A Kim Bi Slingshot User Guide

Akimbi® Slingshot™
User and Administrator Guide
June 1, 2006
Akimbi® Slingshot™ 2.3
Copyright ©2005-2006 Akimbi Systems. All rights reserved.
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of it, may result in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law.
Table of Contents
About this Guide .................................................................................................................................. 1-1
Intended Audience .................................................................................................................. 1-1
Licensing and Available Functionality ..................................................................................... 1-1
Notational Conventions ........................................................................................................... 1-2
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... 1-2
Online References .................................................................................................................. 1-3
Akimbi Slingshot Documentation Set ...................................................................................... 1-4
Customer Support ................................................................................................................... 1-4
Documentation Feedback ....................................................................................................... 1-4
Introducing Akimbi Slingshot ............................................................................................................ 2-1

Basic Usage ............................................................................................................................ 2-2
Working with the Akimbi Slingshot Console .................................................................................... 3-1

Accessing the Akimbi Slingshot Console ................................................................................ 3-1
Setting Internet Explorer Options ............................................................................................ 3-2
The Akimbi Console User Interface ........................................................................................ 3-3
Basic Operational Navigation .................................................................................................. 3-4
Akimbi Console User Interface Features ................................................................................ 3-5
Working with Configurations ............................................................................................................. 4-1

Configuration Operations ........................................................................................................ 4-2
Configuration States ............................................................................................................... 4-3
Configuration Mouseover Menus ............................................................................................ 4-4
Viewing Configurations ........................................................................................................... 4-5
Creating Configurations .......................................................................................................... 4-6
Adding a Virtual Machine to a Configuration ........................................................................... 4-8
Deploying Configurations ........................................................................................................ 4-9
Capturing Configurations ...................................................................................................... 4-10
Checking Out Configurations ................................................................................................ 4-11
Stopping Configurations ........................................................................................................ 4-11
Cloning and Copying Configurations .................................................................................... 4-12
Exporting Configurations ....................................................................................................... 4-13
Importing Configurations ....................................................................................................... 4-14
Sharing Configurations ......................................................................................................... 4-14
Creating a Configuration LiveLink ......................................................................................... 4-15
Restoring a Configuration LiveLink ....................................................................................... 4-15
Taking a Snapshot and Reverting ......................................................................................... 4-15
Viewing and Monitoring a Configuration's Virtual Machines ................................................. 4-16
Removing a Configuration from the Workspace ................................................................... 4-17
Working with Machine Templates ...................................................................................................... 5-1
Machine Template Operations ................................................................................................ 5-2
Machine Template States ....................................................................................................... 5-2
Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates ....................................................................... 5-3
Viewing Machine Templates ................................................................................................... 5-5
Creating Machine Templates .................................................................................................. 5-6
Importing a Machine Template ............................................................................................... 5-6
Creating a Machine Template from a Physical Machine ......................................................... 5-8
Creating a Machine Template from Scratch ............................................................................ 5-9
Create a Blank Template ............................................................................................... 5-10
Deploy Your Template ................................................................................................... 5-10
Install an Operating System on the Template Virtual Machine ...................................... 5-11
Install VM Additions or VM Tools ................................................................................... 5-12
Install Additional Software ............................................................................................. 5-12
Install Akimbi Tools ........................................................................................................ 5-12
Shutdown the Template ................................................................................................. 5-13
Publish Your Template .................................................................................................. 5-13
Share Your Template (optional) ..................................................................................... 5-13
Creating a Template from a Virtual Machine ......................................................................... 5-14
Creating a Template from Another Template ........................................................................ 5-14
Sharing Templates ................................................................................................................ 5-15
Exporting a Machine Template ............................................................................................. 5-15
Editing Template Properties .................................................................................................. 5-16
Removing Templates ............................................................................................................ 5-17
Working with Virtual Machines .......................................................................................................... 6-1

Virtual Machine Operations ..................................................................................................... 6-1
Virtual Machine States ............................................................................................................ 6-3
Viewing a Console Window .................................................................................................... 6-4
Changing a Console Display Size ........................................................................................... 6-5
Changing a Virtual Machine’s IP or MAC address .................................................................. 6-5
Taking Remote Control ........................................................................................................... 6-6
Taking a Snapshot and Reverting ........................................................................................... 6-6
Inserting a CD ......................................................................................................................... 6-7
Inserting a Floppy Disk ........................................................................................................... 6-7
Consolidating a Virtual Machine Image .................................................................................. 6-7
Adding a Virtual Hard Disk to a Machine Template or a Virtual Machine ............................... 6-8
Editing Virtual Machine Properties ........................................................................................ 6-10
Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot ............................................................................ 7-1

Akimbi Slingshot Architectural Overview ................................................................................. 7-2
Key Operational Points .................................................................................................... 7-3
Component Requirements and Recommendations ................................................................ 7-3
Client Machines ............................................................................................................... 7-3
Slingshot Server .............................................................................................................. 7-4
Managed Servers ............................................................................................................ 7-4
Storage Servers (all) ........................................................................................................ 7-4
SAN Storage Servers ...................................................................................................... 7-5
NAS Storage Servers ...................................................................................................... 7-5
Network Requirements and Recommendations ...................................................................... 7-5
Configuring Routing ......................................................................................................... 7-5
Configuring Domains and Permissions ............................................................................ 7-5
Configuring Firewall Settings ........................................................................................... 7-6
Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot .................................................................................................... 7-6
Monitoring Activities (all users) ........................................................................................ 7-7
Monitoring All Deployed Machines .................................................................................. 7-8
Monitoring the Server Pool .............................................................................................. 7-9
Managing Users .................................................................................................................... 7-13
Setting User Preferences (all users) .............................................................................. 7-13
Viewing Users ................................................................................................................ 7-15
Adding New Users ......................................................................................................... 7-16
Deleting Users ............................................................................................................... 7-17
Editing User Properties .................................................................................................. 7-17
Managing Managed Servers ................................................................................................. 7-19
Operations on Managed Servers ................................................................................... 7-19
Viewing Managed Servers ............................................................................................. 7-19
Adding a Managed Server ............................................................................................. 7-20
Removing a Managed Server ........................................................................................ 7-22
Editing Managed Server Properties ............................................................................... 7-22
Other Managed Server Operations ................................................................................ 7-23
Managing Storage Servers ................................................................................................... 7-25
Operations on Storage Servers ..................................................................................... 7-25
Viewing Storage Servers ............................................................................................... 7-26
Viewing a Storage Server’s Contents ............................................................................ 7-26
Adding a Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot ................................................................ 7-27
Editing Storage Server Properties ................................................................................. 7-31
Removing a Storage Server ......................................................................................... 7-31
Network Settings ................................................................................................................... 7-32
Viewing Network Settings .............................................................................................. 7-32
Viewing IP Addresses in the Akimbi IP Pool .................................................................. 7-32
Adding More IP Addresses to the Akimbi IP Pool .......................................................... 7-33
Removing IP Addresses from the Akimbi IP Pool .......................................................... 7-34
Akimbi Slingshot Settings ..................................................................................................... 7-35
Server Preferences ....................................................................................................... 7-35
E-mail Preferences ........................................................................................................ 7-36
Default User Preferences .............................................................................................. 7-37
Default Deployment Options .......................................................................................... 7-37
SupportLink .................................................................................................................... 7-38
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Support ............................................................................ 7-38
Akimbi VS 2005 R2 Upgrade Options ........................................................................... 7-38
Moving a Virtual Machine from VS 2005 to VS 2005 R2 ............................................... 7-38
Upgrading a VS 2005 Managed Server to VS 2005 R2 ................................................ 7-39
Akimbi SOAP Web Service API .......................................................................................................... 8-1

Supported Operations ............................................................................................................. 8-1
Standards Compliance and Compatible Development Platforms ........................................... 8-2
Akimbi SOAP API Security ..................................................................................................... 8-2
Using Akimbi Web Service Methods ............................................................................................... 8-3
Quick Start .............................................................................................................................. 8-3
Skeleton Code Sample—C# ............................................................................................ 8-5
Sample C# Application ............................................................................................................ 8-6
Akimbi SOAP API Data Types ...................................................................................................... 8-12
AuthenticationHeader ........................................................................................................... 8-12
Configuration ......................................................................................................................... 8-13
Machine ................................................................................................................................ 8-14
Akimbi SOAP API Methods ........................................................................................................... 8-15
ConfigurationCapture ............................................................................................................ 8-16
ConfigurationCheckout ......................................................................................................... 8-18
ConfigurationClone ............................................................................................................... 8-20
ConfigurationDelete .............................................................................................................. 8-21
ConfigurationDeploy ............................................................................................................. 8-22
LiveLink ................................................................................................................................. 8-23
ConfigurationSetPublicPrivate .............................................................................................. 8-24
ConfigurationUndeploy ......................................................................................................... 8-25
GetConfiguration ................................................................................................................... 8-26
GetConfigurationByName ..................................................................................................... 8-27
GetMachine ........................................................................................................................... 8-29
GetMachineByName ............................................................................................................. 8-30
GetSingleConfigurationByName ........................................................................................... 8-31
ListConfigurations ................................................................................................................. 8-32
ListMachines ......................................................................................................................... 8-34
MachinePerformAction .......................................................................................................... 8-36
Troubleshooting .................................................................................................................................. 9-1

Error Messages ....................................................................................................................... 9-4
Operational Errors ................................................................................................................. 9-10
Appendix A: Glossary ........................................................................................................................ A-1
Appendix B: Akimbi Slingshot Edition Comparison ....................................................................... B-1
Appendix C: Command Summary .................................................................................................... C-1
Appendix D: Akimbi’s Network Fencing and Caching Technology ............................................... D-1

Akimbi’s Network Fencing Technology .................................................................................. D-1
Fenced Configuration Deployment Options ........................................................................... D-2
Virtual Machine Cached Deployment Options ....................................................................... D-4
1
About this Guide
The Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide contains detailed information about the Akimbi Slingshot system—
components, commands, operations, configuration, and user interface. This section provides an overview to the User
and Administrator Guide and contains the following topics:
• Intended Audience
• Notational Conventions
• Akimbi Documentation Set
• Online References
• Customer Support
• Documentation Feedback
Intended Audience
The Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide is intended for experienced developers and testers who will be
testing software applications using Akimbi Slingshot in conjunction with their current testing environment. This
document assumes the user has some familiarity with the following:
• Virtual machine technology
• Basic concepts of distributed, multi-tiered systems
• Current development and testing practices
• Windows or Linux operating systems
Licensing and Available Functionality

Depending on the type of Akimbi license purchased, some of the features and functionality described in this document
may not be available. Your license type can impact the following:
• Availability of Akimbi’s network fencing technology.
• Availability of cached deployment
NOTE: (For more information on network fencing and cached deployment, see “Appendix D: Akimbi’s
Network Fencing and Caching Technology".)
• Number of users
• Number of Akimbi Managed Servers
• Number of Akimbi Storage Servers
• Level of support
1-1
About this Guide—Notational Conventions
For a complete list of features and options for different license types see “Appendix B: Akimbi Slingshot Edition
Comparison".
Notational Conventions
This section presents the conventions used throughout this document to distinguish special kinds of text.
Table 1-1: Notational Conventions
Convention Description
code Code examples and command-line

instructions appear in a fixed-width courier
format.
filename Variable or user-defined elements are

italicized. A first reference to a new or
possibly unfamiliar term also appears in
italics.
Edit > Copy Window titles, menu choices, field names,

and user input within a graphical user
interface (GUI) appear in bold, sans-serif
font.
CTRL-C A key sequence you must enter using your

keyboard appears in UPPERCASE
LETTERS.
Abbreviations
The following table summarizes the abbreviations used in this document and its graphical illustrations:
Table 1-2: Abbreviations used in this document
Abbreviation Description
ANB Akimbi Navigation Bar
GUI Graphical User Interface
HTTP HyperText Transport Protocol
IE Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser
IIS Internet Information Services
MOM Mouseover Menu (Akimbi)
MS Managed Server (Akimbi)
MSVS Microsoft Virtual Server
MT Machine Template (Akimbi)
NIC Network Interface Card
1-2
About this Guide—Online References
Table 1-2: Abbreviations used in this document
Abbreviation Description
P2V Physical to Virtual
QA Quality Assurance
SLS Slingshot Server (Akimbi)
SMB Server Message Block
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol
SS Storage Server (Akimbi)
Test-dev Testing and development
UNC Universal Naming Convention
URL Uniform Resource Locator
VM Virtual Machine
Online References
Akimbi
• Akimbi Web site—http://www.akimbi.com
Virtual Server 2005
• Virtual Server 2005 Web site
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx
• Virtual Server 2005 performance tips—http://blogs.technet.com/megand/articles/406145.aspx
• Virtual Server 2005 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/evaluation/virtualizationfaq.mspx
• Virtual Server Deployment Requirements
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/virtualserver/2005/proddocs/vs_deploy_reqs.mspx
VMware
• VMware Web site—http://www.vmware.com
• VMware ESX Web site—http://www.vmware.com/products/esx/
• VMware ESX hardware compatibility list
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/resources/esx_resources.html
• VMware GSX Web site—http://www.vmware.com/products/gsx/
• VMware GSX hardware compatibility list—http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/resources/gsx_resources.html
PlateSpin
• PlateSpin Web site—http://www.platespin.com
1-3
About this Guide—Akimbi Slingshot Documentation Set
Xen
• Xen Open Source Hypervisor Web site—http://www.xensource.com
Mercury
• Mercury Web site—http://www.mercury.com
Segue
• Segue Web site—http://www.segue.com
Akimbi Slingshot Documentation Set

• Akimbi Slingshot Installation Guide
This document guides the user through the process of planning, preparing for, and installing Akimbi Slingshot
software.
• Akimbi Slingshot Quick Reference Guide
This document provides a quick start to using and becoming familiar with the Akimbi Slingshot system.
• Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide
This document provides a detailed guide and reference for using the Akimbi Slingshot system.
Customer Support
Customer Support is available in 3 different versions depending on license type:
• Online Support
• Standard Support
• Premium Support
Online Support
Online support is available through your account on www.akimbi.com. Akimbi’s self-service support portal provides
alerts, announcements, access to a comprehensive knowledge base and user discussion forums, and the ability to log
a problem case through an online case tracking system. Online support is provided free with every purchase.
For questions, send an e-mail to info@akimbi.com.
Standard Support
Standard support is available to Akimbi Slingshot Team Edition customers. It includes online support plus e-mail
access and 8x5 telephone access to Akimbi customer support representatives.
Premium Support
Premium support is for customers that require the maximum level of support. This option is available to Akimbi
Slingshot Team Edition customers; it provides all the benefits of Standard support plus 24x7 phone support and a
designated customer support representative.
Documentation Feedback
At Akimbi, we strive to produce the highest quality documentation and welcome your feedback. If you have comments
or suggestions about our online Help or manuals, you can e-mail us.
1-4
About this Guide—Documentation Feedback
Please include the following information with your feedback:
• Version number
• Manual or online Help
• Topic title (for online Help)
• Page number (for manual)
• Brief description of content (for example, are you reviewing step-by-step instructions that are inaccurate,
grammatical errors in a specific paragraph, information that requires clarification or more details, etc.)
• Your suggestions for how to correct/improve documentation
Please send e-mail messages to:
documentation@akimbi.com
Please keep in mind that this e-mail address is only for documentation feedback.
1-5
2
Introducing Akimbi Slingshot
Figure 2-1: The Akimbi Slingshot Workspace and Server Pool Monitoring screens
Akimbi Slingshot is the premiere virtual infrastructure management solution that allows teams of test-development
professionals to quickly provision and teardown multi-machine test cases (“configurations”).
Akimbi Slingshot allows test-development teams to:

• Create, store, and share a library of virtual machine configurations through a web interface.
• Copy multi-machine configurations in seconds and simultaneously deploy copies without network conflicts
and with minimal resource usage.
• Capture and share bugs in live state.
• Automate test matrices end-to-end.
• Use a shared pool of computing resources.
Some of the benefits of Akimbi Slingshot include:

• Productivity—Save test-development teams time provisioning machines.
• Process Improvement—Help test-development teams communicate.
• Server Consolidation—Pool and share servers, storage, and other test-development resources.
• Capex Leverage—Allow test-development teams access to more computers than available physical
machines.
• Self-Help—Allow engineers to create, set up, and teardown configurations themselves.
• Outsourcing and distributed development—Allow geographically-dispersed teams to work on the same

machines and configurations over the web.
2-1
Introducing Akimbi Slingshot—Basic Usage
Key features include:

• Templates—Create new, fully-configured virtual machines in seconds.
• Configurations—Run, manage and monitor multiple configurations simultaneously.
• Configuration Library—Store configurations to persistent storage for team use.
• State Capture—Capture the live state of all the machines in a configuration.
• Network Fencing—Run identical configurations multiple times simultaneously.
• Resource Management—Manage a pool of computing and storage resources.
• Delta Tree management—Save virtual machine file changes to efficient and high-performance storage.
• Integration—Integrate testing applications at a low level with our SOAP API web services.
• Monitoring—View and control server farm utilization in real-time.
• Browser Access—Remotely access Akimbi from office, home, or anywhere in the world.
Basic Usage
Akimbi Slingshot allows developers to organize groups of virtual machines into configurations. Configurations are
groups of virtual machines created from machine templates. Configurations are saved to persistent storage in the
Akimbi Configuration Library. Copies of Library configurations can be created in seconds. When a Library configuration
is checked-out, it retains its network profile —IP Address, Name, MAC address, security IDs, etc.—enabling
preservation of its machines’ currently running software and data.
Akimbi’s network fencing technology allows copies of configurations with identical network profiles to be deployed
multiple times simultaneously.
Virtual machines created from templates are given new network profiles as they are added to a configuration. This
profile gets changed through the Akimbi Tools utility installed on the template’s operating system. In most cases,
templates with Akimbi Tools have operating systems and applications without network profile dependencies.
Templates with software dependent on their network profiles should not have Akimbi Tools installed.
2-2
3
Working with the Akimbi Slingshot
Console
This chapter provides information to help you get started using Akimbi Slingshot and provides details about the basic
components and navigation of the Akimbi Console user interface. The following areas are detailed:
• Accessing the Akimbi Slingshot Console—page 3-1
• Setting Internet Explorer Options—page 3-2

• The Akimbi Console User Interface—page 3-3
• Basic Operational Navigation—page 3-4
• Akimbi Console User Interface Features—page 3-5
Accessing the Akimbi Slingshot Console

Your Akimbi Slingshot installation comes with everything you need to immediately start using Akimbi Slingshot—a pre-
installed configuration and machine template. With these, you can immediately start carrying out basic Akimbi
Slingshot operations. If you haven’t already, install Akimbi Slingshot on your networked servers. Information about
planning, preparing for, and installing Akimbi Slingshot is covered in the Akimbi Slingshot Installation Guide.
To access the Akimbi Slingshot Console:

Once Akimbi Slingshot has been installed, do the following to access the Akimbi system:
1. Get an Akimbi Slingshot account—If you are not an Akimbi administrator, have one set you up with an Akimbi
administrator or user account.
2. Launch Internet Explorer—-On a Windows machine connected to the Internet, or your local intranet, launch
Internet Explorer (IE) 5.5 or higher. Set browser options to enable client operation (not necessary for accessing an
ESX installation), see Setting Internet Explorer Options in this chapter.
3. Connect to an Akimbi Server—In the Address textbox, type the following—http://<Akimbi Slingshot server
domain name or IP address>/—and press Enter. The Akimbi Slingshot Console log in screen appears.
4. Log in to Akimbi Slingshot— Log in to Akimbi Slingshot using your Akimbi username and password. After
logging in, the initial screen of the Akimbi Slingshot Console appears. The Slingshot Console presents a typical
browser-based application user interface, with a navigation bar menu on the left side and a main display window.
The user navigation bar gives you ready access to all the major Akimbi Slingshot operational components—the
Workspace (Workspace), the Configuration Library (Library), the Machine Template Library (Templates), the Media
Library (Media), and the Activity Log (Activity Log).
3-1
Working with the Akimbi Slingshot Console—Setting Internet Explorer Options
Setting Internet Explorer Options

Akimbi can be accessed from any Windows machine with Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher. To enable client operation,
you need to set some Internet Explorer browser settings.
To set Internet Explorer options on Windows 2003:

1. Select Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components.
2. In the Windows Components Wizard dialog box, clear the Enhanced Internet Explorer Security
Configuration check box and click Next.
To set Internet Explorer options on other Windows machines:

1. Launch Internet Explorer.
2. On the top navigation bar, click Tools, then Internet Options. The Internet Options dialog box appears.
3. Select the Security tab and click Custom Level. The Security Settings dialog box appears.
4. Scroll down and select the Enable radio buttons for the following options:
• Download signed ActiveX controls
• Download unsigned ActiveX controls
• Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins
• Allow META REFRESH
• Active scripting
• Allow paste operations via script
• Scripting of Java applets
5. Click OK, then OK again.
3-2
Working with the Akimbi Slingshot Console—The Akimbi Console User Interface
The Akimbi Console User Interface
The Akimbi Slingshot Console is a typical browser-based, menu-driven, GUI application. It is divided into two main
panes:
1. The Akimbi Navigation Bar (ANB)—The navigation bar appears on the left side of the screen. All major
functional operations of the Akimbi Slingshot system are accessible through the navigation bar.
2. The Akimbi Main Window—The main window appears to the right of the navigation bar. Main window screens
display configuration, virtual machine, machine template, and system administration information in table format.
The main window screen also displays data in tabbed folders that you can easily click through.
3-3
Working with the Akimbi Slingshot Console—Basic Operational Navigation
Basic Operational Navigation
Figure 3-1: Basic Navigation of the Akimbi Slingshot Console

