Ubuntu Manpage: dtc_reinstall_os - reinstall an operating system in a VM

NAME

       dtc_reinstall_os - reinstall an operating system in a VM

SYNOPSIS

       dtc_reinstall_os  [  -v  ] [ OPTIONS ] -vpsid <ID> -ram <RAM size MB> -nic <ip>[,<netmask>[,<broadcast>]]
       -pass <root-password> -os <operating-system> [ -gw <default-gateway> ] [ -dns <dns1-ip>[,<dns2-ip>] ]

DESCRIPTION

       dtc-reinstall_os This shell script is a part of the dtc-xen package that is to be used by the  dtc  panel
       to manage a Xen VPS server.

       dtc_reinstall_os will bootstrap an operating system for you, so you can later use it in a virtual machine
       (a VM), otherwise called a virtual private server (a VPS). This script will be called by dtc-xen when you
       order  it  to  install  a  VPS through the SOAP server of dtc-xen. You can as well use it directly on the
       shell if you don't have a DTC control panel server already setup.

       Additional configuration files

              When doing it's setup, dtc_reinstall_os will copy the file /etc/dtc-xen/authorized_keys2 into  the
              VPS's  /root/.ssh/authorized_keys2  and /root/.ssh/authorized_key, so the administrator has access
              to the VPS without the need of shutting it down. So it's a good idea to copy your shh  public  key
              in  /etc/dtc-xen/authorized_keys2.  dtc_reinstall_os  will  also  copy  /etc/dtc-xen/motd into the
              /etc/motd of the VPS (and /etc/motd.tail if a Debian operating system is installed), and /etc/dtc-
              xen/bashrc into the /root/.bashrc.

              Another very important  configuration  file  is  /etc/dtc-xen/dtc-xen.conf,  that  will  hold  the
              configuration for both this script, and the SOAP server of dtc-xen itself.

PARAMETERS

Parameters and options conventions

All parameters described here are mandatory. dtc_reinstall_os will exit if one of the parameters
is missing from both the configuration file /etc/dtc-xen/dtc-xen.conf and the command line. If a
parameter is on both the configuration file and the command line, then the command line has
priority. The parameters not marked like [ this ] are not mandatory in the command line, if and
only if, they are defined in the configuration file. If a parameter is defined in the
configuration file, then it can be omitted from the command line. The parameters defined above
-like <this> are mandatory. Options are always defined with a double minus sign, while mandatory
parameters have only a single minus sign.

All the parameters defined in this section (eg: PARAMETERS) are the mandatory on the command line.

-vpsid <ID>

ID has to be a number between 01 and 99. Each time a new VPS is created, an associated user
xen<ID> will be created on the system, using /usr/bin/dtc-xen_userconsole so your users can login
into the system. When they login, "xm console xen<ID>" will in fact be their shell, so they can
access the physical console of the VPS using ssh.

-ram <RAM size MB>

This is the amount of memory in mega bytes that you want to have setup in the Xen startup file for
this virtual machine.

-nic <ip>[,<netmask>[,<broadcast>]]

This parameter defines the network configuration of the virtual machine, together with the -gw
option (see below). There can be as many -nic parameter as you need. If there is more than one,
then dtc_reinstall_os will setup a physical NIC configuration, and as many eth0:X virtual alias as
needed to match the number of -nic parameters on the command line.

If the <netmask> or <broadcast> parameter is missing, then the values will be taken from /etc/dtc-
xen/dtc-xen.conf. It is mandatory to have at least the netmask and broadcast defined in either the
command line or in the configuration file. These variables are called NETMASK and BROADCAST in
/etc/dtc-xen/dtc-xen.conf. Note that each IP address will be added to the Xen startup
configuration file of the virtual machine, so that you can use the anti-spoof facility of the Xen
firewall (highly recommended, if you are reselling VPS). See Xen documentation on how to activate
the anti-spoof feature of xend, but in short, you should use something like this: (network-script
'network-bridge antispoof=yes') while network-bridge can be replaced by the network scheme that
you need. DTC-Xen will NOT touch the /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp file, it's up to you to customize it
to your needs before using dtc-xen.

-gw <gateway>

You can then specify lvm or loopback. Currently the only value the script compares to is lvm (or
anything else), but this might change in the future. If omitted, then lvm loopback is used.

[ -dns <dns1-ip>[,<dns2-ip>] ]

This defines the default DNS to be setup in /etc/resolv.conf in the VPS that will be setup. If not
present, then dtc-xen will use the file in /etc/resolv.conf of your dom0 to find the DNS to use.

