® Parallels Virtual Automation 4.6 Getting Started Guide Copyright © 1999-2010 Parallels, Inc.
ISBN: N/A Parallels Holdings, Ltd. c/o Parallels International GMbH. Parallels International GmbH Vordergasse 49 CH8200 Schaffhausen Switzerland Tel: + 49 (6151) 42996 - 0 Fax: + 49 (6151) 42996 - 255 Copyright © 1999-2010 Parallels Holdings, Ltd. and its affiliates. All rights reserved. Parallels, Coherence, Parallels Transporter, Parallels Compressor, Parallels Desktop, and Parallels Explorer are registered trademarks of Parallels Software International, Inc.
Contents Introduction 4 Getting Help .................................................................................................................................................4 Feedback.......................................................................................................................................................5 Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 6 Parallels Virtual Automation Infrastructure..........................................................................
CHAPTER 1 Introduction Parallels Virtual Automation is a flexible and easy-to-use administration tool designed for managing physical servers with Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, Parallels Server Bare Metal, or Parallels Server for Mac software. With Parallels Virtual Automation, you can create groups of physical servers and perform both collective and individual administration operations on these groups.
Introduction 5 Parallels Virtual Automation Upgrade Guide. This document contains instructions on how to upgrade from Parallels Infrastructure Manager 4.0 to Parallels Virtual Automation 4.6. The documentation is available for download from the Parallels official web-site http://www.parallels.com/products/pva45/resources/. Context-sensitive help You can open a help page for the current screen by clicking the Help link in the right upper corner. Parallels Web Site Parallels web site http://www.
CHAPTER 2 Installing Parallels Virtual Automation Installing Parallels Virtual Automation components is a quick and easy procedure that comprises basic steps: starting Parallels Virtual Automation installer, configuring installation options, selecting the Parallels Virtual Automation components to be installed.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 7 Parallels Virtual Automation Infrastructure With Parallels Virtual Automation, you can easily deploy an effectively functioning virtual infrastructure that can help you to significantly reduce your costs in terms of time and resources. While Parallels software virtualization products enable you to create complex formations of virtual environments, you may find it hard to manage these formations using different management tools.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation PVA Agent for Virtuozzo 8 On a dedicated physical This component ensures the interaction server that has either of the between this physical server, the Master following software installed: Server and your client physical computer. Without this component, a Parallels Virtuozzo physical server cannot be registered in Containers for Linux, Master Server. or Parallels Containers Windows. Virtuozzo for Such server is also called a Slave server.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 9 * The PVA Management Server component cannot be installed directly on a Parallels Server Bare Metal physical server due to the virtualization software already installed on this server. The workaround solution is to create a Container on the PSBM physical server and to launch the PVA installation there. A Container is free from any virtualization technologies, so you can easily install PVA Management Server on it.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 10
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 11 So, let us analyze the Parallels Virtual Automation management system displayed on the scheme. It consists of: Master Server Master Server is a physical server where all other subordinate physical servers are registered. On this physical server, PVA Management Server component should be installed. Note: PVA Management Server component is always installed together with the PVA Control Center component.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 12 a Windows- or Linux-based physical server running Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Linux 4.0/Windows 4.5; a Mac OS physical server running Parallels Server for Mac; a bare metal physical server running Parallels Server 4 Bare Metal. Note: After you install all the necessary components on the physical servers, you should register your slave servers on Master Server. Registering a slave server is a management operation.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 13 System Requirements In most cases, there are no special requirements for the physical servers on which you want to install Parallels Virtual Automation components. However, we strongly recommend you to read the following information carefully, so that you can ensure a successful installation of the product.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 14 Intel VT-x or AMD-V hardware virtualization technology support (for Parallels Server Bare Metal virtual machines management). For the detailed and more concrete information on the requirements for the physical computer, see Parallels® Server Bare Metal Administration Guide, Parallels® Virtuozzo Containers for Linux and Parallels® Virtuozzo Containers for Windows User Guides, and Parallels® Server for Mac Administration Guide.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation CentOS 5, CentOS 5.1, CentOS 5.2, CentOS 5.3, CentOS 5.4; RHEL 5, RHEL 5.1, RHEL 5.2, RHEL 5.3, RHEL 5.4; SLES 9, SLES 10; 15 If a Parallels Server Bare Metal computer serves as a Master Server, it should have a Parallels Container created by means of the Parallels Virtuozzo Containers product. This Container will be used as the hosting computer for the PVA Management Server component.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 16 In the above command, autoinstaller_file_name stands for the name of the autoinstaller file. 4 In the Welcome to pva-setup window, click Configure to specify the Internet repository information and the local download directory to which you want to upload the files. After you have specified the necessary information, click OK and then Next to proceed with the installation. 5 In the Choose installation type window, choose the installation type.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 17 4 In the Choose Setup Type window, choose the installation type. The components for the default installation may differ. This depends whether the physical server is clean or already has any software virtualization technology installed on it. If the physical server is clean (i.e. has no software virtualization technology installed), you will be offered to install the PVA Management Server component by default. Click Next to start the installation.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 18 4 In the Welcome to pva-setup window, click Configure to specify the Internet repository information and the local download directory to which you want to upload the files. After you have specified the necessary information, click OK and then Next to proceed with the installation. 5 In the Choose installation Type window, choose the installation type. The component for the default installation may differ.