The above diagram shows, at a glance, the major operational screens of the Akimbi Slingshot system for non-
administrative users.
Workspace—This component is the control center of the Akimbi Slingshot system. On this screen, you can view all
the configurations you are currently working with, and those others are sharing. If you are an administrator, you can
see all configurations, both private and shared. From here, you can drill-down to focus on a particular configuration on
the Configuration Details screen, or access all of a configuration’s virtual machine consoles (Show Consoles). From
the Configuration Details screen you can drill-down to one specific virtual machine console (Machine Console).
Library—View and access your saved configurations and see configurations other users have created, saved and are
sharing. If you are an administrator you can view all configurations, shared and private.
Templates—Create, view, and keep track of all your machine templates and see machine templates other users have
created and are sharing. If you are an administrator, you can view all templates. From here you can create a new
template, clone an existing one, import one from your network, or deploy a template and modify its settings or its
installed software.
Media—Create, view, and keep track of your media (CD and floppy) image files and see image files other users have
created and are sharing. If you are an administrator, you can view all media image files. On this screen you can add a
new image file or synchronize the files listed with those in the AkimbiShare\ISO folder (Akimbi’s virtual image
3-4
Working with the Akimbi Slingshot Console—Akimbi Console User Interface Features
repository). The ability to synchronize is provided so users can perform AkimbiShare file operations outside of the
Akimbi Slingshot Console. This may be useful when moving or deleting large files or large numbers of files.
Activity Log—Most Akimbi operations occur immediately (synchronously), while others take time and are performed
asynchronously (“jobs” or “activities”). During asynchronous operations, you can perform other tasks at the Akimbi
Console. Later, you can return to this screen to check the activities’ status.
Configuration Details—View details about the configuration’s virtual machines: status, IP addresses, deployment,
fencing, virtualization technology, boot options, and CPU utilization. You have the option to add or remove virtual
machines from the configuration on this screen or drill-down to see the console display of each machine.
Machine Console—See a large display of a virtual machine’s console window. From here, you can perform all virtual
machine operations and interact with the desktop.
All Consoles—See and access a large console display of every virtual machine in a configuration on a single screen.
Akimbi Console User Interface Features
Mouseover Menus
The Akimbi Slingshot Console interface uses a GUI feature we call mouseover menus. These menus are similar to
right-click menus, but appear when you move (hover) your mouse over an object name (i.e., template, configuration,
virtual machine, etc.) or screen title.
A name or title will have a mouseover menu if an arrow— —appears to its right. To see a title mouseover menu, you
may have to scroll to the top of the browser window. Mouseover menu examples are show below.
A mouseover menu for a tabbed machine template title on the virtual machine console display screen:
3-5
A mouseover menu for a configuration:
Note that the menu arrow on this screen is smaller and a different color than the title menu arrow.
NOTE: In most cases, when you click on an object with a mouseover menu, it is the same as selecting the
menu’s first entry. For instance, in the configuration mouseover menu above, if you click on the
Sample 1 Checkout name in the CONFIGURATION NAME column, it is the same as selecting
Details (the first menu entry—see above) from the configuration’s mouseover menu.
Breadcrumb Titles
If you have drilled-down to a screen to view one configuration, the title at the top of the screen shows your object path:
For example, in the screen above, the breadcrumb title shows that the user selected the “Sample 1 Capture”
configuration. A mouseover menu may appear as the last entry in a breadcrumb title (see above).
Icons
The table below summarizes the icons that are used in the Akimbi Slingshot Console interface.
Table 3-1: Akimbi Slingshot Console Icons
Icon Meaning
Status icon. A green, checked status icon indicates a

successful event completion or state of operation.
3-6
Icon Meaning
Status icon. A hyphen status icon indicates an empty, or non-

applicable state.
Status icon. A red, crossed status icon indicates an error

condition or non-functioning state.
Status icon. A spinning status icon appears in a screen’s

status column when an action for an object is taking place.
For example: a virtual machine is being deployed. In this
case, the status column reads "Deploying" until the action is
complete. The text then changes to "Deployed" and the
spinning icon no longer appears.
Akimbi Managed Server icon.
Akimbi Slingshot Storage Server icon.
VMFS (VMware File System) SAN storage device.
Alert icon. This icon accompanies an error message.
Configuration icon. When blue, it indicates a configuration is

deployed.
Configuration icon. When gray, it indicates a configuration is

undeployed.
Online Help icon. Appears on every screen. Click to see

context-sensitive help.
Refresh (the screen) icon. This icon appears in the top right of
every Akimbi Slingshot Console screen. Click this icon button
to update the screen with the latest data.
Template icon. When blue, it indicates a template is published

and available for building configurations.
Template icon. When gray, it indicates a template is not

published and is not available for building configurations.
User icon. When blue, it indicates an enabled user.
User icon. When gray, it indicates a disabled user. A disabled

user is still in the user database but has no access privileges.
He or she may be on extended leave, for instance.
Virtual machine icon. When blue, it indicates a deployed

virtual machine.
3-7
Icon Meaning
Virtual machine icon. When gray, it indicates an undeployed

virtual machine.
Floppy disk file icon.
ISO image file icon.
Column sorting icon—indicates the column is sorted in

descending order.
Column sorting icon—indicates the column is sorted in

ascending order.
Filtering
At the top of many Akimbi Slingshot Console screens appears a Filter textbox and button:
You can use the filter feature to view a subset of the information that appears on the screen. The text you enter is
matched against the search objects’ attribute data. It is not a case-sensitive search—entering “active” or “Active”
returns the same result.
NOTE: The filter text search does not take wildcards. If you enter a traditional wildcard, such as an asterisk
(“*”), it will do a literal search for an askterik in the objects’ attributes.
Column Sorting
Most of the screens in Akimbi Slingshot present data in tables. The data in each column can be sorted in ascending or
descending order. Click on the column’s table heading name to sort. The arrow to the right of the column’s name
indicates if the data is sorted in descending order— —or ascending order— .
3-8
The Host Key, VM Additions (MSVS), VM Tools (VMware), and Mouse Control
Before a virtual machine running on Virtual Server

has Microsoft’s VM Additions installed, it can be
very difficult to move your mouse into and out of
the virtual machine’s console window. You may
experience this as “losing the mouse.” To correct
this, until you install VM Additions, you need to
press the “Host Key,” which is the right ALT key
(located to the right of the space bar).
In VMware, the software to correct this problem is

called VM Tools and the key to use is CTRL-ALT.
3-9
4
Working with Configurations
Configurations are at the heart of the Akimbi system and are composed of one or more virtual machines created from
machine templates. The main value of Slingshot lies in its ability to group, deploy, save, share and monitor multi-
machine configurations.
Machine templates are used to create a configuration's virtual machines. A machine template is a virtual machine
image loaded with an operating system, applications and data. Once published, these templates can then be used to
create configuration virtual machines without going through the time-consuming process of reinstalling software or
performing setup tasks again. In addition, you can install Akimbi Tools on templates, which allows Slingshot to
automatically configure network settings (IP address, MAC address, SID, etc.) for virtual machines, saving you the
trouble of manually configuring them yourself. See “Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates" on page 5-3 for
more information.
TIP: Templates must be published before being used in creating virtual machines and building configurations.
For information on building and using machine templates, see the chapter “Working with Machine
Templates".
Your Akimbi Slingshot comes pre-installed with a Linux machine template. In addition, on the Akimbi installation DVD,
you are provided with two files containing Virtual Server and VMware machine templates for Fedora Core 4. You can
transfer the files to the Slingshot Server’s AkimbiShare\<foldername> and then import them. See “Importing a Machine
Template" on page 5-6 for details on importing a machine template.
This chapter discusses configurations and describes in detail the following:
• Configuration Operations—page 4-2
• Configuration States—page 4-3
• Configuration Mouseover Menus—page 4-4
• Viewing Configurations—page 4-5
• Creating Configurations—page 4-6

• Adding a Virtual Machine to a Configuration—page 4-8
• Deploying Configurations—page 4-9
• Capturing Configurations—page 4-10
• Checking Out Configurations—page 4-11
• Stopping Configurations—page 4-11
• Cloning and Copying (ESX) Configurations—page 4-12
• Exporting Configurations—page 4-13
• Importing Configurations—page 4-14
• Sharing Configurations—page 4-14
• Creating a Configuration LiveLink—page 4-15
• Restoring a Configuration LiveLink—page 4-15
4-1
Working with Configurations—Configuration Operations
• Taking a Snapshot and Reverting—page 4-15

• Viewing and Monitoring a Configuration’s Virtual Machines—page 4-16
• Removing a Configuration from the Workspace—page 4-17
Configuration Operations
Some of the mouseover menu options that appear for virtual machines also appear for configurations: Undeploy,
Suspend, Turn Off, Reset and so on. However, operations on configurations apply to all the configuration’s virtual
machines, not just one virtual machine. This also affects the options that appear in a configuration’s mouseover menu.
For example: if Undeploy appears in a configuration menu, it means that one or more of a configuration’s virtual
machines are deployed; if Deploy appears, it means that one or more of the configuration’s virtual machines are
undeployed; if Turn On or Turn Off appears, it means that one or more of the configuration’s virtual machines are not
on or off.
Operations on configurations may also not affect all its virtual machines. For instance, if you Turn On a configuration,
virtual machines that are already turned on are not affected. Or, for example, if you Revert a configuration, only those
virtual machines that have had a snapshot set are reverted.
Table 4-2: Configuration Operations
Operation Description
Capture to Library Capture the configuration in its current state and save it to the Configuration
Library.
Checkout Check out a copy of the configuration from the Configuration Library and
move it to the Workspace.
Clone Make a copy of this configuration.
Copy ESX only. Copy a configuration with only ESX virtual machines from one
VMFS (SAN) Storage Server to another.
Delete Delete this configuration from the Workspace or the Configuration Library.
Deploy Instantiate and run a configuration’s virtual machines on the Managed

Server pool.
Deploy with defaults Deploy configuration using user’s preferences.
Details View details about a configuration’s virtual machines.
Export Export a configuration to a directory on your network.
Import Import a configuration from a directory on your network.
LiveLink Create a URL for a configuration in the Configuration Library. This URL can
be e-mailed to another user. When clicked on, the configuration can be
returned to its active state.
Make Private Make this configuration viewable and accessible only for you and Akimbi
administrators.
Make Shared Make this configuration available for all users to use and perform
operations on.
4-2
Working with Configurations—Configuration States
Table 4-2: Configuration Operations
Properties View and edit configuration properties.
Reset Reboot all of a configuration’s virtual machines.
Resume Resume the operation of a suspended configuration.
Revert Return the configuration to its last snapshot revert point.
Show Consoles Show a large, graphical display of all configuration VM console windows.
Snapshot Set a snapshot for this configuration. Though not the same as capturing a
configuration to the Configuration Library, the snapshot does remain in
persistent storage. You can remove a configuration from the Workspace,
bring it back later, and its snapshot remains.
Only one snapshot is active at a time. If you take a new one, it replaces the
previous one.
Suspend Stop the operation of a configuration’s virtual machines. This “freezes” all
virtual machine CPUs.
Turn Off Turn off all the virtual machines in a configuration—the virtual equivalent of
physically powering them all off.
Turn On Turn on all the virtual machines in a configuration— the virtual equivalent of
physically powering them all on.
Undeploy Uninstantiate and stop running a configuration’s virtual machines on the

Managed Server pool.
Configuration States
A configuration’s state can be either transitory or non-transitory. Transitory states—deploying, undeploying,
suspending, resuming, cloning, capturing, setting the revert point, etc.—are all indicated in the configuration’s
STATUS column on the WORKSPACE screen.
Two of the non-transitory states—deployed and undeployed—are also indicated in the STATUS column. Besides
state, a configuration has a number of attributes: the date and time of deployment (if deployed), the number of
machines, whether the configuration is shared—Shared or Private in the SHARED column, whether the configuration
is being deployed fenced or not, and, if deployed, whether the configuration’s machines are CACHED locally on a
Managed Server or run from Storage Servers.
On the WORKSPACE screen when a configuration is in the midst of a transitory state, a spinning icon— —
appears to the right in the STATUS column.
Table 4-3: Configuration Attributes and States (Non-Transitory)
State Description
Deployed Configuration is instantiated and running on the Managed Server pool.
Undeployed Configuration is active in the Workspace, but is not instantiated and running
on the Managed Server pool.
4-3
Working with Configurations—Configuration Mouseover Menus
Table 4-3: Configuration Attributes and States (Non-Transitory)
Cached Is the deployed configuration cached on Managed Servers?
Shared Is the configuration available for others to access and use or is it private?
Fenced Is the configuration currently deployed in fenced mode?
#Machines Number of machines in configuration.
Date deployed Date and time of deployment (if deployed).
Table 4-4: Configuration States—Transitory
State Description
Capturing Configuration is being captured and saved to the Configuration Library.
Checking out Configuration is being checked out (copied) from the Configuration Library.
Cloning Configuration is being cloned.
Copying ESX installations only. Configuration is being copied from one VMFS
Storage Server to another.
Deploying Configuration is being instantiated and run on the Managed Server pool.
Exporting Configuration is being exported to a directory on the network.
Importing Configuration is being imported from a directory on the network.
Resuming Configuration is having its suspended virtual machines restarted at the

same point they were stopped.
Reverting Configuration is returning to the last set snapshot state.
Setting the Revert Configuration is having its revert point (snapshot) set. This snapshot is not
Point saved in the Configuration Library, but is saved persistently with the
configuration. Only one snapshot for a configuration exists at a time.
Suspending Configuration is suspending its virtual machines.
Undeploying Configuration is being stopped from running on the Managed Server pool.
Even undeployed, it still remains active in the Workspace.
Configuration Mouseover Menus

The options that appear in a configuration’s mouseover menu depend on whether the configuration is currently
deployed or not deployed. (In the Workspace, to access a configuration’s mouseover menu, move your mouse over
the configuration’s name in the CONFIGURATION column until its mouseover menu appears to the right.)
4-4
Working with Configurations—Viewing Configurations
Table 4-5 Configuration Mouseover Menus—Deployed and Undeployed
As you can see, the menu options are different in each case. More options appear on the deployed mouseover menu.
In deployed mode, the only operations that are not available are Export, Delete, Deploy with defaults and Deploy.
Viewing Configurations
To view active configurations, click Workspace on the Akimbi navigation bar. The WORKSPACE screen appears:
Configurations with a light-blue background are currently deployed on the Managed Server pool.
Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of configurations. Enter text that appears in the attributes of
the configuration you want to view. The filter function does a literal text search on the characters you enter and does
not use wildcards such as asterisks.
The SCOPE drop-down list options determine what configurations are displayed:
• My Configurations—View only your configurations, both shared and private.
4-5
Working with Configurations—Creating Configurations
• Configurations Shared by Others—View everyone else’s shared configurations, but not yours.
• All Configurations Accessible by Me—View your configurations, both shared and private, and everyone else’s
shared configurations.
• All Configurations (admin only)—View everyone’s configurations, including yours, both shared and private.
This option is available for administrators only.
The CACHED column tells you if the configuration’s images are being run from a Storage Server or from Managed
Servers. This is a deployment option contingent upon licensing.
The FENCED column tells you if the configuration is running in fenced mode. The ability to run in fenced mode is
contingent upon licensing.
The SHARING column tells you if the configuration is available for others to use beside the owner.
Click the New Configuration or Import Configuration buttons to create a new configuration or import one from the
network.
Creating Configurations
This procedure shows you the basics of creating a configuration from scratch. You can either create configuration’s
virtual machines from the templates provided with your installation or from templates you’ve created. Make sure the
templates you want to use have been published so they are available for building configurations.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, click Workspace. The WORKSPACE screen appears.
2. From the WORKSPACE screen, click the New Configuration button. The NEW CONFIGURATION screen
appears:
The NEW CONFIGURATION screen consists of two panes, one for defining the configuration’s properties and
one for adding virtual machines to the configuration.
In the DEFINE CONFIGURATION PROPERTIES pane, enter a Name and Description (optional) for your new
configuration. The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and
periods. Its maximum length is 15 characters.
4-6
Working with Configurations—Creating Configurations
Select an Akimbi Storage Server from the Storage Server drop-down list.
NOTE: For ESX configurations, virtual machine disk files are stored on the same VMFS storage server
as the machines’ templates. Meta files for these configurations and their virtual machines are
stored on the Slingshot Server’s local NAS storage. When there are only ESX Managed
Servers, the Storage Server drop-down list is disabled.
If desired, change the Gateway, Netmask, and DNS settings for your configuration’s virtual machines. The
default settings are configured on the NETWORK screen (ANB > Network).
To add a machine to this configuration, click Add Machine. An additional row entry appears in the ADD
MACHINES TO CONFIGURATION pane.
NOTE: During initial configuration creation you can only add 20 virtual machines. You can add more
later.
For each virtual machine:

• The Template drop-down list contains the templates you’ve created and those others are sharing. Select
one.
NOTE: If a template you know exists does not appear in the Template drop-down list, it may be
because it hasn't been published yet. Templates must be published before being used in
building configurations. To publish it, go to the TEMPLATES screen (ANB > Templates). If the
template is deployed, then undeploy it (MOM > Undeploy). When the template is undeployed,
select Publish from the template's mouseover menu.
• Enter a Name and Description (optional). The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-
9), hyphens, underscores, and periods. Its maximum length is 15 characters.
• Boot Sequence—Enter an integer number (0-n) indicating in what order, relative to the other machines in the
configuration, this virtual machine should be booted. This number does not have to be sequential with other
configuration VM numbers, Slingshot can determine the order.
• Boot Delay (secs)—The time to delay, in seconds, after this machine has begun booting before booting the
next machine.
• If you want to manually configure an IP address for this virtual machine, clear the Automatic IP Management
check box and enter an address in the IP Address text box.
IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that entering an IP address here changes the information that Akimbi has about
this machine, but does not necessarily change the IP address configured on the machine.
What happens in this situation depends on whether the template has Akimbi Tools installed on
it or not. The table below summarizes what occurs in the four possible scenarios:
Automatic IP Akimbi Tools installed on Akimbi Tools not installed on

Management template template
Yes Akimbi assigns IP address internally Akimbi assigns IP address internally but
and configures virtual machine. user must configure on virtual machine.
User must go to the machine’s
properties page, note the IP address
assigned, and manually configure the
virtual machine.
No Akimbi takes address user enters, Akimbi assigns IP address user enters,
assigns it internally and configures but user must still configure on virtual
virtual machine. machine.
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Working with Configurations—Adding a Virtual Machine to a Configuration
For more information on manually configuring a virtual machine, see the procedure “Changing a Virtual Machine’s
IP or MAC address" on page 6-5.
3. When you are done, click OK. The new configuration appears in the WORKSPACE screen.
Adding a Virtual Machine to a Configuration

Once you have initially built your configuration, you have the option of adding more virtual machines to it at anytime.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, click Workspace. The WORKSPACE screen appears.
2. Move your mouse over the configuration's name in the CONFIGURATION column until its mouseover menu
appears and select Details.
3. Click the Add VM button.
The ADD MACHINE TO CONFIGURATION screen appears:
The Template drop-down list contains published templates. Select one.
Select an Akimbi Storage Server from the Storage Server drop-down list. Take into account the available free
disk space listed for each.
Enter a Name.The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and
periods. Its maximum length is 15 characters.
To change the network settings—Gateway, Netmask, DNS 1, and DNS 2—consult your network IT administrator.
If you want to manually configure an IP address for this virtual machine, clear the Automatic IP Management
check box and enter an address in the IP Address text box.
IMPORTANT: For more information on the ramifications of entering an IP address here, see the discussion in
the “Creating Configurations" procedure on page 4-6.
Enter an integer number (0-n) for the Boot Sequence, indicating the order, relative to the other virtual machines
in the configuration, this machine should be booted. This number does not have to be sequential with other
configuration VM numbers, Slingshot can determine the order.
4-8
Working with Configurations—Deploying Configurations
For the Boot Delay (secs) field, enter the number of seconds to delay after this machine has begun booting
before booting the next machine.
4. Click OK when you are done.
The new virtual machine appears as part of the configuration in the Workspace.
Deploying Configurations
When you deploy a configuration, it is instantiated and run on your Managed Server pool.
1. Go to the Workspace (ANB > Workspace).
2. Find the configuration you want to deploy and from its mouseover menu select Deploy with defaults or Deploy.
If you select Deploy, you are taken to another screen with the following options:
On this screen, you can choose if you want to deploy in fenced mode and the type of fenced mode. Fenced mode
allows you to deploy configuration copies without encountering IP address contention errors.
Use Network Fencing—Select this option to run your configurations in fenced mode.
• Allow Traffic in and out—Select this option if your tests require network traffic both in and out of the fence.
• Allow Traffic out—Select this option if your tests require your virtual machines to communicate outside the
fence, such as to a database or a web service, but you don’t want outside machines communicating in.
• Block traffic in and out—Select this option if you don’t want fenced virtual machines to communicate
outside or outside machines to communicate in.
Use Server Boot Sequence—A configuration’s virtual machines can be booted in a specific sequence or all at
once. Each virtual machine can be assigned a sequence number. Select this checkbox if you want the assigned
boot sequence to be used.
Turn on machines after deployment—Clear this checkbox if you don’t want the configuration’s virtual machines
to be turned on immediately after deployment. You may want to manually bring them up one at a time, for
instance.
Normal Mode: Run VM files from Storage Server—The user’s deployed virtual machines are run from a
Storage Server. The configuration starts faster, but executes slower than cached images and creates more
network traffic. Select if your tests are one-time or of short duration.
Cached Mode: Run VM files from Managed Server—The user’s deployed virtual machines are transferred to
and run from a Managed Server. There is an initial wait as the images are transferred to Managed Servers but
4-9
Working with Configurations—Capturing Configurations
execution after that is faster and creates less network traffic. Select this option if your test runs for a long time and
where the initial startup time is negligible compared to overall testing time.
IMPORTANT: If you are deploying a cloned or checked-out configuration and you are not using fencing, you
will get duplicate IP address errors if the original configuration is also deployed in unfenced
mode. Other than fencing one of the configurations, your only other option is to manually
change the IP and Mac addresses (and SID on Windows machines) on each of the virtual
machines in one of the configurations. Changing a virtual machine’s IP and MAC addresses is
a two-step process: 1) Manually change the IP and MAC addresses on the virtual machine,
and 2) Go to the machine’s PROPERTIES screen and make changes so Akimbi knows about
the new addresses. For more information, see the procedure “Changing a Virtual Machine’s IP
or MAC address" on page 6-5.
If you selected Deploy with defaults, the deployment options from your user preferences are used. Click the
User Preferences button on the top-right of the screen to view and edit your user preferences.
In the Workspace, the configuration’s entry in the STATUS column changes to “Deploying”.
After a brief time, the configuration’s status changes to Deployed.
To see configuration details, select Details from the configuration’s mouseover menu.
To see a full-screen display of one of the configuration’s virtual machines, click on the virtual machine’s console
thumbnail in the CONSOLE column.
IMPORTANT: There is a VMware limitation: you cannot deploy 2 virtual machines with the same MAC address on
the same Managed Server running VMware ESX, even in fenced mode. Akimbi Slingshot
automatically deploys VMware ESX VMs on Managed Servers to avoid this, but this is not always
possible. When this happens you’ll get an error message saying “Could not find a VMware
Managed Server that does not already have a Virtual Machine with the same MAC address <MAC
Address> deployed on it....” To get around this, change one of the machines’ MAC addresses: go to
the VM’s console window when deployed, select Properties from the machine’s mouseover menu,
and click the Reset MAC Address button. Another solution is to increase the number of Managed
Servers running VMware ESX.
Capturing Configurations
Captured configurations stored in the Library are read-only; that is, once they’re captured, they can’t be altered – only
deleted.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, click Workspace. The Workspace screen appears.
2. Move your mouse over the configuration’s name in the CONFIGURATION NAME column until its mouseover
menu appears. Select Capture to Library.
The CAPTURE CONFIGURATION screen appears.
Enter a Name and Description for your captured configuration. The Name can only contain alphanumeric
characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and periods. Its maximum length is 15 characters.
TIP: We recommend that you devise a naming convention for your stored configurations that will assist in
uniqueness and easy identification.
From the Storage Server drop-down list, select an Akimbi Storage Server. Take into account the amount of
available disk space listed next to each entry.
3. Click Capture.
4-10
Working with Configurations—Checking Out Configurations
The Workspace screen reappears and the configuration’s entry in the STATUS column briefly changes to
“Capturing”. After a brief pause, the STATUS column entry changes back to Deployed.
Go to the LIBRARY screen (ANB > Library) to see your new capture listed.
Checking Out Configurations

Configurations stored in the Library are read-only, that is, once they’re stored, they can’t be altered; only deleted. If you
check out a configuration a new copy is created with a different name.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Library. The LIBRARY screen appears showing all your captured
configurations and those other people have captured and are sharing:
The SCOPE drop-down list options determine what configurations are displayed.
• All Configurations Accessible by Me—View your configurations, both shared and private, and everyone
else’s shared configurations.
2. From the configuration’s mouseover menu, select Checkout.
The CHECKOUT CONFIGURATION menu appears.

