How to Configure Citrix XenServer 6.5 on VMware Workstation

Citrix XenServer gives you everything that you need to manage, integrate and automate a virtualized server infrastructure which consolidates a physical server's computing power into multiple virtual machines and administers their performance and use, all emulating as a standard server. Citrix XenServer is built to provide the operational requirements of a standard server and supports most of the servers operating systems, such as Linux and Windows Server, on guest server machines. All on an enterprise-class and truly Open Source cloud-proven virtual platform.

In this article we will be showing you the installation and configurations of XenServer 6.5 on a VM using VMware Workstation.

System Requirements

Your system should run on an optimized and hardened Linux partition with a Xen-enabled kernel which controls the interaction between the virtualized devices seen by VMs and the physical hardware.

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The system requirements for the XenServer host are as following according to its recommendations and our used figures.

CPU: 2 GHz (Recommended)
RAM: 4 GHz (Recommended)
Disk: 20 GB (Recommended 16 GB)

Download XenServer ISO

Open this LINK to download the latest available ISO image of XenServer.

Creating New VM

Create a new VM in your virtualization environment configure its new Host name and storage. After that choose the guest Operating System as 'Other' or 'VMware ESX' and version as 'VMware ESXi 5.x' as shown.

Then choose system resources including its RAM, CPU and Disk space and click on the finish button after confirming the settings you see in its summary.

Installing XenServer

Power On the newly created VM from the console of your Workstation, attach the ISO image by browsing it from your stored location and send the 'Ctlr+Alt+Del' button to start its installation setup.

Press 'OK' key after reading the Welcome note.

Then accept the License agreement as followed the terms and conditions of Citrix Systems, Inc.

1) Virtual Machine Storage

You will be asked to choose the disk storage for your Virtual Machines and Enable the thin provisioning option in order to optimize storage for XenDesktop and press 'OK' to proceed to next step.

2) Installation Source

Then choose the installation source from the 3 available option as shown in below image to 'Local media' and click on the 'OK' button to move next.

3) Supplemental Packs

Choose the 'Yes' option if you have suplimental packs otherwise you can choose the 'No' option.

4) Verify Installation

Skip the verification or select the option to test your media and press 'OK' to proceed to the next option.

5) Set Password

Configure the password for your root account that will be used for connecting the XenServer Host from XenCenter.

6) Networking

Choose from the options to configure networking as DHCP for your Management interface on the host.

7) DNS Settings

Here you have to configure the Hostname and DNS settings as per your requirements. We will be chooseing its DNS to set it automatically via DHCP as shown below and then click on the 'OK' button to move to next option.

8) Time Zone

Select the Time Zone and City as 'London'to configure the geographical location of your XenServer Host.

9) System Time

We will be choosing the system time as NTP while you can also choose it from its manual time entry but in that case you have to configure that at the end of installation.

10) NTP Configuration

After selecting the NTP option we will configure its settings using the DHCP server and click on the 'OK' key to proceed.

11) Installation Confirmation

We have configure all the required information for the installation of XenServer. Now click on the 'Install XenServer' to confirm that you have are are ready to make changes on your selected disk and the data will no longer be available after installation.

During its installation process you will be asked for New Suplimental Packs, simply skip this step to complete the installation process.

The system will take some time to prepare and complete the installation setup.

12) Complete Installation

After completion of the installation process you will get the XenServer Installation Complete notification and asked for removal of any local media from the drive and press 'Enter' key to reboot your system.

XenServer Dashboard

Once the server is back after reboot you will see the XenServer customization page where you will be able to see and configure its required settings from here.

Conclusion

We have successfully installed XenServer 6.5 version on VMware Workstation 12, so following the similar steps you can easily install it on any VMware platform. Citrix XenServer is an awesome Open Source Virtualization platform that can fulfill all your required demands in the the field of virtualization. This was the basic installation of XenServer that you have learned in this article in the further articles we will show with the help of simple steps to create your guest operation system on XenServer. If you have any suggestions or feedback don't forget to leave us a comment. We hope you enjoyed reading this article.