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How to Add XenServer Hosts to VMM

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following procedure to add a Citrix XenServer computer or XenServer pool to Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) as one or more managed hosts or host clusters.

Prerequisites

Before you begin this procedure, review the following prerequisites:

  • The computers that you want to add must meet the requirements that are outlined as follows:

  • If you want to add a XenServer pool, this procedure assumes that you have an existing XenServer pool that you created by using Citrix XenCenter or some other external method.

  • When you add a XenServer host, you must specify a Run As account, where the associated account has root credentials on the computers that you want to add. Although it is not a required prerequisite, you can create a Run As account before you begin this procedure. (You can also create the account during the procedure.)

    For example, create a Run As account that is named XenServer Hosts.

    Note

    You can create Run As accounts in the Settings workspace. For more information about Run As accounts, see How to Create a Run As Account in VMM.

To add a XenServer host or pool

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, click Servers.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Add group, click Add Resources, and then click Citrix XenServer Hosts and Clusters.

    The Add Resource Wizard starts.

  4. On the Server Settings page, do the following:

    1. In the Computer name box, enter the fully qualified domain name, the NetBIOS name or the IP address of the XenServer host. To add a pool of hosts, enter the name or IP address of any XenServer host in the pool. If you specify a name, it must be resolvable by Domain Name System (DNS).

      Note

      If you add a pool, the node that you specify does not have to be the master.

    2. Unless you have changed it on the XenServer host, accept the default TCP port of 5989.

    3. Make sure that the Use certificates to communicate with this host check box is selected.

    4. Next to the Run As account box, click Browse, click the Run As account that has root credentials on the XenServer, and then click OK. (If you do not already have a Run As account, click Browse, and then click Create Run As Account.)

      For example, if you created the Run As account that is described in the Prerequisites section of this topic, click the XenServer Hosts Run As account.

    5. In the Host group list, click the host group where you want to add the XenServer host or pool.

    6. When you are finished, click Add.

      VMM discovers the servers and lists them in the lower pane. If you added a pool, the name of the pool is listed together with each host in the pool.

      Note

      The server name that is listed will match the name that the associated certificate is issued to.

    7. Verify that the certificate for each host is valid. To do this, click a host, and then click View certificate. If you find a host with a certificate that is not valid, click Remove to remove it from the list.

    8. If all hosts have valid certificates, select the These certificates have been reviewed and can be imported to the trusted certificate store check box, and then click Next.

  5. On the Summary page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish.

    The Jobs dialog box appears to indicate the job status. Make sure that the job has a status of Completed, and then close the dialog box. If the job fails, perform the following troubleshooting steps:

    1. Make sure that you can ping the host by the computer name or IP address that you specified in step 4a. If you specified a computer name, make sure that the computer name is resolvable by DNS.

    2. Verify that the supplemental pack is installed correctly on the XenServer host. To do this, open a command prompt with Administrator privileges on the VMM management server, type the following command, where <HOSTNAME> is the name of the host, <ROOT USER> is the root user on the XenServer host, and <PASSWORD> is the password of the root user, and then press ENTER:

      winrm enum http://schemas.citrix.com/wbem/wscim/1/cim-schema/2/Xen\_HostComputerSystem -r:https://<HOSTNAME>:5989 -encoding:utf-8 -a:basic -u:<ROOT USER> -p:<PASSWORD> -skipcacheck –skipcncheck

      If it is successful, the command returns information about the host computer. If the command is unsuccessful, the supplemental pack is either not installed or is not functioning correctly.

  6. To verify that the host was successfully added, in the Fabric pane, expand Servers, expand the host group where you added the host, and then click the XenServer host. In the Hosts pane, verify that the host status is OK.

    Tip

    To view detailed information about host status, right-click a host in the VMM console, and then click Properties. On the Status tab you can view the health status for the overall health of the host, and the network and XenServer Common Information Model (CIM) state health. Realize that the Repair all option does not apply to XenServer hosts.