Citrix Xen: Command Line Tips & Tricks

By root, 7 January, 2016

How to get the Citrix XenServer version:

[root@XenGz ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release
XenServer release 6.5.0-90233c (xenenterprise)

[root@XenGz ~]# xe-linux-distribution 
os_distro="xenserver"
os_majorver="6"
os_minorver="5"
os_uname="3.10.0+2"
os_name="XenServer release 6.5.0-90233c (xenenterprise)"

How to list the vhd partitions and get the corresponding snapshosts (if any):

[root@XenGz ~]# vhd-util scan -m "VHD-*" -f -c -l VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318 -p -v
vhd=VHD-c1997097-d775-453a-8343-6411a23391c7 capacity=53687091200 size=20451426304 hidden=1 parent=none
   vhd=VHD-30694682-5fd9-4885-84e3-b1062719020a capacity=53687091200 size=8388608 hidden=0 parent=VHD-c1997097-d775-453a-8343-6411a23391c7
   vhd=VHD-61676ec7-d53f-4fdb-817d-77c0b23f8718 capacity=53687091200 size=53800337408 hidden=0 parent=VHD-c1997097-d775-453a-8343-6411a23391c7
   vhd=VHD-c6abf541-d410-4131-8b0b-8c184e19b495 capacity=53687091200 size=53800337408 hidden=0 parent=VHD-c1997097-d775-453a-8343-6411a23391c7
   vhd=VHD-cc670f39-88b8-4cc5-981f-082321a83f20 capacity=53687091200 size=8388608 hidden=0 parent=VHD-c1997097-d775-453a-8343-6411a23391c7
vhd=VHD-04a1ccdf-f7db-4328-8bbd-72230db0291a capacity=8388608 size=16777216 hidden=0 parent=none
vhd=VHD-5c10445f-a2df-42b4-a3c3-793847a78db5 capacity=42949672960 size=43041947648 hidden=0 parent=none
vhd=VHD-6501a327-8043-44e7-8583-e30ac7bcb0b5 capacity=112742891520 size=112969383936 hidden=0 parent=none
vhd=VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3 capacity=16106127360 size=16143876096 hidden=0 parent=none
vhd=VHD-8f2c7531-3a88-4d6c-973f-642bc19095fe capacity=64424509440 size=64558727168 hidden=0 parent=none
vhd=VHD-b8088503-71e3-49e6-8020-96933765e3e8 capacity=8589934592 size=8615100416 hidden=0 parent=none
vhd=VHD-f3c150a1-ec3e-416b-b237-a589ade8c092 capacity=54223962112 size=54337208320 hidden=0 parent=none

How to vaidate VHD partition with vhd-util while the VM is off:

As you can see below, you have to activate the logical volume first.

[root@XenGz ~]# vhd-util check -n /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3
cannot stat /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3: 2
[root@XenGz ~]# lvchange -ay /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3
[root@XenGz ~]# lvscan | grep VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3
  ACTIVE            '/dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3' [15.04 GB] inherit
[root@XenGz ~]# [color=green]vhd-util check -n /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3[/color]
/dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3 is valid
[root@XenGz ~]# lvchange -an /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/VHD-769cb8fa-1d0a-4a1b-ab8e-5d373c0fbca3

How to create ISO storage repository:

In this example, the repository will be /tmp/hdd/iso.

[root@XenGz hdd]# xe sr-create name-label=ISOTMP type=iso device-config:location=/tmp/hdd/iso device-config:legacy_mode=true content-type=iso
0f804eac-defd-2727-4923-d33a39159ba1
[root@XenGz ~]# ls -la /tmp/hdd/iso/
total 642688
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root      4096 Dec 17 23:26 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 root root      4096 Dec 17 23:25 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 657457152 Dec 17 23:22 debian-8.2.0-amd64-CD-1.iso

How to list all OS templates

In the example below, I grepped only the Label Name because the full output is too much :)

[root@XenGz ~]# xe template-list | grep name-label
          name-label ( RW): Scientific Linux 5 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 4.7 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
          name-label ( RW): Oracle Enterprise Linux 6 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Oracle Linux 7
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 2008 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Ubuntu Trusty Tahr 14.04
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 4.6 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Scientific Linux 5 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 6 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 7
          name-label ( RW): Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat 10.10 (32-bit) (experimental)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2008 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.8 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP3 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Scientific Linux 6 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 5 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2008 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows 8 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows 10 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat 10.10 (64-bit) (experimental)
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 6 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2003 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP3 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows 10 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows 7 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 2003 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Xen API SDK
          name-label ( RW): Debian Squeeze 6.0 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows 8 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Scientific Linux 7
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 4.5 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Oracle Enterprise Linux 6 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows XP SP3 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2003 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Debian Wheezy 7.0 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 4.8 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): CoreOS
          name-label ( RW): Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 10 Preview (64-bit) (experimental)
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Vista (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Other install media
          name-label ( RW): Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Scientific Linux 6 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): CentOS 5 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows 7 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 2003 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Oracle Enterprise Linux 5 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Debian Wheezy 7.0 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Debian Squeeze 6.0 (32-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Windows Server 2008 (64-bit)
          name-label ( RW): Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04 (32-bit)

