Reference

xen-create-image(8)

Easily create new Xen instances with networking and OpenSSH.

NAME

xen-create-image - Easily create new Xen instances with networking and OpenSSH.

SYNOPSIS

xen-create-image --hostname=<hostname> <further options>

EXAMPLES

xen-create-image --hostname=some-domu --dist=wheezy --lvm=vg0

xen-create-image --hostname=some-domu --dist=precise --dir=/srv/xen

See below for more specific examples: LOOPBACK EXAMPLES, LVM EXAMPLE and EVMS EXAMPLE.

OPTIONS

  Help Options:
   --help        Show the help information for this script.
   --manual      Read the manual, and examples, for this script.
   --(no)verbose (Don't) show more of what xen-create-image is
                 currently doing.
   --dumpconfig  Show current configuration.
   --version     Show the version number and exit.
  Size / General options:
   --(no)accounts
                (Don't) copy all non-system accounts to the guest
                image
   --admins     Specify that some administrators should be created for
                this image, using xen-shell.
   --(no)boot   (Don't) boot the new instance after creating it.
   --cache=bool Cache .deb files on the host when installing the new
                guest with the debootstrap tool. Accepted values:
                "yes" (default) and "no".
   --cachedir=/path/to/cache/directory
                Override the default .deb cache directory. Defaults to
                /var/cache/apt/archives/ if it exists (i.e. on Debian
                and Ubuntu) and /var/cache/xen-tools/archives/ else
                (i.e. on Fedora and CentOS).
   --config=file
                Read the specified file in addition to the global
                configuration file.
   --(no)copyhosts
                (Don't) copy entries from the dom0's /etc/hosts file
                to the guest
   --copy-cmd   NOP:  Ignored.
   --debootstrap-cmd=/path/to/command
                Specify which debootstrap command is used. Defaults to
                debootstrap if both, debootstrap and cdebootstrap are
                installed. Specifying the path is optional.
   --disk_device=diskname
                Use specified device name for virtual devices instead
                of the default value "xvda".
   --extension=ext
                Specify the suffix to give the Xen configuration
                file. (Default value: ".cfg")
   --(no)force  (Don't) force overwriting existing images. This will
                remove existing images or LVM volumes which match
                those which are liable to be used by the new
                invocation.
   --fs=fs      Specify the filesystem type to use for the new guest.
                Valid choices are 'ext2', 'ext3', 'ext4', 'reiserfs',
                'xfs' or 'btrfs'. (Note: pygrub *DOES NOT* support
                xfs)
   --genpass=1  Generate a random root password (default, set to 0 to
                turn off)
   --genpass_len=N
                Override the default password length of 8 and generate
                a random password of length N. Note: this only works
                in conjunction with --genpass
   --hash_method=algorithm
                Override the default hashing method of sha256 and use
                the provided algorithm. Can be : md5, sha256 or sha512
   --hooks=1    Specify whether to run hooks after the image is created.
   --ide        Use IDE names for virtual devices (i.e. hda not xvda)
   --image=str  Specify whether to create "sparse" or "full" disk
                images.  Full images are mandatory when using LVM, so
                this setting is ignored in that case.
   --image-dev=/path/to/device
                Specify a physical/logical volume for the disk image.
   --initrd=/path/to/initrd
                Specify the initial ramdisk. If an image is specified
                it must exist.
   --install=1  Specify whether to install the guest system or not.
   --(no)keep   (Don't) keep our images if installation fails. It
                maybe unmounted, though.
   --keyring=/path/to/keyring
                Set the path to the keyring debootstrap should use.
   --kernel=/path/to/kernel
                Set the path to the kernel to use for domU. If a
                kernel is specified it must exist.
   --memory=size
                Setup the amount of memory allocated to the new
                instance.  As suffix recognized size units are "M",
                "MB", "G" and "GB" (case does not matter). If there's
                no unit given, megabytes are assumed.
   --maxmem=size
                Setup the maximum amount of memory that can be allocated
                to the new instance. As suffix recognized size units are "M",
                "MB", "G" and "GB" (case does not matter). If there's
                no unit given, megabytes are assumed.
                Required for dynamic memory ballooning.
   --modules=/path/to/modules
                Set the path to the kernel modules to use for domU.
                If modules are specified they must exist.
   --nohosts    Don't touch /etc/hosts on the dom0.
   --noswap     Do not create a swap partition. When this option is
                used the system will not have a swap entry added to
                its /etc/fstab file either.
   --output=dir Specify the output directory to create the xen
                configuration file within.
   --partitions=file
                Use a specific partition layout configuration file.
                See /etc/xen-tools/partitions.d/sample-server for an
                example partitioning configuration.  Not supported
                with the image-dev and swap-dev options.  Parameters
                fs, size, swap and noswap are ignored when using this
                option.
   --password=passphrase
                Set the root password for the new guest.
                Note: This overrides --genpass
   --(no)passwd (Don't) ask for a root password interactively during
                setup.  NOTE: This overrides --genpass --password.
   --(no)pygrub DomU should (not) be booted using pygrub.
   --role=role  Run the specified role script(s) post-install.  Role
                scripts are discussed later in this manpage.  Can be
                an absolute path. Otherwise it's relative to the value
                of --roledir.
   --role-args="--arg1 --arg2"
                Pass the named string literally to any role script.