-pass <PASSWORD>

This is the root password you wish to have setup inside the VPS. Not all operating system setup
will support it, but it's still a mandatory parameter. If this parameter is not used, then the
VPS will be setup without a root password, which is, as opposed to many people think, very fine.
The user will just need to log into his VPS and setup the root password using the passwd utility.

-os <unix-distribution>

This parameter that can be debian, centos, or netbsd for a default setup of dtc-xen. It can also
be set to any of the folder names present in /usr/share/dtc-xen-os, so that dtc-xen will use the
setup script of the dtc-xen-os module to initialize a partition.

This parameter can also be the name of any folder present in /usr/share/dtc-xen-app. These are
appliances that will be installed automatically at the first boot of the VPS. They depend on the
support of the unix distribution that is supported by dtc-xen, or any of the dtc-xen-os module
installed in the system.

OPTION

If you don't set these options, then they may have to be set in /etc/dtc-xen/dtc-xen.conf. Some options
can be omitted completely.

-v

Without -v, dtc_reinstall_os normally outputs everything in /var/lib/dtc-xen/mnt/XX.stderr and
/var/lib/dtc-xen/mnt/XX.stdout (or wherever you have set the vps mountpoint to be), to keep a log
of the installation. With -v, the redirection of standard output and error is not done.

--vnc-pass <VNCPASS>

VNC password for the physical console of your HVM VPS. See the Xen documentation if you don't know
what is HVM or full virtualization. If this parameter is omitted, then the VPS will be setup to
NOT use the VNC server (recommended when in production).

--boot-iso <file.iso>

Name of the ISO file stored in /var/lib/dtc-xen/ttyssh_home/xenXX/ folder so the VPS can be set to
boot on it. If this parameter is omitted, then the VPS will boot on the hard drive. Note that your
users would, in a normal scheme, upload the ISO file using FTP and the ssh physical console
password they have set using DTC. The list of uploaded ISO files will then be presented in the
user interface. Because these ISO files can be sometimes big, it is advised to protect your /var
filesystem by using a dedicated partition for /var/lib/dtc-xen/ttyssh_home, in order to avoid that
your users fill up the /var space with ISO files.

--initrd

Full path to the init ram disk image to setup in the startup configuration file for this VPS. This
parameter is normally to be defined in /etc/dtc-xen/dtc-xen.conf as it should normally not be
changed often.

--kernel

Full path to the kernel boot image to setup in the startup configuration file for this VPS. This
parameter is normally to be defined in /etc/dtc-xen/dtc-xen.conf as it should normally not be
changed often.

--kernel-release

Kernel release number that will be used when setting-up this VPS. To be used only if you are using
the --initrd and --kernel options, and if the release number is different from the one of your
dom0. This will be used to run a depmod -a <kernel-release-number> in the VPS partition.

--kmod-path

Full path to the kernel modules to be used when copying the kernel modules in the VPS.

EXAMPLES

       .I Example1:

              dtc_reinstall_os  -v  -vpsid  01  -ram  512  -nic  192.168.2.176,255.255.255.0,192.168.2.255 -pass
              MyRootPass -os debian -gw 192.168.2.1 -dns 192.168.2.1

       This will setup the VM called xen01, build it's startup file in  /etc/xen/xen01  with  a  vif  containing
       ip=192.168.2.176 and 512 MB of RAM, setting-up a debian operating system with the /etc/network/interfaces
       using  192.168.2.176 as IP, 255.255.255.0 as netmask, 192.168.2.255 as broadcast, 192.168.2.1 as gateway,
       and 192.168.2.1 as DNS.

       .I Example2:

              dtc_reinstall_os -vpsid 02 -ram 1024 -nic  192.168.9.2  -nic  192.168.9.3  -gw  192.168.9.1  -pass
              MyRootPass -os kde-nx-server-3.3.0

       This  will  setup  the  VM  called xen02, build it's startup file in /etc/xen/xen02 with a vif containing
       ip=192.168.9.2 and 192.168.9.3  and  1  GB  of  RAM,  setting-up  a  debian  operating  system  with  the
       /etc/network/interfaces  using  192.168.2.176  as  IP  for eth0, and eth0:1 with 192.168.9.3. The gateway
       192.168.9.1 will be used for eth0, the broadcast, network, and netmask addresses will be  used  from  the
       default  in /etc/dtc-xen/dtc-xen.conf (as they are omitted here, it's mandatory that this config file has
       been  edited  to  match  your  network  and  in  order  to  use  dtc_reinstall_os  this  way).  The  dom0
       /etc/resolv.conf will be used to set the VPS's /etc/resolv.conf.

VERSION

       This documentation describes dtc_reinstall_os version 0.3.15.

       See http://www.gplhost.com/software-dtc-xen.html for updates.

                                                                                             dtc_reinstall_os(8)