xen-create-image - Create a new virtual Debian installation for Xen.

  xen-create-image [options]

  Help Options:
   --debug    Show useful debugging information.
   --help     Show this scripts help information.
   --manual   Read this scripts manual.
   --version  Show the version number and exit.

  Size / General options:
   --boot        Boot the new instance after creating it.
   --debootstrap Pass anything named here onto debootstrap.
   --dir         Specify where the output images should go.
   --dist        Specify the distribution you wish to install: Sarge/Etch/Sid.
   --fs          Specify the filesystem type to use.
   --kernel      Set the path to the kernel to use for dom U.
   --memory      Setup the amount of memory allocated to the instance.
   --mirror      Setup the mirror to use when installing Sarge.
   --passwd      Ask for a root password during setup.
   --role        Run a role-specific script, post-install.
   --size        Set the size of the primary disk image.
   --swap        Set the size of the swap partition.

  Networking options:
   --dhcp      Setup the image to get an IP address via DHCP
   --gateway   Setup the iamge's network gateway.
   --ip        Setup the ip 
   --netmask   Setup the netmask

  Mandatory options:

   --hostname  Set the images hostname.

--boot Start the new virtual instance as soon as the installation has finished.

--debug Show the commands this script executes as an aid to debugging.

--debootstrap Anything specified after this will be passed onto the debootstrap command executed.

--dhcp Specify that the virtual image should use DHCP to obtain its networking information. Conflicts with --ip.

--dir Specify the root directory beneath which the image should be saved. Subdirectories will be created for each virtual image.

--dist Specify the distribution to install, defaults to 'sarge'.

--fs Specify the filesystem the image should be given. Valid options are 'ext3', 'xfs', or 'reiserfs'.

--gateway Specify the gateway address for the virtual image, only useful if DHCP is not used.

--help Show the brief help information.

--hostname Set the hostname of the new instance.

--ip Set the IP address for the virtual image. Conflicts with --dhcp

--kernel Set the path to the kernel to use for the image.

--manual Read the manual, with examples.

--memory Specify the amount of memory the virtual image should be allocated. Defaults to 96Mb.

--mirror Specify the mirror to use to the installation of Sarge, defaults to http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian

--netmask Set the netmask the virtual image should use.

--passwd Setup a password for the root account of the virtual machine.

--role Run a single, specific, role-script once the image has been setup.

--size Specify the size of the primary drive to give the virtual image. The size may be suffixed with either Mb, or Gb.

--swap Specify the size of the virtual swap partition to create. The size may be suffixed with either Mb, or Gb.

--version Show the version number and exit.

  The following will create a 2Gb disk image, along with a 128Mb 
 swap file with Debian Sarge setup and running via DHCP.

     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb --dhcp \
          --dir=/home/xen --hostname=vm01.my.flat

  This next example sets up a host which has the name 'vm02' and
 IP address 192.168.1.200, with the gateway address of 192.168.1.1

     xen-create-image --size=2Gb --swap=128Mb \
          --ip=192.168.1.200 --netmask=255.255.255.0
          --gateway=192.168.1.1 \
          --dir=/home/xen --hostname=vm02

  To save time these command line options may be specified in the
 configuration file discussed later.

  The directory specified for the output will be used to store the files
 which are produced.  To avoid clutter each host will have its images 
 stored beneath the specified directory, named after the hostname.

  For example the images created above will be stored as:

   $dir/domains/vm01.my.flat/
   $dir/domains/vm01.my.flat/disk.img
   $dir/domains/vm01.my.flat/swap.img

   $dir/domains/vm02.my.flat/
   $dir/domains/vm02.my.flat/disk.img
   $dir/domains/vm02.my.flat/swap.img

  The '/domains/' subdirectory will be created if necessary.

  xen-create-image is a simple script which allows you to create new
 Xen instances of Debian Sarge.  The new image will be comprised of
 two seperate files:

   1.  One disk image which will be treated as the primary disk drive.
   2.  One swap image.

  The image will have OpenSSH installed upon it, and an appropriate
 /etc/inittab file created, along with copies of the hosts password
 and shadow files.

  To reduce the length of the command line each of the options may
 be specified inside a configuration file.

  The script will check a global configuration file for options, the
 file is:

     /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf

  The configuration file may contain comments which begin with the
 hash '#' character.  Otherwise the format is 'key = value'.

