Information about settings in the SCVMM Hyper-V XML files (Bare Metal and Template Based)


This topic contains the following sections:

Descriptions of sections and settings

Section

Settings

<GeneralInfo>

<PackageName> and <PackageDescription> — Name and description of the VGP.
<DepotGroupId> — You store VGPs in the Depot. You can get the ID of a depot group by using the command DepotGroup : groupNameToId.
<VirtualGuestPackageType> — Specify one of the following integers:
14 - SCVMM Hyper-V (template based)
15 - SCVMM Hyper-V (bare metal)
<VirtualGuestName> — Name of the virtual machine (VM) you are creating.

<PlatformInfo>

The following sections are part of the PlatformInfo section.

<VirtualGuestInfo>

Description: Optional description of the virtual guest.
<GuestOS> — Set to one of the following values:
windows_xp
windows_xpx64
windows_2000
windows_2000_adv
windows_nt
windows_vista
windows_2003
windows_2003_data
windows_2003_ent
windows_small_2003
windows_2003x64
windows_2003x64_data
windows_2003x64_ent
windows_7
windows_7x64
windows_2008
windows_2008_ent
windows_2008_data
windows_2008_web
windows_2008x64
windows_2008x64_ent
windows_2008x64_data
windows_2008r2
windows_2008r2_ent
windows_2008r2_data
windows_2008r2_web
other_linux
other_linuxx64
otherx64
unassigned

<SourceTemplateId> — Used only with template-based VGP. Name of the template on which this VGP is based. For information on how to get this value, see To get the Hyper-V SourceTemplateId.
<CoresPerSocket> — Optional. Integer value indicating number of cores per socket.
<NumOfSockets> — Optional. Integer value indicating number of sockets you are assigning to the virtual guest. Default=1.
Total cores assigned to the virtual guest = coresPerSocket * numOfSockets
<MemoryInMB> — Optional. Integer value indicating size of memory, expressed in MB.
<VirtualGuestStorage> — A storage location on the Hyper-V host where, by default, the virtual machine disks will be stored. For information on how to get this value, see To get the Hyper-V Storage Locations. You can override this default by specifying a different <Storage> location under <VirtualDisk>>.
<PowerOnVMAfterCreation> — True to power on the virtual machine after it is created, false otherwise.

<VirtualDisk>

<DiskSizeInGB> — Size of this disk, in GB.
<Storage> — Optional. By default, virtual disks are stored in the location specified by <VirtualGuestStorage>>. If you want to store this disk in a different location on the Hyper-V host, you can specify it here, in the <Storage> element. For information on how to get the <Storage>> value, see To get the Hyper-V storage locations.
<ThinProvisioning> — Set this to true or false:

  • True: Allows virtual disks to use only the amount of storage space they currently need.
  • False: For a disk, the given disk size is pre-allocated to that on storage.

    <DiskExtendedProperties> — You can specify disk related <PlatformSpecificProperty> elements. See SCVMM Hyper-V Platform-specific Properties.
<VirtualNetwork>

<Network> — Name of the network. For information on how to get the network name, see To get the Hyper-V Network Name.
<NetworkExtendedProperties> — You can specify network-related <PlatformSpecificProperty> elements. See SCVMM Hyper-V Platform-specific Properties.

<PlatformSpecificProperties>

You can specify general <PlatformSpecificProperty> elements. See SCVMM Hyper-V Platform-specific Properties.

<WindowsCustomizationInfo>

Optional Windows-specific information for the virtual guest. For adminPassword, you can use the encrypted value you obtain from using the blenc utility.
Example:
myNSHPrompt% blenc hello
Encoded value:
BLencrypt:NAZKKTOVBMTOVVQETTNVLXNPPETKAUUXALVOOONLVBLLWLALZKOKUAAZKOOBONBW

SCVMM Hyper-V platform-specific properties

Used in this element

Property

Legal values

<DiskExtendedProperties>
diskInterfaceType

IDE
SCSI
Default

<NetworkExtendedProperties>
vlanID

The VLAN ID of the network specified in <VirtualNetwork>.

<PlatformSpecificProperties>
cpuPriority

High
Normal
Low

<PlatformSpecificProperties>
networkAdapterType

Default
Emulated
Synthetic

To get the server ID - Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager

Some of the commands you use to get VGP values require you to pass in the server ID of the Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager. To do this, use the listVirtualEntityManagers command, and pass in an EntityType argument that specifies MicrosoftVMM:

Command

Virtualization listVirtualEntityManagers MicrosoftVMM

Output Format

ServerId::ServerName

Output Example

1::MicrosoftVMM01.bmc.com

In this example, the server ID is 1.

To get the Hyper-V SourceTemplateId

  1. Get the server ID of the Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager, as described in To get the server ID - Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager. For the purpose of this example, assume the server ID is 1.
  2. Now you can use the listVirtualEntitiesByEntityManagerServerIdAndEntityType command to get the SourceTemplateId. This command takes 3 arguments — ServerId of the Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager, EntityType, and true|false to indicate whether or not you want to print a header in the output. You already have the ServerId (1)

    Because you want a SourceTemplateId, you specify Template as EntityType:

    Command

    Virtualization listVirtualEntitiesByEntityManagerServerIdAndEntityType 1 Template true

    Output format

    Name::Guest Operating System::Entity Key

    Output example

    w2k8-r2::windows_2008r2::1 Template w2k8-r2

    The <SourceTemplateId> element in the VGP file uses the EntityKeyas the ID, so in this example you would specify:

    <SourceTemplateId>1 Template w2k8-r2</SourceTemplateId>

To get the Hyper-V storage locations

  1. Get the server ID of the Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager, as described in To get the server ID - Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager. For the purpose of this example, assume the server ID is 1.
  2. Use the listVirtualEntitiesByEntityManagerServerIdAndEntityType command to get the default <VirtualGuestStorage> location, and optionally the alternate <Storage> location for a particular disk. This command takes 3 arguments – ServerId of the Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager, EntityType, and true|false to indicate whether or not you want to print a header in the output. You already have the ServerId (1)

Because you want a <Storage> location, you specify Storage as EntityType:

Command

Virtualization listVirtualEntitiesByEntityManagerServerIdAndEntityType 1 Storage true

Output format

Name::Capacity (GB)::Free Space (GB)

Output example

C:\ClusteredSharedVolume\Volume1::557.65::398.42

Both the <VirtualGuestStorage> element and the <Storage> element in the VGP file use the Name as the storage location, so in this example you would specify one of the following:

<VirtualGuestStorage>C:\ClusteredSharedVolume\Volume1</VirtualGuestStorage> \\
<Storage>C:\ClusteredSharedVolume\Volume1</Storage>

To get the Hyper-V network name

  1. Get the server ID of the Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager, as described in To get the server ID - Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager. For the purpose of this example, assume the server ID is 1.
  2. Now you can use the listVirtualEntitiesByEntityManagerServerIdAndEntityType command to get the network name. This command takes 2 arguments – ServerId and EntityType. You already have the ServerId (1).

    Because you want a network name, you specify Network as EntityType:

    Command

    Virtualization listVirtualEntitiesByEntityManagerServerIdAndEntityType 1 Network

    Output Format

    Name::network_attributes

    Output Example

    network2::...attributes omitted...

    For example, in the VGP file you might specify the following:

    <VirtualNetwork>network2</VirtualNetwork>

 

 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*