Xen users - Sep 2011 - Re: XCP which management console to use - plus XenServer question

Thanks for all the help...

XVP seems quite high on requirements. Like it needs an SMTP server set
up. I''m not sure I like that.

I found a tool called BixData, it''s proprietary but with a free
license for a limited number of managed servers. Being a fully fledged
cloud management system, it''s true overkill for me and my 3-4 virtual
machines, but at least it seems quite nice, with an OSX port. Anyone
using it? Is it worth the trouble?

I tried using XenCenter - I installed XVP with it -, but it beleives I
need to activate XCP. I read up on it and found that compatibility is
not exact. Does this mean that it will stop working after 30 days? Or
do I just need to dissociate from the server, and re-add it?

Since I haven''t found a single proper management console for XCP, and
ssh management is living hell with all the GUIDs, I had a go with
XenServer free. It didn''t work. Installs nice, but after booting up,
it doesn''t see the local repository. Note, it does create the repo, I
checked with fdisk, it just doesn''t see it. Any idea? (Also, what
exactly does XCP do that XenServer doesn''t, and vice versa?)

D

On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 8:07 AM, Grant McWilliams
<grantmasterflash@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 3:58 PM, Outback Dingo
<outbackdingo@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> install the xenwebmanager appliance on XCP, upload the .xva file and
>> run xe vm-import filename=xenwebmanager.xva
>> then xe vm-start xenwemanager
>>
>> figure out the ip it got from dhcp
>>
>> then goto the http://ip-from-dhcp/8080
>>
>> add the server ip for the XCP hosts and login / password
>>
>> and yes you can console to running guests from xenwebmanager
>>
>> 2011/9/10 Chris Petrolino <cpetrolino@gmail.com>:
>> > I''m pretty sure openxenmanger is still quite alive
it''s just a case of
>> > few ''or actually one I think'' developer so the
dev cycle is a bit slow. Not
>> > sure how hard it is to get it working on osx though.
>> >
>> > Kind Regards,
>> >
>> > Christopher James Petrolino
>> >
>> >
>
> openxenmanager was abandoned by the original author because he
couldn''t get
> any support from Citrix and has since stopped using XCP. Another person
took
> over but hasn''t really done anything yet from what I understand.
> OpenXenManager does work and is nice to look at but is buggy as heck.
You''ll
> find yourself restarting it a lot. XenWebManager is the web version of the
> same code and most of the links to it have disappeared although the xva
> noted above is at
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/xenwebmanager/files/appliances/. The last
> update seems to be a year old.
>
> I went through the same process looking for a graphical management
interface
> and settled on xvp appliance which has been rock solid so far. It
doesn''t
> have all of the abilities of Openxenmanager but what it does it does
> reliably. That includes start/stop/restart/console which is what I needed.
>
> Grant McWilliams
>
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http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 09:34:47AM +0200, József Dániel
wrote:
> 
> Since I haven''t found a single proper management console for XCP,
and
> ssh management is living hell with all the GUIDs, I had a go with
> XenServer free. It didn''t work. Installs nice, but after booting
up,
> it doesn''t see the local repository. Note, it does create the
repo, I
> checked with fdisk, it just doesn''t see it. Any idea? 
Did you try searching Citrix XenServer forums?

> (Also, what exactly does XCP do that XenServer doesn''t, and vice
versa?)
> 
http://wiki.xen.org/xenwiki/XCP/XenServer_Feature_Matrix


-- Pasi
> 
> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 8:07 AM, Grant McWilliams
> <grantmasterflash@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 3:58 PM, Outback Dingo
<outbackdingo@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >>
> >> install the xenwebmanager appliance on XCP, upload the .xva file
and
> >> run xe vm-import filename=xenwebmanager.xva
> >> then xe vm-start xenwemanager
> >>
> >> figure out the ip it got from dhcp
> >>
> >> then goto the http://ip-from-dhcp/8080
> >>
> >> add the server ip for the XCP hosts and login / password
> >>
> >> and yes you can console to running guests from xenwebmanager
> >>
> >> 2011/9/10 Chris Petrolino <cpetrolino@gmail.com>:
> >> > I''m pretty sure openxenmanger is still quite alive
it''s just a case of
> >> > few ''or actually one I think'' developer so
the dev cycle is a bit slow. Not
> >> > sure how hard it is to get it working on osx though.
> >> >
> >> > Kind Regards,
> >> >
> >> > Christopher James Petrolino
> >> >
> >> >
> >
> > openxenmanager was abandoned by the original author because he
couldn''t get
> > any support from Citrix and has since stopped using XCP. Another
person took
> > over but hasn''t really done anything yet from what I
understand.
> > OpenXenManager does work and is nice to look at but is buggy as heck.
You''ll
> > find yourself restarting it a lot. XenWebManager is the web version of
the
> > same code and most of the links to it have disappeared although the
xva
> > noted above is at
> > http://sourceforge.net/projects/xenwebmanager/files/appliances/. The
last
> > update seems to be a year old.
> >
> > I went through the same process looking for a graphical management
interface
> > and settled on xvp appliance which has been rock solid so far. It
doesn''t
> > have all of the abilities of Openxenmanager but what it does it does
> > reliably. That includes start/stop/restart/console which is what I
needed.
> >
> > Grant McWilliams
> >
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Well I guess that comparison says enough. Given that and the fact that
XenServer won''t work, I''ll stick with XCP. :)

