Product documentation
XenCenter
2024 8.2.7
View PDF

Creating VMs

October 9, 2024
Contributed by: 
X X

A virtual machine (VM) is a software container that runs on a host physical computer. The VM behaves as if it were a physical computer itself. VMs consist of an operating system plus CPU, memory (RAM) and networking resources, and software applications.

A template is a virtual machine encapsulated into a file, making it possible to rapidly deploy new VMs. Each template contains installation metadata. This metadata is the setup information needed to create a VM with a specific guest operating system, and with the optimum storage, CPU, memory, and virtual network configuration.

You can create VMs in XenCenter in several different ways:

  • The New VM wizard takes you step by step through the process of creating a VM from a template or a snapshot. This wizard enables you to configure the operating system, CPU, storage, networking, and other parameters.
  • You can bypass the New VM wizard and create an instant VM based on a custom VM template that specifies all the required VM configuration parameters. You simply select your preconfigured template in XenCenter then right-click and select Instant VM from template. This mode of unattended VM installation can be useful for deploying large numbers of identical VMs.
  • You can copy (or “clone”) an existing VM.
  • You can import a VM that has been previously exported.

XenServer VM Tools

XenServer fully virtualizes VMs, enabling them to run at near-native processor speeds on virtualization-enabled hardware without requiring any modification to the guest operating system.

For Linux VMs, performance is further enhanced by utilizing x86 virtual container technologies in modern processors. These VMs use paravirtualized (PV) drivers built into the kernel for network and storage operations, providing efficient access in PV mode.

I/O drivers (also known as PV drivers) are essential for optimizing disk and network performance for both Windows and Linux VMs. It’s recommended to install these drivers on all new VMs. For Windows VMs, you can manage driver updates through Windows Update, a setting configurable when selecting a VM template in the New VM wizard in XenCenter. For details on enabling I/O driver updates through Windows Update, see Overview of VM creation steps.

The combination of I/O drivers and the Management Agent is collectively referred to as XenServer VM Tools. Key features such as VM migration and historical performance data tracking are available only when these tools are installed. For detailed installation steps, see Installing XenServer VM Tools.

Using templates

Several different templates are supplied with the XenServer server. These templates contain all the various configuration settings needed to install a specific guest operating system on a new VM. You can also create your own customized templates configured with the appropriate guest operating system, memory, CPU, storage and network settings, and use them to create VMs. See Guest OS support for a list of the templates/operating systems supported at this release, and for detailed information about the different install mechanisms on Windows and Linux.

You can view the XenServer templates supplied with the product and any custom templates that you create in the Resources pane.

  • XenServer template icon XenServer template
  • Custom template icon Custom template

You can control whether to display the XenServer and Custom templates in the Resources pane:

  • In the XenCenter Navigation pane, select Infrastructure.

    This panel displays a tree view of your managed resources in the Resources pane.

  • To display standard XenServer VM templates: on the View menu, select XenServer Templates. To hide XenServer templates, select again to remove the check mark.
  • To show custom VM templates: on the View menu, select Custom Templates. To hide custom templates, select again to remove the check mark.

XenServer 8

Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 Cumulative Update 1

Creating VMs
October 9, 2024
Contributed by: 
X X
October 9, 2024
Contributed by: 
X X

In this article

Site feedback | Your privacy choices footer linkYour Privacy Choices | Privacy and legal terms | Consent settings | docs.cloud.com
© 1999- Cloud Software Group, Inc. All rights reserved.