User`s guide
Preface 8
Organization of This Guide
Chapter 2, OpenVZ Philosophy, is a must-read chapter that helps you grasp the general principles
of OpenVZ operation. It provides an outline of OpenVZ architecture, of the way OpenVZ stores
and uses configuration information, of the things you as administrator are supposed to perform,
and the common way to perform them.
Chapter 3, Installation and Preliminary Operations, dwells on all those things that must be done
before you are able to begin the administration proper of OpenVZ. Among these things are a
customized installation of Linux on a dedicated computer (Hardware Node, in OpenVZ
terminology), OpenVZ installation, preparation of the Hardware Node for creating Virtual
Private Servers on it, etc.
Chapter 4, Operations on Virtual Private Servers, covers those operations that you may perform
on a VPS as on a single entity: creating and deleting Virtual Private Servers, starting and
stopping them, etc.
Chapter 5, Managing Templates, shows you the way to handle OpenVZ templates properly –
create and install templates and template updates on the Hardware Node, add them to and
remove from Virtual Private Servers, etc.
Chapter 6, Managing Resources, zeroes in on configuring and monitoring the resource control
parameters for different VPSs. These parameters comprise disk quotas, CPU and system
resources. Common ways of optimizing your VPSs configurations are suggested at the end of
the chapter.
Chapter 7, Advanced Tasks, enumerates those tasks that are intended for advanced system
administrators who would like to obtain deeper knowledge about OpenVZ capabilities.
Chapter 8, Troubleshooting, suggests ways to resolve common inconveniences should they occur
during your work with the OpenVZ software.
Chapter 9, Reference, is a complete reference on all OpenVZ configuration files and Hardware
Node command-line utilities. You should read this chapter if you do not understand a file format
or looking for an explanation of a particular configuration option, if you need help for a
particular command or looking for a command to perform a certain task.
Documentation Conventions
Before you start using this guide, it is important to understand the documentation conventions
used in it. For information on specialized terms used in the documentation, see the Glossary at
the end of this document.