Great projects have great documentation. Is XCP-ng a great project?

stormi

I have rewritten a good part of the page dedicated to guest tools in the wiki: https://github.com/xcp-ng/xcp/wiki/Guest-Tools

Feedback and corrections welcome.

ruskofd

Far better readability, thanks @stormi

borzel

@stormi supercool

Biggen

@stormi The only thing I would add is using the Citrix tools also doesn't display all pertinent information for the VM as I described back in December in this post.

Edit: Well I can't figure out how to link a specific post in a thread. Is there no way with the forum software to link specific post? Any, you can scroll down some to my post where I have pictures depicting missing VM information when using the Citrix tools. Figured it out...

stormi

@Biggen I did add already that Windows Update only installs the optimized drivers, not the management agent.

Forza

I think that the "Management Agent" really needs to have its own headline in there. It is the thing that is so confusing. Coming from Citrix it is all bundled, but it isn't anymore and this is problematic.

stormi

@S-Pam I have made tests with Citrix Hypervisor: the Windows Update feature does not install the management agent there either.

The management agent is already covered in the part dedicated to XCP-ng tools so I don't think a headline is needed for those who follow that path. So it's all about part of the documentation that is dedicated to Citrix tools.

Here's the text. How would you complete or rework it?

Using the Windows guest tools from Citrix

Those are not included in the guest tools ISO distributed with XCP-ng for legal reasons.

If you are using Xen Orchestra, you can switch the "Windows Update tools" advanced parameter on from the "Advanced" tab of the VM view. This will allow you to install the tools directly from Windows Updates.

This will only install the device drivers for optimized I/O. If you need the management agent, you still need to install it, for example from Citrix Hypervisor's installation ISOs where it resides in the client_install directory.

You can also simply not enable that Windows Update feature and fetch the installer from the client_install directory of Citrix Hypervisor's installation ISO.

If your VM already has XCP-ng tools and you wish to switch to Citrix tools, then you need to do the same kind of clean-up as described higher in this document for the opposite situation.

olivierlambert

Agent is bundled with XCP-ng tools. It's just in case you are using Windows Update for getting Citrix driver that you aren't "covered".

Forza

@stormi said in Great projects have great documentation. Is XCP-ng a great project?:

This will allow you to install the tools directly from Windows Updates.

Well, here. this is wrong. The Agent is not included in the Windows Update tools.

Oliver is correct of course. And this should be highlighted in its own section or similar.
Something like:

Windows Agent
The Windows agent is responsibled for communicating guest status to the xcp-ng host/server... blah blah.

The agent can only be installed using the xcp-ng tools.
If you are using Windows Update to to get the citrix tools, the agent cannot be installed. It is also not included in Windows update.
...

stormi

@S-Pam said in Great projects have great documentation. Is XCP-ng a great project?:

@stormi said in Great projects have great documentation. Is XCP-ng a great project?:

This will allow you to install the tools directly from Windows Updates.

Well, here. this is wrong. The Agent is not included in the Windows Update tools.

Right. Fixed it, I replaced the ambiguous word "tools" with "device drivers".

You did read all 7 sentences, though, didn't you? It says that the management agent will not be installed via Windows update and gives you a way to install it if you want to use Citrix tools.

Windows Agent
The Windows agent is responsibled for communicating guest status to the xcp-ng host/server... blah blah.

The agent can only be installed using the xcp-ng tools.

If you are using Windows Update to to get the citrix tools, the agent cannot be installed. It is also not included in Windows update.
...

I'd like not to mix statements about XCP-ng and Citrix tools. There is a section that explains the differences between the drivers and the agent. It can be improved if needed.

The agent can only be installed using the xcp-ng tools.

This is not true.

If you are using Windows Update to to get the citrix tools, the agent cannot be installed.

This is not true. Windows Update will not install, but you can still install it.

stormi

New version:

Using the Windows guest tools from Citrix

Those are not included in the guest tools ISO distributed with XCP-ng for legal reasons.

Management agent + device drivers

The only way to get the management agent is from Citrix. It is present on Citrix Hypervisor's installation ISO, which can be freely downloaded provided you create an account on their site.

Automated installation via Windows Update: device drivers alone

If you are using Xen Orchestra, you can switch the "Windows Update tools" advanced parameter on from the "Advanced" tab of the VM view. This will install the device drivers automatically at next reboot but not the management agent which still needs to be installed from Citrix tools' installer.

... So the "Windows Update tools" option is not a complete solution if you need the guest metrics from the management agent. However it may be a convenient way to get future driver updates if you wish so.

Switching from XCP-ng tools to Citrix tools

If your VM already has XCP-ng tools and you wish to switch to Citrix tools, then you need to do the same kind of clean-up as described higher in this document for the opposite situation.

stormi

A new new version, with a copy-paste from an earlier section of the same document about Windows tools, to avoid tl;dr effects...

Using the Windows guest tools from Citrix

Tools from Citrix are not included in the guest tools ISO distributed with XCP-ng for legal reasons.

A reminder

As written above:

The device drivers bring optimized I/O performances.

The management agent brings more manageability of the VM from XCP-ng, and guest metrics reporting to the host.

Management agent + device drivers

The only way to get the management agent is from Citrix. It is present on Citrix Hypervisor's installation ISO, which can be freely downloaded provided you create an account on their site. The installer will install both the management agent and the device drivers.

Automated installation via Windows Update: device drivers alone

If you are using Xen Orchestra, you can switch the "Windows Update tools" advanced parameter on from the "Advanced" tab of the VM view. This will install the device drivers automatically at next reboot but not the management agent which still needs to be installed from Citrix tools' installer.

... So the "Windows Update tools" option is not a complete solution if you need the guest metrics from the management agent. However it may be a convenient way to get future driver updates if you wish so.

Switching from XCP-ng tools to Citrix tools

If your VM already has XCP-ng tools and you wish to switch to Citrix tools, then you need to do the same kind of clean-up as described higher in this document for the opposite situation.

Forza

Much better.

On the node of management agent. Can you use the XCP-ng agent with the Citrix drivers from Windows Update? If so, how do we do that?

stormi

No you can't that's why as an introduction we warn that you need to make a choice, not mix them.

We might be able to make our agent work with Citrix drivers in the future, but for this we need a dev.

stormi

The documentation is now in a much better shape than when I started this thread, has been available for months at https://xcp-ng.org/docs/.

You can still contribute to it. Each page footer has a "help us improve this page" link that allows to create a pull request with your changes.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the documentation and to those who will.