For the time being, I found a way to disable the expiration nagging in
XenCenter, so I''ll be using that. (Upload a XenServer eval license to
XCP seems to be a tested and working solution.)
Running a Xen VM management tool on Windows running in a VirtualBox VM
running under OSX. How convoluted is that? VMception. :P

Anyway, there was some talk before that XenCenter sees XCP as an
outdated version of XenServer (XenServer 1.0). Seeing how Xen lists
XCP as XenCenter compatible, I was wondering if this has already been
fixed?

Daniel

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 1:09 PM, Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@iki.fi>
wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 09:34:47AM +0200, József Dániel wrote:
>>
>> Since I haven''t found a single proper management console for
XCP, and
>> ssh management is living hell with all the GUIDs, I had a go with
>> XenServer free. It didn''t work. Installs nice, but after
booting up,
>> it doesn''t see the local repository. Note, it does create the
repo, I
>> checked with fdisk, it just doesn''t see it. Any idea?
>
> Did you try searching Citrix XenServer forums?
>
>
>> (Also, what exactly does XCP do that XenServer doesn''t, and
vice versa?)
>>
>
> http://wiki.xen.org/xenwiki/XCP/XenServer_Feature_Matrix
>
>
> -- Pasi
>
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 8:07 AM, Grant McWilliams
>> <grantmasterflash@gmail.com> wrote:
>> > On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 3:58 PM, Outback Dingo
<outbackdingo@gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> install the xenwebmanager appliance on XCP, upload the .xva
file and
>> >> run xe vm-import filename=xenwebmanager.xva
>> >> then xe vm-start xenwemanager
>> >>
>> >> figure out the ip it got from dhcp
>> >>
>> >> then goto the http://ip-from-dhcp/8080
>> >>
>> >> add the server ip for the XCP hosts and login / password
>> >>
>> >> and yes you can console to running guests from xenwebmanager
>> >>
>> >> 2011/9/10 Chris Petrolino <cpetrolino@gmail.com>:
>> >> > I''m pretty sure openxenmanger is still quite
alive it''s just a case of
>> >> > few ''or actually one I think'' developer
so the dev cycle is a bit slow. Not
>> >> > sure how hard it is to get it working on osx though.
>> >> >
>> >> > Kind Regards,
>> >> >
>> >> > Christopher James Petrolino
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >
>> > openxenmanager was abandoned by the original author because he
couldn''t get
>> > any support from Citrix and has since stopped using XCP. Another
person took
>> > over but hasn''t really done anything yet from what I
understand.
>> > OpenXenManager does work and is nice to look at but is buggy as
heck. You''ll
>> > find yourself restarting it a lot. XenWebManager is the web
version of the
>> > same code and most of the links to it have disappeared although
the xva
>> > noted above is at
>> > http://sourceforge.net/projects/xenwebmanager/files/appliances/.
The last
>> > update seems to be a year old.
>> >
>> > I went through the same process looking for a graphical management
interface
>> > and settled on xvp appliance which has been rock solid so far. It
doesn''t
>> > have all of the abilities of Openxenmanager but what it does it
does
>> > reliably. That includes start/stop/restart/console which is what I
needed.
>> >
>> > Grant McWilliams
>> >
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xen-users mailing list
>> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>
_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

