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

Integrity VM checks the current physical configuration when you create a virtual machine using
the hpvmcreate command. If the virtual machine uses backing stores that are not available, the
virtual machine is created, and warning messages provide details. If you use the hpvmstart
command to start a virtual machine that requires physical resources that are not available on the
VM Host system, the virtual machine is not allowed to start, and error messages provide detailed
information about the problem.
After you create a virtual machine, you can use the hpvmmodify command to add, remove, or
modify storage devices for the virtual machine. To add a device to an existing virtual machine,
include the -a option, the same way you would on an hpvmcreate command. For example,
the following command modifies the virtual machine named host1, adding a virtual DVD
device backed by the physical disk device /c1t1d2. The virtual hardware address is omitted
and will be generated automatically.
# hpvmmodify -P host1 -a dvd:scsi::disk:/dev/rdisk/disk2
You can modify storage devices while the virtual machine is running. It is not necessary to restart
the virtual machine; however, it may be necessary to rescan for devices on the virtual machine.
Some devices should be restricted to use by the VM Host and to each guest (for example, boot
devices and swap devices). Specify restricted devices using the hpvmdevmgmt command. For
more information about sharing and restricting devices, see Section 9.9.2.4 (page 163).
Any alternate boot devices should be set with the same care that you would use on a physical
system. If the primary boot device fails for any reason, a virtual machine set to autoboot attempts
to boot from devices in the specified boot order until either an option succeeds or it reaches the
EFI Shell. Make sure that any specified boot options, and the boot order, are appropriate for the
guest. For more information about the autoboot setting, see Table 3-5.
3.2.8 Creating Virtual Machine Labels
The -l option specifies the label of the virtual machine. The virtual machine label is a descriptive
label unique to this virtual machine. The label can be useful in identifying a specific virtual
machine in the hpvmstatus -V display. The label can contain up to 256 alphanumeric characters,
including A-Z, a-z, 0-9, the dash (—), the underscore (_), and the period (.). If white space is
desired, the label must be quoted ("").
3.2.9 Specifying the Virtual Machine Boot Attribute
The -B option specifies the startup behavior of the virtual machine. The start_attr attribute
can have the following (case-insensitive) values:
• auto: Automatically start the virtual machine when Integrity VM is initialized on the host.
• manual: Manually start the virtual machine.
If the start_attr attribute is set to auto, the virtual machine is started when Integrity VM is
initialized. This is the default. This occurs when the VM Host system is booted, and when the
Integrity VM software is stopped and restarted on a running VM Host. For example, when you
upgrade Integrity VM to a new version on a running system, the software is started automatically.
The VM Host attempts to start all virtual machines for which the attribute is set to auto. If
insufficient resources exist, some virtual machines may fail to start.
If the attribute is set to manual, the virtual machine will not be started automatically when
Integrity VM is initialized on the VM Host. The virtual machine can then be started manually
with the hpvmstart command or through its virtual console.
This option does not set the virtual machine's console to enable booting when the virtual machine
is started. This function must be set with the virtual machine's console.
50 Creating Virtual Machines