Installing Parallels Virtual Automation 19 5 In the Introduction window, click Continue to proceed to the next installation step. 6 In the Read Me window, view the product description and click Continue. You can print out the document (the Print button) or save it on your computer (the Save button). 7 In the License window, study the product license and click Continue. You can print out the document (the Print button) or save it on your computer (the Save button).
CHAPTER 3 Parallels Virtual Automation Basics The main thing about Parallels Virtual Automation you should know before starting to use it, is that Parallels Virtual Automation is a Web service that enables you to manage physical servers and the virtual environments residing on them over a network.
Parallels Virtual Automation Basics 21 2 Install the PVA Agent for Parallels Server or PVA Agent for Virtuozzo on the physical servers you want to manage. The choice on the PVA component depends on the software virtualization product which is already installed on the physical server. After you have installed these components, you can register the physical server in the Master Server. Note: Power Panel is installed together with PVA Agents by default, but can be disabled on your wish.
Parallels Virtual Automation Basics 22 Interface Overview The Parallels Virtual Automation interface has been designed to let the physical server administrator quickly perform all possible tasks through an intuitive navigation system. The main components of the Parallels Virtual Automation interface are the following: The left menu frame listing and allowing access to all your physical servers and virtual environments.
Parallels Virtual Automation Basics Infrastructure 23 Displays the physical structure of your registered physical servers (Parallels Virtual Automation infrastructure) in the form of a hierarchical tree with physical servers as its upper levels and the virtual environments hosted on them as lower levels. Using the Infrastructure context menu or toolbar, you can arrange the physical servers into groups, thus making the servers management more convenient.
CHAPTER 4 Managing Physical Servers As soon as you register a physical server in Parallels Virtual Automation, you can manage it. To be registered, the physical server should have: Parallels virtualization software installed: Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Linux/Windows, Parallels Server 4 Bare Metal, or Parallels Server 4 for Mac software. PVA Agent for Virtuozzo or Parallels Server installed. The PVA Agent type depends on the virtualization software type.
Managing Physical Servers 25 To display a certain server from a long list of servers, click the Show Search link on top of the table, enter the name of the server and click the Search link; to have the list of the servers back, click Reset Results. To stop managing a physical server via PVA, select its checkbox and click Unregister. To add a new server to the list of the physical servers registered in PVA, click the Add button on the main toolbar. In This Chapter Registering Physical Servers..
Managing Physical Servers 26 Registering Physical Servers You can register in Parallels Virtual Automation any Windows, Linux, Mac OS or Parallels Server bare metal computer providing there is the necessary virtualization technology installed. The newly registered physical servers will be displayed in the servers list on the Physical Servers screen and accessible for all the usual managing and monitoring operations Parallels Virtual Automation provides you with.
Managing Physical Servers 27 Logging in to Physical Servers If you are managing a physical server with the Windows operating system installed, you can use Remote Desktop Connection - a standard Windows application - to connect to the physical server by means of the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Note. The option is available only for Internet Explorer 5.0 or above.
Managing Physical Servers 28 Backing up and Restoring 4.6 Master Server In the PVA 4.6 infrastructure, Master Server is a uniting element that ensures successful communication between all Slave physical servers in the system and their virtual environments. It also serves as a storage for management, security and other sorts of data.
Managing Physical Servers 29 Monitoring Physical Server Resources Parallels Virtual Automation enables you to monitor and manage not only the virtual environments operation, but also the physical servers resources. In Parallels Virtual Automation, you can view the current resource usage statistics and adjust the values to improve the performance of the physical server, as well as that of the virtual environments it hosts.
Managing Physical Servers 30 If you need to free some of the resources, click the Resources tab. You will see which of the virtual environments hosted on the physical server consume the biggest piece of a corresponding resource. Then, depending on how important the operations run on these virtual environments are, you can suspend some of them. A suspended virtual environments stays put, and so its processes and services do, to be later resumed from the checkpoint.
