Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE 11 SP1 - LINUX AUDIT, Manual, Page: 34 / 140

For best performance, create each virtual disk from an entire disk or a partition.
For the next best performance, create an image file but do not create it as a sparse
image file. A virtual disk based on a sparse image file delivers the most disk-
space flexibility but slows installation and disk access speeds.
By default, a single, file-backed virtual disk is created as a sparse image file in
/var/lib/xen/images/ vm_name
where
vm_name
is the name of the
virtual machine. You can change this configuration to meet your specific require-
ments.
6 If you want to install from DVD or CD-ROM, add the drive to the list of available
hard disks. To learn about device names of the available optical drives, run
hwinfo --cdrom
and search for the line starting with
Device File:
. Add
this device file to the available hard disks of the VM Guest. The device type that
should be used for DVD or CD-ROMs is
tap:cdrom
.
Instead of the real DVD or CD-ROM drive, you can also add the ISO image of
an installation medium. For more details, see Section 8.1.1, “Virtual CD Readers
on Paravirtual Machines” (page 63).
Note, that each CD-Rom drive or ISO image can only be used by one VM Guest
at the same time. When installing many VM Guest systems, it may be better to
use a network installation source.
7 By default, a single virtual network card is created for the virtual machine. It has
a randomly generated MAC address that you can change to fit your desired con-
figuration. The virtual network card will be attached to a default bridge configured
in the host. You can also create additional virtual network cards in the Network
Adapters page of vm-install. For more details about virtual networking, see
Chapter 6, Virtual Networking (page 45).
NOTE: Using Arbitrary Bridge Names
If installing a fully virtualized guest and you are using a bridge name that
is different than the default names, explicitly specify the bridge by select-
ing the bridge name from the Source menu on the Virtual Network
Adapter page. Paravirtual guests by definition are aware they are running
on a virtualization platform and therefore, do not need to have the bridge
explicitly specified, thus leaving Source as Default will suffice.
24 Virtualization with Xen