XCP Tutorial – Building a HVM Guest using Command Lines

I am back with new information on XCP and the steps I used to launch a HVM guest from a CD on my XCP server. I will also be adding another blog posting about the memory issues I faced during this procedure but are probably not a common issue for most people with large enough servers.
GOAL – Use the Command Line Interface to build and launch a HVM guest from a CD of Oracle Enterprise Linux Release 5 Vol 4 for x86 (32-bit)
Step 1 – Connect to XCP Server from remote machine; I opened a terminal window and entered the following command: ssh -l root IP ADDRESS
Results:
stephen@stephen:~/Documents/Blog$ ssh -l root IP ADDRESS
root@IP Address’ password:
Last login: Wed Mar  3 17:33:54 2010 from IP ADDRESS
Type “xsconsole” for access to the management console.
[root@xenserver-reiazupz ~]#
Step 2 – I leveraged the existing XCP documentation found at http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/Command_Line_Interface or http://www.xen.org/files/XenCloud/guest.pdf (Chapter 4; Page 21).
a) Place the Linux Install CD in the CD drive on the XCP Machine
b) Run the command xe template-list
Results (shortened for required information):
uuid ( RO)                : 5a3ee06c-3078-cec0-015c-a19cf3c7799d
name-label ( RW): Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.0
name-description ( RW): Template that allows VM installation from Xen-aware EL-based distros. To use this template from the CLI, install your VM using vm-install, then set other-config-install-repository to the path to your network repository, e.g. http://<server>/<path> or nfs:server:/<path>
c) Run  xe vm-install template=”<template_name>” new-name-label=<name_for_vm>
* <template_name> is from above Results, “Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.0”
* <name_for_vm> is your choice, I chose “oraclevm”
RESULTS – The UUID of the new oraclevm => vm_uuid
d) Run xe vbd-list vm-uuid=<vm_uuid> userdevice=0 params=uuid –minimal
RESULTS – The Root Disk UUID => root_disk_uuid
e) xe vbd-param-set uuid=<root_disk_uuid> bootable=false
RESULTS: No Output
f) Run  xe cd-list to get the name  of the CD Drive on the XCP machine
RESULTS: CD Drive name (e.g. SCSI 0:0:0:0) => host_cd_drive_name_label
g) Run xe vm-cd-add vm=<vm_name> cd-name=”<host_cd_drive_name_label>” device=3
RESULTS:No Output
h) Run xe vbd-list vm-uuid=<vm_uuid> type=CD params=uuid –minimal
RESULTS: CD VM UUID  => cd_drive_uuid
i) Run xe vbd-param-set uuid=<cd_drive_uuid> bootable=true
RESULTS: No Output
j) Run xe vm-param-set uuid=<vm_uuid> other-config:install-repository=cdrom
RESULTS: No Output
k) Run xe vm-start uuid=<vm_uuid>
RESULTS: No Output
At this point, the VM will start on your XCP machine and you should hear the CD Drive start working. To install the OS within the VM I again chose to use OpenXenCenter and was able to connect easily to my XCP machine and install the OS via the VM Console window. See image below:

As I mentioned at the start of this example, I will be adding another blog to detail the memory issues I had in launching this new VM on my XCP machine. Also, I am still waiting for my Windows 7 CD to arrive in the mail and will post another blog with instructions to launch Windows on XCP.