Reference Information › Command Line Shell Reference Guide › Shell Commands › Utilities › iso2class: Appliance Distro Creation Utility › Usage

Usage

Create a singleton class using an OS installed from an ISO image

Syntax

util iso2class app_name=<name> install_size=<size> console_type=<type> iso_volume1=<name> (iso_volume2=<name> iso_volume3=<name> iso_volume4=<name> (<prop>=<val>)*)

Options

app_name=<name>

Name of application to create which will include the singleton.

install_size=<size>

Size of the target volume for the OS install. Format is: <val>[M|G]. Units default to MB unless otherwise specified. Minimum is 10 MB.

console_type=<type>

Type of console to use for OS install. Valid values are 'text' and 'graphic'.

iso_volume1=<name>

The ISO volume to boot from to perform the OS install. _GLOBAL:vol_name copies an existing global volume. http://<path> imports the volume from a URL. vol_name imports the volume from the _impex volume of the grid.

iso_volume2=<name>

optional volume in the same format as iso_volume1. Typically this is a second disk where the install requires multiple CDs or DVDs.

iso_volume3=<name>

An optional volume in the same format as iso_volume1. Typically this is a third disk where the install requires multiple CDs or DVDs.

iso_volume4=<name>

An optional volume in the same format as iso_volume1. Typically this is a fourth disk where the install requires multiple CDs or DVDs.

<prop>=<val>

Operational parameters. The following parameters may be specified:

• os - Name of the OS. This will be put in the descriptor of the appliance. See the Supported Operating Systems section for list of allowed values. If an invalid or no value is specified, iso2class will print the list of supported operating systems and prompt for a choice.
• virt_options - Virtualization options in the form of a comma-separated list of <option>=<val> pairs. This value becomes the 'Options' setting in the appliance class, and can be viewed/set in the Infrastructure Editor on the General tab of the Class Editor. For example: virt_options=acpi=1
• virt_mode - Virtualization mode when hvm2pv is used to convert the class to a managed appliance. Valid values are 'xen_pv', 'xen_hvm' and 'vmware'. More than one value can be specified, separated by a coma. Default: 'xen_pv,xen_hvm,vmware'. This has no effect if hvm2pv is not run, in which case virtualization mode will be set to 'xen_hvm,vmware'.
• url_volume1_size - Size of the volume to create when importing a compressed ISO image. If not specified, the image must be uncompressed twice. Format is: <val>[M|G]. Units default to MB unless otherwise specified. Minimum is 10 MB.
• url_volume2_size - Size of the volume to create when importing a compressed ISO image for iso_volume2
• url_volume3_size - Size of the volume to create when importing a compressed ISO image for iso_volume3
• url_volume4_size - Size of the volume to create when importing a compressed ISO image for iso_volume4
• url_user - User name for authentication when importing a volume from a URL. If not specified, no authentication is assumed.
• url_pwd - Password for authentication when importing a volume from a URL.
• cpu - Default CPU allocation for the singleton. Format is: <val>[%].
• mem - Default memory allocation for the singleton. Format is: <val>[M|G]
• bw - Default bandwidth allocation for the singleton. Format is: <val>[M|G]
• scsi - Set to 1 for the appliance to use SCSI disks as opposed to IDE disks. Default is 0 (use IDE disks).

Notes

• The url_volumeX size should be specified when importing a compressed volume from a URL. If a volume size is not specified, the image is essentially downloaded and uncompressed twice - once to get the uncompressed size and once to transfer the actual data.
• Once the OS install is complete, the application is stopped and the following modifications are made to the singleton:
  • Remove iso_volumes from the singleton
  • Disable the external interface.
  • Add 'in', 'out', 'net' and 'mon' terminals.
  • Set the field engineering code according to whether the singleton is managed (for example, contains a Windows MSI install).

Supported Operating Systems

For the latest list of the supported operating systems, please refer to the Release Notes or Appliance Developer Guide.

