xe-guest-utilities-latest from epel repo on CentOS 8.1

[SCOTT FARWELL]

Hello all,

 

Not finding a compatible guest-tools.iso on my Citrix Xenserver 7.2 pool I Installed xe-guest-utilities-latest after installing epel-release on my newly installed CentOS 8.1 VM, but how do I start it and set it to always start.

 

Along with not having the latest OS templates I seem to also have an older guest-tools.iso but I am not going to upgrade past XenServer 7.2 for now as there is no budget for licenses and they want all this in the cloud in the future anyway.

 

The install of xe-guest-utilities-latest went smooth but no service was created so I'm really not sure what to do with it on CentOS 8.1.

[CentOS-81-1911-64bit:~]# rpm -ql xe-guest-utilities-latest
/usr/lib/.build-id
/usr/lib/.build-id/ad
/usr/lib/.build-id/ad/095311f2f1d80a4a589bf4318c729414705373
/usr/lib/.build-id/e2
/usr/lib/.build-id/e2/c1cd808705b59fbf3f6ccda7e0af0784c09d92
/usr/lib/systemd/system/xe-linux-distribution.service
/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/z10-xen-vcpu-hotplug.rules
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-chmod
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-exists
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-list
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-ls
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-read
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-rm
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-watch
/usr/libexec/xe-guest-utilities/xenstore-write
/usr/sbin/xe-daemon
/usr/sbin/xe-linux-distribution
/usr/share/licenses/xe-guest-utilities-latest
/usr/share/licenses/xe-guest-utilities-latest/LICENSE
/var/cache/xe-linux-distribution

Looking at this file list I realize maybe this isn't installing what I was hoping for which is just the latest guest tools (XenServer Tools) like I usually install from the .iso in the storage drop-down menu.

 

Does anyone know how to get and properly install the XenServer Guest Tools on CentOS/Redhat 8.x ?

[SCOTT FARWELL]

Very frustrating when even google seems to be letting me down on this.

 

If someone had Citrix Hypervisor 8.x and has access to a guest-tools.iso maybe I could use that.

[Olivier Lambert]

7.2 isn't support anymore (no more security patches!), I strongly suggest to upgrade to a more recent version (eg 8.1). If you are stuck on 7.2 for licenses reasons, check XCP-ng project then :)

[Alan Lantz]

Yes, basically with "Free" XenServer you are agreeing to always stay on the latest release for support.

Your only alternative is purchasing licensing and preferrably going LTSR. That is the way I understand

it anyway. Or of course taking the jump to another Hypervisor.

 

--Alan--

 

[Olivier Lambert]

That's why XCP-ng is a viable alternative ;) No need to "jump to another hypervisor": still Xen and XAPI under the hood.

 

Obviously, if it's for server virtualization. For VDI and vGPU usage, Citrix Hypervisor is still the way to go!

[Alan Lantz]

Even though XCP-ng share a same core I still consider that jumping to another Hypervisor.

 

--Alan--

 

[SCOTT FARWELL]

Yes, no licenses and not likely to be approved to ever get licenses.

 

The inevitable push to eliminate on-prem devices and VM pools in favor of AWS is constantly attacking me whenever I ask for ANY resources.

[Olivier Lambert]

On 5/23/2020 at 7:19 PM, Alan Lantz said:

Even though XCP-ng share a same core I still consider that jumping to another Hypervisor.

 

--Alan--

 

 

Well, it's exactly the same cost that doing a XenServer upgrade and you can keep the "old" tools in your VM, so there isn't any less possible change to solve the situation regarding licenses :p

 

@SCOTT FARWELL so don't take any pro support, it's up to you to decide, you are free to do so without any technical barrier :) And there's community support if you have questions (on XCP-ng forum, very active and nice people there!)

[Alan Lantz]

I don't want to sound like I don't like XCP-ng, I do. And as far as ease of migration, yes, it would be easiest 

to move to XCP-ng.

 

--Alan--

 

 

[Olivier Lambert]

No worries ;) Also I'm not "selling" anything. FYI, since a bit now, majority of Xen Orchestra users are already on XCP-ng, so there not much XenServer users left to convert :p

[SCOTT FARWELL]

Thanks for your answers everyone but not really wanting to touch my pool. 

It's all working fine and behind 2 firewalls and on a dedicated VLAN so most of the security issues are moot.

 

I was just wanting a guest-tools version that would install on CentOS 7.5+ and CentOS 8.x versions I am starting to use.

 

Even if I have to get the tools mounted on a supported version (I have moved several friends to paid Xenserver versions) and copy the files off so I can use them I will.