How to make an old fashion backup image of VHD logical volume while VM is off:

VHD="VHD-72d97c7e-ffb1-4f83-a48c-5e323500f958"
lvchange -ay /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/${VHD}
dd if=/dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/${VHD} conv=sync,noerror | gzip -c > /backup/vhd/${VHD}.img.gz
lvchange -an /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/${VHD}
Execution output:
[root@XenGz ~]# VHD="VHD-72d97c7e-ffb1-4f83-a48c-5e323500f958"
[root@XenGz ~]# lvchange -ay /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/${VHD}
[root@XenGz ~]# dd if=/dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/${VHD} conv=sync,noerror | gzip -c > /backup/vhd/${VHD}.img.gz

105078784+0 records in
105078784+0 records out
53800337408 bytes (54 GB) copied, 2445.34 seconds, 22.0 MB/s
[root@XenGz ~]# lvchange -an /dev/VG_XenStorage-c1a19876-fcb2-c530-798a-8dbe2857f318/${VHD}
[root@XenGz ~]#         [color=yellow]<- no output![/color]

How to export vm with compression enabled:

xe vm-export vm=gzvm64 filename=/backups/gzvm64.xva compress=true

How to eject the cd from a VM:

[root@XenGz ~]# xe vm-cd-list vm=gzvm64
CD 0 VBD:
uuid ( RO)             : 60a5842c-0a90-66e7-7c80-a6294ab5c620
    vm-name-label ( RO): gzvm64
            empty ( RO): false
       userdevice ( RW): 3


CD 0 VDI:
uuid ( RO)             : 7a66737c-547a-45e3-8e23-a4ec45ac1d1c
       name-label ( RW): xs-tools.iso
    sr-name-label ( RO): XenServer Tools
     virtual-size ( RO): 120027136

[root@XenGz ~]# [color=green]xe vm-cd-eject vm=gzvm64 cd-name="xs-tools.iso"[/color]
Error: Unknown field 'cd-name'
[root@XenGz ~]# xe vm-cd-eject vm=gzvm64
[root@XenGz ~]# xe vm-cd-list vm=gzvm64
CD 0 VBD:
uuid ( RO)             : 60a5842c-0a90-66e7-7c80-a6294ab5c620
    vm-name-label ( RO): gzvm64
            empty ( RO): true
       userdevice ( RW): 3

This error happens if you delete (any) vdi while assigned to a vm:

[root@XenGz ~]# xe vm-start vm=debian
This operation cannot be performed because the specified VDI could not be found on the storage substrate
sr: 411e6ba5-af91-c875-500e-5b8ddcb0520e (ISOTMP)
vdi: 758ec20a-ce4a-481f-a582-1316c30101f7 (debian-8.2.0-amd64-CD-1.iso)

[root@XenGz ~]# xe vm-cd-list vm=debian
CD 0 VBD:
uuid ( RO)             : 41973dba-dece-0193-fa58-448837f85b6a
    vm-name-label ( RO): debian
            empty ( RO): false
       userdevice ( RW): 3


CD 0 VDI:
uuid ( RO)             : 758ec20a-ce4a-481f-a582-1316c30101f7
       name-label ( RW): debian-8.2.0-amd64-CD-1.iso
    sr-name-label ( RO): ISOTMP
     virtual-size ( RO): 657457152


[root@XenGz ~]# [color=green]xe vm-cd-remove vm=debian cd-name=debian-8.2.0-amd64-CD-1.iso[/color]
[root@XenGz ~]# xe vm-cd-list vm=debian
[root@XenGz ~]#          [color=yellow]<- no output means no cds configured for this vm![/color]

How to change the VM's virtualization boot mode type to PV (paravirtualized):

Note, you do this also when you want to boot the VM from CD or DVD.

xe vm-param-set HVM-boot-policy="BIOS order" uuid=<vm_uuid>

How to change the VM's virtualization boot mode to HVM (fully virtualized):

xe vm-param-set HVM-boot-policy="" uuid=<vm_uuid>
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