To set up an Citrix XenServer environment, you must:

• install a Red Hat Linux agent on an Red Hat Enterprise Linux server that you will use as a proxy server
• add that server to the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation console,
• enroll the XenServer master host as a agentless managed object as described in Add the Linux server and Citrix XenServer host object to BMC BladeLogic Server Automation
• use the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation console to perform configuration tasks that complete the setup.

The proxy server communicates with the Citrix XenServer master host using XML-RPC protocol.

Step 1: Review minimum requirements for Citrix XenServer environments

System requirements

To employ BMC BladeLogic Server Automation in an Citrix XenServer virtual environment, you must have a Red Hat Enterprise Linux server (version 5.4 or higher) to act as a proxy server.

Required access and privileges

For a Citrix XenServer environment, note the following requirements for permissions for the CONNECTION_USER:

• the root user on the master server
• Citrix VM Power Admin role, if you are using Active Directory-based authentication mode.

Step 2: Install the Linux agent

1. Install the RSCD agent on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux server that will act as the proxy server, as described in Installing-the-RSCD-agent-only. Be sure to install the RSCD agent that is specifically designated for use with a Linux server.
2. Open the /usr/lib/rsc/exportsfile and edit the last line so it reads:
   • rw,user=root*
3. License the RSCD agent, as described in Licensing-agents.

Step 3: Add the Linux server and Citrix XenServer host object to BMC BladeLogic Server Automation

1. From within the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation console, add the Red Hat Enterprise Linux proxy server as a managed server to a server group (right-click a server group and select Add Server ).
2. Right-click the server group in the Servers folder.
3. Select Virtualization > Add Citrix XenServer host to add a Citrix XenServer agentless device to BMC BladeLogic Server Automation.
4. On the Add a new agentless managed object - Properties page, add the name or IP address of the Citrix XenServer master server.
5. Optionally, add a brief description.
6. Under Properties, locate the AGENTLESS_MANAGED_OBJECT_PROXY_HOST* property.
7. Edit the property value by browsing to the name of the Linux system configured as the proxy host.
8. Click OK.
9. Click Finish.
    The agentless managed object for the Citrix XenServer is added to the folder you specified.

Best practice

While it is possible to use the same proxy host for multiple agentless managed objects, the best practice if to have separate proxy servers for each agentless managed object (representing a Citrix XenServer master server), for optimal performance.

To set the connection properties for the Citrix XenServer object

 Set properties for the Connection instance

1. In the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation console, select Configuration > Property Dictionary View.
2. Browse the Built-in Property Classes > Connection class.

3. Click the Instances tab and set the connection details to the Citrix XenServer master host.
    When you added the agentless managed object, BMC BladeLogic Server Automation automatically created a Connection instance with the name Connection_ agentlessManagedObjectName (where agentlessManagedObjectName is the name of theCitrix XenServer object_). This new instance contains the connection details to the Citrix XenServer master host.

   Tip

   The Citrix XenServer platform can run in two modes: Pool mode or as a standalone host.

   • In Pool mode, multiple servers work together to provide capabilities such as workload balancing, high availability, and so on. In this configuration, one server is designated as the master server, while the other servers are designated as slaves. You must set the Connection instance to connect to the master server, rather than a slave server, so that BMC BladeLogic Server Automation can obtain configuration data or perform management operations.
   • In Standalone host mode, the standalone server is considered the master server.
4. Set the following properties for the newly added instance and save it:

Set the VIRTUAL_ENTITY_CONNECTION property

1. Browse the Built-in Property Classes > Virtualization class.
    For each Citrix XenServer object that has been added, there is a corresponding instance already created.
2. Ensure that the VIRTUAL_ENTITY_CONNECTION property Virtualization instance points to the previously created Connection instance.
3. Save this instance.

Distribute the Citrix XenServer configuration object

To distribute the Citrix XenServer configuration object on the Citrix XenServer agentless managed object, complete the following steps:

1. From the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation console, navigate to the Jobs folder.
2. Right-click a job group and select New > Administration Task > Distribute Configuration Objects.
3. Provide a name for the Job and click Next.
4. Expand the Global Configuration Objects list, select the Citrix XenServer object, and add it to the Selected Configuration Objects section. Click Next.
5. On the Targets panel, select the enrolled agentless managed object for the Citrix XenServer master server.
6. Click Finish, and execute the job.
   For details, see Distributing configuration objects.

Set values for Custom Objects Environment property

Navigate to the Servers folder and select the Citrix XenServer agentless managed object.

1. In the properties tab, under the Extended properties object locate the Custom Objects Environment class.

2. Add an instance, and set the values in the instance as described in the following table.
   The Citrix XenServer custom configuration object is based on the JPA (Java Program Adapter) technology of BMC BladeLogic Server Automation. The JPA creates a JVM at runtime and runs the custom configuration object inside it. As such, you must set the following JRE-related parameters for the custom configuration object.

   Note

   The JRE is distributed along with the implementation files to the proxy server when the custom configuration object is distributed (as described in Distributing configuration objects). Therefore, the JPA_JAVA_HOME* and JPA_JVM_LIB* attributes must be set to use the JRE that is distributed with the custom configuration object

Custom Objects Environment instance JPA values

The typical values for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an x86 32-bit platform are:

The typical values for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on an x86 64-bit platform are:

You can now use the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation console to Live browse the Citrix XenServer agentless managed object and access the Citrix XenServer node.
For more information on adding a server and setting its properties, see the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation User Guide and the BMC BladeLogic Server Automation online help.