                This is useful for site-specific roles.
   --finalrole=role
                Similar to role scripts. Run the specified role
                script(s) after cfg file creation.
   --roledir=/path/to/directory
                Specify the directory which contains the role scripts.
                This defaults to /etc/xen-tools/role.d/
   --scsi       Use SCSI names for virtual devices (i.e. sda not xvda)
   --serial_device=serialname
                Install a getty on the specified serial device instead
                of the default device.
   --size=size  Set the size of the primary disk image.
   --swap=size  Set the size of the swap partition.
   --swap-dev=/path/to/device
                Specify a physical/logical volume for swap usage.
   --tar-cmd    NOP: Ignored.
   --dontformat Do not format the devices specified for installation.
                Useful if you want tighter control over the filesystem
                creation. Requires the filesystems to be created
                beforehand.
   --vcpus=num
                Set the number of vcpus that the new instance will
                have instead of the default value of "1".
  Installation options:
   --arch=arch  Pass the given architecture to debootstrap, rinse, or
                rpmstrap when installing the system.  This argument is
                ignored for other install methods.
   --dist=dist  Specify the distribution you wish to install.
   --install-method=method
                Specify the installation method to use. Valid methods
                are:
                * debootstrap
                * cdebootstrap
                * rinse
                * rpmstrap (deprecated)
                * tar (needs --install-source=tarball.tar)
                * copy (needs --install-source=/path/to/copy/from)
                (Default value for Debian and Ubuntu: debootstrap)
   --install-source=/path/to/tarball
                Specify the source path to use when installing via
                a copy or tarball installation.
   --mirror=url Setup the mirror to use when installing via
                debootstrap. (Default value: mirror used in
                /etc/apt/sources.list or for Debian
                "http://deb.debian.org/debian/" and for Ubuntu
                "http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/")
                The above mentioned Debian mirror hostname
                automatically tries to choose a more or less close
                Debian mirror. See http://deb.debian.org/ for
                details.
   --apt_proxy=protocol://hostname:port/
                Specify a proxy to be used by debootstrap, and within
                the guest. Needs the same syntax as APT's
                Acquire::http::Proxy. See apt.conf(5).
   --template=tmpl
                Specify which template file to use when creating the
                Xen configuration file.
  Networking options:
   --bridge=brname
                Optionally, set a specific bridge for the new
                instance.  This can be especially useful when running
                multiple bridges on a dom0.
   --broadcast=123.456.789.ABC
                Setup the broadcast address for the new instance.
   --(no)dhcp   The guest will (not) be configured to fetch its
                networking details via DHCP.
   --gateway=gw Setup the network gateway for the new instance.
   --ip=123.456.789.ABC
                Setup the IP address of the machine, multiple IPs are
                allowed.  When specifying more than one IP the first
                one is setup as the "system" IP, and the additional
                ones are added as aliases.
                Note that Xen 3.x supports a maximum of three vif
                statements per guest. This option conflicts with
                --dhcp.
   --mac=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF
                Specify the MAC address to use for a given interface.
                This is only valid for the first IP address specified,
                or for DHCP usage.  (ie. you can add multiple --ip
                flags, but the specific MAC address will only be used
                for the first interface.)
   --randommac  Creates a random MAC address.
   --netmask=123.456.789.ABC
                Setup the netmask for the new instance.
   --nameserver="123.456.789.ABC 123.456.789.DEF"
                Setup the nameserver of the machine, multiple space
                separated nameservers are allowed.  If not provided,
                Dom0's /etc/resolv.conf will be copied to guest.
   --vifname=vifname
                Optionally, set a specific vif name for the new
                instance.
   --vlan=1     OpenvSwitch related, optionally you can specify a vlan
                where the virtual machine has connectivity.
  Mandatory options:
   --dir=/path/to/directory
                Specify where the output images should go.
                Subdirectories will be created for each guest.
                If you do not wish to use loopback images specify
                --lvm, --evms or --zpool. (These four options are
                mutually exclusive.)
   --evms=lvm2/container
                Specify the container to save images within,
                i.e. '--evms lvm2/mycontainer'.  If you do not wish to
                use EVMS specify --dir, --lvm or --zpool. (These four
                options are mutually exclusive.)
   --hostname=host.example.org
                Set the hostname of the new guest system.  Ideally
                this will be fully-qualified since several of the hook
                scripts will expect to be able to parse a domain name
                out of it for various purposes.
   --lvm=vg     Specify the volume group to save images within.
                If you do not wish to use LVM specify --dir, --evms or
                --zpool. (These three options are mutually exclusive.)
   --lvm_thin=thin pool
                Specify the thin pool name on which thin LVM volumes
                are created.
                This enables thin provisioned LVM volumes. Note that
                you need a LVM version which supports this.
   --zpool=pool Specify the ZFS pool to save images within. A new ZFS
                volume will be created for each guest.
                If you do not wish to use ZFS specify --dir, --evms or
                --lvm. (These four options are mutually exclusive.)