Managing Physical Servers 31 Managing Parallels Licenses Physical servers running Parallels Virtuozzo Containers technology demand Parallels Containers licenses to create and work with Containers. Physical servers running Parallels Server Bare Metal technology demand Parallels Server Bare Metal license to create and work with virtual machines and Containers. Mac OS physical servers with Parallels Server for Mac demand Parallels Server for Mac license to create and work with virtual machines.
Managing Physical Servers 32
CHAPTER 5 Managing Virtual Environments When you have created the PVA infrastructure with all the necessary physical servers, you can pass on to creating and managing virtual environments. This section provides you with the information on creating Containers and virtual machines, as well as on how to log into them via outside applications and how to perform the main management operations. In This Chapter Creating Virtual Environments ....................................................................
Managing Virtual Environments 34 Creating Virtual Environments This section provides basic instructions for creating a virtual environment using Parallels Virtual Automation. You can create either a virtual machine or a Container. The two types belong to different software virtualization technologies and have a number of differences in their configuration settings.
Managing Virtual Environments 35 In the Virtual Environment Configuration section, specify the number of virtual machines to be created and the virtual environment template to be applied to them. The list of templates is built up of the Library templates. If there are none, the list will be empty. As you finish with the initial settings, click Next to proceed to the next screen.
Managing Virtual Environments 36 To receive a full description on all sections on this page, refer to the Parallels Virtual Automation Administrator's Guide, see the Managing Virtual Environment --> Managing Virtual Machines section. When finished, click Next to define the hardware settings, or click Create to apply the default hardware settings and create the virtual machine.
Managing Virtual Environments 37 Creating Containers The procedure of Parallels Container creation is a little bit more complicated than that of a Parallels virtual machine, since almost every window contains not only the basic configuration options, but also a number of advanced settings. The good thing about it is that you can easily skip the advanced options or simply use the default parameters that the Parallels Virtual Automation team has developed for your convenience.
Managing Virtual Environments 38 3 In the New Containers: Setup screen, specify the new Container name and the Virtuozzo OS template to be applied to create a Container. It is also recommended to specify the administrative password at this point, so that you won't have to do this later. The default username for the administrator of the Containers with the Windows and Linux operating system will be Administrator and root respectively.
Managing Virtual Environments 39 6 In the New Containers: Application Selection screen, specify the applications you want to automatically install in the Container upon its creation.
Managing Virtual Environments 40 Besides these states, a virtual environment may be in one of the transitional states: mounting, starting, stopping, etc. When a virtual environment is in a transitional state, you cannot perform any action on it until the operation is finished. To change the virtual environment state, go the Virtual Environments tab of the Infrastructure page and click the Start, Stop, Pause or Restart button to perform the corresponding action.
Managing Virtual Environments 41 If you do this for the first time, your browser may display a security warning asking you to install additional components. Click Yes and wait for the remote desktop window to appear. In this window, specify your user name and password you created for this virtual machine and click Enter to get connected to the virtual machine and start sending commands to it via VNC.
Managing Virtual Environments 42 Deleting Virtual Environments The Delete screen allows you to remove those virtual environments from your physical servers that you do not need anymore. To delete a virtual environment, do the following: 1 Go to the Virtual Environments tab of the Infrastructure window, choose the virtual environment and click the Delete icon. All the virtual environments scheduled for removing are listed in the Delete Virtual Environment section of the Delete screen.
Glossary 43 Glossary Application template is a template used to install a set of applications on virtual environments. See also Template. Container is a virtual private server, which is functionally identical to an isolated standalone server, with its own IP addresses, processes, files, its own users database, its own configuration files, applications, system libraries, and so on. Containers on one and the same physical server (or Hardware node) share one OS kernel.
Glossary 44 Software Virtualization, in Parallels Virtual Automation documentation, stands for the Parallels software virtualization products, such as Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Linux and Windows, Parallels Server Bare Metal, etc. SSH stands for Secure Shell. It is a protocol for logging into a remote physical server or virtual environment and executing commands. Standard template is a solid bundle of all the necessary template files together with the Virtuozzo virtual environments software.
Index B Backing up and Restoring 4.
Index Registering Physical Servers • 25 S Software Requirements • 13 Starting Containers • 37 Virtual Environment • 37 Virtual Machines • 37 Starting and Stopping Virtual Environments • 37 Stopping Containers • 37 Virtual Environment • 37 Virtual Machines • 37 System Requirements • 11 hardware requirements • 12 software requirements • 13 V Virtual Environment creating • 32 deleting • 39 logging into • 38 managing • 32 starting • 37 stopping • 37 Virtual Machines creating • 33 deleting • 39 logging into •