On 09/14/2011 01:50 PM, József Dániel wrote:
> Well I guess that comparison says enough. Given that and the fact that
> XenServer won''t work, I''ll stick with XCP. :)
Good, glad to hear it ;)
> For the time being, I found a way to disable the expiration nagging in
> XenCenter, so I''ll be using that. (Upload a XenServer eval license
to
> XCP seems to be a tested and working solution.)
While annoying, this message is benign and you can safely ignore it. 
When XCP 1.1 final comes out, there will be a "xapi version override" 
file that will let you tell XCP to pretend that it''s XenServer
(it''s a
terrible hack, but it fixes the problem).
> Running a Xen VM management tool on Windows running in a VirtualBox VM
> running under OSX. How convoluted is that? VMception. :P
If you''d prefer something else that (should) run on OSX, try 
OpenXenManager (http://sourceforge.net/projects/openxenmanager/) a free 
clone of XenCenter written in Python. It''s not as polished as
XenCenter,
but it does the job.
> Anyway, there was some talk before that XenCenter sees XCP as an
> outdated version of XenServer (XenServer 1.0). Seeing how Xen lists
> XCP as XenCenter compatible, I was wondering if this has already been
> fixed?
>
It was a design decision to give XCP different versions than XenServer. 
There are quite a few places in XenCenter where it checks for hard-coded 
version numbers to see if it''s talking to a version of XenServer that 
supports certain features. It''s a low priority for the XenCenter team
to
change this, and other than faking that XCP is XenServer, there''s not 
much to do on the XCP side.

Mike

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

I've also noticed with XenCenter and XCP that the performance tab
doesn't function. Also snapshots don't work through XenCenter.

I found one reference on the license issue from the Xen forums (don't have
it handy now), but they stated that it shows unlicensed because of the version
incompatibility, but it won't actually expire. If you can put up with
message popping up periodically, then it’s mostly a working solution.

I found that snapshots and performance work through OpenXenManager, but I have
to restart the program a lot. It freezes up, or shows errors sometimes. Mostly
it just stops 'refreshing' though. The tabs or individual screens will
come up, but they show the data from the previous host or VM. A restart of the
program starts it working for a little while again.

Mostly I'm using a combination of XenCenter for Start/Stop, mounting ISOs
and VNC and the XE command line for snapshots and storage management.

Brett Westover

-----Original Message-----
From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Mike McClurg
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 7:06 AM
To: József Dániel
Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] XCP which management console to use - plus
XenServerquestion

On 09/14/2011 01:50 PM, József Dániel wrote:
> Well I guess that comparison says enough. Given that and the fact that
> XenServer won't work, I'll stick with XCP. :)
Good, glad to hear it ;)
> For the time being, I found a way to disable the expiration nagging in
> XenCenter, so I'll be using that. (Upload a XenServer eval license to
> XCP seems to be a tested and working solution.)
While annoying, this message is benign and you can safely ignore it. 
When XCP 1.1 final comes out, there will be a "xapi version override" 
file that will let you tell XCP to pretend that it's XenServer (it's a 
terrible hack, but it fixes the problem).
> Running a Xen VM management tool on Windows running in a VirtualBox VM
> running under OSX. How convoluted is that? VMception. :P
If you'd prefer something else that (should) run on OSX, try 
OpenXenManager (http://sourceforge.net/projects/openxenmanager/) a free 
clone of XenCenter written in Python. It's not as polished as XenCenter, 
but it does the job.
> Anyway, there was some talk before that XenCenter sees XCP as an
> outdated version of XenServer (XenServer 1.0). Seeing how Xen lists
> XCP as XenCenter compatible, I was wondering if this has already been
> fixed?
>
It was a design decision to give XCP different versions than XenServer. 
There are quite a few places in XenCenter where it checks for hard-coded 
version numbers to see if it's talking to a version of XenServer that 
supports certain features. It's a low priority for the XenCenter team to 
change this, and other than faking that XCP is XenServer, there's not 
much to do on the XCP side.

Mike

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users


_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

According to what I read, XenCenter disables these options because it
sees XCP as version 1.0. A workaround is to set the reported version
of XCP to 5.6. :)

As for the expiration, people say that once it "expires", XenCenter
starts to spew nag popups at a crazy rate, making it near unusable, so
I think it makes sense to do something about that.

