7. Build XenServer Host¶

This page is not based on the OpenStack Installation Guide.

In this guide I am using a server with a small RAID-1 for the OS, and a large RAID-10 for the VMs.
Boot with XenServer 6.5 DVD.
Set keyboard, agree to terms, etc.
Set the installation destination to sda.

Set VM storage to only sdb, and enable thin provisioning:

Select local media as the installation source.
Do not install any supplemental packs.
Skip verification of the installation media.
Set a good *XENSERVER_ROOT* password. Use a password which you don’t mind being plain-text readable to anyone who has root access to this system.
Set the management network interface to use eth1 and configure the IPv4 addresses:

Set an appropriate timezone.
Configure the server to use NTP, and set the server address as the controller’s IP:

Start the installation.
Reboot the server to start XenServer. The first boot will take a very long time. It will appear to hang a couple of times, but wait for it to reach the user interface.
On a Windows workstation, go to http://xenserver.org/open-source-virtualization-download.html
Download XenCenter Windows Management Console, and install it.
Download XenServer 6.5 SP1 (under Service Packs), and keep it safe in a directory.
Download all of the public hotfixes for XenServer 6.5 SP1, and also keep them safe in a directory.
Launch XenCenter, and click add new server:

Enter the address and credentials of the XenServer:

Enable the option to remember the connection, and click OK.
Open up the SP1 zip file you downloaded, and double-click the XenServer Update File inside:

This will open the Install Update wizard. Click Next:

Select our one server, and click next:

_images/page07-select-server-to-update.png

XenCenter will upload the update to the server. Click next when done:

XenCenter will run some checks. Click next when done:

Select “Allow XenCenter to carry out the post-update tasks”, and then click on “Install Update”:

XenCenter will perform the installation, and reboot the server. This will take a while to complete. Click Finish when done:

Repeat steps 22-27 for all of the hotfixes you downloaded. Except in step 26, select “I will carry out the post-update checks myself” for ALL of the hotfixes:

Reboot the XenServer by right-clicking it in XenCenter, and clicking on “Reboot”:

Once the server is back online, right-click it and select “New SR…”
Create an ISO library somewhere where you will have read/write access. In my case I am using a Windows share, but you can use NFS:

_images/page07-choose-type-of-storage.png

_images/page07-enter-path-of-storage.png

SSH to the XenServer as root.

Create the OpenStack Integration Bridge network:

# xe network-create name-label=openstack-int-network

Obtain the bridge name of the new network. Write this down as *XAPI_BRIDGE*, as this will be needed later:
```
# xe network-list name-label=openstack-int-network params=bridge

  bridge ( RO)    : xapi0
```

Find the UUID of the ISO library created earlier:

# xe sr-list

  uuid ( RO)                : ef0adc0a-3b56-5e9d-4824-0821f4be7ed4
            name-label ( RW): Removable storage
      name-description ( RW):
                  host ( RO): compute1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
                  type ( RO): udev
          content-type ( RO): disk


  uuid ( RO)                : 6658e157-a534-a450-c4db-2ca6dd6296cf
            name-label ( RW): Local storage
      name-description ( RW):
                  host ( RO): compute1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
                  type ( RO): ext
          content-type ( RO): user


  uuid ( RO)                : f04950c1-ee7b-2ccb-e3e2-127a5bffc5a6
            name-label ( RW): CIFS ISO library
      name-description ( RW): CIFS ISO Library [\\windows.lab.eco.rackspace.com\ISOs]
                  host ( RO): compute1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
                  type ( RO): iso
          content-type ( RO): iso


  uuid ( RO)                : 7a549ca7-d1af-cf72-fd7e-2f48448354e8
            name-label ( RW): DVD drives
      name-description ( RW): Physical DVD drives
                  host ( RO): compute1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
                  type ( RO): udev
          content-type ( RO): iso


  uuid ( RO)                : 9a4f8404-7745-b582-484f-108917bf1488
            name-label ( RW): XenServer Tools
      name-description ( RW): XenServer Tools ISOs
                  host ( RO): compute1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
                  type ( RO): iso
          content-type ( RO): iso

In my example, the UUID is f04950c1-ee7b-2ccb-e3e2-127a5bffc5a6.

Set a parameter on the ISO library. Replace *UUID* with the UUID found above:
```
# xe sr-param-set uuid=*UUID* other-config:i18n-key=local-storage-iso
```

Update the system hosts file with entries for all nodes:

# vi /etc/hosts

16.0.192 controller controller.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
16.0.203 compute1 compute1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
16.0.204 compute1-vm compute1-vm.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
16.0.195 compute2 compute2.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
16.0.196 block1 block1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
16.0.197 object1 object1.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com
16.0.198 object2 object2.openstack.lab.eco.rackspace.com

Relax XSM SR checks. Needed for migration of instances with Cinder volumes:
```
# vi /etc/xapi.conf

  relax-xsm-sr-check = true
```

Symlink a directory of the SR to /images. Needed for instance migration:

# LOCAL_SR=$(xe sr-list name-label="Local storage" --minimal)
# IMG_DIR="/var/run/sr-mount/$LOCAL_SR/images"
# mkdir -p "$IMG_DIR"
# ln -s "$IMG_DIR" /images

Set up SSH key authentication for the root user. Needed for instance migration. Press ENTER to give default response to all prompts:

# ssh-keygen

  Generating public/private rsa key pair.
  Enter file in which to save the key (/root/.ssh/id_rsa):
  Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
  Enter same passphrase again:
  Your identification has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.
  Your public key has been saved in /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

# cat /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

Note: If you are building an additional XenServer host, you will instead copy the contents of /root/.ssh from your first XenServer host to your additional hosts.

Restart the XenServer Toolstack:
```
# xe-toolstack-restart
```