NOTES

  This script is a wrapper around three distinct external tools which
 complete various aspects of the new system installation.
xt-install-image Install a new distribution.
xt-customize-image Run a collection of hook scripts to customise the freshly installed system.
xt-create-xen-config Create a Xen configuration file in so that xm/xl can start the new domain.
  The result of invoking these three scripts, and some minor glue between
 them, is a simple means of creating new Xen guest domains.

DESCRIPTION

  xen-create-image is a simple script which allows you to create new
 Xen instances easily.  The new image will be given two volumes.  These
 volumes will be stored upon the host as either loopback files, or
 LVM logical volumes:
   1.  An image for the systems root disk.
   2.  An image for the systems swap device.
  The new virtual installations will be configured with networking,
 have OpenSSH installed upon it, and have most of its basic files
 setup correctly.
  If you wish you can configure arbitrary partitioning schemes, rather
 than being restricted to just the two standard volumes.  For more
 details on this please see the later section in this manual "PARTITIONING".
  If you wish to install additional packages or do any additional
 configuration of your new guests, please read the section on "ROLES".

CONFIGURATION

  To reduce the length of the command line each of the supported options
 may be specified inside a configuration file.
  The global configuration file read for options is:
     /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf
  The configuration file may contain comments which begin with the
 hash '#' character.  Otherwise the format is 'key = value'.
  A sample configuration file would look like this:


  #
  #  Output directory.  Images are stored beneath this directory, one
  # subdirectory per hostname.
  #
  dir = /home/xen
  #
  #  LVM users should disable the 'dir' setting above, and instead
  # specify the name of the volume group to use.
  #
  # lvm = myvolume
  #
  #  EVMS users should disable the dir setting above and instead specify
  # a container.  For example, if you have an lvm2 container named box,
  # put lvm2/box.  This is how it is named in the evms interface.
  #
  #  Warning... this has not been tested with anything but lvm2 but should
  # be generalizable.
  #
  # evms= lvm2/myvolume
  #
  #  Disk and Sizing options.
  #
  size       = 2Gb      # Disk image size.
  image      = full     # Allocate the full disk size immediately.
  memory     = 128Mb    # Memory size
  maxmem     = 512Mb    # Memory size
  swap       = 128Mb    # Swap size
  fs         = ext3     # use EXT3 filesystems
  dist       = stable   # Default distribution to install.
  #
  # Kernel options.
  #
  kernel      = /boot/vmlinuz-`uname -r`
  initrd      = /boot/initrd.img-`uname -r`
  #
  # Networking options.
  #
  gateway    = 192.168.1.1
  broadcast  = 192.168.1.255
  netmask    = 255.255.255.0
  #
  # Installation method:
  # One of "copy", "debootstrap", "cdebootstrap", "rinse", "rpmstrap", or "tar".
  #
  install-method = debootstrap


  Using this configuration file a new image may be created with the
 following command:
      xen-create-image --hostname=vm03.my.flat --ip=192.168.1.201
  This makes use of loopback images stored beneath /home/xen and
 will be installed via the debootstrap command.

