When installing an operating system on a virtual machine, you must specify a valid installation source. A valid installation source depends on the combination of the operating system being installed and on the virtual machine’s virtualization mode.
The following types of installation sources are valid for installing guest operating systems on virtual machines running full virtualization mode. Each type includes an example statement.
A physical disk device, such as a DVD, that is accessible as a device to the host.
/dev/cdrom
A disk image, such as an ISO file, that is accessible from the local file system of the machine performing the installation.
/mnt/install_ISOs/sles10sp1.iso
A remote storage device specified by using the Internet SCSI (iSCSI) protocol.
iscsi:iqn.2001-04.com.acme@0ac47ee2-216e-452a-a341-a12624cd0225
A remote storage device specified by using a Fibre Channel (NPIV) protocol.
npiv:210400e08b80c40f
In addition to the types of installation sources listed for full virtualization mode, the following types of installation sources are valid for installing the SUSE Linux operating system on virtual machines running paravirtual mode. Each type includes an example statement.
A remote directory containing the install files specified by using the HTTP protocol. HTTPS is not supported.
http://www.domain.com/install_sources/sles10sp1/
A remote directory containing installation files specified by using the FTP protocol.
ftp://www.domain.com/install_sources/sles10sp1/
A remote directory containing installation files specified by using the NFS protocol.
nfs://www.domain.com/install_sources/sles10sp1/
A remote directory containing installation files specified by using the SMB protocol.
smb://www.domain.com/install_sources/sles10sp1/
In addition to the types of installation sources listed for fully virtual machines, the following types of installation sources are valid for installing the Red Hat* operating system on virtual machines running paravirtual mode. Each type includes an example statement.
A remote directory containing installation files specified by using the HTTP protocol. HTTPS is not supported.
http://www.domain.com/install_sources/rhel5/
A remote directory containing installation files specified by using the FTP protocol.
ftp://www.domain.com/install_sources/rhel5/
A remote directory containing installation files specified by using the NFS protocol.
nfs:www.domain.com/install_sources/rhel5/
NOTE:The SMB protocol cannot be used to specify a Red Hat installation source.
A paravirtualized NetWare® operating system, such as OES 2 NetWare, runs in paravirtual mode and can be installed by using the same type of installation sources as those used to install on virtual machines running full virtualization mode.