Enter a Name for your checked-out configuration. The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z,
0-9), hyphens, underscores, and periods. Its maximum length is 15 characters.
From the Storage Server drop-down list, select an Akimbi Storage Server. Take into account the available disk
space listed for each entry.
3. Click Checkout.
After a brief time, an undeployed copy of the Library configuration appears in the Workspace.
Stopping Configurations
There is more than one option available (on the configuration’s mouseover menu) in the Workspace for stopping a
configuration:
• Undeploy—This operation turns off a configuration’s virtual machines and frees up resources on the Managed
Server pool. By default, the state of your configuration's VMs is saved on undeploy (the same as suspending
them). To change this, clear the Save Memory State check box in your user preferences.
4-11
Working with Configurations—Cloning and Copying Configurations
• Turn Off—This operation turns off all of a configuration’s virtual machines. Turning off a virtual machine is the
virtual equivalent of powering down a physical machine. The configuration remains instantiated on the Managed
Server pool. Turn On reverses this operation.
• Suspend—This operation freezes all of a configuration’s VMs’ CPUs. The configuration remains instantiated on
the Managed Server pool. Resume reverses this operation.
NOTE: Deleting a deployed configuration from the Workspace is a 2-step process: you must first undeploy it
before you can delete it.
Cloning and Copying Configurations

If your configuration contains ESX virtual machines and you want your copy stored on a different VMFS (SAN) Storage
Server, then use the Copy option, otherwise, use Clone. Copying takes slightly longer than cloning because it
performs the additional operation of consolidating VM chains (merging the VM image and its delta changes into
sequential storage).
You can clone or copy one of your own configurations or a configuration someone else is sharing. If you make a clone
or copy of a configuration, the cloned/copied virtual machines are assigned the same network parameters as the
originals’. If the original configuration and the cloned/copied configuration are deployed at the same time, duplicate IP
address errors will occur, unless one of the configurations is deployed in fenced mode. In a fenced configuration,
virtual machines retain the same IP address within the fence but are assigned new, external IP addresses for
communication outside the fence. Each time a fenced configuration is deployed, external IP addresses are assigned
anew from the Akimbi IP address pool. These IP addresses are returned to the pool when the fenced configuration is
undeployed.
NOTE: Only undeployed configurations can be cloned or copied.
To clone a configuration:
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Workspace. The WORKSPACE screen appears.
2. From the configuration’s mouseover menu select Clone.
The CLONE CONFIGURATION dialog box appears:
Enter a Name and Description for your clone. The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-
If there are any non-ESX virtual machines in the configuration, the Storage Server drop-down list appears
showing your available NAS Storage Servers. Select one or accept the default. Take into account the amount of
available disk space listed for each server.
3. When you are done, click Clone.
4-12
Working with Configurations—Exporting Configurations
An entry in the Workspace appears for your cloned configuration—its status is Undeployed. The status of the
configuration being cloned is “Cloning”. Both entries in the STATUS column appear with blue, spinning icons
indicating an operation is taking place. In a brief time, after cloning completes, the original configuration's status
reverts to its previous state and the spinning icons no longer appear.
To copy a configuration (ESX):

Copying a configuration instead of cloning should be used if your configuration contains only ESX virtual machines and
you want your copy stored on a different VMFS (SAN) Storage Server.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Workspace. The WORKSPACE screen appears.
2. From the configuration’s mouseover menu, select Copy.
The COPY CONFIGURATION dialog box appears:
Enter a Name and Description for your copy. The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-
Select a VMFS (SAN) Storage Server from the Storage Server drop-down list(s). Take into account the amount of
available disk space listed for each.
3. When you are done, click Copy.
An entry in the Workspace appears for your copied configuration—its status is Undeployed. The status of the
configuration being cloned is Copying. Both entries in the STATUS column appear with blue, spinning icons
indicating an operation is taking place. In a brief time, after copying completes, the original configuration's status
reverts to its previous state and the spinning icons no longer appear.
Exporting Configurations
You can export an undeployed configuration and all its virtual machine files to a directory on your network.
NOTE: The Export operation can take a considerable amount of time—up to 20-30 minutes for each virtual
machine in your configuration. For this reason, an Akimbi administrator can allow or not allows users
to perform this operation on a system-wide basis. If “Export” doesn’t appear as a selectable option
on the configuration’s mouseover menu, this may be why. Your license may also not allow you to
export.
1. In the Workspace, from an undeployed configuration’s mouseover menu, select Export.
The EXPORT CONFIGURATION screen appears.
4-13
Working with Configurations—Importing Configurations
2. In the UNC Path to Export Directory textbox, enter the UNC name of the directory where you want your
configuration files stored.
For example: \\10.6.1.246\AkimbiShare\ExportConfigs
3. Click Export.
You are returned to the Workspace. The STATUS entry for the configuration is now “Exporting”.
Importing Configurations
You can import a configuration and all its virtual machine files from a directory on your network.
NOTE: The Import operation can take a considerable amount of time—up to 20-30 minutes for each virtual
machine in the configuration.
1. In the Workspace, click the Import Configuration button at the top.
The IMPORT CONFIGURATION (STEP 1) screen appears.
2. In the UNC Path to Import Directory textbox, enter the UNC name of the directory where your configuration files
are stored.
For example: \\10.6.1.246\\AkimbiShare\ImportConfigs
3. Enter a Username and Password, if applicable, for the import directory.
4. Enter a Name and Description for your new imported configuration. The Name can only contain alphanumeric
5. Click Next.
The IMPORT CONFIGURATION (STEP 2) screen appears.
Review the information on this screen. If not correct, click the Back button to return to the previous screen.
6. Select an Akimbi Storage Server from the Storage Server for the Import drop-down list. Take into account the
amount of available disk storage listed for each.
7. Click Import.
You are returned to the Workspace where your new configuration is listed. Its status reads “Importing”. As noted
previously, this may take a considerable amount of time.
Sharing Configurations
When a configuration is shared, it is made available for others to use. To see all shared configurations (except your
own) in the Workspace (ANB > Workspace) select Configurations Shared by Others from the SCOPE drop-down
list.
• In the Workspace, move your mouse over the configuration’s name in the CONFIGURATION NAME column until
its mouseover menu appears and select Make Shared.
The configuration’s entry in the SHARING column changes to Shared.
4-14
Working with Configurations—Creating a Configuration LiveLink
Creating a Configuration LiveLink

A LiveLink is the HTTP URL of a configuration in the Library. You can e-mail this URL to another team member who
can click on it to return the configuration to its active state.
To create a LiveLink:
1. Go to the LIBRARY screen (ANB > Library).
2. If the configuration is not shared, then share it now (configuration MOM > Make Shared).
3. From the configuration’s mouseover menu, select LiveLink.
A screen appears where the URL to the Library configuration is displayed.
4. Click the Copy URL button to copy the URL to your Windows clipboard.
This link can be e-mailed to another tester or developer.
5. Optionally, type a note in the Attach a Comment field. This note appears when a user invokes the URL of the
livelink’d configuration.
Restoring a Configuration LiveLink

When you invoke a LiveLink URL in a browser, you are taken to the Akimbi Login screen if you are not already logged
in. After logging in, the RESTORE AKIMBI LIVELINK screen appears. Thumbnails of the configuration’s virtual
machines appear under Configuration:. Click the Deploy button to deploy the configuration in the Workspace. The
configuration’s name is the name of the Library configuration with “LiveLink” prefixed to it. For example: “Oracle
Linux Paul” becomes “LiveLink - Oracle Linux Paul (n)”, where n indicates the number of times the LiveLink has
been restored.
Taking a Snapshot and Reverting

When your configuration is deployed, you have the option to snapshot it and revert to it at a later time. A snapshot is a
complete, captured configuration (and all its virtual machines) at a specific point in time. A snapshot, once set, is
stored with the configuration. If you undeploy a configuration, then deploy it later, the snapshot remains. Only one
snapshot for a configuration is active at a time—if another snapshot is set it replaces the previous one.
A snapshot may be useful, for instance, as a baseline or “clean slate” that you can return to when running a number of
tests on the same configuration.
To snapshot a configuration:
1. In the Workspace, from the configuration’s mouseover menu, select Deploy.
2. Once the configuration is deployed, from the configuration's mouseover menu, select Snapshot.
The configuration's status displays the message "Setting the Revert Point". The status spinning icon appears
and the virtual machine thumbnails display the message "Busy".
After a brief time, the configuration returns to its previous state.
To revert a configuration to its snapshot:

• In the Workspace, from the deployed configuration's mouseover menu, select Revert.
The configuration's status displays the message "Reverting". The status spinning icon appears and the virtual
machine thumbnail displays the message "Busy".
The virtual machines’ thumbnail icons are updated to reflect their revert point state.
4-15
Working with Configurations—Viewing and Monitoring a Configuration's Virtual Machines
Viewing and Monitoring a Configuration's Virtual Machines

In the Workspace, you have two options if you want to see more details about a configuration's virtual machines:
1. From the configuration's mouseover menu, select Details. The configuration details screen appears:
On this screen you can view virtual machine status, IP addresses (2 for each VM in fenced mode), CPU utilization,
and whether the virtual machine image is CACHED on a Managed Server or run from a Storage Server.
The VM TYPE can be either Virtual Server 2005, Virtual Server 2005 R2 or VMware GSX/ESX.
NOTE: CPU UTILIZATION is not available for Managed Servers running under VMware GSX/ESX
The MANAGED SERVER column indicates which Managed Server is hosting the virtual machine.
The FENCED column tells you if the configuration is fenced. There are entries in the EXTERNAL IP column if the
configuration is fenced.
Entries in the BOOT SEQUENCE and BOOT DELAY indicate in what order the virtual machine is configured to
boot (within its configuration) and how long to delay, in seconds, after booting has begun to begin booting the next
machine.
From here, to drill-down to a large-screen display of a virtual machine’s console window, click the virtual
machine’s thumbnail icon in the CONSOLE column.
4-16
Working with Configurations—Removing a Configuration from the Workspace
2. From the configuration's mouseover menu, select Show Consoles. All the configuration's VM consoles are
displayed in one screen.
Scroll up or down to view and access a virtual machine’s console.
Removing a Configuration from the Workspace

Only undeployed configurations can be removed from the Workspace. Removing a deployed configuration from the
Workspace is a 2-step process:
1. In the Workspace, from the configuration’s mouseover menu, select Undeploy.
Wait until the configuration’s status changes to Undeployed.

2. From the configuration’s mouseover menu, select Delete.
The configuration is permanently removed.
4-17
5
Working with Machine Templates
A machine template is a virtual machine image loaded with an operating system, applications and data that you can
use as a building block for configurations. Most users build a collection of templates that contain a variety of operating
systems, application servers, databases, directory servers, and other infrastructure used in development and test.
Once published, these templates can then be used to build multi-machine configurations without going through the
time-consuming process of reinstalling software or performing setup tasks again.
Another benefit of machine templates is that you can install Akimbi Tools on them. Slingshot automatically configures
network settings (IP address, MAC address, SID, etc.) for virtual machines created from templates with Akimbi Tools
installed, saving you the trouble of manually configuring them yourself. For more information, see “Installing Akimbi
Tools on Machine Templates" in this chapter.
Templates ensure that virtual machines are consistently configured with operating system, versions, system packs,
etc., across the organization.
This chapter discusses machine templates and describes in detail the following:
• Machine Template Operations—page 5-2
• Machine Template States—page 5-2
• Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates—page 5-3
• Viewing Machine Templates—page 5-5
• Creating Machine Templates—page 5-6

• Importing a Machine Template—page 5-6
• Creating a Machine Template from a Physical Machine—page 5-8
• Creating a Machine Template from Scratch—page 5-9
• Creating a Machine Template from a Virtual Machine—page 5-14
• Creating a Machine Template from Another Template—page 5-14
• Sharing Templates—page 5-15
• Exporting a Machine Template—page 5-15
• Editing Template Properties—page 5-16
• Removing Templates—page 5-17
NOTE: One procedure that applies to virtual machines AND machine templates—“Adding a Virtual Hard
Disk to a Machine Template or a Virtual Machine"—is contained in the next chapter “Working with
Virtual Machines" on page 6-8.
5-1
Working with Machine Templates—Machine Template Operations
Machine Template Operations

The table below summarizes operations on machine templates. All of these options appear on a template’s mouseover
menu.
Table 5-1: Machine Template Operations
Clone Make a copy of this template in the Machine Template Library.
Delete Delete the template from the Machine Template Library.
Deploy Instantiate and run the machine template’s virtual machine on the Managed
Server pool.
Export Export the machine template to a network directory.
Import Import a machine template from a network directory.
Make Private Make the template viewable and accessible only for your use.
Make Shared Make the template available for others to use.
Properties View and edit machine template properties.
Undeploy Uninstantiate and stop running the template’s virtual machine on the
Managed Server pool.
View Console See the template’s virtual machine console in a large, accessible format.
Machine Template States

Like a configuration, a machine template’s state can be either transitory or non-transitory. For machine templates,
there are 5 transitory states—deploying, undeploying, exporting, importing and cloning. These states are indicated in
the template’s STATUS column on the TEMPLATES screen when active.
Two non-transitory states and two attributes—deployed, undeployed, published, and unpublished—are also indicated
in the STATUS column. Other attributes include whether the template is shared—Shared or Private in the SHARING
column.
On the TEMPLATES screen, when a machine template is in the midst of a transitory state, a spinning icon appears to
the right in the STATUS column.
Table 5-2: Machine Template Attributes and States—Non-Transitory
State Description
Deployed The machine template is instantiated and running on the Managed Server
pool.
Unpublished The machine template is not available for use in building configurations.
Private The machine template is not available for others to access and use.
Shared The machine template is available for others to access and use.
5-2
Working with Machine Templates—Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates
Table 5-2: Machine Template Attributes and States—Non-Transitory
State Description
Published The machine template is available for use in building configurations.
Undeployed The machine template is not instantiated and running on the Managed
Server pool.
Table 5-3: Machine Template States—Transitory
State Description
Cloning The machine template is being cloned.
Deploying The machine template is being instantiated to run on the Managed Server
pool.
Exporting The machine template is being exported to a directory on the network.
Importing The machine template is being imported from a directory on the network.
Undeploying The machine template is being stopped from running on the Managed
Server pool.
Initializing P2V Initializing PlateSpin physical to virtual machine conversion.

Conversion
Importing Physical Performing PlateSpin physical to virtual machine conversion.

Server
Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates

Akimbi Tools is a collection of software utilities you install on a machine template when it is created or modified.
Installing Akimbi Tools allows Akimbi Slingshot to automatically assign network settings for a virtual machine made
from a template. Akimbi automatically assigns these IP addresses from an IP address pool that you set up during
installation and can modify later. See the Akimbi Slingshot Installation Guide for more information on setting up IP
addresses for Slingshot. For specific details about installing Akimbi Tools see “Install Akimbi Tools" on page 5-12.
Why is installing Akimbi Tools important?

When a virtual machine is created from a template with Akimbi Tools installed, the virtual machine’s network
parameters (IP address, MAC address, SID, etc.) are automatically set when the virtual machine is first turned on. The
virtual machine then keeps these network parameters whenever it runs.
Without Akimbi Tools, the virtual machine uses the template’s IP address. This will create network conflicts when other
virtual machines created from the same template are deployed at the same time. To avoid this conflict, when not using
Akimbi Tools, you can either deploy in fenced mode or access the virtual machine through the Akimbi Console and
manually set its network parameters to unique values.
What is the alternative to installing Akimbi Tools on a template?

If you don’t install Akimbi Tools on a template you can take the following steps:
1. Go to the machine console window and manually change its network settings.
2. Run SetMTU on the template. For details about SetMTU see “Install Akimbi Tools" on page 5-12.
5-3
Working with Machine Templates—Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates
Without doing one of these your deployed virtual machines will experience network problems. Akimbi MTU Script
Utilities for Windows and Linux are downloaded from the installation DVD onto the Akimbi Slingshot Server at
installation time.
On what operating systems can Akimbi Tools be installed?

Akimbi provides Akimbi Tools for the following operating systems:
• Windows XP Pro
• Windows XP Pro Service Pack 1
• Windows XP Pro Service Pack 2
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 4
• Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4
• Windows 2003 Standard Edition
• Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
• Fedora Core 4 (Not explicitly supported on ESX)
• White Box Linux Release 4 (Not explicitly supported on ESX)
When should I install Akimbi Tools on a template?

There are 3 times when you need to install Akimbi Tools on a template:
1. When you create a template from scratch.
2. When you create a template from a virtual machine.
3. When you create a template from a physical machine.
IMPORTANT: Akimbi Tools is disabled the first time a VM is turned on, so remember to reinstall it if you use the
VM to create a template.
The Akimbi Tools Installed option

After you first create a machine template and go to its properties page (Template MOM > Properties) there is an
option—Akimbi Tools Installed. This option is the only way that Akimbi Slingshot knows if a template has Akimbi
Tools installed. Setting this flag is different from actually installing Akimbi Tools on a template. When you install Akimbi
Tools the Akimbi Tools Installed flag gets automatically set. If you import a template with Akimbi Tools already
installed, you will need to set this flag manually. Both need to be done for Akimbi to automatically assign network
parameters for a virtual machine created from a machine template. Otherwise, the virtual machine keeps the
template’s network parameters unless changed through logging into the virtual machine and modifying them manually.
5-4
Working with Machine Templates—Viewing Machine Templates
Viewing Machine Templates

To view machine templates, click Templates on the Akimbi navigation bar. The TEMPLATES screen appears:
The SCOPE drop-down list options determine what templates are displayed:
• My Templates—View only your templates, both shared and private.
• Templates Shared by Others—View everyone else’s shared templates, but not yours.
• All Templates Accessible by Me—View your templates, both shared and private, and everyone else’s shared
templates.
• All Templates (admin only)—View everyone’s templates, including yours, both shared and private. This option is
available for administrators only.
Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of templates. Enter text that appears in the attributes of the
templates you want to view. The filter does does a literal text search on the characters you enter and does not use
wildcards such as asterisks.
Templates with a light-blue background are currently deployed on the Managed Server pool.
The VM TYPE column indicates the template’s virtualization technology.
The SHARING column indicates if the template is available for others to use beside the owner.
The AKIMBI TOOLS? column indicates whether the template has Akimbi Tools installed. As we highly recommend
you install Akimbi Tools, a “No” appears in bold, red letters if it isn’t.
Click the Add Template or Import Template buttons to create a new template or import one from the network.
5-5
Working with Machine Templates—Creating Machine Templates
Creating Machine Templates

There are 5 ways you can add machine templates to the Akimbi Slingshot system:
1. Import a Machine Template—Load a machine template from a directory on your network. See page 5-6.
2. Create a Machine Template from a Physical Machine—Akimbi Systems integrates PlateSpin’s OS Portability™
technology to enable the creation of virtual machine templates from existing physical machines. (This requires the
purchase of the PlateSpin add-on. See page 5-8.
3. Create a Machine Template from Scratch—Create a machine template from scratch: install an operating
system, VM additions, Akimbi Tools and other software. See page 5-9.
4. Create a Machine Template from a Virtual Machine. See page 5-14.
5. Clone a Machine Template from Another Template—Create a template from one of your own, or from one
another user is sharing. See page 5-14.
IMPORTANT: A template’s virtual machine should not be part of a Windows domain. Once a virtual machine
becomes part of a configuration, then you can add it to a domain.
Importing a Machine Template

You can import a machine template that already exists if you know where its files exist on your network. The setup for
one machine template’s virtual machine is kept in two associated files: a .vhd and a .vmc file (Virtual Server) or a
.vmdk and a .vmx file (VMware). The first (.vhd or .vmdk) can be very large—1.5 GB+ (except for small versions of
Linux)—and the second (.vmc or .vmx) is very small—about 15k. Note that the first file’s size is a factor in how long it
takes to import.
For non-ESX Managed Servers, you are copying the template’s files to an Akimbi Storage Server. For ESX, you are
leaving the template’s files on a VMFS (VMware ESX Server File System) storage device, but you are making it
available for use in Slingshot.
NOTE: On your Akimbi installation DVD, you are provided with two files containing Virtual Server and
VMware machine templates for Fedora Core 4. You can move the files to the Slingshot Server’s
AkimbiShare\<foldername> and then import them (below).
To import a machine template (non-ESX):

