Create your first virtual machine

Create a small test VM, install its operating system and check that it starts from its own virtual disk.

Before you begin

• Sign in and connect your host. This guide uses an XOA-HL administrator account.
• Download an installer ISO from the operating system vendor. Check it with the checksum that the vendor publishes.
• Find two kinds of storage: an ISO SR for installer media, and a writable SR with free space for VM disks. Not every host has the XCP-HL ISO library.
• Need a new SR for VM disks? First create NFS storage on an empty, dedicated export. Come back to its disk checks once this VM is installed.
• Pick a guest network that gives the installer the access it needs. Leave enough host memory and storage for XOA-HL and your other VMs.

You manage the VM in your browser. The operating system installs in the new VM’s console, never on the XCP-HL host or the XOA-HL appliance.

1. Get the installer ISO

If a checked installer is already in an ISO library, use it and skip this step. To connect a dedicated NFS library, follow Connect an NFS ISO library.

Uploading from your browser only works if the ISO SR accepts new files and has enough space. Seeing the SR in the import list does not prove this: some libraries can read media but do not accept uploads.

1. Open Import → Disk (/#/import/disk). Leave From URL off, so that you upload the file you downloaded.
2. Select the ISO SR, for example XCP-HL ISO library if you have it. Drop the .iso file into the upload area.
3. Check the file name and the destination. Select Import and wait until it finishes.
4. Open the destination SR’s disk list and check that the ISO is there. Do not continue with an incomplete upload.

If no suitable ISO SR appears, set one up first. Importing an ISO into ordinary VM-disk storage does not turn that storage into an ISO library.

2. Create the VM

Open New → VM (/#/vms/new) and select your pool. Choose a template that installs your operating system, not a template that already contains an installed system.

Give the VM a clear name, such as lab-first-vm. The sizes below suit a small Linux test system, if they meet the vendor’s requirements:

Select Create.

Check: one VM with your name appears, and its settings match your choices. If Create is greyed out, a required section or a resource check is incomplete. Review the wizard before you try again.

For console controls, or a blank or frozen screen, see Use the VM console.

3. Install the operating system

1. Open the new VM and check its name. Start it, then open the Console tab.
2. Check that the installer starts. Follow the vendor’s installation steps inside this guest.
3. When the installer asks for a target disk, check that it is the new VM’s virtual disk (20 GiB in this example). If the disk already contains data, stop and check that you selected the right VM.
4. When the installation is done, open the VM’s Disks tab and eject the installer ISO from the virtual CD drive. Restart the guest normally and check that it starts from its virtual disk.

4. Check the result

• The guest starts without the installer ISO, and you can sign in through its console.
• The VM’s CPU, memory, disks and network match your choices.
• Inside the guest, the IP address, gateway, DNS and required connections work. The console still works when the guest network does not.
• You have noted the guest OS version, template, VM name and XOA-HL versions.

Guest tools depend on the operating system. For Ubuntu 24.04, see the next steps below.

This VM has no independent backup yet. A snapshot on the same storage does not protect you if that storage is lost. Keep important data off this VM until you have tested a backup and a restore.

If something goes wrong

Next steps

1. Back up the test VM and check a restore.
2. For an Ubuntu 24.04 (amd64) guest, install the management agent. Other systems need their own procedure.
3. To reuse an installed guest, create new VMs from a template.

See also the glossary and the update guide.