On 6/28/2011 10:50 AM, Ed Heron wrote: > On Tue, 2011-06-28 at 09:30 -0400, Steve Campbell wrote: >> Mr. Heron was so kind to make a suggestion that I should use disk images >> to install VMs. Upon further thought, I kinda like the idea. So I >> re-read the manual and google a little, and discover I still don't know >> what should be in these disk images. >> >> Should I copy the contents of the CDs to a file or what? I've got a test >> server at the moment with Centos 5.5 and xen installed as the host OS, >> but have just downloaded the 5.6 CD ISOs along with the DVD ISO, so >> I'll use 5.6 for my VMs. I've read about how I can create an image from >> something that already exists. >> >> Again, any clarity would be appreciated. > Just put the ISO's in /var/lib/xen/images and point at them. If you > didn't download the discs, you can rip them using: > > dd if=/dev/<optical device> of=/var/lib/xen/images/<name of disc> > > For example, if ripping the first 5.6 CD... > > dd if=/dev/hdc of=/var/lib/xen/images/CentOS-5.6-i386-d1.iso > > I generally rip a disc multiple times and then do a file compare to make > sure I've got a reasonable chance of having an undamaged copy. > > Keep in mind that it isn't as easy to change discs when you are using > images on a paravirtual machine. > > I still recommend setting up a local repository as a much better > solution because it allows you to take a snapshot so multiple installs > use the exact same versions of everything. > > I moved the iso images to a folder under /var/lib/xen/images and selected it during an install for a new VM. I've run into a problem I've not yet seen before. The first iso is used just fine, but the second is "Not accessible", and nothing I can discover works. So, should the ISOs be moved directly to the images folder instead of a folder below images? Does it matter whether I just copy the iso files (actually, I used scp) or do they need to be run through dd? Thanks for any help. steve