This page allows you to create a new virtual system, running inside a Xen
instance. Because Cloudmin always creates new Xen systems from images, you must
have downloaded at least one image using the New System
Images page before an instance can be created.
The fields on this form that need to be filled in to create a Xen instance
are :
- System hostname
- This must be the name of the new Xen instance to create, which should not
include a domain name. Suitable instance names are like centos1 or
xen-foocorp.The final hostname of the instance will have
the DNS domain name selected for the host system appended.
- System description
- A short human-readable description for this new virtual system, like
Webserver for Foo Corp.
- Initial system image
- From this menu you must select the Xen operating system image to start the
new system with. Cloudmin provides two types of images - base operating systems,
and full stacks with Virtualmin. In most cases, you will want to select
the latter.
- Root login mode
- This field allows you to set the initial password for the new Xen instance.
Typically you will select Using password and enter a password into
the adjacent text box, which can then be given to whoever will manage the
server. Alternately, if you have any SSH keys registered with Cloudmin you can
select Using SSH key and choose a key from the menu next to it. Once
the instance is created, it will be configured to allow passwordless logins
using that key.
- Allow creation of Virtualmin domains?
- This setting determines if the newly create system can have Virtualmin
domains added to it. Typically you will want to leave this set to
Yes.
- Update Virtualmin packages?
- When this is set to Yes (as it is by default) and you are creating
a system from an image that includes Virtualmin Pro, all packages used by
Virtualmin will be updated to the latest available versions after creation
is complete.
- Xen hosting system
- From this menu you must select the physical system on which you want
the Xen instance created.
- IP address for Xen instance
- Every new Xen system is given a private IP address, which can either be
allocated automatically from the range defined for the host system, or
entered manually by selecting the Address option.
If the Cloudmin master runs a DNS server (highly recommended), an entry will
be added to the DNS zone selected for the Xen host system for the full
hostname and Xen instance IP address.
- Memory allocated to instance
- Xen instances have a fixed upper bound on the amount of memory they can
use, which is controlled by this option. 256 is the minimum for a web
webhosting system with Virtualmin, but 512 is recommended.
- Swap file size for instance
- By default, Cloudmin will create Xen instances with regular memory allocated,
but no swap space. However, you can select the second radio button here
and enter the amount of swap (virtual) memory to allocate in MB, which will
allow processes in the instance to use more than the allocated RAM, at the
cost of performance. Because the swap space is stored in a file on the host
system of the same size, it is a good idea to limit this to twice the
amount of regular memory.
- Disk space allocated to instance
- Unlike some other virtual machine types, Xen stores each instance's file
system inside a single file on the host, which is a disk image in EXT3
format. The size of the filesystem within the instance is thus limited
to the disk image size.
By default, the disk file size depends on the system image selected. All
images that contain the full Virtualmin stack are 2 GB, while those with
just the base OS are 1 GB. Because this may not be enough for a system
that will host multiple websites, you can enter a larger size in MB using
this option, and the disk image will be grown to that size during the
instance creation process.
When the Create button is clicked, Cloudmin will start the Xen setup process.
Status messages will be displayed as each step is done. The total time
depends on the size
of the image, speed of the host system and speed of the network between the
host and the Cloudmin master, but around five minutes seems to be the average.