XenServer Administration Handbook

XenServer Administration Handbook

by Tim Mackey, J.K. Benedict
Released April 2016
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781491935439

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Book description

Packed with practical advice, this hands-on guide provides valuable information you need to most effectively optimize and manage the XenServer open source virtualization platform. Whether you run a modest installation of a few blades or multiple global enterprise datacenters, this book focuses on the most critical issues you’re likely to encounter when designing a XenServer deployment and helps you handle day-to-day management tasks.

Tim Mackey and J.K. Benedict from Citrix Systems, the company that manages XenServer, show you how to design a deployment through best practices, deployment blueprints, and installation guidelines. The book’s second part features concise, easy-to-implement recipes for day-to-day management, such as user rights, backup strategies, and hardware maintenance.

  • Learn precisely what makes a XenServer work, and how it can host 1000 virtual machines
  • Explore the core components of a production XenServer environment
  • Investigate several options on how and where to install XenServer
  • Examine several factors for "right sizing" your XenServer deployment to fit your needs
  • Work with a decision tree to optimize your XenServer deployment design
  • Understand how to accommodate guest VM virtualization modes
  • Use recipes that help you plan for, obtain, and apply XenServer upgrades

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Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. How This Book Is Organized
    2. Who This Book Is Written For
    3. About Us
    4. Conventions Used in This Book
    5. Using Code Examples
    6. Safari® Books Online
    7. How to Contact Us
    8. Acknowledgments
      1. From Jesse
      2. From Tim
  2. I. Designing a Successful XenServer Deployment
  3. 1. What Is a XenServer?
    1. The Xen Hypervisor
    2. Tooling for Xen Virtualization
  4. 2. Core Architecture and Critical Components
    1. XenServer Isn’t Linux, but dom0 Is
      1. Architecture Interface
    2. XenCenter: A Graphical Xen Management Tool
    3. Core Processes
      1. XAPI
      2. xhad
      3. xenopsd
      4. xcp-rrdd
      5. xcp-networkd
      6. SM
      7. perfmon
      8. mpathalert
      9. snapwatchd
      10. stunnel
      11. xenconsoled
      12. xenstored
      13. squeezed
    4. Critical Configuration Files
      1. /boot/extlinux.conf
      2. /etc/hosts
      3. /etc/hostname
      4. /etc/multipath.conf
      5. /etc/resolv.conf
      6. /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi
      7. /etc/xensource/
    5. XenServer Object Relationships
      1. Network Objects
      2. GPU Objects
      3. Storage Objects
  5. 3. Installing XenServer
    1. Manual Installation
    2. Unattended Installation
    3. Boot from SAN
    4. Supplemental Packs
    5. Third-Party Driver Disks
  6. 4. Design Assumptions Impacting Deployment
    1. Pooled Hosts Versus Standalone Hosts
      1. Pool Master Versus Pool Member
      2. Processor Compatibility Within Pools
      3. Resource Pool Sizing
      4. When to Create a New Pool
    2. Defining a Management Paradigm
      1. Provisioning Tools
      2. Multiple XenCenter Administrators
    3. Hardware Compatibility
      1. Host Requirements
      2. BIOS, Firmware, and Driver Updates
    4. Shared Versus Local Storage
      1. Storage Provisioning Model
    5. Storage I/O Operations Per Second (IOPS)
      1. Validating Local Storage
    6. Memory Management
      1. Fixed Memory Concepts
      2. Dynamic VM Memory Management
    7. Planning for Infrastructure Failure
      1. Host Failure Protection
      2. Preventing Aggressive Fencing
      3. Capacity Planning During Failure
      4. No Single Points of Failure
  7. 5. Deployment Blueprint
    1. Start with Storage
      1. Local Versus Shared Storage
      2. NFS Versus iSCSI
      3. Fibre Channel and HBAs
      4. Multipath Configurations
    2. Define Network Topologies
      1. Bonding and LACP
      2. Jumbo Frames
  8. 6. Understanding Guest VM Types
    1. HVM Guests
    2. PV Guests
    3. Microsoft Windows in XenServer
    4. HVM versus Linux PV
  9. II. Management Recipes
  10. 7. Installation Recipes
    1. Manual Installation
    2. Creating a Bootable USB Device
    3. Unattended Installation
    4. Boot from SAN
    5. Installation of Supplemental Packs
    6. Driver Disks
    7. Slipstreaming Drivers and Supplemental Packs
  11. 8. Planning for Upgrades
    1. Security Patches
    2. Learning of a New Hotfix or Patch
    3. Determine if a Hotfix Is Present
    4. Applying Patches to XenServer
  12. 9. Log Management
    1. Log Configuration
    2. Log Rotation
    3. Log Aggregation
    4. Throttling SNMP ACKs 
  13. 10. Backup Strategies
    1. Backup dom0
    2. Pool and XAPI Database Backup
    3. VM Backup
    4. Metadata Backup and Restore
    5. Portable Storage Repositories
  14. 11. User Management
    1. Enabling Roles Based Authentication
    2. Configuring Users
    3. Removing Users
    4. Disable External Authentication
    5. Privileged (Root) Password Recovery
  15. 12. SSL Certificates
    1. Apply a Commercial Certificate
    2. Create a New Self-Signed Certificate
  16. 13. Hardware Maintenance
    1. Upgrades, Support, and Hardware
    2. Storage
      1. Adding Local Storage
      2. USB Storage for Backup
    3. Networking
      1. Replacing a NIC
    4. Hosts
      1. Adding a New Host to a Pool
      2. Recovery from Host Failure When HA Is Enabled
  17. Index

Product information

  • Title: XenServer Administration Handbook
  • Author(s): Tim Mackey, J.K. Benedict
  • Release date: April 2016
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781491935439