Local Iso Repository in Xenserver Upload Iso Files

How to add local ISO storage repo in XenServer

Updated: Dec iii, 2012

Some time ago, I gave you a 2d review of XenServer, a Xen-appliance with paid support from Citrix, which comes with some rather useful and handy capabilities, including remote management via XenCenter. All in all, a handsome product, with a corporate cost tag for those who tin can beget it.

One of the problems, so to speak, with XenServer, is that does not allow you to add local storage repositories, i.due east. local disk, one or more, using XenCenter. Truthful, you are probably not supposed to keep virtual machines on your local disk, both for redundancy and performance, but you lot simply might, so why be express? Let's unlimit ourselves.

XenCenter teaser image

Chore at hand

So what we want to achieve is a successful configuration of a local storage repository on our local disk, which shares the same resources with the server, including the main storage LVM, too as a minor standard share reserved for root. How do we become about this chore?

There are some two or three ways you tin can try to achieve this. I will mention them all. Please notation that all solutions here are somewhat ugly and complex and require the employ of the control line. You will probably non like them and prefer to use your own Xen or KVM setup with full local storage control. Nonetheless, if you care.

Pick 1: Mount local directory

This is the simplest task. If you have a local directory with ISO images, e.thousand. /vm/iso, which yous have populated using scp command for instance, then yous want to have that repository visible in XenCenter. Yet, as we've already mentioned, the program does NOT permit calculation local storage through its GUI interface.

No local repo

What you can practise is issue the following control:

xe sr-create name-label=<Name> blazon=iso
device-config:legacy_mode=truthful
device-config:location=<ISODIR> content-type=iso

And with generic fields populated:

xe sr-create proper name-label=Local type=iso
device-config:legacy_mode=true
device-config:location=/vm/iso content-type=iso

When y'all run that control, if successful, information technology will render a UUID for the created storage repository. Please note, yous can repeat the same control every bit many times as you want, and each fourth dimension information technology will create a new storage repository, which will testify in your GUI afterwards as a split entry.

xe sr-create name-label=Local type=iso
device-config:legacy_mode=true
device-config:location=/vm/iso content-type=iso
3476e496-185f-9eba-0f89-bb822db31ebd

You can do this from the local crush after connecting via SSH:

Local shell

SR added

And so, when you lot attempt to install the VM, yous will find Local listed. Notice the 2 identical entries, which will evidence up if you enter the aforementioned command twice, so do note this as this could confuse you lot. Non sure if this is a problems, but this is how it works.

Local SR shows twice

Option 2: Working with LVM and not recommended

This is a far more difficult and complex setup. It involves working with the LVM storage spanning your local disks, which is used to comprise your virtual machine configurations and disks.

What you lot will want to exercise is create a new LVM on your deejay and and so add it equally a storage for your operating organization images or anything else you need. You volition have to utilize LVM commands to achieve this. Luckily, LVM is flexible and allows making some pretty drastic changes on the wing, like resizing, allocation, addition and removal of volume groups and volumes, without having to reboot the organisation.

The procedure is elaborated in rich item in one of the posts on Citrix forums; for details hop beneath into the More Reading section. Anyway, what you need to do is notice your unallocated deejay space and create a new volume group. Alternatively, resize an existing ane and so create a new one from the freed space. Then, you will need to create a volume, format it and finally mount it for use.

Some screenshots of this ugly activity:

lvscan

mkfs

Local, active VG

Option three: Existing default ISO dir

Y'all can likewise apply the existing /opt/xensource/packages/iso directory for storing ISO images, although it is somewhat pocket-sized and might accommodate but a small number of files. As a hack you could symbolically link this directory to another disk or partition where you might want to proceed the images.

Adding new disks is virtually identical to what we have done in the first pace. Add deejay, make sure it is detected, create a partition table and format information technology. Then, mountain it on some mount point in your system. Finally, create a new storage repository:

xe sr-create blazon=iso device-config:legacy_mode=truthful
device-config:location=/path/to/mntpoint

And refresh the list of available repositories:

xe sr-scan uuid=<SR UUID>

And that would be all in this regard.

More reading

You can observe more info in the following forum posts:

http://forums.citrix.com/message.jspa?messageID=1399366

http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=257054

And an unrelated - utilize Linux Samba sharing to fake Windows CIFS. The actual post is in Spanish, but the explanations and the images are self-explanatory. You actually don't need any translations. So in that location you go, a bonus thingie for you.

Conclusion

Adding storage repositories in this manner may seem awfully circuitous to y'all, especially if you lot've used KVM storage management or ran Xen from the command line before. LVM does add together a lot of operational flexibility, but it makes administration less accessible to most users. Furthermore, the lack of filesystem transparency creates a problem when you need to effigy out a special, custom setup. What if at that place's a new blazon of repository bachelor? In standard Linux, you would mount the new filesystem somewhere, and that's all, problem solved. The underlying organisation would figure out what protocol or drivers might be needed. On the other hand here, the distinction with XenServer turns a uncomplicated task into a big project.

Of course, local storage is never a adept idea for keeping virtual machines, because it makes backups, recovery and accessibility across the information center more cumbersome, as well equally introduces some capacity and performance penalty especially when scaling out, simply it does highlight the manner XenServer is designed. With this tutorial in hand, your mission might be tad simpler later all. At least, y'all learned near some remote access and command line use, and just briefly touched the LVM direction. Should come up handy.

If you accept whatever other ideas or requests, ping me.

Thank you.

traskcyricionsien.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/xen-xenserver-local-iso-repo.html

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