HP Integrity Virtual Machines 4.2: Installation, Configuration, and Administration

3.2.1 Virtual Machine Name
Use the -P vm-name option to specify the name of the new virtual machine. This option is
required for the hpvmcreate command. In the following example, the new virtual machine is
named host1. On the VM Host, enter the following command:
# hpvmcreate -P host1
The virtual machine name can be up to 256 alphanumeric characters, including A-Z, a-z, 0-9, the
dash (—), the underscore (_), and period (.). The virtual machine name must not start with a
dash.
3.2.2 Guest Operating System Type
Use the -O os_type option to specify the type of operating system that will run on the virtual
machine. This option is not required.
For os_type, specify one of the following case-insensitive values:
• hpux
For specific information about installing HP-UX guests, see Chapter 4 (page 65).
• windows
For specific information about installing Windows guests, see Chapter 5 (page 71).
• linux
For specific information about installing Linux guests, see Chapter 6 (page 81).
If you do not supply the operating system type, it defaults to UNKNOWN. When you install the
operating system and boot the guest, this guest configuration parameter is automatically set to
the appropriate operating system type.
In the following example, the virtual machine host1 is specified as a Linux guest:
# hpvmcreate -P host1 -O linux
When a running guest transitions from running in the machine console to running in the operating
system, the operating system type is detected. If the operating system type is different from the
information in the guest's configuration file, it is automatically updated to reflect the current
operating system.
3.2.3 Virtual CPUs
Use the -c number_vcpus option to the command to specify the number of virtual CPUs (vCPUs)
that the virtual machine can use. If you do not specify the number of vCPUs, the default is 1. For
example, to set the new virtual machine host1 to have two vCPUs, enter the following command:
# hpvmcreate -P host1 -c 2
Every virtual machine has at least one vCPU. A running virtual machine cannot use more vCPUs
than the number of physical CPUs on the VM Host system. (For the purpose of this discussion,
the term “physical CPU” refers to a processing entity on which a software thread can be
scheduled.)
Do not set the number of vCPUs higher than the physical number of CPUs, as this can cause
undesirable behavior. The following command specifies the number of virtual CPUs this virtual
machine has
# hpvmcreate -c number_vcpus[:minimum[:maximum]]
The minimum and maximum values are boundary values, which are enforced if the number of
virtual CPUs this virtual machines changes in the future. The default value is one (1) virtual CPU
for the virtual machine. The number of virtual CPUs should not be set higher than physical
number of CPUs on the host, as this can cause undesirable behavior.
3.2 Specifying Virtual Machine Characteristics 45