1. On the TEMPLATES screen, click the Import Template button at the top. The IMPORT MACHINE TEMPLATE
(STEP 1) screen appears.
Fill out all fields. Enter a Name and Description (optional) for the template. The Name can only contain
alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and periods. Its maximum length is 15
characters.
2. In the UNC Path to Import Directory textbox, enter the UNC name of the directory where your virtual machine
files are stored.
For example: \\<Akimbi Slingshot Server>\\AkimbiShare\ISO\FedoraCore4\
3. If you are importing from a directory that is not null session enabled, enter an Import Directory Username and
Password for an account with read permissions.
TIP: We recommend you put your virtual machine files in a directory in the Akimbi Slingshot Server’s
AkimbiShare\ISO folder. The AkimbiShare is null session enabled and does not require entering an
account (Import Directory Username and Password) with read permissions.
Click Next when you are done. The IMPORT CONFIGURATION (STEP 2) screen appears.
5-6
Working with Machine Templates—Importing a Machine Template
Review the information on this screen. If not correct, click the Back button to return to the previous screen.
4. Select an Akimbi Storage Server from the Storage Server for the Import drop-down list. Take into account the
amount of available disk storage listed for each.
5. Click Import.
You are returned to the TEMPLATES screen where your imported template is now listed. The STATUS briefly
displays as “Importing”. The import will take several minutes.
6. Publish your template and share it (optional). From the template mouseover menu, select Publish, then select
Make Shared.
Publishing your template makes it available for you to use in building configurations. Sharing it allows other users
to deploy it and use it in building configurations.
Importing from VMFS Considerations

• Network adapters—Multiple network adapters for one virtual machine are not allowed.
• Multiple hard disks—Multiple hard disks for one virtual machine are allowed but are required to be on the same
VMFS partition.
• Virtual machine hard disks—The virtual machine’s hard disks must reside on a connected VMFS partition (see
“Adding a Managed Server" on page 7-20 or “Editing Managed Server Properties" on page 7-22 ).
To import a machine template from VMFS (ESX):

1. On the TEMPLATES screen, click the Import from VMFS button at the top. The IMPORT MACHINE TEMPLATE
FROM VMFS screen appears:
Fill out all fields. Enter a Name and Description (optional) for the template. The Name can only contain
alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and periods. Its maximum length is 15
characters.
2. In the Server Hosting VMX drop-down list, select the ESX Managed Server where the virtual machine’s VMX
configuration file resides.
3. In the Path to VMX textbox, enter the full, absolute Unix path name of the virtual machine’s VMX configuration file.
For example: /root/vmware/linux/linuxTemplate1.vmx
4. If VM Additions is installed on the template, select the VM Additions Installed? check box. Selecting this does
not install VM Additions on the template, instead, it sets meta-data Slingshot keeps about the template.
5-7
Working with Machine Templates—Creating a Machine Template from a Physical Machine
5. Click Import.
You are returned to the TEMPLATES screen where your imported template is now listed.
6. Publish your template and share it (optional). From the template mouseover menu, select Publish, then Make
Shared.
Publishing your template makes it available for you to use in building configurations. Sharing it allows other users
to deploy it and use it in building configurations.
Creating a Machine Template from a Physical Machine

You can create a machine template from a physical machine on your network. Akimbi has partnered with PlateSpin to
integrate their OS Portability™ technology into Slingshot to accomplish this task.
NOTE: This option is only available if you have installed the PlateSpin add-on. Otherwise, the P2V button
does not appear.
Physical to Virtual Source Machine Considerations

• Multiple NICs—Machines with multiple NICs cannot be imported. Disable all NICs except one before importing.
Make sure the remaining NIC is connected to the network and configured properly.
• RAID—A machine implementing Windows Volume Sets (software RAID) cannot be imported. Machines
implementing hardware RAID can be imported, but RAID will not continue to be implemented in virtual mode.
Multiple hard disks implementing RAID will be imported and treated as one disk in virtual mode.
• Null Session Storage Server—If you are running in a VMware GSX Windows domain environment, you still need
to have at least one null session storage share for P2V to work. This is a PlateSpin limitation. See “Setting up a
Storage Server for Akimbi Slingshot” for more information on creating a null-session Storage Server share.
• DHCP—The source machine must exist on a network that supports DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol). P2V
processing uses the WinPE operating system, which relies on getting an IP address from DHCP.
• VMware ESX environment—For the P2V operation to work in ESX, an ESX Managed Server accessible with
root user credentials must be available. The credentials (username/password) are entered when a Managed
Server is added to Akimbi.
• Windows domain environment—P2V will not work if you’ve configured Slingshot to work in a Windows domain
environment.
To create a machine template from a physical machine:

1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, click Templates. The TEMPLATES screen appears.
2. At the top, click the P2V button (only appears if PlateSpin has been installed). The IMPORT PHYSICAL SERVER
TO TEMPLATE (STEP 1) screen appears.
NOTE: Listed on this screen are the operating systems that can be converted.
3. Enter the physical machine’s IP address and login fields (username and password).
4. Click OK. A dialog box appears letting you know that “discovery” will take up to two minutes. During discovery
PlateSpin audits the setup of the designated physical machine.
The IMPORT PHYSICAL SERVER TO TEMPLATE (STEP 2) screen appears. This screen displays the
information PlateSpin discovered about the physical server.
5. If you wish to continue, click Next.
5-8
Working with Machine Templates—Creating a Machine Template from Scratch
You are returned to the Workspace where the new template is displayed. Initially, its status is “Initializing P2V
Conversion“. After a brief time, it changes to “Importing Physical Server“. This transfer may take up to an hour.
The percentage completed is displayed in the status field.
WARNING: The transfer percentage completed that appears in the status field may not display correctly; for
instance, it may go up then down. This is a PlateSpin anomaly and does not mean the transfer is not
proceeding correctly.
NOTE: After the import completes, you will need to install VM Additions and Akimbi Tools on the new
template. Both of these operations can be done on the console display screen: unpublish your
template (template MOM > Unpublish) and deploy it (template MOM > Deploy). Once deployed,
select View Console from the template mouseover menu. On the console display window, select
Install Virtual Machine Additions and Install Akimbi Tools from the template’s mouseover menu
to perform these operations.
Creating a Machine Template from Scratch
There are a number of steps you need to take in creating a machine template from scratch:
1. Create a Blank Template—Create a blank template without an operating system or any other additional software.
See page 5-10.
2. Deploy Your Template—Instantiate your template’s virtual machine on a Managed Server. Once running, you
can install an operating system and other software. See page 5-10.
3. Install an Operating System—Install a guest operating system on your template’s virtual machine. See page 5-
11.
4. Install Microsoft’s VM Additions (or VMware’s VM Tools)—Install VM Additions or VM Tools to, among other
things, make it easy to move your mouse into and out of the virtual machine console window. See page 5-12.
5. Install Additional Software—Install any other applications you want to run on the template’s virtual machine.
See page 5-12.
6. Install Akimbi Tools— Install Akimbi Tools to allow Akimbi to automatically configure network settings for virtual
machines created from this template. See page 5-12.
7. Shutdown the Template —Shutdown the template’s virtual machine and undeploy it. See page 5-13.
8. Publish Your Template—Make your template available for building configurations. See page 5-13.
9. Share Your Template (optional)—Make your template available for others to use (optional). See page 5-13.
To install an operating system onto a virtual machine, it needs to be loaded from a virtual CD. Just as on a physical
machine, an operating system is loaded from CD, except, in this case, the CD is the Universal Naming Convention
(UNC) name to an image on your network. Typically, the image is an ISO file. An ISO file is an image of a CD-ROM.
NOTE: Keep in mind the difficulty of moving your mouse into and out of a virtual machine console window
before VM Additions or VM Tools is installed. You must press the Host key (right ALT key) or CTRL-
ALT (VMware) to correct this problem until VM Additions or VM Tools is installed.
5-9
Create a Blank Template

Create a blank template without an operating system or any other software.
1. Go to the TEMPLATES screen (ANB > Templates).
2. Click the Add Template button. The ADD MACHINE TEMPLATE screen appears.
Fill out all the fields or accept the defaults. The Description field is optional.
Select a Storage Server and a VM Technology from the drop-down lists.
Select a disk type (SCSI, IDE, etc.) from the Disk Type drop-down list.
Click Add. The TEMPLATES screen appears and your new template is listed. Notice that the CONSOLE column
entry reads Undeployed.
Deploy Your Template

Before you can install an operating system and other software onto your machine template it needs to be deployed on
a Managed Server.
NOTE: If your template is published, you will need to unpublish it before you can deploy it.
• On the TEMPLATES screen, move your mouse over the template’s name in the TEMPLATE column until its
mouseover menu appears. Select Deploy.
NOTE: As your template deploys, the entry in the STATUS column briefly changes to” Deploying”.
The NTLM Authentication dialog box may appear:
If it does, select the Don’t ask me again check box and click Yes.
Once deployed, your machine’s entry appears with a black, thumbnail console icon in the CONSOLE column. The
STATUS column entry now reads Deployed—its table row background is light blue instead of gray, also
indicating it’s deployed.
IMPORTANT: There is a VMware limitation: you cannot deploy 2 virtual machines with the same MAC
address on the same Managed Server running VMware ESX, even in fenced mode. Akimbi
Slingshot automatically deploys VMware ESX VMs on Managed Servers to avoid this, but this
is not always possible. When this happens you will get an error message saying “Could not find
a VMware Managed Server that does not already have a Virtual Machine with the same MAC
address <MAC Address> deployed on it....” To get around this, change one of the machines’
MAC addresses: go to the VM’s console window (when VM is deployed), select Properties
from the machine’s mouseover menu, and click the Reset MAC Address button. Another
solution is to increase the number of Managed Servers running VMware ESX.
5-10
Install an Operating System on the Template Virtual Machine

Installing an operating system from CD on your template requires you to type in the path of an ISO image file on your
network.
What is an ISO image file?

An ISO image file is an exact representation of a CD or DVD, including its content and logical format. The ISO files that
represent data CD/DVDs contain an image of an ISO-9660 file system. ISO 9660 is a standard published by the
International Organization for Standardization defining a file system for CD-ROM media. Many operating systems are
distributed for download as self-contained, bootable ISO images. Most operating systems (including Linux and
Windows) allow these images to be mounted as physical discs, making them useful as a universal archive format.
How do I create an ISO File?

Most CD authoring utilities can generate new ISO images from existing files and record them onto disc. You create
("rip") an ISO file by copying an entire disc, from sector 0 to the end, into a file. Common Windows utilities for creating
an ISO file from a CD or DVD include ISORecorder (isorecorder.alexfeinman.com), WinImage (www.winimage.com)
and Roxio (www.roxio.com). If you are on a Linux system, you can use the dd command. We have included a GPL
(General Public License) program in the utilities folder on your Akimbi Slingshot DVD—dd.exe—that you can use to
create ISO images.
To install an operating system on a template virtual machine:

2. Check that the STATUS for your template is Deployed.
If it is not deployed, then, from the template’s mouseover menu in the TEMPLATE column, select Deploy. Wait
until the status of the machine changes to Deployed.
3. Click the thumbnail console icon in the CONSOLE column of the machine you want to load.
The boot console appears on the TEMPLATES > MACHINE TEMPLATE: <NAME> screen:
4. From the machine template’s mouseover menu, select Insert CD (see above).
The INSERT CD screen appears.
From the Media Library drop-down list, select an operating system ISO image to use.
TIP: We recommend you put your operating system ISO images in the \\AkimbiShare\ISO directory that is
created at installation time. Images in this directory are automatically populated to the Media Library
drop-down list. Otherwise, to download an ISO file from a server share, the share must have null
session enabled; the AkimbiShare already supports null session. You can view all AkimbiShare ISO
image files on the MEDIA screen (ANB > Media).
5-11
If your image file does not appear in the Media Library drop-down list, you can enter the UNC name of your
machine image in the UNC Path to image textbox—for example: \\<Server>\AkimbiShare\ISO\wind2k3.iso— and
click Use.
After a brief pause, the MACHINE TEMPLATES: <NAME> screen reappears.
5. From the template’s mouseover menu, select Reset.
In the console window, messages indicating your image is loading appear.
Your operating system installs as it would on a physical machine (and takes just as long). Enter the options you
desire as prompted.
NOTE: At this point, it may be difficult to smoothly move your mouse into and out of the console
window. You may experience this as “losing the mouse.” On Virtual Server, press the ALT key
on the right side of the space bar (the Host Key) to correct this problem until you install VM
Additions. On VMware, press the CTRL-ALT key to correct this problem until you install VM
Tools.
Install VM Additions or VM Tools

Though installing Microsoft’s VM Additions or VMware’s VM Tools does a lot of things, the major noticeable difference
is that it makes it easy to move your mouse into and out of the virtual machine console window. After installing VM
Additions or VM Tools, you won’t have to press the right ALT key or CTRL-ALT anymore to regain control of the
mouse.
• From the template’s mouseover menu, select Install Virtual Machine Additions (same menu entry for both
Virtual Server and VMware).
NOTE: The Virtual Machine Additions install takes a couple of minutes and reboots the machine.
Install Additional Software

Install any other additional software that you would like on your template.
Install Akimbi Tools

Selecting this option allows Slingshot to automatically assign network settings for virtual machines made from a
template.
To install Akimbi Tools (on Windows machines):
• From the template’s mouseover menu at the top, select Install Akimbi Tools.
NOTE: You can only install Akimbi Tools using the configuration mouseover menu on Windows 2000,
Windows 2003 and Windows XP machines. For Linux machines use the procedure below.
To install Akimbi Tools on a Linux machine:

1. Click the Install Akimbi Tools button (or use the mouseover menu).
2. Go to the console and type:
> mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom

> cd /etc/rc.d/init.d
> cp /media/cdrom/akimbi-tools .
> sh akimbi-tools install
> umount /media/cdrom
5-12
3. Leave the console.
4. From the template’s mouseover menu select Eject CD.
5. Go to the console and type:
> shutdown -h now
6. Undeploy the template.
7. Go to the template’s properties page and select the Akimbi Tools installed check box.
8. Publish the template.
What must I do if I don’t install Akimbi Tools?
Unless you plan to never run virtual machines in fenced configurations, then you must install Akimbi Tools or run
“SetMTU” on each template. Without one or the other your deployed virtual machines will experience network
problems. SetMTU for Windows and Linux is downloaded from DVD onto the Akimbi Slingshot Server at installation
time.
To run SetMTU on a Windows (Windows 2000, Windows 2003 or Windows XP) virtual machine:
1. In the template’s virtual machine console window, launch Windows Explorer and go to “\\<Slingshot Server
address>\AkimbiShare\Utilities\”.
2. Double-click setWinMTU.vbs
3. Reboot the virtual machine.
To run SetMTU Tools on a Linux virtual machine:

1. In the template’s virtual machine, log in as root.
2. Open a terminal and execute the following commands:

> mount –t smbfs –o username=Administrator,password=<password> //<slingshot
address>/AkimbiShare /mnt
> sh /mnt/Utilities/setRhelMTU.sh
The shell program restarts the network device.
Shutdown the Template

You need to shut the virtual machine down and undeploy it.
Publish Your Template

If you want to make your template available for use in building configurations, you need to publish your template.
1. Before publishing your template, make sure it is turned off and not deployed.
If deployed, from the template’s mouseover menu select Undeploy. Wait until the template’s status changes to
Undeployed.
2. On the TEMPLATES screen, from the template’s mouseover menu, select Publish.
Share Your Template (optional)

To make your template available for other users (if you are an administrator), from the template’s mouseover menu,
select Make Shared. The entry in the configuration’s SHARING column changes to Shared.
5-13
Working with Machine Templates—Creating a Template from a Virtual Machine
NOTE: If you edit your machine template, you will need to repeat the steps of installing Akimbi Tools and
publishing the template.
Creating a Template from a Virtual Machine

A template can be created from an active virtual machine. After a virtual machine in a configuration has been running
awhile and you've made changes to it, such as adding additional software, or changing its properties, you may want to
use it to create a new machine template.
To create a machine template from a virtual machine:
1. In the Workspace, from the configuration's mouseover menu, select Details. The configuration details screen
appears. (You could also click the virtual machine's thumbnail icon and go to the VM console screen.)
2, From the virtual machine’s mouseover menu, select Add To Templates.

The ADD TO MY MACHINE TEMPLATES screen appears.
Type in a Name and Description for your new machine template. The Name can only contain alphanumeric
Select an Akimbi Storage Server from the Storage Server drop-down list. Take into account the available disk
space listed for each server.
3. When you are done, click Add.

After a brief pause, the configuration details screen reappears. Go to the TEMPLATES screen (ANB >
Templates) to see your new template listed.
Creating a Template from Another Template

A template can be cloned from another template, either from one of yours or one another user is sharing. This allows
you to take advantage of software already installed on a template to create a new template.
To clone a machine template from another template:

1. On the TEMPLATES screen, from the template’s mouseover menu, select Clone.
The CLONE TEMPLATE screen appears.

Enter a Name and Description for your new template. The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z,
A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and periods. Its maximum length is 15 characters.
Select an Akimbi Storage Server from the Storage Server drop-down list. Take into account the available disk
space listed for each Storage Server.
2. Click Clone.
You are returned to the TEMPLATES screen. The STATUS of the template you are cloning is “Cloning” and the
spinning status icon appears.
After a brief time, your new template is cloned and is listed on the TEMPLATES screen. The STATUS of the
template you have cloned has returned to its previous state and the spinning status icon no longer appears.
3. Install Akimbi Tools (optional but highly recommended)—Template mouseover menu > Properties > breadcrumb
MOM > Install Akimbi Tools.
Virtual machines created from templates with Akimbi Tools installed automatically have network parameters (IP
address, MAC address, SID, etc.) set for them when first deployed.
5-14
Working with Machine Templates—Sharing Templates
Sharing Templates
You have the option to keep your templates for your own use or share them with others.
To make your template available for others to use:
• On the TEMPLATES screen (ANB > Templates), from the template’s mouseover menu, select Make Shared.
The template's entry in the SHARING column changes to Shared.
To reserve your template for your own use:
• On the TEMPLATES screen (ANB > Templates), from the template’s mouseover menu, select Make Private.
The template's entry in the SHARING column changes to Private.
Exporting a Machine Template

You can export a template and its virtual machine files to a directory on your network.
NOTE: The Export operation can take a considerable amount of time, up to 20-30 minutes.
1. On the TEMPLATES screen, from a template’s mouseover menu, select Export.
The EXPORT TEMPLATE screen appears.
2. In the UNC Path to Export Directory textbox, enter the UNC name of the directory where you want your
configuration files stored.
For example: \\10.6.1.246\\AkimbiShare\ExportTemplates
3. Click Export.
You are returned to the TEMPLATES screen. The STATUS entry for the template is now “Exporting”.
5-15
Working with Machine Templates—Editing Template Properties
Editing Template Properties

2. From the template's mouseover menu in the TEMPLATE NAME column, select Properties.
The EDIT MACHINE TEMPLATE screen appears:
Name—The name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and periods.
Its maximum length is 15 characters.
Description—Optional description field that can be a maximum of 128 characters.
Storage Server—Select a different Storage Server to store the virtual machine on.
You cannot move a VM to a different Storage Server if it is currently deployed.
VM Technology—Virtualization technology this machine is configured to run on, either Virtual Server 2005, VS
2005 R2, or VMware GSX/ESX.
Memory (MB)—Amount of RAM allocated for running template's VM.
Akimbi Tools Installed—Indicates if Akimbi Tools is installed. This is how Slingshot knows if Akimbi Tools is
installed on the template. Don't confuse this with actually installing Akimbi Tools on a template. Setting this flag
does not install Akimbi Tools. See “Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates" on page 5-3 for more
information.
VM Additions Installed—Indicates if VM Additions or VM Tools is installed. This property was new for Slingshot
2.1.
NOTE: For Akimbi Slingshot 2.1, the VM Additions Installed flag was added as a new template and
virtual machine property. This flag is set when a user initiates the install operation and remains
5-16
Working with Machine Templates—Removing Templates
set even if the operation fails. If set, the Install VM Additions button no longer appears on the
console display screen (though it remains as a mouseover menu option). In addition, warning
text about installing VM Additions no longer appears. For virtual machines or templates created
before 2.1, the flag is initially not set until the machine is fully running and a user invokes the
console display window. To address this temporary anomaly, you have the option to set the flag
on the template or virtual machine properties page.
Use Time Synchronization—If selected, the virtual machine’s system clock is synchronized with the Managed
Server’s that it is running on. This occurs each time the VM is rebooted.
MAC Address—The machine's MAC address. If the template is undeployed, you can use the Reset MAC
Address button at the top to give it a different MAC address.
Hard Disks—For each virtual hard disk, its GB storage, Bus Type (IDE or SCSI), Bus Number and Bus ID (in that
order) is listed. Click the Add Hard Disk button at the top to add a new virtual hard disk (see “Adding a Virtual
Hard Disk to a Machine Template or a Virtual Machine" on page 6-8). Click the Edit or Delete buttons to edit or
remove a hard disk.
NOTE: To add or edit a hard disk, the template needs to be unpublished (Template MOM >
Unpublish).
3. When you are done, click OK.
Removing Templates
Use the Delete option on the template’s mouseover menu to remove an undeployed template from the Machine
Template Library.
NOTE: If your template is deployed, you will need to undeploy it first.
5-17
6
Working with Virtual Machines
A virtual machine is a simulated PC environment running a guest operating system and associated application
software. Using virtual technology software a “host” server can concurrently run multiple virtual machines in isolated,
self-contained environments. In Akimbi Slingshot, virtual machines are first created from machine templates.
This chapter discusses virtual machines and describes in detail the following:
• Virtual Machine Operations—page 6-1

• Virtual Machine States—page 6-3
• Viewing a Console Window—page 6-4
• Changing the Console Display Size—page 6-5
• Changing a Machine’s IP or MAC address—page 6-5
• Taking Remote Control—page 6-6
• Taking a Snapshot and Reverting—page 6-6
• Inserting a CD—page 6-7
• Inserting a Floppy Disk—page 6-7
• Consolidating a Virtual Machine Image—page 6-7
• Adding a Virtual Hard Disk to a Machine Template or a Virtual Machine—page 6-8
• Editing Virtual Machine Properties—page 6-10
Virtual Machine Operations

