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

5 Creating Windows Guests
You can install HP Integrity Windows Server 2008 on your virtual machines. These Windows
guests can be managed like a Windows server running on an independent Integrity server,
nPartition, or Integrity server blade by either the VM Host administrator or the Windows system
administrator. This chapter includes the following topics:
• “Windows Guest Requirements”
• “Installing Windows Server 2008 Guests”
• “Managing Windows Guests”
• “Troubleshooting Windows Guest Installation”
5.1 Windows Guest Requirements
To run Windows on a virtual machine, you must install the following on the virtual machine:
• HP Integrity Windows Server 2008 software media. Make sure you have the product key,
which appears on the lower section of your Certificate of Authenticity.
• Integrity VM Windows guest management software.
• Optional: For management from HP Integrity Virtual Machines Manager (VM Manager)
and the HP Insight Dynamics — VSE (ID-VSE) for Integrity, the provider utilities are available
on the Windows Smart Setup Media (SSM).
The following procedure assumes that HP Integrity Virtual Machines A.02.00 or later is installed
on the VM Host system.
To install the Windows operating system on the virtual machine, select a physical backing storage
unit to be used as the guest's boot disk. HP recommends using a whole disk of at least 34 GB.
Logical volumes and file backing stores do not perform as well as whole disks. To determine the
device file name, enter the following command:
# ioscan -funC disk
To prepare for the installation:
• If you are installing from the host's physical CD/DVD, find the physical CD/DVD in the
ioscan output. HP recommends that the virtual disk be cleared of data before you begin
the installation procedure.
• If you are installing from an ISO file on the host, determine the full path name to that file.
If you are using a file for the backing storage, use the hpvmdevmgmt utility with the -S
option to create the file. The utility automatically cleans the file when it is created
The installation procedure automatically repartitions the virtual disk.
5.2 Installing Windows Server 2008 Guests
This section describes how to install a Microsoft Windows Server 2008 guest using the HP Reinstall
(OPK) Media in ISO image format. For additional informational, see the HP Integrity Servers with
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems Installation Guide (HP Part number:
5992–4481, published September 2008).
To install the Windows Server 2008 guest operating system using the HP Reinstall (OPK) Media,
follow these steps:
1. Use the hpvmcreate command to create a Windows guest that has a boot disk, a lan, and
a virtual file DVD backed by the OPK ISO image.
2. Use the hpvmconsole command to power on and boot the guest to the EFI shell:
# hpvmconsole -P guestname -c "pc -on"
5.1 Windows Guest Requirements 71