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Getting Started With XCP-ng Management Console

Understanding XCP-ng Management Console

By sk
Published: Last Updated on 3.3K views

In our previous tutorial, we discussed how to install XCP-ng server. Before deploying our first VM, let us get familiar with XCP-ng configuration menu. Allow me to give you a screenshot tour to get started with XCP-ng Management Console.

XCP-ng Management Console

After successful XCP-ng installation, you will see the XCP-ng configuration menu as shown in the screenshot below.

XCP-ng Configuration Main Menu
XCP-ng Configuration Main Menu

On the left hand, you see various menus and on the right hand side, you see what's in the selected menu item. Let us have a quick glance of each menu item.

1. Status Display

In this section, you will see the XCP-ng host's processor information and management network interface details such as device name, IP address, netmask, and gateway. You can press ENTER key to view the SSK key fingerprints for your host system. Press F5 at any time to refresh the details.

2. Network and Management Interface

In this section, you can do the following:

  • Configure the network management interface settings such as IP address, netmask, gateway and hostname.
  • Set or change DNS server details.
  • View. Enable/Disable and Add, and remove one or multiple NTP servers.
  • Test the configured network interface using ping utility.
  • Display the configured NICs.
  • Perform emergency network reset. This command will reboot the host and reset its network configuration. While performing this action, all VMs will be forcibly shutdown. So I suggest you to shutdown all running VMs and disable HA before running this operation.
Network and Management Interface Section
Network and Management Interface Section

Press ENTER to view and change configuration settings in each section. Press ESC to go back to the previous menu.

3. Authentication

The authentication section allows the logged-in user to change the login password and configure auto-logout timeout.

Authentication Section
Authentication Section

4. Virtual Machines

In this section, you can view the detailed information about all running virtual machines in the host, display hosts system's performance and display the status of all VMs (running and stopped).

Virtual Machines Section
Virtual Machines Section

5. Disks and Storage Repositories

This section allows you to display information storage repositories, create new storage repository and attach existing storage repository, detach and destroy storage repositories.

Disks and Storage Repositories Section
Disks and Storage Repositories Section

6. Resource Pool Configuration

The Resource Pool Configuration section allows the hosts to share resources i.e. Storage repositories and migrate running virtual machines between hosts in the pool. From this section, we can add a host to a resource pool or remove a host from the resource pool.

Resource Pool Configuration Section
Resource Pool Configuration Section

7. Hardware and BIOS Information

In this section, we can view the host's hardware and BIOS information such as system manufacturer, system model, processor, memory, disk controller and BIOS etc.

Hardware and BIOS Information Section
Hardware and BIOS Information Section

8. Keyboard and Timezone

This section helps you to choose correct language and keyboard layout for your keyboard, and set timezone for the XCP-ng server.

Keyboard and Timezone Section
Keyboard and Timezone Section

9. Remote Service Configuration

In this section, we can configure remote logging using syslog, enable or disable remote access login via SSH. By default, the remote login is enabled.

Remote Service Configuration Section
Remote Service Configuration Section

10. Backup, Restore and Update

From this section, you can backup and restore system database and virtual machine metadata to/from the storage repository. You can also apply software updates to XCP-ng server.

Backup, Restore and Update Section
Backup, Restore and Update Section

11. Technical Support

In the Technical support section, you can check or validate the basic configuration of this server, save or upload bug report and view the installed XCP-ng software build information.

Technical Support Section
Technical Support Section

12. Reboot or Shutdown

This section allows you to enter or exit maintenance mode and reboot or shutdown the XCP-ng server. Please note that once you enter the maintenance mode, all running virtual machines on the current host will be migrated to other host(s) in the resource pool.

Reboot or Shutdown Section
Reboot or Shutdown Section

13. Local Command Shell

This section allows you to start local command shell with root privileges on your XCP-ng server.

To start Local command shell, simply press ENTER key. You will be prompted to enter the password for the root user.

Start Local Command Shell
Start Local Command Shell

Now you will be landed in the shell as root user.

XCP-ng Local Command Shell
XCP-ng Local Command Shell

After done with the shell, simply type exit and hit enter to go back to the management console.

You will have now a basic idea on working with XCP-ng management console. From now on, you can start deploying the virtual machines. But before doing that, let us see how to update XCP-ng server.

Update XCP-ng

Login to the XCP-ng Local command shell as described in the previous section.

Make sure all the third-party repositories have been disabled before updating XCP-ng. If any repository is enabled, simply edit the relevant file in /etc/yum.repos.d/ and set enabled=0 to disable the respective repository.

From the local command shell, run the following command to update XCP-ng server:

# yum update
Update XCP-ng
Update XCP-ng

After the update is completed, restart the XAPI toolstack on XCP-ng server. But before restarting toolstack, make sure that no task is currently running using command:

# xe task-list

If no task is running, restart XAPI tollstack by running the following command:

# xe-toolstack-restart
Restart XAPI Toolstack
Restart XAPI Toolstack

It is safe to reboot every time an update is installed in your XCP-ng server.

Conclusion

I hope you're now comfortable to use the XCP-ng management console and know what each section is used for. In our upcoming articles, we will discuss more about XCP-ng usage.

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