The following table below summarizes virtual machine operations.
Table 6-1: Virtual Machine Operations
Add to Templates Create a machine template from this virtual machine.
Consolidate VM Chain Consolidates a virtual machine image and all its changes (which may be
scattered across several Storage Servers). This is similar to defragmenting
a hard disk to improve access efficiency.
Ctrl-Alt-Delete Send a CTRL-ALT-DELETE to the virtual machine.
Delete Remove virtual machine.
Deploy Instantiates and runs the virtual machine on the Managed Server pool.
Eject CD Eject the CD in your machine’s virtual CD drive.
6-1
Working with Virtual Machines—Virtual Machine Operations
Table 6-1: Virtual Machine Operations
Eject Floppy Eject the floppy in your machine’s virtual floppy drive.
Insert CD You are prompted to select or enter a UNC name for a CD image file
(“virtual CD“) on your network. Typically, this is an ISO file.
Insert Floppy You are prompted to select or enter a UNC name for a floppy image file
(“virtual floppy“) on your network. Typically, this is a .vfd or .flp file.
Install Virtual Machine Installs Microsoft’s VM Additions or VMware’s VM Tools on Windows or

Additions Linux machines. This program does a lot of things to make your virtual
machine more usable, but the most noticeable is that it makes it easy for
you to move your mouse into and out of the console window.
Properties View and edit virtual machine properties.
Reset Boots the virtual machine. This operates the same way as on a physical
machine; first it checks peripheral storage, then, if no boot image has been
found, it boots off the virtual hard disk.
Resume Resume operation of a suspended virtual machine.
Shut Down Shuts down the virtual machine. This option only appears for Windows
machines that have installed VM Additions. The operation works the same
as Start > Turn Off Computer does in Windows. Unlike turning off the
machine, it performs an orderly shutdown of the machine, saving all work,
and performing other cleanup activity before turning off.
Snapshot Take a snapshot of the current virtual machine state. Only one snapshot can
exist at a time; taking a new snapshot replaces the previous one.
Suspend “Freezes” virtual machine operation and its CPU.
Turn Off Turns off the virtual machine. The virtual equivalent of powering off a
physical machine.
Turn On Turns on the virtual machine. The virtual equivalent of powering on a

physical machine.
Undeploy Uninstantiates and stops running the virtual machine on the Managed
Server pool.
These operations are available from a virtual machine’s mouseover menu.
NOTE: Operations on individual virtual machines affect configuration state and the options that appear in a
configuration’s mouseover menu. For example, if a configuration has 4 deployed machines and you
undeploy one of them, the configuration’s status (as viewed in the STATUS column in the
Workspace) remains deployed but, now, deploy and undeploy options appear simultaneously in the
configuration’s mouseover menu.
As with a configuration, the options that appear in the virtual machine’s mouseover menu are contingent upon its state.
6-2
Working with Virtual Machines—Virtual Machine States
Virtual Machine States

Like configurations and machine templates, virtual machines can be either deployed on the Managed Server pool or
undeployed. To install software on a virtual machine it needs to be deployed.
The table below summarizes the virtual machine states. For each image, its console thumbnail image is shown.
Table 6-2: Virtual Machine Non-Transitory States
Display State Description
On The virtual machine is deployed and running on a

Managed Server.
Off The virtual machine is deployed (instantiated on a

Managed Server) but not running.
Suspended The virtual machine’s processor has been frozen. It can

be restarted at the same point it was suspended.
Undeployed The virtual machine is off and is not instantiated on a

Managed Server. If redeployed, it is instantiated on a
Managed Server and rebooted.
Busy The virtual machine is in the midst of an operation.
6-3
Working with Virtual Machines—Viewing a Console Window
Viewing a Console Window

If deployed, a virtual machine’s console window is accessible from the following screens:
• WORKSPACE (ANB > Workspace)—Click on the virtual machine’s console thumbnail in the CONSOLE column
or select Show Consoles from the configuration’s mouseover menu.
• CONFIGURATION details (ANB > Workspace > configuration MOM > Details)—Click on the virtual machine’s
console thumbnail in the CONSOLE column or, from the virtual machine’s mouseover menu, select View
Console.
• TEMPLATES (ANB > Templates)—Click on the virtual machine’s console thumbnail in the CONSOLE column.
When you click on the thumbnail icon of a virtual machine, you are greeted with a screen similar to the following:
At the top of the console display, the tabbed machine name’s mouseover menu allows you to carry out virtual
machine operations.
In the header, at the top-left, if your virtual machine is utilizing network fencing, its Internal IP and External IP
addresses are displayed.
Options:
Configuration—Click to see a drop-down list of thumbnail icons of other virtual machines in the same
configuration. Select one to see its console display.
Snapshot—Set the virtual machine's snapshot.
6-4
Working with Virtual Machines—Changing a Console Display Size
Revert—Return the virtual machine to its last set snapshot. The thumbnail icon of the virtual machine's last
snapshot is displayed in the upper-right under Revert Point. After the VM is reverted, its display will match
the Revert Point thumbnail icon.
Install VM Additions—Install Virtual Machine Additions on this template, either VM Additions (Virtual Server)
or VM Tools (GSX/ESX).
Ctrl-Alt-Del—Send a CTRL-ALT-DEL to the virtual machine.
Revert Point—Displays a thumbnail icon of the last snapshot point.
Remoting Tools—Select a tool from this drop-down list to take remote control of the virtual machine.
Changing a Console Display Size

You can change the size of a virtual machine’s console just as you can on a physical machine.
To change a virtual machine’s console display size (Windows):
1. In the virtual machine console window, select Start > Control Panel > Display and click the Settings tab.
2. Move the Screen resolution slider bar to your preferred display size.
3. Click OK.
NOTE: On the virtual console window display, if you turn off or suspend the virtual machine, the window is
reduced to a console icon. Undeploying the virtual machine returns you to the screen the console
display window was invoked from.
Changing a Virtual Machine’s IP or MAC address

If you want to change a virtual machine’s IP or MAC address after it has been added to a configuration, then take the
following steps:
1. Go to the virtual machine’s configuration’s details screen (Workspace > configuration MOM > Details).
2. If the virtual machine is deployed, undeploy it (VM MOM > Undeploy).

3. Go to the MACHINE PROPERTIES screen (VM MOM > Properties).
4. In the IP Address textbox, enter a new IP address.
5. Click the Reset Mac Address button to create a randomly-assigned new MAC address. You cannot assign your
own MAC address.
6. Deploy the virtual machine (VM MOM > Deploy).
NOTE: When you deploy the virtual machine, you may get a “Duplicate IP Address” message. This happens
because, so far, you’ve only let Akimbi know about the IP address change, you haven’t actually
changed it on the machine yet.
7. Go to the virtual machine console window, access the VM, and manually change the machine’s IP address.
On Windows machines, go to Control Panel > Network Connections > LAN > Properties > General tab >
Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) > Properties > Use the Following IP Address > Enter an IP Address
On Linux machines, log in as root.
ifconfig -a should give you the machine’s IP address and tell you the name of your ethernet card identifier.
Use the same command to change the machine’s IP address:
6-5
Working with Virtual Machines—Taking Remote Control
ifconfig <ethernet card identifier> inet <new IP address> netmask <netmask>
For example:
ifconfig eth0 inet 10.6.1.110 netmask 255.255.0.0
IMPORTANT: On Windows machines, if you’re not using Akimbi Tools, you also need to change the SID (security
identifier). You can use Microsoft’s Sysprep tool to do this. See the Microsoft web site for more
information.
Taking Remote Control

When looking at an individual VM console window (not the all consoles screen) you have the option to take remote
control of the virtual machine.
NOTE: To take remote control, you need to have configured a virtual machine’s operating system to allow
remote connections. On Windows 2003, the user must either be an administrator or explicitly added
to the list of authorized users. In Windows, to allow remote desktop connections, go to Control
Panel > System > Remote Tab > Remote Desktop section, select the Allow users to connect
remotely to this computer check box. To allow users, go to the same place and click Select
Remote Users.
To take remote control:

On the top-right, above the console window, there is a Remoting Tools drop-down list:
For virtual machines running on Virtual Server, choose Remote Desktop.
For virtual machines running on VMware GSX/ESX, you can choose either Remote Desktop or VMware VM
Console.
NOTE: Before you can remote control a machine running on VMware GSX/ESX, you need to download
VMware Console onto the machine you are accessing the Akimbi Slingshot console from (VM MOM
> View Console > Download VM Console (upper right)).
Taking a Snapshot and Reverting

When your virtual machine is deployed, you have the option to set a snapshot for it and revert to that snapshot at a
later time. A snapshot is a complete, captured virtual machine state at a specific point in time. A snapshot, once set, is
stored persistently with the virtual machine image. If you undeploy a virtual machine then deploy it again, the snapshot
remains. Only 1 snapshot for a virtual machine is active at a time—if another snapshot is set it replaces the previous
one.
To snapshot a virtual machine:

• In the virtual machine console window, click the Snapshot button.
The virtual machine is briefly turned off, then reappears as a full display again.
A thumbnail icon of the snapshot display appears in the top-right portion of the screen.
6-6
Working with Virtual Machines—Inserting a CD
To revert a virtual machine:

• In the virtual machine console window, select the Revert button.
The virtual machine is briefly turned off, then reappears as a full display.
The full display is an exact, larger replica of the snapshot thumbnail icon appearing in the top right.
Inserting a CD
• From the virtual machine mouseover menu, select Insert CD.
The INSERT CD screen appears.
From the Media Library drop-down list, select an operating system ISO image.
TIP: We recommend you put your ISO images in the \\AkimbiShare\ISO directory that is created at
installation time. Images in this directory are automatically populated to the Media Libray drop-down
list. Otherwise, to download an ISO file from a server share, the share must have null session enabled;
the AkimbiShare already supports null session.
If your image file does not appear in the Media Library drop-down list, you can enter the UNC name of your
machine image in the UNC Path to image textbox—for example:
\\<AkimbiServer>\AkimbiShare\ISO\wind2k3.iso— and click Use.
After a brief pause, the virtual machine console screen reappears. The Eject CD option has replaced the Insert
CD option on the template’s mouseover menu.
Inserting a Floppy Disk

• From the virtual machine mouseover menu, select Insert Floppy.
The INSERT FLOPPY screen appears.
Enter the UNC name of your machine image in the UNC Path to Floppy Image textbox—for example:
\\<AkimbiServer>\AkimbiShare\Floppy\floppy.vfd— and click Use.
After a brief pause, the virtual machine console screen reappears. The Eject Floppy option has replaced the
Insert Floppy option on the virtual machine’s mouseover menu.
Consolidating a Virtual Machine Image

A virtual machine image can potentially change over time, typically with the addition of new software or changed
settings. Each change to a virtual machine image is stored as a delta change. A delta change tracks what’s changed,
it doesn’t store an entire changed image. When a virtual machine is deployed, its image is read from the Storage
Servers along with all its delta changes to get a complete, updated image. Over time, as more deltas are stored across
Storage Servers, it can add to the time it takes to deploy, transfer, or execute an image. To improve access and
deployment time, you can consolidate a virtual image and its delta changes.
NOTE: Consolidating a virtual machine image can take a considerable amount of time (20-30 minutes),
depending on image size and number of deltas being merged. For this reason, an Akimbi
administrator can allow or not allows users to do this operation on a system-wide basis. If
“Consolidate VM Chain” doesn’t appear as a selectable option on the virtual machine’s mouseover
menu, this may be why.
6-7
Working with Virtual Machines—Adding a Virtual Hard Disk to a Machine Template or a Virtual Machine
To consolidate a virtual machine image:
1. Go to the details screen of the virtual machine’s configuration (Workspace > configuration MOM > Details).
2. If the virtual machine is deployed, undeploy it (VM MOM > Undeploy)
3. From the virtual machine’s mouseover menu, select Consolidate VM Chain.
The virtual machine’s STATUS changes to “Consolidating the hard disk”.
The “hard disk,” in this case, is the virtual machine’s .vhd (virtual hard disk—Virtual Server) or .vmdk (VMware
virtual disk file—GSX/ESX).
Adding a Virtual Hard Disk to a Machine Template or a Virtual Machine

You have the option to create one or more virtual hard disks for a machine template or a virtual machine.
1. For machine templates, go to the TEMPLATES screen (ANB > Templates). If the template is deployed, undeploy
it (template MOM > Undeploy). From the template's mouseover menu, select Properties.
For virtual machines, go to the WORKSPACE screen (ANB > Workspace). From the configuration's MOM select
Details. If the virtual machine is deployed, undeploy it (virtual machine MOM > Undeploy). From the machine’s
mouseover menu, select Properties.
2. Click the Add Hard Disk button. The Add A Hard Disk screen appears:
Fill out all fields or accept the defaults.

For Virtual Server 2005, the Disk Bus Type can be either IDE or SCSI. For GSX, it can be either IDE, Bus Logic
SCSI or LSI Logic SCSI. For ESX, select LSI Logic SCSI.
For Bus Number and Bus ID the following apply:
Bus Type Bus Number Bus ID
IDE 0-1 0-1
VS SCSI 0-3 0-7
GSX/ESX SCSIs 0-3 0-15
If the Disk Bus Type is SCSI, then, for both VS and GSX/ESX, Bus ID #7 is reserved for a SCSI adapter. For
newly created virtual machines, an IDE disk with Bus Number 0 and Bus ID 0, and a CD-ROM with Bus Number 1
and Bus ID 0 is created. If a Bus is completely used, “None” is listed in the Bus ID drop-down list. If there are no
Bus Numbers left for a Bus Type, then “None” is listed in the Bus Number drop-down list.
Disk Size (GB) is limited only by available Storage Server space.
6-8
Working with Virtual Machines—Adding a Virtual Hard Disk to a Machine Template or a Virtual Machine
3. Click Add when you are done. The new hard disk is listed on the properties screen.
Important points about adding a SCSI virtual hard disk

• If you are adding a SCSI hard disk to a VM running VMware, you may get an operating system message saying
drivers for this device are missing or not found. If this occurs, you will need to download and install the appropriate
driver from www.vmware.com/download and contact VMware for support.
• If you are adding the first instance of a SCSI disk to a Windows machine template running VMware, you will need
to reboot the template and log in once before publishing it. This allows Windows to properly recognize the new
virtual hardware.
• If you are adding the first instance of a SCSI disk to a Windows virtual machine in a Workspace configuration
running VMware you will need to make sure your VM network settings have not been altered. At the VM console
display, log in, go to the command line and run ipconfig. If the IP address is not the same as that listed on the
machine's properties page you will need to reset the IP address. (See “Changing a Virtual Machine’s IP or MAC
address" on page 6-5 for more information.)
When you change the IP address, you may get an error message similar to the following:
If you do, click No and continue.
6-9
Working with Virtual Machines—Editing Virtual Machine Properties
Editing Virtual Machine Properties

1. From the machine's mouseover menu, select Properties. The MACHINE PROPERTIES screen appears.
Name—The name you enter here can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens,
underscores, and periods. The maximum length is 15 characters.
Guest OS—Guest operating system.
Template—The machine template the VM was created from; the owner is listed in parentheses.
VM Technology—What virtualization technology this machine is configured for, either Virtual Server 2005, Virtual
Server 2005 R2, or VMware GSX/ESX.
Description—This optional field can be a maximum of 128 characters.
Storage Server—Storage Server or storage device where virtual machine image is kept. For non-ESX
installations a drop-down list of Storage Servers and devices appears. You can make a selection from this list to
move the image to another server or device.
NOTE: You cannot move the VM to a different Storage Server if it is currently deployed.
6-10
Working with Virtual Machines—Editing Virtual Machine Properties
Status—Current status of machine.
Running Time—How long, in seconds, the virtual machine has been deployed.
CPU Utilization—Percentage of CPU utilized over last minute.
Heartbeat—Percentage of responses to "are you alive" messages in last minute.
Disk I/O—Disk input/output traffic. This variable varies according to the test and applies to the virtual machine, not
the underlying physical machine.
Network I/O—Network traffic. Will vary depending on test and if network fencing (and what type) is used. This
variable applies to the virtual machine and not the underlying physical machine.
Virtual Machine Additions Installed—Indicates if VM Additions (Microsoft) or VM Tools (VMware) is installed.
NOTE: For Akimbi Slingshot 2.1, the Virtual Machine Additions Installed flag appears as a new
template and virtual machine property. This flag is set when a user initiates the install operation
and remains set even if the operation fails. If set, the Install VM Additions button no longer
appears on the console display screen (though it remains as a mouseover menu option). In
addition, warning text about installing VM Additions no longer appears. For virtual machines or
templates created before 2.1, the flag is initially not set until the machine is fully running and a
user invokes the console display window. To address this temporary anomaly, you have the
option to set the flag on the template or virtual machine properties page.
VM Chain Length—How many delta changes over time the VM image has acquired. Instead of saving the whole
image again when a change occurs, a modification is saved as a “delta” change. See “Consolidating a Virtual
Machine Image" on page 6-7 for more information.
Memory (Mb)—How much RAM to use (in megabytes) to run VM.
Akimbi Tools—Indicates if Akimbi Tools is installed. Don't confuse this with actually installing Akimbi Tools on a
template. Setting this flag does not install Akimbi Tools. See “Installing Akimbi Tools on Machine Templates" on
page 5-3 for more information.
IP Address—Machine's IP address. Only editable if undeployed. Editing the IP address does not change the IP
address on the machine, only the IP address Akimbi has configured internally for it. See “Changing a Virtual
Machine’s IP or MAC address" on page 6-5 for more information on changing a VM's IP address or MAC address.
MAC Address—Machine's MAC address. Cannot be edited, but can be changed with the Reset MAC Address
button. See “Changing a Virtual Machine’s IP or MAC address" on page 6-5 for more information on changing a
VM's IP or MAC address.
Boot Sequence—A configuration’s virtual machines can be booted in a specific sequence or all at once. Each
virtual machine can be assigned a sequence number. Any integer number, starting with 0 can be entered. The
number does not have to be sequential with other VM numbers, Slingshot can determine the relative order.
Boot Delay (sec.)—Set the time to delay, in seconds, after this virtual machine has begun booting.
Hard Disks—An entry appears for each virtual hard disk. Information includes the Bus Type, Bus Number and
Bus ID (in that order). Click Edit to edit hard disk parameters (machine must be undeployed). Click Delete to
remove the hard disk. Click the Add Hard Disk button at the top of the screen to add additional hard disks.
Named Pipe—One named pipe is created for each virtual machine. This can be useful for low-level debugging.
2. When you are done, click Update.
6-11
7
Administering and Monitoring
Akimbi Slingshot
Figure 7-1: Akimbi Slingshot Components

This chapter discusses how you can manage and monitor the Akimbi Slingshot system. Most of these operations are
for administrators only. The only operation that all users can perform is “Setting User Preferences (all users)" on
page 7-13.
The following concepts and tasks are detailed:
• Akimbi Slingshot Architectural Overview—An architectural overview of Akimbi Slingshot components. See
page 7-2.
• Component Requirements and Recommendations—Requirements and recommendations for major Akimbi

components: client machines, Slingshot Server, Managed Servers, and Storage Servers. See page 7-3.
• Network Requirements and Recommendations—Requirements and recommendations for your Akimbi

network. See page 7-5.
• Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Monitor asynchronous tasks, all currently deployed machines, and your Akimbi
Managed Server Pool. See page 7-6.
• Managing Users—Add, delete or modify users. This section contains one procedure—“Setting User Preferences
(all users)"—for all users. See page 7-13.
• Managing Managed Servers—Add, remove, modify and monitor Managed Servers. See page 7-19.
• Managing Storage Servers—Add, remove, modify and monitor Storage Servers. See page 7-25.
• Configuring Network Settings—Configure your network default settings, or add or remove Akimbi IP Pool
addresses. See page 7-32.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Akimbi Slingshot Architectural Overview
• Configuring Akimbi Slingshot Settings—View and configure your Akimbi Slingshot Server settings, license
information and SupportLink options. See page 7-35.
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Support—Support information for using Microsoft’s new VS 2005 R2
virtualization platform. Includes information for upgrading virtual machines and Managed Servers to VS 2005 R2.
See page 7-38.
Figure 7-2: Akimbi Slingshot Architectural Overview
Akimbi Slingshot Architectural Overview

An Akimbi Slingshot installation is comprised of three types of servers—the Akimbi Slingshot Server, Storage Servers,
and Managed Servers. An Akimbi Slingshot installation is accessible using an Internet Explorer browser via the Akimbi
Slingshot Console.
Each installation contains one Slingshot Server, up to 5+ Storage Servers, and as many Managed Servers as
necessary. If desired, you can set up all three server types on the same physical machine. For details of machine
requirements, refer to the Akimbi Slingshot Installation Guide.
Akimbi Slingshot Server—The Akimbi Slingshot server provides the Web and SOAP interfaces used to interact with
the Slingshot system. The server is a Windows application running on top of Windows 2003.
Akimbi Managed Server—When users deploy virtual machines (VMs), the VMs run on Akimbi Managed Servers. The
Managed Server runs the virtualization environment (Microsoft Virtual Server or VMware) and receives commands
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Component Requirements and Recommendations
from the Akimbi Slingshot Server through the Managed Server Agent. Network fencing is implemented on the
Managed Server through a set of added network drivers.
Akimbi Storage Server—Each Akimbi Slingshot installation can have up to 5 Storage Servers. The Storage Servers
communicate directly with the Managed Servers using SMB (Server Message Block—a message format DOS and
Windows uses to share files, directories and devices), except in the case of VMware ESX, which uses a Storage Area
Network (SAN) for storage.
Akimbi Slingshot Console—An Akimbi user with a Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5+ browser can access this
component via standard HTTP protocols. Regardless of users’ physical locations, the Akimbi Slingshot Console
provides central management of all testing activities.
Akimbi SOAP API-—The Akimbi system is accessible programmatically through its SOAP API Web service, allowing
easy integration with build management systems and automated testing tools from Mercury, IBM, Segue, and others.
Key Operational Points

When in operation, the Akimbi Slingshot Server starts up virtual machines on Managed Servers that communicate
directly with the Storage Servers and the user’s browser. At that time, the Slingshot server is “out of band.”
Akimbi sets up virtual machines just like regular, non-virtual (physical) machines: they are network accessible and can
be remotely accessed with tools like Remote Desktop, Citrix, VNC (Virtual Network Computing) or SSH (Secure
SHell).
Component Requirements and Recommendations
Client Machines
• Akimbi client user machines require an Internet Explorer 5.5+ browser and an HTTP connection to an Akimbi
installation.
• Akimbi client user machines must have routable access to Akimbi servers. If the Akimbi servers are behind a
firewall and not directly accessible then a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can be used. Akimbi is not designed
for use with Network Address Translation (NAT). See “Configuring Firewall Settings" in the “Network
Requirements and Recommendations” section for more information on configuring network ports for access.
• The following Internet Explorer browser options must be enabled (Tools > Internet Options > Security tab
> Custom Level):
1 Download signed ActiveX controls
2 Download unsigned ActiveX controls
3 Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins
4 Allow META REFRESH
5 Active scripting
6 Allow paste operations via script
7 Scripting of Java applets
• In Internet Explorer, go to Tools > Internet Options > Advanced tab > Multimedia and select the “Play
animations in web pages” check box.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Component Requirements and Recommendations
Slingshot Server
• We recommend using a dedicated machine for production to eliminate unintended interactions with other
applications. UI speed may be impacted if the Slingshot Server is also serving as a Storage or Managed
Server and being heavily used.
• If not also serving as a Storage or Managed Server, the Slingshot Server is not particularly resource
intensive. A server-class Pentium (or better) machine with a 550 MHz or better CPU with 500+ MB RAM
should be sufficient.
• Slingshot Servers must be a Windows 2003 machine with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or SP1 for .NET 1.1
installed, and Internet Information Server (IIS) and ASP.NET version 1.1.4322 installed and enabled.
• Gigabit Ethernet or better is highly recommended.

