Install XOA From Source

In the video below, we show you how to install XOA from source

This provides a free way to access the vast majority of Xen Orchestra management features

When you install XCP-ng you will be given a link to install a VM for the Xen Orchestra Appliance but you will need to pay a subscription to unlock features in this, such as hypervisor patching, as well as to get access to technical support

However, xoa is open source, so we show you how to install a xen orchestra community edition that unlocks the vast majority of features

This involves creating a new VM and then installing a xoa from source thanks to Roni Väyrynen who has made this possible via Github

Steps taken

1. Create a VM running a Linux distro, in our case Debian 10 Buster It is best to give it a static IP address
   
   TIP: You may want to give it more than the basic 2 CPUs and 2GB RAM to begin with but it requires 20GB disk space

2. Login and switch to the root account as we will need to install various packages

3. Install git, clone the repository and create an install configuration file
   

   apt install git
   git clone https://github.com/ronivay/XenOrchestraInstallerUpdater.git
   cd XenOrchestraInstallerUpdater
   cp sample.xo-install.cfg xo-install.cfg

4. Create a certificate and private key so we can access the server via TLS

   cd /etc/ssl
   mkdir xo
   cd xo
   openssl req -newkey rsa:4096 -x509 -sha256 -days 3650 -nodes -out xo.crt -keyout xo.key

5. Update the config file

   cd /XenOrchestraInstallerUpdater
   nano xo-install.cfg

   Change the entry for PORT from 80 to 443
   Uncomment the lines at the end and enter the file paths

   PATH_TO_HTTPS_CERT=/etc/ssl/xo/xo.crt
   PATH_TO_HTTPS_KEY=/etc/ssl/xo/xo.key

   Save the changes

6. Run the installation script

   ./xo-install.sh

   Select option 1 which is to install
   Leave to finish installing
   
   TIP: If the installation reports an error check the config file is correct
   If the installer reports a failed installation run the script again because in my test lab it seemed to have issues accessing the Internet

7. Completion
   Once the installation has completed you should be able to login to XOA using the IP address and port that was configured
   Add your XCP-ng server(s) and you should now have access to the majority of management features
   Decommission the original XOA VM and use this one going forward
   
   TIP: Make sure this VM is set to autostart and is protected from accidental deletion and shutdown
   Scale back the resources the VM has to 2 CPUs and 2GB of RAM if you want but it depends on how many VMs you expect to manage

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