VM is started, the boot device is reset, and the VM starts normally.

To use Operating System Fixup on imported disk images or OVF/OVA packages, you must enable the feature on the Advanced Options page of the XenCenter Import wizard and then specify a location where the Fixup ISO should be copied so that XenServer can use it.

What Does Operating System Fixup do to the VM?

The Operating System Fixup option is designed to make the minimal changes possible to enable a virtual system to boot. Depending on the guest operating system and the hypervisor of the original host, additional configuration changes, driver installation, or other actions might be required following using the Fixup feature.

During the Fixup process, an ISO is copied to an ISO SR. The ISO is attached to a VM; the boot order is set to boot from the virtual DVD drive, and the VM boots into the ISO. The environment within the ISO then checks each disk of the VM to determine if it is a Linux or a Windows system.

If a Linux system is detected, then the location of the GRUB configuration file is determined and any pointers to SCSI disk boot devices are modified to point to IDE disks. For example, if GRUB contains an entry of /dev/ sda1 representing the first disk on the first SCSI controller, this entry is changed to /dev/hda1 representing the first disk on the first IDE controller.

If a Windows system is detected, a generic critical boot device driver is extracted from the driver database of the installed operating system and registered with the operating system. This is especially important for older

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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 Basic Procedure for Creating a Windows VM Creating Windows VMsAvailable Windows Templates 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 NotesPreparing to Clone a Linux VM Additional Debian NotesMachine Name IP addressPage VM Migration with XenMotion and Storage XenMotion XenMotion and Storage XenMotionXenMotion Storage XenMotionLive VDI Migration Migrating a VM using XenCenterLimitations and Caveats To Move Virtual Disks To uninstall the XenServer Tools Updating VMsUpdating Windows Operating Systems Updating XenServer Tools for Windows VMsPage Creating a vApp using XenCenter VAppsManaging vApps in XenCenter Creating vAppsStart and shutdown vApps using XenCenter Deleting vApps using XenCenterDeleting vApps To start a vAppTo export a vApp Importing and Exporting vAppsTo import a vApp VM Boot Behavior Persist XenDesktop Private Desktop ModeReset XenDesktop Shared Desktop Mode Advanced Notes for Virtual MachinesInstalldir/xensetup.exe /S /norestart Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service VSS provider Connecting to a Windows VM Using Remote DesktopTo enable the Windows XenServer VSS provider 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 assign a GPU to a Windows VM using XenCenter To assign a GPU to a Windows VM using xe CLITo detach a Windows VM from a GPU using XenCenter 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 cloningCentOS Oracle Enterprise LinuxSuse Enterprise Linux 10 SP1 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-streamSetting up SLES-based VMs for VNC Enabling Remote AdministrationModifying the xinetd Configuration 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 FirewallAppendix E. Setting Up a Red Hat Installation Server Copying Installation MediaEnable Remote Access NFSFTP HttpAppendix F. Troubleshooting VM Problems To enable saving of Linux VM crash dumpsVM Crashes Controlling Linux VM Crashdump BehaviourTroubleshooting Boot Problems on Linux VMs
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