Starting Installation

Virtuozzo Server can be installed from:

IPMI virtual drives
USB drives (see Preparing for Installation from USB Storage Drives)
PXE servers (see Installation Using PXE for information on installing Virtuozzo Server over the network)

In Virtuozzo Server 7, time synchronization via NTP is enabled by default using the chronyd service. If you want to use ntpdate or ntpd, stop and disable chronyd first.

To start the installation, do the following:

Configure the server to boot from the chosen media.
Boot the server and wait for the welcome screen.

Choosing Installation Type

You can install Virtuozzo Server 7 in one of the following modes:

Graphics. In this mode, you can install Virtuozzo Server components with one of the following management interfaces:
- Web-based user interface (default, recommended). The interface consists of Virtuozzo Storage management panel and Virtuozzo Automator management panel (Control Center), see Installing with GUI Management.
- Command-line interface, see Installing with CLI Management.
Basic graphics (in case of issues with video card drivers), see Installing in the Basic Graphics Mode.
Graphics via VNC, see Installing via VNC.
Text (Virtuozzo Storage cannot be installed in this mode), see Installing in the Text Mode.

Your further installation steps will differ depending on the chosen mode.

Enabling Forced Detection of SSDs

Certain solid-state drives (SSDs) may not be autodetectable by the installer. This may result in issues when you create or join Virtuozzo Storage clusters. To avoid this problem, you can force the installer to identify the required drives as SSDs by doing the following:

Select the required installation option and press E to edit it.

Add ssd_hack=sd<N>[,...] at the end of the line starting with linux /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz. For example:

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linux /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=<VZ7_ISO_image> quiet ip=dhcp \
ssd_hack=sdb,sdc

Press Ctrl-X to load the selected installation option.

The installer should identify the specified drives as SSDs.

Changing the Swap Size Calculation Method

Virtuozzo Server requires that a swap partition be created on the system disk during installation. The size of this partition depends on the RAM size. If automatic partitioning is used, the swap size is calculated as described in Partitioning the Hard Drives:

If the RAM size is 4-8 GB, the swap size is equal to the RAM size.
Otherwise the swap size is half the RAM size.

Such method is beneficial for memory overcommit scenarios. If, however, overcommit is not required, the old method of calculating the swap size can be used:

If the RAM size is 4-8 GB, the swap size is equal to the RAM size.
If the RAM size is 8-64 GB, the swap size is half the RAM size.
Otherwise the swap size is 32 GB.

To have the installer use the old method while it partitions the disks automatically, boot to the welcome screen and do the following:

Select the required installation option and press E to edit it.

Add smallswap at the end of the line starting with linux /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz. For example:

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linux /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=<VZ7_ISO_image> quiet ip=dhcp smallswap

Press CTRL-X to start booting the chosen installation option.

Installing on USB Drive

Aside from regular disks, you can also install Virtuozzo Server on a 64GB+ USB drive. In this case, however, you will still need to place the swap partition on a regular HDD/SSD drive. It is also recommended to store logs on a syslog server.

To have a USB drive recognized as an installation destination, configure the installer as follows:

Select the required installation option and press E to edit it.
Add allow_usb_hdd at the end of the line starting with linux /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz. For example:
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linux /images/pxeboot/vmlinuz inst.stage2=hd:LABEL=<VZ7_ISO_image> quiet ip=dhcp \ allow_usb_hdd
If you chose to install Virtuozzo Server with GUI, also add expert to this line.
Press Ctrl-X to load the selected installation option.
On installer’s INSTALLATION DESTINATION screen, select the USB drive as system, select I will configure partitioning in the bottom, and click Done and then OK to proceed to the MANUAL PARTITIONING screen.
On the MANUAL PARTITIONING screen, select the swap partition in the list, click Modify on the right, and select an HDD or SSD drive to place the swap on.
Click Done, then Accept Changes to return to the main installer screen and configure other options as usual.