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How to update a single XenServer 6.2 host before adding it to a pool

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You may find yourself in the position where you need to add a machine into a pool, a new host that is, and it's patching is well behind. Thankfully there is a relatively straightforward way to do this.

  • You will need to have already downloaded and extracted the required files.
  • On a computer with XenCentre installed run the following commands (assuming default install and Windows 7 / 8)
    • Open a command prompt
      • Win+r, then type cmd (or go to Start -> Run -> cmd and return)
    • cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\XenCenter"
    • From here run: xe patch-upload -s server-ip -u root -pw secret-password file-name=c:\username\Downloads\XS62ESP1\XS62ESP1.xupdate and hit return. Make sure the items in italics is replaced with your actual details.
  • Once this finished, you'll get a long string of characters appear and that's the patch UUID. Normally when updating a pool we make note of that, but I've found another way that works just as well.
  • Download puTTY - it's an awesome terminal program and you should have it.
  • Use puTTY to connect via SSH to your xenserver and get to the console. Alternatively, do this from the server console. At any rate, type the following commands and note the two UUID's they produce:
    • # xe patch-list
      • note the UUID of the patch
    • # xe host-list
      • note the UUID of the host
    • # xe patch-apply UUID=patchUUID host-uuid=hostUUID and hit return. Once all the information stops flowing past and you're back to a # prompt type:
    • # reboot
  • if you're using puTTY, you can select the UUID's, the simply right click where you want them to be and puTTY will paste them out of the buffer. Very quick to do, rather than laboriously typing it out.
Once the machine reboots, continue to patch as applicable, and then add it to the pool.

Happy XenServering!
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