NETWORKING AUTO-SETUP

  We've already seen how the "gateway" and "netmask" options can
 be used to specify the networking options of the freshly created
 Xen guests.
  One other useful shortcut is the use of an automatic IP address.
 You can specify '--ip=auto' and the system will choose and use
 an IP address from those listed in /etc/xen-tools/ips.txt.
  For example if you wished to have Xen guests automatically
 take an address from the range 192.168.1.100-192.168.1.200 you
 would first prepare the system by running this:


  rm /etc/xen-tools/ips.txt
  for i in $(seq 100 200) ; do echo 192.168.1.$i >> /etc/xen-tools/ips.txt ; done


  Now you can create a guest with the command:


  xen-create-image --ip=auto --hostname=blah [--dist=...]


  The first time this ran the machine would receive an IP address
 from the pool which we've created.  This IP would be marked as used,
 and would no longer be available.  If all the IP addresses are taken
 then the system will fail.

PARTITIONING

  By default all new guests are created with two "volumes", one
 for the root filesystem and one for the new system's swap.
  If you wish you may specify an alternative partitioning scheme.
 Simply create a file inside the directory /etc/xen-tools/partitions.d/
 specifying your partition layout.  (Use the existing file "sample-server"
 as a template).
  Now when you create a new image specify the name of this file with as
 an argument to the --partition option.

XEN CONFIGURATION FILE

  Once a new image has been created an appropriate configuration file
 for Xen will be saved in the directory /etc/xen by default.  However
 you may change the output directory with the --output flag.
  The configuration file is built up using the template file
 /etc/xen-tools/xm.tmpl - which is a file processed via
 the Text::Template perl module.
  If you wish to modify the files which are generated please make your
 changes to that input file.
  Alternatively you can create multiple configuration files and
 specify the one to use with the --template option.

LOOPBACK EXAMPLES

  The following will create a 2Gb disk image, along with a 128Mb
 swap file with Debian Stable setup and running via DHCP.
     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb --dhcp --dist=stable \
          --dir=/home/xen --hostname=vm01.my.flat
  This next example sets up a host which has the name 'vm02.my.flat' and
 IP address 192.168.1.200, with the gateway address of 192.168.1.1
     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb \
          --ip=192.168.1.200 \
          --netmask=255.255.255.0
          --gateway=192.168.1.1 \
          --nameserver=192.168.1.1 \
          --dir=/home/xen --hostname=vm02.my.flat
  The directory specified for the output will be used to store the volumes
 which are produced.  To avoid clutter each host will have its images
 stored beneath the specified directory, named after the hostname.
  For example the images created above will be stored as:
   $dir/domains/vm01.my.flat/
   $dir/domains/vm01.my.flat/disk.img
   $dir/domains/vm01.my.flat/swap.img
   $dir/domains/vm02.my.flat/
   $dir/domains/vm02.my.flat/disk.img
   $dir/domains/vm02.my.flat/swap.img
  The '/domains/' subdirectory will be created if necessary.

LVM EXAMPLE

  If you wish to use an LVM volume group instead of a pair of loopback
 images as shown above you can instead use the --lvm argument to
 specify one.
     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb --dhcp \
          --lvm=myvolumegroup --hostname=vm01.my.flat
  The given volume group will have two new logical volumes created within it:
   ${hostname}-swap
   ${hostname}-disk
  The disk image may be mounted, as you would expect, with the following
 command:
    mkdir -p /mnt/foo
    mount /dev/myvolumegroup/vm01.my.flat-disk /mnt/foo

EVMS EXAMPLE

  If you wish to use an EVMS storage container instead of a pair of loopback
 images as shown above you can instead use the --evms argument to
 specify one.  The below example assumes an lvm2 container.
     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb --dhcp \
          --evms=lvm2/myvolumegroup --hostname=vm01.my.flat
  The given storage container will have two new EVMS volumes created within it:
   ${hostname}-swap
   ${hostname}-disk
  The disk image may be mounted, as you would expect, with the following
 command:
    mkdir -p /mnt/foo
    mount /dev/evms/vm01.my.flat-disk /mnt/foo

INSTALLATION METHODS

  The new guest images may be installed in several different ways:
  1.  Using the [c]debootstrap command, which must be installed and present.
  2.  Using the rpmstrap command, which must be installed and present.
  3.  using the rinse command, which must be installed and present.
  4.  By copying an existing installation.
  5.  By untarring a file containing a previous installation.
  These different methods can be selected by either the command line
 arguments, or settings in the configuration file.  Only one installation
 method may be specified at a time; they are mutually-exclusive.