• Keep your Slingshot Server’s system clock in sync with the system clocks on your Storage Servers; this will
prevent unnecessary delays during garbage collection (the automatic removal of unused virtual machine
images).
Managed Servers
• If your Managed Server is going to run VMware ESX, make sure the machine is listed on VMware’s ESX
hardware compatibility list:
• We recommend using a dedicated machine for production.
• A Managed Server should be a server-class machine with a significant amount of memory. Memory usage is
the sum of the following: each deployed virtual machine’s memory, 32 MB overhead for each VM, and 256
MB for the host OS and its virtualization platform. In general, the more memory the better.
• While not required, we recommend, for production, you use the same hardware for all Managed Servers.
Doing so facilitates scalability, interchangeability, and mass updates.
• To avoid system problems, do not access, configure or manipulate the underlying virtualization technology.
• Your Managed Server needs will vary depending on how many VMs you want to run at a time. As a starting
point, for adequate performance, we recommend estimating 2-3 (5-10 for ESX Managed Servers) virtual
machines per Managed Server. This number can be increased if the applications being tested are not CPU
intensive and some performance degradation is acceptable.
• VMware ESX does not allow machines with duplicate MAC addresses to concurrently run on a Managed
Server. This limitation restricts copies of a single configuration to your number of ESX Managed Servers. This
is true even if the configurations are run in fenced mode. In this case, as a workaround, you may want to
configure a larger number of smaller Managed Servers versus a fewer number of larger machines.
• For VMware GSX, the username and password used for attaching Managed Servers to an Akimbi installation
must also exist on all the NAS Storage Servers. The Storage Server account on NAS servers must have
administrator privileges.
• When attaching a Managed Server to Slingshot, use the administrator account (username/password) of a
purely local user and not a domain user.
Storage Servers (all)

• Keep your Storage Servers’ system clocks in sync with your Slingshot Server’s system clock; this will prevent
unnecessary delays during garbage collection (the automatic removal of unused virtual machine images).
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Network Requirements and Recommendations
• Virtual machine disks can be large—well over 1 GB each. In production, team usage may require terabytes of
storage. Even for evaluation, it is important to have a large disk with at least hundreds of gigabytes.
SAN Storage Servers

• A Storage Area Network (SAN) is required for using VMware ESX with Akimbi Slingshot.
Make sure the SAN is on VMware’s hardware compatibility list:
• We strongly recommend a small number of large SAN VMFS partitions versus a large number of small
partitions.
• We strongly recommend Managed Servers have access to all VMFS partitions used in your Akimbi
installation.
NAS Storage Servers

• We recommend using a dedicated machine for production.
• We recommend RAID 5 for storage access.
• In Windows, you cannot concurrently access a Windows machine using multiple accounts with different
credentials. If you want to have multiple Storage Server shares on one server, use the same account
(username/password) for access. The share’s username and password is entered when you attach it to
Akimbi (ANB > Storage > Add Server).
Network Requirements and Recommendations
Configuring Routing
There are several requirements for network connectivity in a Slingshot installation:
• Akimbi client user machines must have routable access to Akimbi servers. If the Akimbi servers are behind a
firewall and not directly accessible, then a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can be used. Akimbi is not designed
for use with Network Address Translation (NAT). See “Configuring Firewall Settings" for more information on
configuring network ports for routable access.
• All Managed Servers must be on the same subnet. The Slingshot Server does not need to be on the same
subnet as the Managed Servers.
• It is recommended, but not required, that the Akimbi servers be isolated on the same physical switch to
facilitate network traffic.
Configuring Domains and Permissions

• Since the Slingshot Server and Managed Servers need to mount shares, they must have matching DNS and
DNS suffix information.
must also exist on all the NAS Storage Servers. The Storage Server account on NAS servers must have
administrator privileges.
• An Akimbi Slingshot Server will not run on a Windows Domain Controller.
• Akimbi Managed Servers can be members of a Windows domain.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot
• By default, Akimbi Slingshot makes use of null session shares (i.e., the Akimbi Repository directory) and
shared passwords. This is considered a security risk for some installations. Alternatively, if you are using
VMware GSX, you can set up Akimbi to work within a Windows domain environment. See the Akimbi
Slingshot Installation Guide for more information on configuring Akimbi in a domain environment.
Configuring Firewall Settings

Akimbi communicates between its servers and clients via network ports. Firewalls must be configured to allow this
communication.
Client settings for accessing Microsoft Virtual Server:

• TCP port 80 for access to the Slingshot Server (HTTP)
• TCP ports 1024 and 5900 for access to the Managed Servers
• UDP ports 137 and 138 for access to the Managed Servers
Client settings for accessing VMware GSX:

• TCP ports 5900-5999 and 8222 for access to the Managed Servers
Client settings for accessing VMware ESX:

• TCP port 443 for access to the Managed Servers (HTTPS)
• TCP port 902 for access to the Managed Servers
Between Slingshot Server, Managed Servers, and Storage Servers

• TCP ports 139 and 445
• UDP ports 137 and 138
Between Slingshot Server and Managed Servers

• TCP port 5212
During installation, ensure there are no port conflicts. To determine ports in use, type “netstat” at a command prompt.
Use "netstat -on” to determine the application’s PID (Program IDentifier) and then use Task Manager to find its name.
Any VNC or VMRC related application uses port 5900. In this case, either uninstall VNC or assign a different port to the
application.
Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot

This section discusses the 3 principal Akimbi Slingshot monitoring features:
• Monitoring Activities (all users)—View information about asynchronous tasks on the ACTIVITY LOG screen.
This feature is available to all users. See page 7-7.
• Monitoring All Deployed Machines—View information about all currently deployed virtual machines. See
page 7-8.
• Monitoring the Server Pool—View a graphical display of the Managed Server Pool and its current usage. On
this screen, you can also perform configuration operations and access virtual machine consoles. See page 7-9
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Monitoring Activities (all users)

This feature gives you the ability to monitor time-consuming (asynchronous) tasks or jobs that don’t require immediate
completion. Examples of asynchronous jobs include: deploying a configuration, undeploying a configuration, cloning a
configuration, setting a revert point for a configuration, and so on.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Activity Log.
The ACTIVITY LOG screen appears:
There are 3 possible job STATUSes: success— ; failure— ; and in progress— . A job that has
failed will have a short synopsis in the DETAILS column.
There are 4 possible TYPEs: Configuration, Machine, Storage Server, and Managed Server.
2. To see more details about an activity, click its link in the OPERATION column.
The VIEW JOB DETAILS screen appears:
This screen shows the same information as the JOBS screen, but there is more Details and Debug information
for failed jobs.
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Monitoring All Deployed Machines

This option gives administrators the ability to monitor all deployed machines in the Akimbi Slingshot system.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select All Deployed Machines.
The ALL DEPLOYED MACHINES screen appears:
Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of configurations. Enter text that appears in the
attributes of the machines you want to view. The filter function does a literal text search on the characters you
enter and does not use wildcards such as asterisks.
The SCOPE drop-down list options determine what configurations are displayed:
• All Configurations Accessible by Me—View your configurations, both shared and private, and everyone
else’s shared configurations.
An entry appears in the EXTERNAL IP column if the machine is running in fenced mode.
The SHARING column indicates if the configuration is accessible for others to use.
The CACHED column indicates if the configurations VMs are running from a Storage Server (NO) or cached
locally on the Managed Server(s) (YES).
TIP: Create a naming convention for your organization's machines, templates, and configurations to make
searches using the Filter feature easy to use.
The CPU UTILIZATION column indicates how much of the virtual machine's CPU is being used. It is not an
indication of how much of the host Managed Server's CPU the virtual machine is utilizing.
Click on a thumbnail in the CONSOLE column to view the virtual machine's console window.
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Monitoring the Server Pool
This option gives administrators the ability to view a graphical display of the Managed Server pool and its usage. In a
glance, you can view:
• How many Managed Server licenses you have
• How many Managed Servers are being used
• The virtual technology running on each Managed Server
• The virtual machines running on each Managed Server
• How many available slots you have for virtual machines on your Managed Servers
To access and monitor the Server Pool:

1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, click Server Pool.
The SERVER POOL screen appears:
The gray boxes indicate Managed Servers that are currently being used. The bigger their size, the more virtual
machines they are configured to run. The grayed out boxes indicate Managed Servers you have licenses for but
are not using.
On the left side, you have various display options:
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• Show Deployed Machines—Select this check box and a red box appears for each virtual machine you have
deployed on a Managed Server:
• Show Available Slots—Select this check box and a blue box appears for each virtual machine slot you have
available on a Managed Server:
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• Show Types—Select this check box and the virtualization type appears next to each Managed Server box:
• Show Active Jobs—Select this check box and an progress status icon— —appears next to each
Managed Server box that has a job activity currently running.
To get more information about a Managed Server, you can click on its graphical representation:
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The selected Managed Server graphic appears as a darker gray than its counterparts and information about it—
underlying virtual technology, maximum images, OS, CPU, etc.— appears to the left, below the display options.
To see more information about a virtual machine, select the Show Deployed Machines check box, then click on
a red box representing a deployed virtual machine. Information about the machine appears to the lower left, below
the information about the Managed Server:
The selected virtual machine appears as a yellow cross-hatched box (see above). You can click the virtual
machine’s thumbnail icon to access its console display window.
To see information about the virtual machine’s configuration, click the CONFIGURATION tab:
The configuration’s virtual machines’ boxes now appear in yellow. The virtual machine originally selected
maintains its cross-hatching. As shown above, a configuration’s virtual machines can be deployed on different
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Managing Users
Managed Servers. Configuration information appears to the lower left where you have the option to deploy or
capture the configuration.
Managing Users
This section discusses in detail the following procedures:
• Setting User Preferences—page 7-13. (Only procedure that all users can perform.)
• Viewing Users—page 7-15
• Adding New Users—page 7-16
• Deleting Users—page 7-17
• Editing User Properties—page 7-17
Setting User Preferences (all users)

To set your personal Akimbi Slingshot Console preferences, click the USER PREFERENCES tab that appears at the
top right of every Akimbi screen:
The USER PREFERENCES screen appears:
Start Page—The first page you want to appear after logging in. For many users, this will be the Workspace screen.
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Show Header on Console Page—Clear to not display information normally appearing at top of screen in the virtual
machine console window display. This information includes: IP addresses, VM description, VM owner, the breadcrumb
title, a link for downloading the VMware Console (GSX/ESX) and a snapshot thumbnail (if set). Removing the header
gives you more room to view the console.
Number of Items on Page—Number of rows you would like to see listed on screens displaying data in tabular format.
The maximum is 500. The default is 20.
Normal Mode: Run VM files from Storage Server—The user’s deployed virtual machines are run from a Storage
Server. The configuration starts faster, but executes slower than images run from a Managed Server and creates more
network traffic. Select if your tests are one-time or of short duration.
Cached Mode: Run VM files from Managed Server—The user’s deployed virtual machines are transferred to and
run from a Managed Server. There is an initial wait as images are transferred, but execution after that is faster and
creates less network traffic. Select this option if your test runs for a long time and where the initial startup time is
negligible compared to overall testing time.
NOTE: Deployment option availability is dependent on license type. (See “Appendix B: Akimbi Slingshot
Edition Comparison" for more information on license types.)
Behavior on Undeploy
• Save Memory State—On configuration undeploy, stop the operation of a configuration’s virtual machines.
This “freezes” all virtual machine CPUs. The configuration can be resumed at a later time.
• Turn Off—On configuration undeploy, turn off all the virtual machines in a configuration—the virtual
equivalent of physically powering them all off.
outside the fence or outside machines to communicate in.
Use Server Boot Sequence—A configuration’s virtual machines can be booted in a specific sequence or all at the
same time. Select this check box if, by default, you want the assigned boot order to be used.
Boot Delay (seconds)—Set the default value for the time to delay between booting each virtual machine in a
configuration. This default value is used when the user creates a new configuration or adds a virtual machine to an
existing configuration.
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Viewing Users
• From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Users.
The USERS screen appears:
An icon appears in the USERNAME column for each user. If grey— —it indicates the user is disabled. A user
can be in the system but not enabled if, for instance, they are on extended leave. If the user icon is blue— —it
indicates the user is enabled.
Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of users. Enter text that appears in the attributes of the
users you want to view. The filter function does a literal text search on the characters you enter and does not use
wildcards such as asterisks.
A user's ROLE can be either user (“-”) or Administrator. Only administrators can:
• Add, remove, and modify other users
• Change Akimbi Slingshot network settings
• View all deployed machines and all configurations
• Add, delete and configure Managed Servers, Storage Servers and Akimbi Slingshot Servers
The 2 numbers in the DEPLOYED VM QUOTA column (separated by a backslash—'/') indicates how many virtual
machines this user currently has deployed and how many virtual machines they are allowed to deploy.
The 2 numbers in the STORED VM QUOTA column (separated by a backslash—'/') indicates how many virtual
machines images this user currently has stored in the Configuration Library and how many virtual machine images
total they are allowed to store.
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Adding New Users

1. On the USERS screen, click the New User button. The ADD USER screen appears:
Fill out all fields.
To create a user with administrator privileges, select the Is Administrator check box.
Only administrators can:
• Add other users
• Change network settings
• View all deployed machines and configurations
• Add, delete and configure Managed Servers and Akimbi Slingshot Servers
Clear the Is Enabled check box if you don’t want the user to have immediate access after being added. Although
user information remains stored in the system, access can be enabled or disabled.
In the Stored VM Quota textbox enter an integer number indicating how many virtual machine images the user is
allowed to store in the Configuration Library. Leaving this field empty or entering a “0” means there is no limit.
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In the Deployed VM Quota textbox enter an integer number indicating how many virtual machines at a time the
user is allowed to deploy on Managed Servers. Leaving this field empty or entering a “0” means there is no limit.
Storage Server. The configuration starts faster, but executes slower than images run from a Managed Server and
creates more network traffic. Select if your tests are one-time or of short duration.
Cahced Mode: Run VM files from Managed Server—The user’s deployed virtual machines are transferred to
and run from a Managed Server. There is an initial wait as the images are transferred to Managed Servers but
subsequent execution is faster and creates less network traffic. Select this option if your test runs for a long time
and where the initial startup time is negligible compared to overall testing time.
fence, such as to a database or a Web service, but you don’t want outside machines communicating in.
outside the fence or outside machines to communicate in.
Use Server Boot Sequence—A configuration’s virtual machines can be booted in a specific sequence or all at
once. Select this checkbox if, by default, you want the assigned boot order to be used.
Boot Delay (seconds)—Set the default value for the time to delay between booting each virtual machine in a
configuration. This value is used when the user creates a new configuration or adds a virtual machine to an
existing configuration.

The new user is now listed on the USERS screen.
Deleting Users
Deleting an enabled user is a two-step process:
1. On the USERS screen, from the user’s mouseover menu, select Disable.
2. From the user’s mouseover menu, select Delete.
The delete operation removes all the user’s undeployed configurations.
Editing User Properties

1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Users. The USERS screen appears.
2. From the user’s mouseover menu in the USERNAME column, select Properties. The USER PROPERTIES
screen appears.
Username— User login name.
Password— User's password when logging in.
Full Name— First and last name.
Email Address— E-mail address.
IM—Instant messaging identifier.
Phone— Phone number.
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Is Administrator—Select to create a user with administrator privileges. Only administrators can add other users,
change network settings, view all deployed machines and configurations, and add, delete and configure Managed
Servers and Akimbi Slingshot Servers.
Is Enabled—Clear this check box if you want the user to remain in the system but not have access.
Is LDAP—Select this field if you want the user to be authenticated against an Active Directory database every
time they log in. If this option is selected, the user's Password cannot be changed in Akimbi; it would have to be
done in the Active Directory database. See “Server Preferences" on page 7-35 for more information on LDAP
configuration.
Stored VM Quota—Enter an integer number indicating how many virtual machine images the user is allowed to
store in the Configuration Library.
Deployed VM Quota—Enter an integer number indicating how many virtual machines at a time the user is
allowed to deploy on Managed Servers.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Managing Managed Servers
Managing Managed Servers

Administrators have the ability to add, disable, delete, edit and perform other operations on Managed Servers.
This section describes in detail the following:
• Operations on Managed Servers—page 7-19
• Viewing Managed Servers—page 7-19
• Requirements for Adding a Managed Server—page 7-20
• Adding a Managed Server—page 7-20
• Removing a Managed Server—page 7-22
• Editing Managed Server Properties—page 7-22
• Other Managed Server Operations—page 7-23
Operations on Managed Servers

Table 7-1: Operations on Managed Servers
Allow Deployments Allow further deployments on this Managed Server
Disallow Deployments Stop any further deployments on this Managed Server
Collect Cached Clean up unused cache space.

Garbage
Properties View and edit Managed Server properties.
Reboot Reboot the Managed Server
Refresh Update the screen with the latest Managed Server information
Remove Remove the Akimbi Slingshot’s connection to the Managed Server
Viewing Managed Servers

• From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Servers.
The MANAGED SERVERS screen appears:
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Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of Managed Servers. Enter text that appears in the
attributes of the Managed Servers you want to view. The filter function does a literal text search on the characters
you enter and does not use wildcards such as asterisks.
The REACHABLE column entry indicates that the Akimbi Slingshot Server can communicate with the Managed
Server. To be more specific, it indicates that the Slingshot Server can “ping” the Managed Server.
The IN SERVICE column entry indicates if the Managed Server is available for running deployed machines. If it is
not reachable, it is also not in service. It is also not in service if an administrator has disallowed deployments (an
option on the Managed Server’s mouseover menu) for this Managed Server.
The 2 numbers in the #VMs/QUOTA column (separated by a backslash—'/') indicate how many virtual machines
are currently running on the Managed Server and the maximum number the Managed Server is allowed to run.
You can set the maximum number on the EDIT MANAGED SERVER screen (Managed Server mouseover menu
> Properties).
The 2 numbers in the MEMORY (MB) column entry tell you how much RAM, in megabytes, the Managed Server
is currently using and how much it has total.
NOTE: If the number of virtual machines running on your Managed Servers is frequently running at
maximum capacity, you may want to add more Managed Servers. If you are unable to deploy
the maximum number of virtual machines on a Managed Server, it could mean that you need to
add more RAM.
The DISK USED/CAPACITY (GB) tells you how much disk space you are using for cached images and how
much is available. If you are running almost at capacity, you may want to add a larger hard disk to the Managed
Server, or add more Managed Servers.
#CPU indicates how many processors are running on the Managed Server.
The AKIMBI AGENT VERSION indicates the version of the Managed Server Agent you are running.
Adding a Managed Server
Requirements for Adding a Managed Server

• A Managed Server must be a physical machine, it cannot be a virtual machine.
• All Managed Servers must be on the same subnet. The Slingshot Server does not need to be on the same subnet
as the Managed Servers.
• Before adding it to Akimbi, you must install Akimbi Managed Server Agent software on your designated Managed
Server. See the Akimbi Slingshot Installation Guide for information on installing Managed Server Agent software.
must also exist on all the Storage Servers. The Storage Server account must have administrator privileges.
• In an VMware ESX installation, you cannot have two Managed Servers with the same VMFS partition name. This
is most likely to occur when two Managed Servers are using the same name for local storage. When the second
Managed Server is added, its identically-named VMFS partition is disabled (displayed in red).
NOTE: Your license type determines your maximum number of Managed Servers. (See “Appendix B:
Akimbi Slingshot Edition Comparison" for more information on license types.)
To add a Managed Server

1. Go to the MANAGED SERVERS screen (ANB > Servers).
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2. Click the Add Server button. The ADD MANAGED SERVER (STEP 1) screen appears:
Enter a Name and Description for your new Managed Server. The Name can only contain alphanumeric
characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9), hyphens, underscores, and periods. The maximum length is 15 characters.
The Host Computer Administrator Username and Host Computer Administrator Password fields are the
ones you would use if you were logging in to the Managed Server machine—don’t confuse these fields with your
Akimbi Slingshot login account.
IMPORTANT: The Administrator account needs to be that of a purely local user and not a domain user.
Make a selection from the Virtualization Technology drop-down list.
Click Next when you are done.
3. The ADD MANAGED SERVER (STEP 2) screen appears:
Enter an integer number in the Maximum Number of VMs field. The higher the number, the slower your
Managed Server will run when reaching maximum capacity. The Slingshot Server will prevent the Managed
Server from running more than this number of virtual machines.
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NOTE: The following 3 fields do not appear for ESX Managed Servers.
Memory Reserved for Host OS (MB)—Memory for the host operating system; the rest can be used for virtual
machines. 512MB is recommended.
Disk Space Threshold Yellow—When available disk space falls below this level, cache cleaning is triggered—
currently unused and least recently used VM images that have been transferred to the Managed Server are
deleted.
Disk Space Threshold Red—When available disk space falls below this level, VM images can no longer be
transferred to and run from the Managed Server.
If you don’t want to put the Managed Server into production right away, then clear the Enabled check box.
If you are adding a VMware ESX Managed Server, you will see the following section for VMFS (VMware File
System) storage devices::
Use the check boxes to select the VMFS devices you want this Managed Server to use for storage. Take into
account available disk space. If you’re not putting this Managed Server into production right away, it is ok to not
select any devices.
4. When you are done, click Add. The new Managed Server is now listed on the MANAGED SERVERS screen.
Removing a Managed Server