• win2003-datacenter-64 - Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, 64-bit
• win2003-enterprise-64 - Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, 64-bit
• win2003-standard-64 - Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, 64-bit
• win2003-datacenter - Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, 32-bit
• win2003-enterprise - Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, 32-bit
• win2003-standard - Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, 32-bit
• win2003 - web - Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, 32-bit
• win2008r2-64 - Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, 64-bit
• win2008 - Microsoft Windows Server 2008, 32-bit
• linux - Linux (32-bit)
• linux-64 - Linux (64-bit)
• other - Other (32-bit)
• other-64 - Other (64-bit)
• windows - same as win2008r2-64 (backward compatibility)

Examples

util iso2class app_name=my-app iso_volume1=_GLOBAL:win-disk-1.iso iso_volume2=_GLOBAL:win-disk-2.iso install_size=3G console_type=graphic virt_options=acpi=1 os=windows

util iso2class app_name=my-app iso_volume1=http://path-to-iso-image url_volume1_size=1G install_size=5G console_type=text mem=1G cpu=1.0

ISOs used for OS installations

Creating new appliances for specific operating systems requires the use of ISO images, such as cd-rom or DVD. The ISO is used to install the OS inside of an appliance using the iso2class utility. The ISO may be stored on the grid impex volume or a global volume, or from a remote website using HTTP.

CA AppLogic® has tested various ISOs downloaded from the web. This includes: Microsoft and Ubuntu/Debian/CentOS 5 as well as Microsoft SPLA Windows CD-ROMs (32-bit R2 Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter/Web editions).

To use the SPLA Windows CD-ROMs to create Windows appliances, the ISO images must be created from the CD-ROMs so that they can be used with iso2class.

You can create an ISO from a CD-ROM for any OS distribution that you want to use for your appliances:

Follow these steps:

1. Attach a CD-ROM drive to one of your Linux-based servers, if needed, and insert the CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.
2. Use the mount command to verify the CD-ROM is mounted.

   If the CD-ROM is mounted, unmount it: umount /mnt/cdrom

   • Assumption: the CD-ROM device is referred to as /dev/cdrom on your Linux server
3. Run the following command:

   dd if=/dev/cdrom of=my-image.iso 
   

   This command makes a block-level copy of the CD-ROM into the specified ISO image file. The resulting ISO image file is an exact copy of the CD-ROM.

   my-image.iso is now the ISO image you can use with iso2class to create your own Windows appliances. Typically this image is copied to the grid impex volume and imported as a global volume using vol import _GLOBAL:win03iso my-image.iso.

   When using the iso2class utility, _GLOBAL:win03iso would be the ISO image to use for the OS installation.

Important! CA AppLogic® has only tested OS installations using the ISOs mentioned above. If the ISO images are generated in any other way, such as a 3rd party ISO ripping tool/application, the resulting ISOs may not work.

Graphical Console Access

The graphical console used during OS installations requires the latest version of Java in your IE/FF browser. CA AppLogic® has tested Java version 6 update 7 on IE/FF.

If the latest version of Java is not used, the graphical console may not work correctly. For example: it will hang while trying to load. Before reporting graphical console errors, verify that you are using the latest Java version. If you need to upgrade java in your browser, re-open your browser afterward for the graphical console to work correctly.

Operation

iso2class is an interactive utility which progresses through the following steps:

• iso2class creates and starts the named application. This application includes a singleton containing a boot volume (the ISO image) and a target volume for the OS install.
• The user performs the OS install by accessing the console of the singleton iso2class within the application.

  To access the console, either:

  • Select the application in the Application list in the GUI, then click the icon for Login (text) or Login (graphic).
  • Or, open the application in the Infrastructure Editor and select the singleton iso2class, then use the Appliance menu to select Login (text) or Login (graphic).
• Only iso_volume1 is available during the install.

  If iso_volume2 or iso_volume3 or iso_volume4 was specified on the command line, the singleton is restarted, using the target volume of the OS install as the boot volume, and including the additional iso_volumes.

• If installing a Windows OS, the user should install the Windows Server MSI. For complete instructions on creating Windows appliances, see Windows Installation in the Appliance Developer Guide.
• Upon user confirmation of a completed installation, iso2class stops the application and requires user input to indicate how the finished appliance should be managed by CA AppLogic®:
  • fully managed - the appliance has the appropriate APK installed. For Windows, the APK is included in the Windows Server MSI.
  • unmanaged - the appliance has no APK installed. It uses field engineering code 4, does not send events to the grid controller, does not auto-configure its interfaces, and does not obtain properties from its boundary configuration.
• iso2class modifies the singleton as follows:
  • Target volume of the OS install os_install is made the boot volume of the singleton.
  • External interface is disabled.
  • in, out, net and mon terminals are added.
  • Appropriate field engineering code is set.
• The application is started.

  The resulting singleton uses HVM virtualization (hardware emulation).