Daniel

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 5:16 PM, Brett Westover <bwestover@pletter.com>
wrote:
> I''ve also noticed with XenCenter and XCP that the performance tab
doesn''t function. Also snapshots don''t work through XenCenter.
>
> I found one reference on the license issue from the Xen forums
(don''t have it handy now), but they stated that it shows unlicensed
because of the version incompatibility, but it won''t actually expire.
If you can put up with message popping up periodically, then it’s mostly a
working solution.
>
> I found that snapshots and performance work through OpenXenManager, but I
have to restart the program a lot. It freezes up, or shows errors sometimes.
Mostly it just stops ''refreshing'' though. The tabs or
individual screens will come up, but they show the data from the previous host
or VM. A restart of the program starts it working for a little while again.
>
> Mostly I''m using a combination of XenCenter for Start/Stop,
mounting ISOs and VNC and the XE command line for snapshots and storage
management.
>
> Brett Westover
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Mike McClurg
> Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 7:06 AM
> To: József Dániel
> Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] XCP which management console to use - plus
XenServerquestion
>
> On 09/14/2011 01:50 PM, József Dániel wrote:
>> Well I guess that comparison says enough. Given that and the fact that
>> XenServer won''t work, I''ll stick with XCP. :)
> Good, glad to hear it ;)
>> For the time being, I found a way to disable the expiration nagging in
>> XenCenter, so I''ll be using that. (Upload a XenServer eval
license to
>> XCP seems to be a tested and working solution.)
> While annoying, this message is benign and you can safely ignore it.
> When XCP 1.1 final comes out, there will be a "xapi version
override"
> file that will let you tell XCP to pretend that it''s XenServer
(it''s a
> terrible hack, but it fixes the problem).
>> Running a Xen VM management tool on Windows running in a VirtualBox VM
>> running under OSX. How convoluted is that? VMception. :P
> If you''d prefer something else that (should) run on OSX, try
> OpenXenManager (http://sourceforge.net/projects/openxenmanager/) a free
> clone of XenCenter written in Python. It''s not as polished as
XenCenter,
> but it does the job.
>> Anyway, there was some talk before that XenCenter sees XCP as an
>> outdated version of XenServer (XenServer 1.0). Seeing how Xen lists
>> XCP as XenCenter compatible, I was wondering if this has already been
>> fixed?
>>
> It was a design decision to give XCP different versions than XenServer.
> There are quite a few places in XenCenter where it checks for hard-coded
> version numbers to see if it''s talking to a version of XenServer
that
> supports certain features. It''s a low priority for the XenCenter
team to
> change this, and other than faking that XCP is XenServer, there''s
not
> much to do on the XCP side.
>
> Mike
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>
>
_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM, Brett Westover <bwestover@pletter.com>
wrote:
>
> I found that snapshots and performance work through OpenXenManager, but I
have to restart the program a lot. It freezes up, or shows errors sometimes.
Mostly it just stops ''refreshing'' though. The tabs or
individual screens will come up, but they show the data from the previous host
or VM. A restart of the program starts it working for a little while again.
Are you using the latest svn checkout of openxenmanager? The svn
version tends to work better.

-- 
Todd Deshane
http://www.linkedin.com/in/deshantm
http://www.xen.org/products/cloudxen.html
http://runningxen.com/

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Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

I was using rev 76 from svn.
(https://openxenmanager.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openxenmanager).

I see now that rev 79 is out, so I grabbed that. Doesn''t seem any
better.

I''m running it on Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop.

It will work fine for a few minutes, but certain operations like adding or
removing a network interface, or starting or stopping a VM, will result in these
errors:

KeyError: ''OpaqueRef:<guid>''
or 
KeyError: ''os_version''
or
KeyError: ''networks''

and the screens just quit refreshing until I restart the program.

Brett Westover
IT Administrator
Therapeutic Research Center
(209) 472-2240 Ext. 264


-----Original Message-----
From: todd.deshane.xen@gmail.com [mailto:todd.deshane.xen@gmail.com] On Behalf
Of Todd Deshane
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 9:42 AM
To: Brett Westover
Cc: Mike McClurg; József Dániel; xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] XCP which management console to use - plus
XenServerquestion

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM, Brett Westover <bwestover@pletter.com>
wrote:
>
> I found that snapshots and performance work through OpenXenManager, but I
have to restart the program a lot. It freezes up, or shows errors sometimes.
Mostly it just stops ''refreshing'' though. The tabs or
individual screens will come up, but they show the data from the previous host
or VM. A restart of the program starts it working for a little while again.
Are you using the latest svn checkout of openxenmanager? The svn
version tends to work better.

-- 
Todd Deshane
http://www.linkedin.com/in/deshantm
http://www.xen.org/products/cloudxen.html
http://runningxen.com/



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Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
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