  A sample configuration file would look like this:

 #
 #  Output directory.  Images are stored beneath this directory, one
 # subdirectory per hostname.
 #
 dir = /home/xen

 #
 #  Disk and Sizing options.
 #
 size       = 2Gb      # Disk image size.
 memory     = 128Mb    # Memory size
 swap       = 128Mb    # Swap size
 filesystem = ext3     # use EXT3 filesystems
 dist       = sarge    # Default distribution to install.

 #
 # Kernel options.
 #
 kernel     = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.12-xenU

 #
 # Networking options.
 #
 gateway   = 192.168.1.1
 netmask   = 255.255.255.0

  Using this configuration file a new image may be created with the
 command:

      xen-create-image --hostname='vm03.my.flat' --ip=192.168.1.201

  Because the virtual systems are installed with the debootstrap
 tool there can be a lot of network overhead.

  To minimize this the .deb files which are downloaded into the
 new instance are cached upon the host in the directory
 /var/cache/apt/archives.

  When a new image is created these packages are copied into the new
 image - before the debootstrap process runs.  This should help avoid
 expensive network reading.

  If you wish to clean the cache run on the host:

  apt-get clean

  If you wish to add new packages to the image automatically you may
 take advantage of the '--debootstrap' option which allows you to 
 pass flags to the debootstrap command.

  For the following command causes three new packages to be added
 to the base image:

      xen-create-image --debootstrap='--include=screen,sudo,less'

  An alternative is to use the hook directory to run a script
 for each new image you create.

  Alternatively you make take advantage of the role support - to
 easily create different types of images for different roles.

  After the image has been installed using debootstrap there is
 the chance for you to run arbitary scripts upon the new host
 before it is unmounted.

  To do this place executable scripts inside the "hook directory"
 /etc/xen-tools/hook.d/.

  Each executable script in this directory will be executed in turn
 and given the name of the mount point the image is available at as
 its single argument.

  The scripts will also have a complete copy of the configuration
 options set in its environment.  For example the IP address would
 be set in $ip, the mirror in $mirror, etc.

  A script could copy some the kernel modules to the new system, and
 install a package, for example:

 #!/bin/sh

 prefix=$1

 # Copy modules
 mkdir -p ${prefix}/lib/modules
 cp -R /lib/modules/2.6.12.6-xen/ ${prefix}/lib/modules

 # Install the package 'module-init-tools'
 DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive chroot $prefix /usr/bin/apt-get --yes --force-yes install module-init-tools

  The hook scripts are used extensively by this script to setup the
 base system.  If you're looking at extending the processing of new
 images it is recommended you examine the default hooks.

  The scripts which are included in the hook directory are executed
 for every single image you create.  This can allow you to make global
 changes to the generated image very easily, however it doesn't allow
 you to do different thigns for different types of images.

  Instead the "role" scripts are used for that purpose.  If you
 give an argument "--role=foo" then the script /etc/xen-tools/role.d/foo
 will be executed once the image has been created, after the hooks
 have run.

  This allows you to create different customizations for particular
 image types.  Several role scripts have been included to provide
 examples of different customizations:

gdm Install an X11 server, using VNC and GDM

minimal Customise the generated images to remove some packages.

xdm Install an X11 server, using VNC and XDM

 Steve
 --
 http://www.steve.org.uk/

 $Id: xen-create-image,v 1.79 2006/01/07 23:23:12 steve Exp $

  Contributors to this code:

Radu Spineanu

Copyright (c) 2005 by Steve Kemp. All rights reserved.

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. The LICENSE file contains the full text of the license.

  Read the configuration file specified.

  Parse the arguments specified upon the command line.

  Check that the arguments the user has specified are complete and
 make sense.

  Print a message, ensuring the width is as wide as the console.

  Run a command, and if debugging is turned on then display it
 to the user along with output.

  Otherwise hide all output.

  Run a command whilst immediately writing the output to the console.

  This is a cheap hack to give a sense of 'progress'.

  Find and return the size and width of the current terminal.

  This function makes use of the Term::Size module if available, if
 it is not installed then we return the standard size of 80x25.

  When the image has been created, but before the temporary image
 is unmounted, each executable script inside the hook directory will
 be executed.

  (The scripts are executed "in order" which might be useful for users
 who wish to ensure some actions occur before others.)

  The scripts will be given single argument: the name of the directory
 within which the image is mounted.

  The rest of the configuration variables will be passed via 
 environmental variables.

  This function will copy all the .deb files from one directory
 to another, giving a "progress indicator" of sorts.