INSTALLATION SPEEDUPS

  After performing your first installation you can customize it, or
 use it untouched, as a new installation source.  By doing this you'll
 achieve a significant speedup, even above using the debootstrap caching
 support.
  There are two different ways you can use the initial image as source
 for a new image:
  1.  By tarring it up and using the tar-file as an installation source.
  2.  By mounting the disk image of the first system and doing a literal copy.
  Tarring up a pristine, or customised, image will allow you to install
 with a command such as:
     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb --dhcp \
          --lvm=myvolumegroup --hostname=vm01.my.flat \
          --install-method=tar --install-source=/path/to/tar.file.tar
  The advantage of the tarfile approach is that you'll not need to
 keep a disk image mounted if you were to use the --copy argument
 to create a new image using the old one as source:
     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb --dhcp \
          --lvm=myvolumegroup --hostname=vm01.my.flat \
          --install-method=copy --install-source=/path/to/copy/from

DEBOOTSTRAP CACHING

  When installing new systems with the debootstrap tool there is
 a fair amount of network overhead.
  To minimize this the .deb files which are downloaded into the
 new instance are cached by default upon the host, in the directory
 /var/cache/apt/archives or, if this does not exist, in
 /var/cache/xen-tools/archives. This can be overridden with the
 --cache-dir command-line and configuration option.
  This feature can be disabled with the command line flag --cache=no,
 or by the matching setting in the configuration file.
  When a new image is created these packages are copied into the new
 image - before the debootstrap process runs - this should help avoid
 expensive network reading.
  If you wish to clean the host's apt cache (/var/cache/apt/archivees)
 you may do so with apt-get, namely:
  apt-get clean
  If you set your cache directory to anything else, simply rm the
 contents of the directory.

ROLES

  Currently there are some roles scripts included which work for
 the Debian and Ubuntu distributions only. They are included
 primarily as examples of the kind of things you could accomplish.
  The supplied scripts are:
builder Setup the new virtual images with commonly used packages for rebuilding Debian packages from their source.
cfengine Install cfengine2 on the virtual image and copy the cfengine configuration from Dom0.
editor Allows generalised editing of files for guests.

This script works via a skeleton directory containing small sed files which will contain edits to be applied to an arbitrary tree of files upon the new domU.

For example if we have the following sed file:

  /etc/xen-tools/sed.d/etc/ssh/sshd_config.sed

this will be applied to /etc/ssh/sshd_config upon the new guest *if* it exists. If the file encoded in the name doesn't exist then it will be ignored.

gdm Install an X11 server, using VNC and GDM
minimal Customise the generated images to remove some packages.
puppet Install puppet on the virtual image and copy the cfengine configuration from Dom0.
tmpfs Sets up /tmp, /var/run and /var/lock as tmpfs in the DomU.
udev Install udev in the DomU. Most distributions install udev by default nowadays, so this role is probably only interesting for legacy systems which need udev anyway.
xdm Install an X11 server, using VNC and XDM
  If you'd like to include your own role scripts you'll need to
 create a file in /etc/xen-tools/role.d, and then specify the
 name of that file with "--role=filename".  Additionally you
 may pass options to your role-script with the --role-args
 flag.
  For example the script /etc/xen-tools/role.d/gdm would be used
 by executing with "--role=gdm".
  Role scripts are invoked with the directory containing the
 installed system as their first argument, and anything passed
 as a role-arg will be passed along as additional arguments.
  NOTE: Role scripts are invoked before the config file generation.
        If you need access to the config file from within your role,
        use --finalrole.
  NOTE: Multiple role scripts may be invoked if you separate their
 names with commas.

THE SKELETON DIRECTORY

  Any files present in the directory /etc/xen-tools/skel will be copied
 across to each new guest image.  The role of this directory is analogous
 to the /etc/skel directory.
  A typical use for this would be to copy a public key across to each
 new system.  You could do this by running:


    mkdir -p /etc/xen-tools/skel/root/.ssh
    chmod -R 700 /etc/xen-tools/skel/root
    cp /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /etc/xen-tools/skel/root/.ssh/authorized_keys2
    chmod 644 /etc/xen-tools/skel/root/.ssh/authorized_keys2

AUTHORS

 Steve Kemp, https://steve.fi/
 Axel Beckert, https://axel.beckert.ch/
 Dmitry Nedospasov, http://www.nedos.net/
 Stephane Jourdois

LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2005-2009 by Steve Kemp, (c) 2010-2013 by The Xen-Tools Development Team. All rights reserved.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. The LICENSE file contains the full text of the license.

History