1. On the SERVERS screen, from the Managed Server's mouseover menu, select Disallow Deployments.
2. Undeploy any virtual machines: from the Managed Server’s mouseover menu, select Undeploy all Machines.
NOTE: You should notify the persons using these machines before undeploying them.
3. From the Managed Server’s mouseover menu, select Remove.
Editing Managed Server Properties

1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Servers. The MANAGED SERVERS screen appears.
2. From the Managed Server's mouseover menu, select Properties. The EDIT MANAGED SERVER screen
appears.
The maximum length is 15 characters.
Description—Optional description field that can be a maximum of 128 characters.
Host Name or IP Address—DNS name or IP address of Managed Server.
Host Computer Administrator Username—Username of Windows administrator account on Managed Server.
Host Computer Administrator Password—Password of Windows administrator account on Managed Server.
NOTE: The following 3 fields do not appear for ESX Managed Servers.
Memory Reserved for Host OS (MB)—Memory for Host operating system; the rest can be used for virtual
machines.
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Disk Space Threshold Yellow—When available disk space falls below this level, cache cleaning is triggered—
currently unused and least recently used VM images that have been transferred to the Managed Server are
deleted.
Disk Space Threshold Red—When available disk space falls below this level, VM images can no longer be
transferred to and run from the Managed Server.
Enabled—To take the Managed Server out of production, clear this check box.
Maximum Number of VMs—Maximum number of VMs that can be deployed on Managed Server.
This number cannot be less than the number of VMs it is currently hosting.
CPU Type—Type of CPU.
Number of CPUs—Number of CPUs on Managed Server.
Physical Memory—Total amount of RAM.
OS Name—Operating system; some version of Windows 2003 or Red Hat Linux 7.2.
Virtualization Technology—Virtualization technology running on Managed Server, either Microsoft's Virtual

Server 2005, VS 2005 R2, or VMware's GSX/ESX.
For VMware ESX Managed Servers, additional options appear. For example:
Use the check boxes to select the VMFS (VMware File System) devices you want this Managed Server to use for
storage. Take into account available disk space. If you do not want to put this Managed Server into production, it
is ok to not select any devices.
Other Managed Server Operations

On the MANAGED SERVERS screen, move your mouse over a Managed Server’s name until its mouseover menu
appears:
• Disallow Deployments—Select this option to prevent any further virtual machines from being deployed on the
Managed Server. It has no effect on the virtual machines currently deployed.
• Undeploy all Machines—Undeploy all the machines currently running on the Managed Server. This option
appears after you select Disallow Deployments.
NOTE: Disallowing deployments is a necessary first step in removing (unattaching) a Managed Server.
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• Allow Deployments—Allow more virtual machines to be deployed on this Managed Server.
• Reboot—Reboot the Managed Server. Make sure you have no virtual machines deployed first.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Managing Storage Servers
Managing Storage Servers

Administrators have the ability to add, disable, enable, delete or modify Storage Servers.
This section describes in detail the following:
• Operations on Storage Servers—page 7-25
• Viewing Storage Servers—page 7-26
• Viewing a Storage Server’s Contents—page 7-26
• Adding a Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot—page 7-27
• Editing Storage Server Properties—page 7-31
Operations on Storage Servers

Table 7-1: Operations on Storage Servers
Add Add a new Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot.
Attempt to Remount Attempt to remount a Storage Server’s Akimbi Data Repository share
Contents View all virtual machines on the Storage Server.
Disable Make this Storage Server unavailable for Akimbi Slingshot use.
Enable Make this Storage Server available for Akimbi Slingshot. use.
Properties View and edit Storage Server properties.
Refresh Update displayed Storage Server information.
Undeploy all VMs All deployed virtual machines residing on the Storage Server are
undeployed.
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Viewing Storage Servers

• From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Storage.
The STORAGE SERVERS screen appears:
Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of Storage Servers. Enter text that appears in the
attributes of the Storage Servers you want to view. The filter function does a literal text search on the characters
The REACHABLE column entry indicates if the Akimbi Slingshot Server can communicate with the Storage
Server. To be more specific, can the Slingshot Server “ping” the Storage Server.
The ENABLED column entry indicates if the Storage Server is available for capturing configurations. If it is not
reachable, it is also not enabled.
The 2 numbers in the USED/CAPACITY (GB) column (separated by a backslash—'/') indicates how much is disk
space is being used and how much is available for use. The % USED shows you the percentage of used disk
space.
The Mount Point is the directory where a Storage Server is accessible after being mounted.
Viewing a Storage Server’s Contents

This screen gives you information about the virtual machine images residing on a Storage Server. This includes the
virtual router images used in deploying fenced configurations.
1. From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Storage. The STORAGE SERVERS screen appears.
2. From the Storage Server’s mouseover menu, select Contents.
The STORAGE SERVER VIEW - <SERVER NAME> screen appears:
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Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of Storage Servers. Enter text that appears in the
attributes of the Storage Servers you want to view. The filter function does a literal text search on the characters
The CONFIGURATION column entry indicates if the Akimbi Slingshot Server can communicate with the Storage
Server. To be more specific, can the Slingshot Server “ping” the Storage Server.
The STATUS column entry indicates if the VM image is currently deployed or not deployed.
If deployed, the INTERNAL IP indicates the VM’s IP address. If deployed in a fence, the INTERNAL IP indicates
the VM’s IP address used for communication within the fence.
The EXTERNAL IP address appears if the machine is deployed in a fenced configuration. This IP address is used
for communication outside the fence.
The FENCED column indicates whether the VM is deployed in fenced mode or not.
If deployed, the MANAGED SERVER column indicates on what machine the VM is running.
If deployed, the OWNER column indicates who created the configuration the VM is part of.
The SHARED column indicates if the owner is sharing this configuration.
If deployed, the DATE DEPLOYED indicates the time and date of deployment.
Adding a Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot

Adding a Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot is a two-step process:
1. Configuring the intended Storage Server for Akimbi Slingshot.
2. Attaching the Storage Server through the Akimbi Slingshot Console.
NOTE: You can only add an Akimbi Storage Server (NAS storage)—you cannot add or delete a VMFS
partition (ESX) storage device. The latter is automatically configured.
Storage Server Prerequisites and Considerations

An Akimbi Storage Server needs to support SMB. The machine can be an application server, a NAS (Network
Attached Storage) device or a SAN (Storage Area Network) device.
TIP: We highly recommend a Gigabit (or better) Ethernet for connecting Storage Servers and Managed Servers.
A good Storage Server candidate (costing approximately $4000) would be something like the following:
• Dell PowerVault 745N (1u Rack Mount)
• Pentium 4.3 GHz
• Windows Storage Server 2004, Express with HW RAID 5
• 2 GB RAM
• 1 TB HD (4 x 250 GB).
Setting up a Storage Server for Akimbi Slingshot
If not already set, set the server computer name and DNS suffix:
1. Select Start > Control Panel > System > Computer Name tab > Change.
2. Enter a name in the Computer name textbox and select the Workgroup checkbox.
3. Click More. Enter a DNS suffix (i.e., akimbi.com) in the Primary DNS suffix of this computer textbox.
4. Keep clicking OK to exit. If you made changes, you will have to restart the computer.
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Enable Null Session Sharing on the Newly-Created Share
Enabling null session sharing on your newly-created share can be done in one of 2 ways—manually or using an
Akimbi-provided tool.
Using the Akimbi-provided tool for enabling null session sharing in Windows
1. Log in to the Storage Server machine as an administrator.
2. Launch the AkimbiShareCreator.exe program from the following Slingshot Server location:
\\<Slingshot Server>\AkimbiShare\Utilities\StorageServerShare\Windows\
You are prompted for a folder and share name:
When you are done click OK.
You will need to stop and restart the Storage Server’s Server service: Go to Start > Control Panel >
Administrative Tools > Services. Find the Server service, stop it, then restart it.
Using the Akimbi-provided tool for enabling null session sharing in Linux RHEL4
The Akimbi-provided tool is named AkimbiShareCreator and can be found on your Akimbi Slingshot Server in the
..AkimbiShare\Utilities\StorageServerShare\Linux\ folder.
1. Log in to your target Linux RHEL4 Storage Server as root.
2. Use a tool, such as smbclient, to copy AkimbiShareCreator from your Slingshot Server:
> smbclient -c "get Utilities\StorageServerShare\Linux\AkimbiShareCreator

AkimbiShareCreator" //<Slingshot Server>/AkimbiShare ""
NOTE: The above command should be entered as one line.
For example:
> smbclient -c "get Utilities\StorageServerShare\Linux\AkimbiShareCreator

AkimbiShareCreator" //10.6.1.239/AkimbiShare ""
3. Use dos2unix to convert AkimbiShareCreator from DOS text format to UNIX format. For example:
> dos2unix AkimbiShareCreator
4. Create the directory you want to share.
For example:
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> mkdir /root/slingshot
5. At the command-line prompt, launch AkimbiShareCreator:
> sh AkimbiShareCreator <absolute path name of share>
For example:
> sh AkimbiShareCreator /root/slingshot
The following prompt appears:
> Specify share name for path /root/slingshot [slingshot]:
6. Enter the share name you want to use when attaching the Storage Server. The default is the last directory name in
the path (see example in the previous step).
After you enter a share name, you’ll see messages indicating the Samba configuration file—smb.conf—has
been modified and that Samba’s SMB and NMB services have been restarted.
NOTE: Later, when attaching the Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot (ANB > Storage > Add Server),
enter the share name in the UNC Path field. For example:
Manually enabling null session sharing in Windows

1. In Windows Explorer, create a folder (for example: akimbi).
2. Right-click the new folder and select Sharing and Security > Sharing tab.
3. Select the Share this folder check box and enter a Share Name.
4. Click the Permissions button. Set permissions so Everyone has Full Control.
5. Select the Security tab. Add Everyone (if it doesn’t exist) and allow Full Control. Launch the Registry Editor:
Start > Run > Regedt32.
6. Locate and double-click the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters\NullSessionShares
7. Under Value Data, add an entry for your new share (i.e., akimbi) and click OK.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\everyoneincludesanonymous
(If everyoneincludesanonymous doesn’t exist, add it: Edit > New > DWORD Value)
9. Set its value to 1.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\restrictanonymous
(If restrictanonymous doesn’t exist, add it: Edit > New > DWORD Value)
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11. Set its value to 0.
12. Exit the Registry Editor.
13. Restart the server.
14. Start the Server service—Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services > Server > Start (or go to the
command line and type “sc stop lanmanserver” and “sc start lanmanserver”).
NOTE: For more information on enabling null session, see

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q289655
Attaching a Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot:

1. In the Akimbi console, go to the STORAGE SERVERS screen (ANB > Storage).
2. Click the Add Server button. The ADD STORAGE SERVER screen appears:
Fill out all fields.
Enter a Name for your new Storage Server. The Name can only contain alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9),
hyphens, underscores, and periods. The maximum length is 15 characters.
If you don’t want your Storage Server immediately available for use, then clear the Enabled check box.
Disk Space Threshold Yellow—When available disk space falls below this level, an e-mail warning message is
sent to all administrators.
Disk Space Threshold Red—When available disk space falls below this level, an e-mail alert message is sent to
all administrators.
UNC Path—Enter the UNC path of the folder where Akimbi will store files.
For example: \\10.6.1.27\Public\AkimbiShare\
NOTE: If you add a Storage Server with a domain name (i.e., “dev.akimbi.com”), make sure your
Managed Servers are configured to use DNS. Otherwise, you might see a “Path not found ...”
error message when creating configurations.
Enter a Username and Password of an account with administrator privileges for accessing the Storage Server
(optional if null session enabled on the Storage Server).
NOTE: There may be a limit on the number of Storage Servers that can be added depending on your
license type.
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3. When you are done, click OK. The new Storage Server is now listed on the STORAGE SERVERS screen:
Create a new configuration and store it on your new Storage Server to verify successful attachment.
Editing Storage Server Properties

2. From the Storage Server's mouseover menu in the STORAGE SERVER NAME column, select Properties. The
EDIT STORAGE SERVER screen appears.
The maximum length is 15 characters.
Mount Point—The directory under which a Storage Server is accessible after being mounted.
Storage Server Username—Username of administrator account on Storage Server.
Storage Server Password—Password of administrator account on Storage Server.

Enabled—To take the Storage Server out of production, clear this check box.
Disk Space Threshold Yellow—When available disk space falls below this level, an e-mail warning message is
sent to all administrators.
Disk Space Threshold Red—When available disk space falls below this level, an e-mail alert message is sent to
all administrators.
Removing a Storage Server

Before removing a Storage Server, you need to move or delete its virtual machine images.
2. From the Storage Server's mouseover menu, select Undeploy all VMs. This ensures that no VMs are running
from this Storage Server.
3. From the Storage Server’s mouseover menu, select Disable.
4. Log on to the Storage Server machine and move or delete the \\AkimbiShare\VM folder and its contents.
5. From the Storage Server’s mouseover menu, select Remove.
NOTE: Disabling a VMFS Storage Server prevents using it to create new ESX templates. This also prevents
using it to store imported templates and configurations.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Network Settings
Network Settings
This option allows administrators the ability to modify their system’s default network settings and add or delete IP
addresses in the IP pool Akimbi uses for virtual machines.
Viewing Network Settings

• From the Akimbi navigation bar, select Network.
The NETWORK screen appears:
To change the network settings on this screen, consult your network IT Administrator. These are initially set during
installation.
Viewing IP Addresses in the Akimbi IP Pool

• From the Akimbi navigation bar, select the IP POOL tab.
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The NETWORK/IP POOL screen appears:
Under NETWORK, at the top-left of the screen, are listed the Total IP Addresses in the Akimbi IP pool and how
many are not being used.
Use the Filter function to view a subset of the total number of IP addresses in the Akimbi IP pool. Type numbers
(or a period) that appear in the dotted decimal notation of the IP addresses you want to view. The filter function
does a literal text search on the characters you enter and does not use wildcards such as asterisks.
A green, checked status icon— —in the ALLOCATED column indicates if a virtual machine has been given
this IP address. The DEPLOYED column indicates if the VM is currently deployed. A hyphen (“-”) icon indicates
the virtual machine has not been deployed.
Virtual MACHINE NAMEs can be the same, except within a configuration where they must be unique. A virtual
router always appears with the name "virtualrouter".
The TYPE column also indicates if an allocated IP address is assigned to a virtual machine (VM) or virtual router
(VR).
Adding More IP Addresses to the Akimbi IP Pool

1. On the IP POOL folder screen, click the Add button.
The ADD IP RANGE screen appears.
2. Enter a sequential range of IP addresses in dotted decimal notation, for example: 10.8.18.10 – 10.8.18.30.
NOTE: Every virtual machine requires an IP address. A virtual machine requires an additional IP
address when fenced. Every virtual router (automatically created for fenced configurations)
requires 2 IP addresses. Virtual machine addresses remain allocated until a virtual machine and
all its clones are deleted. A virtual router's addresses are returned to the IP pool when a fenced
configuration is undeployed.
3. When you are done, click Add.
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You are returned to the NETWORK page where your new IP addresses are listed.
Removing IP Addresses from the Akimbi IP Pool

1. On the IP POOL folder screen, click the Remove button.
The REMOVE IP RANGE screen appears.
2. Enter a sequential range of IP addresses in dotted decimal notation, for example: 10.8.18.10 – 10.8.18.30.
The From address must be less than the To address.
NOTE: IP addresses allocated to a virtual machine can not be deleted.
3. When you are done, click Delete.

You are returned to the NETWORK page where your deleted IP addresses have been removed.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Akimbi Slingshot Settings
Akimbi Slingshot Settings

To access this screen, click Slingshot on the Akimbi navigation bar. On the top-right are three tabs—SETTINGS,
LICENSE and SUPPORTLINK. The SETTINGS tab page initially appears. The Slingshot settings here are divided into
4 sections:
• Server Preferences—page 7-35
• E-mail Preferences—page 7-36
• Default User Preferences—page 7-37
• Default Deployment Options—page 7-37
Server Preferences
Login Mode—Akimbi Slingshot can remember your username and password and can also automatically log you
in.
Like most browser applications, Slingshot uses cookies to remember your login information. If you delete your
browser’s cookies, this information will not be present until the next time you log in.
Remember username only—Select this option if you want Akimbi to remember your username but not your
password.
Automatically Login—If selected, Akimbi will automatically log users in when they bring up the Slingshot
application.
Server Hostname—Enter the DNS or IP address of the Slingshot Server.
LDAP Binding String—The string used for binding to Microsoft’s Active Directory. If a user logs in and isn’t found
in the Slingshot database, Akimbi checks the Active Directory database. If the user is in the Active Directory
database, Akimbi uses the information there to create an Akimbi account. For more information on LDAP binding
strings, how they work, and how they should be formatted, go to http://www.rlmueller.net/LDAP_Binding.htm or
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/adsi/adsi/ldap_adspath.asp
Example LDAP string: “LDAP://your_ldap_servername/department=’QA’,DC=companyabc,DC=com”
Once an Active Directory user is automatically set up with an Akimbi account, he or she is marked as an LDAP
user. Every time they log in they are authenticated against the Active Directory database and any changed
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information is copied to the Akimbi user database. If they are deleted from Active Directory, then they are also
deleted from the Akimbi database. LDAP users cannot change their Akimbi password, it must be done through
their Active Directory account. To turn off this authentication, an administrator can clear the Is LDAP check box on
the user’s properties page (see “Editing User Properties" on page 7-17). Once this change has been saved, the
administrator can then go back to the properties page and change the password.
Session Timeout—Enter the time, in minutes, you want your users’ sessions to remain active without user
interaction.
Ping frequency—Enter how often, in seconds, the Akimbi Slingshot Server should send out “are you alive”
messages to Managed Servers and Storage Servers asking them to respond (also known as “pinging” because it
uses the DOS utility Ping).
#Failed Pings to declare “unavailable”—How many times should a Managed Server or Akimbi Storage Server
not respond to a “ping” before being declared unavailable.
Managed and Storage Server refresh frequency (seconds)—How often, in seconds, should screen information
about a Storage Server or Managed Server be updated.
Managed Server Cache Cleaning frequency (seconds)—How often, in seconds, should Slingshot clean the
Managed Server cache used for storing local copies of virtual machines images.
Storage Server Garbage Collection frequency (seconds)—How often, in seconds, should Slingshot perform
garbage collection (the automatic detection and freeing of images that are no longer in use) on Storage Servers.
Wait Time to delete directory after directory was last accessed (seconds)—-This refers to Storage Server
directories where virtual machine images are kept. During garbage collection, the Storage Server checks to see
when a directory containing deleted images was last accessed. If it is greater than the time you enter here (in
seconds), it deletes the directory.
Allow Consolidate\Export—-Allow users to consolidate virtual hard disks and export configurations. Both of
these operations can be extremely time-consuming.
A virtual machine image can potentially change over time, typically with the addition of new software or changed
settings. Each change to a virtual machine image is stored as a delta change. A delta change tracks what’s
changed, it doesn't store an entire changed image. When a virtual machine is deployed, its image is read from a
Storage Server along with all its delta changes to get a complete, updated image. Over time, as more deltas are
stored across Storage Servers, it can add to the time it takes to deploy, cache or execute an image. To improve
access and deployment time, you can consolidate a virtual image and its delta changes.
Enable GSX ActiveX control—-If selected, users access GSX VM consoles utilizing Akimbi’s GSX ActiveX
control. Otherwise, when the user first clicks in the GSX VM console, a VMware application window is launched.
Users can then interact with the VM through this window.
E-mail Preferences
SMTP Server—Enter the DNS host name or IP address of a mail server you would like Slingshot to use or
sending out e-mail alerts and warnings. (SMTP-Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.) E-mail alerts or warnings are sent
to administrators under the following conditions:
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• The status of a Managed Server or Storage Server changes.
• The disk threshold (yellow or red) of a Managed Server or Storage Server is crossed.
• A P2V (physical machine to virtual machine conversion) operation succeeds or fails. This operation can take
a long time. P2V functionality only exists if you have installed the PlateSpin add-on.
Requires Password—Check this box if accessing an SMTP server requires a login.
Username—Enter the username of an SMTP server administrator account.
Password—Enter the password of an SMTP server administrator account.
Default E-mail Subject Prefix—Initial text for the subject field of sent e-mails.
Default User Preferences
Default Stored VM Quota—How many virtual machines the user is allowed to store on Storage Servers.
Default Deployed VM Quota—How many virtual machines the user is allowed to deploy at a time.
Default Storage Server—The user’s default Storage Server for saving configurations and virtual machines.
Default Deployment Options
outside or outside machines to communicate in.
Boot Delay (seconds)—Time to delay between booting each virtual machine in a configuration.
Use Server Boot Sequence—Use the assigned sequence order for booting a configuration’s virtual machines.
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Support
Storage Server. The configuration starts faster, but executes slower than images run from a Managed Server and
creates more network traffic. Select if your tests are one-time or of short duration.
Cached Mode: Run VM files from Managed Server—The user’s deployed virtual machines are transferred to
and run from a Managed Server. There is an initial wait as the images download to Managed Servers but
execution after that is faster and creates less network traffic. Select this option if your test runs for a long time and
where the initial startup time is negligible compared to overall testing time.
SupportLink
Click the SUPPORTLINK tab to see information about Akimbi's SupportLink feature.
Akimbi Slingshot's SupportLink feature sends usage data to Akimbi, enhancing our ability to provide support and
improve our product. This data is not shared with any other organization, nor can it be traced back to individual users.
With the aid of SupportLink information, Akimbi can provide individualized e-mail support with guaranteed 24-hour
response time. Customers who deactivate SupportLink still have access to our Web-based support forum at
www.akimbi.com.
By default, Akimbi Slingshot evaluation versions have SupportLink activated. Paying customers can choose to
deactivate SupportLink. Clear the Enable SupportLink check box to deactivate SupportLink for your system.
Click the Test button to see if you have connectivity to Akimbi's SupportLink server. If you do, the Test Results: entry
displays "Passed".
When you are done, click OK.
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Support

