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This page describes how to create a Windows base image.These instructions should work regardless of the provisioning engine being used (xCAT, VMware, etc.).  Ignore the VMware Only sections if you are attempting to create an image using xCAT or some other bare metal provisioning engine. 


Requirements

You will need the following:

  • Windows installation ISO file
  • Windows product key or KMS server address

 The following must be done before an image can be captured:

  • A computer for the machine being captured has already been added to the VCL database
  • VMware Only:
    • A computer for the VM host machine on which the guest is running as been added to the VCL database
    • The guest VM has been assigned to the VM host

These instructions assume you have root access and are using a bash shell:

sudo bash

VMware Only: Create a Virtual Machine

The instructions assume that VMware has been configured with the following bridged networks:

  • VMnet0: bridged to private interface: eth0
  • VMnet2: bridged to public interface: eth1
  1. Launch the VMWare Server console: 
    vmware &
  2. Connect to Local Host
  3. Create a new VM
    1. Virtual Machine Configuration: Typical
    2. Guest Operating System: Microsoft Windows
      Version: Windows XP Professional (select the appropriate version if you are not installing XP)
    3. Name: vmwarewinxp-base7-v1
    4. Network connection: Custom
      /dev/vmnet0
    5. Disk size: 8.0 GB
      1. Allocate all disk space now: no
      2. Split disk into 2GB files: yes
  4. Edit virtual machine settings 
    1. Configure the VM CD-ROM drive to use the Windows XP ISO image
      1. Connection: Use ISO image: browse to path of Windows XP ISO image
        /install/WinXP+SP3.iso
    2. Add: Ethernet Adapter
      1. Network Connection: Custom
        /dev/vmnet2

Install Windows

Follow the steps: Install Windows for a Base Image

VMware Only: Install VMware Tools

  1. Power on the VM if it is not already powered on
  2. Install VMWare Tools  (Note: you must have a CD-ROM drive configured for the VM in order to install VMware Tools)
    1. Click on the VM menu and select "Install VMWare Tools"
    2. Select Typical and proceed through the setup pages accepting the defaults
    3. Reboot the VM when installation is complete

Install Cygwin SSHD

Follow the steps: Install & Configure Cygwin SSHD

Run vcld -setup

  1. Run the following command on the management node:
    /usr/local/vcl/bin/vcld -setup
  2. Navigate the menu options
    (Note: the names and numbers of the menu items may not match your installation):
    1. Select a module to configure: VCL Image State Module
    2. Choose an operation: Capture Base Image
    3. Enter the VCL login name or ID of the user who will own the image:
      Enter your VCL user ID or the user ID of the user you want to own the image.  Pressing Enter without entering a user login ID will cause admin to be the owner of the new base image.
    4. Enter the hostname or IP address of the computer to be captured:
      Enter the name or private IP address of the computer which has already added to the VCL database.
    5. Select the OS to be captured:
      1. VMware Linux
      2. VMware Windows 2003 Server
      3. VMware Windows 7
      4. VMware Windows Server 2008
      5. VMware Windows Vista
      6. VMware Windows XP
    6. Image architecture:
      1. x86
      2. x86_64
    7. Use Sysprep:
      1. Yes
      2. No
      Sysprep is usually only required if the image will be loaded on bare metal computers with varying different hardware.
    8. Enter the name of the image to be captured:
      The name you enter is the name that will be displayed in the list of environments.  It may contain spaces but including other special characters is not recommended.

The following happen once you enter an image name and press enter:

  • A new image is added to the VCL database
  • An imaging request is added to the VCL database
  • The vcld -setup automatically initiates 'tail -f /var/log/vcld.log' to monitor the vcld log file.  The output should be displayed on the screen.

Watch the vcld logfile output to determine if the image capture process is successful or terminated because a problem occurred.  When the capture process terminates, there will either be a message near the end of the output saying "image capture successful" or there will be several WARNING messages, the last of which says something to the effect "image failed to be captured".  Further troubleshooting is required if the image fails to be captured.

Add the Base Image to an Image Group

The vcld -setup utility does not add the new base image to any image groups.  You must add the image to an image group using the VCL website after the image capture process is complete.  Reservations for the image cannot be made until this is done.  To add the image to an image group, browse to the VCL website and select Manage Images > Edit Image Grouping.

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