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Chapter 1. Welcome
The XenServer Quick Start Guide steps through the installation and configuration essentials to get XenServer and
its graphical, Windows-based user interface, XenCenter, up and running. After installation, it takes you through
the process of creating Windows virtual machines (VMs) and then making customized virtual machine templates
from which you can quickly create multiple, similar VMs. Finally, this guide demonstrates how to create a pool of
hosts, which provides the foundation to migrate running VMs between hosts using XenMotion.
Focusing on the most basic deployment scenarios, this guide aims to get you set up quickly.
This guide is primarily intended for new users of XenServer and XenCenter. It is intended for those who wish to
administer XenServer using XenCenter. For information on how to administer XenServer using the Linux-based xe
commands through the XenServer Command Line Interface (CLI), please refer to the XenServer Administrator's
Guide.
This guide will take you through:
• Installing XenServer and XenCenter
• Installing XenServer on a physical host
• Installing XenCenter
• Connecting XenCenter to the XenServer host
• Activating XenServer
• Creating Virtual Machines
• Creating a Windows VM
• Making VM templates: from an existing VM and from a VM snapshot
• Creating VMs from VM templates
• Creating a Pool of XenServer Hosts
• Creating a pool of hosts
• Setting up shared storage for the pool
• Copying VMs to shared storage
• Migrating running VMs between hosts in a pool (XenMotion)
Terminology and Abbreviations
• Host — a physical computer that runs XenServer
• Virtual Machine (VM) — a computer composed entirely of software that can run its own operating system and
applications as if it were a physical computer; a VM behaves exactly like a physical computer and contains its
own virtual (software-based) CPU, RAM, hard disk and network interface card (NIC)
• Pool — a single managed entity that binds together multiple XenServer hosts and their VMs
• Storage Repository (SR) — a storage container in which virtual disks are stored
XenServer Major Components
XenServer is a complete server virtualization platform, optimized for both Windows and Linux virtual servers,
with all the capabilities required to create and manage a virtual infrastructure.
XenServer runs directly on server hardware without requiring an underlying operating system, which results in
an efficient and scalable system. XenServer works by abstracting elements from the physical machine (such as
hard drives, resources and ports) and allocating them to the virtual machines (VMs) running on it.