In addition to Microsoft Virtual Server (VS) 2005 and VMware GSX/ESX, Akimbi Slingshot supports VS 2005 R2 as a
virtualization platform. This means you can run a mixed VS 2005 R2, VS 2005 and VMware GSX/ESX server pool, just
as you could mix GSX and VS 2005 in previous releases.
One important point to note is that virtual machine saved states are not compatible between VS 2005 R2 and previous
versions of VS 2005. For more details on this issue, consult Microsoft’s R2 documentation. This has implications for
Akimbi customers who wish to move virtual machines created on VS 2005 to run on VS 2005 R2.
Akimbi VS 2005 R2 Upgrade Options

You have 3 options for upgrading an existing Virtual Server 2005 installation to VS 2005 R2:
1. Do an immediate upgrade to VS 2005 R2. There is an up front time cost to convert all virtual machines to run on
VS 2005 R2.
2. Run a mixed server pool of both VS 2005 and VS 2005 R2. This allows existing VMs to be deployed on VS 2005
and new VMs to be created for VS 2005 R2.
NOTE: Only VS 2005 Managed Servers can host VS 2005 VMs and only VS 2005 R2 Managed
Servers can host VS 2005 R2 VMs. In effect, this limits your Managed Server pool.
3. Run a VS 2005 R2 pool and only convert the VMs that are really needed.
Moving a Virtual Machine from VS 2005 to VS 2005 R2

To move a template or configuration VM created on VS 2005 to run on VS 2005 R2 do the following:
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Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot—Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Support
1. Discard any VM saved state.
If the virtual machine is undeployed and suspended, then, from the VM’s mouseover menu, you need to select, in
turn, Deploy, Resume and Undeploy.
If the virtual machine is already deployed, undeploy it without suspending it. This ensures there is no saved state
when it runs on VS 2005 R2.
2. Export the VM (as part of a configuration or template).
3. Go to the template or configuration export directory and open the virtual machine’s vm.xml file.
The vm.xml file can be found in each VM’s subfolder. For templates, the subfolder is VM0, for configurations, the
VM subfolders would be VM0, VM1,...VMn.
Change the <vstype> element value to “vs2005_r2“. For example: <vstype>vs2005_r2</vstype>
Save and close vm.xml.
4. Import the VM’s configuration or template back into Akimbi Slingshot.
If you are importing a template, then, from the Virtualization Technology drop-down list, select Virtual Server
2005 R2.
Upgrading a VS 2005 Managed Server to VS 2005 R2

1. Log in to Akimbi Slingshot as an administrator.
2. Go to the SERVERS screen (Akimbi navigation bar > Servers).
3. Select the Managed Server you wish to upgrade.
4. Undeploy any deployed VMs running on the Managed Server.
From the Managed Server’s mouseover menu select, in turn, the following:
• Disallow Deployments
• Undeploy all and clean up
• Remove
5. Log in to the Managed Server as an administrator.
6. Go to Windows’ Add or Remove Programs and uninstall the Akimbi Managed Server Agent.
7. Uninstall Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.
8. Install Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2.
9. Install the Akimbi Managed Server Agent. See the Akimbi Slingshot Installation Guide for more information on
installing the Managed Server Agent software.
10. Log in to the Akimbi Slingshot Console as an Akimbi administrator.
11. Go to the SERVERS (ANB > Servers) screen and re-attach your upgraded Managed Server.
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8
Akimbi SOAP Web Service API
The Akimbi Web service API provides programmatic access to your organization’s Akimbi Slingshot system using a
simple, powerful, and secure application programming interface (API).
The Akimbi Web services API uses Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based technologies such as Simple Object
Access Protocol (SOAP) as the communication protocol, and Web Services Description Language (WSDL) as the
interface description language. The Akimbi WSDL file details the service's available methods and parameter types, as
well as the actual SOAP endpoint for the service.
In this chapter, you can find information to get started using the Akimbi Web service with Microsoft’s C# .NET. If you
are not using C#, consult your development environment’s documentation for similar information.
Integrate Akimbi Slingshot with your Automated Testing Tools

The Akimbi SOAP Web service API allows you to integrate and extend your organization’s Akimbi data using the
language and platform of your choice.
• Integrate Akimbi with your organization’s automated testing systems
For more information about Akimbi solutions, developer resources, and community resources, go to http://
www.akimbi.com.
Supported Operations
Using your favorite Web service-enabled development environment, you can construct Web service client applications
that use standard Web service protocols to programmatically:
• Query for virtual machine and configuration information
• Perform actions on machines and configurations

• Capture, checkout, clone, delete and deploy configurations
• Create a LiveLink configuration URL you can e-mail to other team members
For detailed information about supported Web service operations, see “Akimbi SOAP API Methods" on page 8-15.
The Akimbi Web services API interacts with your organization’s data via objects, which are programmatic
representations of your organization’s Akimbi data. Object properties represent fields in those data entities. For
example, configurations are represented by a Configuration object, and a Configuration object has fields that represent
the configuration name, configuration numeric identifier, whether it’s deployed, its shared state and so on. This
document describes how to perform query, clone, capture, deploy and other operations on Akimbi data via the Akimbi
data objects. For detailed information about Akimbi objects, see the chapter Akimbi Web Service Data Types.
8-1
Akimbi SOAP Web Service API—Standards Compliance and Compatible Development Platforms
Standards Compliance and Compatible Development Platforms

The Akimbi Web services API is implemented to comply with SOAP 1.1 (Simple Object Access Protocol), and WSDL
1.1 (Web Service Description Language), and WS-I Basic Profile v1.1specifications. The Akimbi Web services API
works with modern SOAP development environments. In this document, we provide C# (.NET) examples.
NOTE: Implementation differences in certain development platforms might prevent access to some or all of
the features in the Akimbi Web services API.
If you are using Visual Studio for .NET development, we recommend that you use Visual Studio 2003 or higher.
Akimbi SOAP API Security

Client applications that access your organization’s Akimbi data are subject to the same security protections that are
used in the Akimbi Slingshot Console user interface.
User Authentication
Client applications must provide valid credentials (username and password) with every Akimbi Web Service method
call. The credentials must be those of an Administrator. The Akimbi server authenticates these credentials.
8-2
Using Akimbi Web Service Methods—Quick Start
Using Akimbi Web Service Methods
Quick Start
This section describes what you need to start using the Akimbi SOAP API in your development environment. It
includes the following steps:
1. Obtain an Akimbi Slingshot Account
2. Import the WSDL File Into Your Development Platform
3. Walk Through the Sample Code
Obtain an Akimbi Slingshot Account

if you are not an administrator, have your Akimbi administrator set you up with an Akimbi account. You must have an
administrator account to use the Akimbi Web services API.
Generate or Obtain the Akimbi Web Service WSDL

To obtain the WSDL, launch Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher and use the following URL for your Akimbi Slingshot
server:
http://<Akimbi Slingshot Server IP Address or DNS name>/AkimbiUI/SOAP/AkimbiSOAP.asmx?wsdl
The generated WSDL defines all of the Akimbi API calls and objects. For more information about WSDL,
see http://www.w3.org/TR/wsdl.
Import the WSDL File Into Your Development Platform

To access the Akimbi Web service, you need to know the location of your Akimbi Web Service Description Language
(WSDL) file. Once you know where the WSDL file is, you need to import it into your development platform so that your
development environment can generate the necessary objects for use in building client Web service applications in
that environment. This section provides sample instructions for Microsoft Visual Studio. For instructions about other
development platforms, see your platform’s product documentation.
Instructions for Microsoft Visual Studio

Visual Studio languages access the Akimbi Web services API through objects that serve as proxies for their server-
side counterparts. Before using the Akimbi Web services API, you must first generate these objects from your
organization’s WSDL file.
NOTE: Before you begin, the first step is to create a new application or open an existing application in
Visual Studio.
An XML Web service client is any component or application that references and uses an XML Web service. This does
not necessarily need to be a client-based application. In fact, in many cases, your XML Web service clients might be
other Web applications, such as Web Forms or even other XML Web services. When accessing XML Web services in
managed code, a proxy class and the .NET Framework handle all of the infrastructure coding.
8-3
To add a Web reference:

1. In Visual Studio, on the Project menu, choose Add Web Reference.
The Add Web Reference dialog box appears:
2. In the URL text box, type the URL to obtain the service description of the XML Web service you want to access,
such as:
http://<Akimbi Slingshot Server IP Address or DNS name>/AkimbiUI/SOAP/AkimbiSOAP.asmx
3. In the Web reference name textbox, rename the Web reference to AkimbiSoap, which is the namespace you will
use for this Web reference.
4. Click Add Reference to add a Web reference for the Akimbi XML Web service.
If you click Solution Explorer, you will see AkimbiSoap listed under the Web References folder.
For more information, see the topic “Adding and Removing Web References” in the Visual Studio documentation.
5. Visual Studio retrieves the service description and generates a proxy class to interface between your application
and the XML Web service.
Walk Through the Skeleton Code sample and Sample Application

Once you have imported your WSDL file, you can begin building client applications that use the Akimbi Web services
API. The fastest way is to learn by example—start by walking through the skeleton code example below.
It is assumed the reader is familiar with basic programming concepts and already has a programming development
environment set up on their computer. The code samples in this manual were written in C#.NET and created with
Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2003 application.
8-4
This section walks through a simple C# client application you can cut-and-paste to test basic API programming
connectivity to the Akimbi Web Service on your Akimbi Slingshot system.
The skeleton sample code performs the following tasks:
1. Binds to the Akimbi SOAP API Web Service.
2. Sets up the username and password for making a SOAP call.
3. Makes a call to get a configuration object based on name.
4. Prints out to the console all configuration fields.
The following code begins the sample C# sample code skeleton application.
Skeleton Code Sample—C#

//**
//** Console Application created in Visual Studio .NET
//** A named (“akimbi”) Web reference has been added to the local Akimbi SOAP
//** API Web service
//**
namespace AkimbiConsoleApplication1
{
class Class1
{
//**
//** The main entry point for the application.
//**
STAThread]static void Main(string[] args)
{
try
{
//
//** Bind to the Akimbi SOAP API Web Service
//
akimbi.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface binding = new
akimbi.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface();
//
//** Enter the URL for your system here
//
binding.Url = "http://demo35.akimbi.com/AkimbiUI/SOAP/AkimbiSOAP.asmx";
binding.Timeout = 10 * 60 * 1000; // 10 minutes
//**
//** Allocate AuthenticationHeader object to hold caller’s
//** username and password
//**
binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue = new
AkimbiSoap.AuthenticationHeader();
//
//** Substitute a real user’s username and password here
//
binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue.username = "jaya";
binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue.password = "akimbi";
8-5
Using Akimbi Web Service Methods—Sample C# Application
//**
//** Call GetSingleConfigurationByName()
//** Get default configuration that comes with Akimbi installation
//** and write all property values to console
//**
akimbi.Configuration defCfg=
binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName(“Sample 1”);
//
//** Print out all configuration properties to the Console
//
Console.WriteLine("Name = " + defCfg.name);
Console.WriteLine("ID = " + defCfg.id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Description = "+ defCfg.description);
Console.WriteLine("isPublic = "+ defCfg.isPublic.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("isDeployed = "+ defCfg.isDeployed.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("fenceMode = "+ defCfg.fenceMode.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("type = " + defCfg.type.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("owner = " + defCfg.owner);
Console.WriteLine("dateCreated = " + defCfg.dateCreated.ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error: " + e.Message);
Console.ReadLine();
}
} //** end Main
} //** end Class1
} //** end Namespace
Sample C# Application
This section walks you through a more extensive, real-life C# .NET testing application. This sample shows the
integration of Akimbi’s SOAP API calls with the Mercury Interactive Corporation’s Quality Center product. This code
performs the following 3 tasks:
1. Makes Akimbi SOAP API calls to check out a configuration from the Library and deploy it.
2. Runs a series of pre-defined tests on the deployed configuration using Mercury Quality Center.
3. Makes Akimbi SOAP API calls to capture the configuration and undeploy it from the Workspace.
using System;
using System.Configuration;
using TDAPIOLELib; //** From Mercury Quality Center
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.IO;
namespace MATRun
{
/// <summary>
8-6
/// Summary description for Class1.

/// </summary>
class Class1
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main(string[] args)

{
NameValueCollection settings = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings;
string filename = null;

string buildlocation = null;
string buildversion = null;
if ( args.Length > 0 )
{
buildlocation = args[0];
buildversion = args[1];
}
if ( buildlocation == null )
{
buildlocation = "\\fs.akimbi.com\public\build\outputdir\1423\artifacts";
buildversion = "slingshot-2.0.4018";
}
filename = "\\fs.akimbi.com\public\build\build-to-test.bat";
StreamWriter f = new StreamWriter(filename);
f.WriteLine(String.Format(@"xcopy {0}\setup.exe c:\ /Y", buildlocation));
f.Close();
Console.WriteLine(String.Format("Testing {0} at location {1}",

buildversion, buildlocation));
The following 3 calls form the basic structure of the program:
1. Checkout a configuration from the Library and deploy it on the Managed Server Pool
2. Run a series of pre-defined tests using Mercury Quality Center
3. Undeploy the configuration and capture it to the Library
string config = CheckoutDeployConfiguration(buildversion);

RunQCTestset();
CaptureUndeployConfiguration(config);
} //** End Main
//
8-7
//** Initialize parameters

//
static string library_config = "ProofOfBuild-R2";
static string storage_server ="Akimbi Server";

static string perform_capture =”Yes”;
static string soap_server = "Akimbi Server";
RunQCTestset()
The code below involves running a series of predefined tests using Mercury Interactive’s Quality Center
product. For more information about these calls, please refer to their documentation.
//
static void RunQCTestset()
{
server = "http://demo12.akimbi.com/qcbin";
domain = "AKIMBI_SYSTEMS";
project = "Snapshot_20";
username = "jaya";
password = "akimbi";
host = "10.6.1.34";
chosenTestSet = "Install_Verify";
// ----
TDConnection tdc = new TDConnection();
tdc.InitConnection(server, domain, "");
tdc.ConnectProjectEx(domain, project, username, password);
if ( tdc.Connected)
{
TestSetFactory testSetFactory = (TestSetFactory)tdc.TestSetFactory;

List testSetList;
testSetList = testSetFactory.NewList("");
foreach ( TestSet testSet in testSetList)
{
if ( testSet.Name.ToUpper() == chosenTestSet.ToUpper())
{
Console.WriteLine("Scheduling "+ testSet.Name);
TSScheduler sched = (TSScheduler) testSet.StartExecution(host);

sched.RunAllLocally = false;
sched.Run(null);
ExecutionStatus status = (ExecutionStatus) sched.ExecutionStatus;

while ( status.Finished == false )
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30);
status.RefreshExecStatusInfo(null, true);
8-8
// ---------------------------------------------------------------
// results
// ---------------------------------------------------------------
TDAPIOLELib.TSTestFactory tsf;
tsf = (TSTestFactory) testSet.TSTestFactory;
TDAPIOLELib.List testlist;
testlist = tsf.NewList("");
foreach ( TSTest test in testlist)

{
TDAPIOLELib.Run r= (Run) test.LastRun;
if (r != null)
{
Console.WriteLine(test.Name + " " + r.Name + " " +
r.Status.ToString());
}
} //** end foreach
break;
} //** end if
} //** end foreach
} //** end if
} //** end RunQATEst
CheckoutDeployConfiguration()
Check out configuration from the Library and deploy it to the

Workspace
static string CheckoutDeployConfiguration( string version)

{
//
//** Check out a configuration and deploy it on the Managed Server pool
//
string srcconfig = "ProofOfBuild-R2"; //** Configuration name
System.DateTime time = System.DateTime.Now;
string configname = version+"-"+

time.ToString().Replace(" ", "_").Replace("/","-");
//
//** Get Akimbi SOAP parameters
//
AkimbiSOAP1.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface akimbi = GetAkimbiAPI();
//
//** Get configuration information -- Configuration object
//
AkimbiSOAP1.Configuration config =
akimbi.GetSingleConfigurationByName(srcconfig);
Console.WriteLine("Checkout configuratioin "+ srcconfig);
8-9
//
//** Check configuration out of Configuration Library and
//** name it(configname)
//
int newCheckoutID =
akimbi.ConfigurationCheckout(config.id, configname, storage_server);
Console.WriteLine("Deploy configuratioin "+ srcconfig);
//
//** Deploy Configuration
//** false = Do not run images from Managed Server
//** 1 = Fenced mode, traffic blocked in and out
//
akimbi.ConfigurationDeploy(newCheckoutID, false, 1);
Console.WriteLine("Deploy is completed");
return configname;
} //** end CheckoutDeployConfiguration
CaptureUndeployConfiguration()
Capture a configuration to the Library and undeploy it
static void CaptureUndeployConfiguration(string configname)

{
//
//** Bind to Akimbi SOAP Web Service
//
AkimbiSOAP1.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface akimbi = GetAkimbiAPI();
AkimbiSOAP1.Configuration config =
akimbi.GetSingleConfigurationByName(configname);
if ( perform_capture.Equals("Yes") )
{
Console.WriteLine("Capture configuration "+ configname);
int newConfigCaptureID =
akimbi.ConfigurationCapture(config.id, configname, "Akimbi Server");
}
Console.WriteLine("Undeploy configuration "+ configname);
akimbi.ConfigurationUndeploy(config.id);
Console.WriteLine("Undeploy is completed");
}
8-10
GetAkimbiAPI()
Bind to the Akimbi Web Service and set up authentication and basic parameters
static AkimbiSOAP1.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface GetAkimbiAPI()

{
//
//** Bind to SOAP interface
//
AkimbiSOAP1.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface akimbi = new
AkimbiSOAP1.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface();
//
//**Allocate caller login object
//
akimbi.AuthenticationHeaderValue = new AkimbiSOAP1.AuthenticationHeader();
akimbi.Url =
akimbi.Url.Replace("http://qa240.akimbi.com", "http:/demo44.akimbi.com”);
akimbi.AuthenticationHeaderValue.username = "jaya";
akimbi.AuthenticationHeaderValue.password = "akimbi";
akimbi.Timeout = 10 * 60 * 1000; // 10 minutes
return akimbi; //** return binding reference
}
} //** end Class Class1
} //** end Namespace MATRun
8-11
Akimbi SOAP API Data Types—AuthenticationHeader
Akimbi SOAP API Data Types

The Akimbi SOAP API uses the following primitive XML data types:
Table 8-1 Primitive XML Data Types used in the Akimbi SOAP API
Value Description
xsd:boolean Boolean (true / false) values
xsd:date Date values
xsd:dateTime Date/time values (timestamps)
xsd:double Double values
xsd:int Integer values
These primitive types are the building blocks for the Akimbi data types used in making Akimbi API calls. When writing
your client application, follow the data typing rules defined for your programming language and development
environment.Your development tool handles the mapping of typed data in your programming language with these
SOAP data types.
The Akimbi data types are defined in the Akimbi WSDL file. For each type, this chapter list its properties and
description.
Table 8-2 Akimbi SOAP API Data Types
Data Type Description
AuthenticationHeader Contains the username and password of the caller. This

data type is part of every SOAP header in Akimbi Web
Service methods
Configuration Configuration object
Machine Machine object
AuthenticationHeader
This data structure is used for passing the caller’s username and password in all Akimbi Web service methods.
Supported API Calls

All
Fields
Table 8-3: AuthenticationHeader Fields
Field Data Type Description
username string Akimbi Slingshot account username.
password string Akimbi Slingshot account password.
8-12
Akimbi SOAP API Data Types—Configuration
Sample usage—C#
/**
** Visual Studio Console application in C#
** akimbisoap = web reference name for Akimbi Web service
** Set up login code for all Akimbi Web service method calls
**
**/
try
{
akimbisoap.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface binding = new
akimbisoap.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface();
binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue = new akimbisoap.AuthenticationHeader();

binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue.username = "hedley";
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
Configuration
This data structure exists for each configuration in the Library or the Workspace. A configuration is a group of virtual
machines (and their operating systems, applications and data) that Akimbi Slingshot controls as a single unit.
An integer id field uniquely identifies a configuration. Configuration names are not guaranteed to be unique.
Table 8-4: Configuration Fields
id int Configuration identifier
name string Configuration name
description string Configuration description
isPublic boolean True if others can view and access; false if not
isDeployed boolean True if deployed; false if not deployed
fenceMode int 1 = Not fenced

2 = Fenced—block traffic in and out
3 = Fenced—allow traffic out only
4 = Fenced—allow traffic in and out
type int Configuration type: 1 =Workspace configurations, 2 =

library configurations
owner string Owner username
dateCreated dateTime Configuration creation date
8-13
Akimbi SOAP API Data Types—Machine
Machine
This data structure exists for each virtual machine in the Library or the Workspace. An integer id field uniquely
identifies a machine. Machine names are not guaranteed to be unique except within a configuration.
Table 8-5: Machine Fields
id int Machine identifier
name string Machine name
description string Machine description
internalIP string Permanent assigned IP address
externalIP string Temporary IP address when inside fence
status int 1=Off, 2 =On, 3=Suspended, 4=Stuck, 128=Invalid
isDeployed boolean True if deployed, false otherwise
8-14
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—Machine
Akimbi SOAP API Methods

This section contains information about Akimbi Web service methods and how to call them using C# .NET code
samples.
Table 8-1: Akimbi SOAP API Web Service Methods
Method Description Page

ConfigurationCapture Capture a Workspace configuration and save it to a specified 8-16
Akimbi Storage Server.
ConfigurationCheckout Check out a configuration from the Library and move it to the 8-18
Workspace.
ConfigurationClone Clone a configuration active in the Workspace and save it to 8-20

storage.
ConfigurationDelete Delete a configuration from the Workspace. 8-21
ConfigurationDeploy Deploy a configuration in the Workspace. 8-22
LiveLink Create a URL to a configuration that can be e-mailed and clicked 8-23
on to recreate the configuration.
ConfigurationSetPublicPrivate Set configuration state to public or private. Public configurations 8-24

are accessible for others to use. Private configurations are
available only for the owner.
ConfigurationUndeploy Undeploy a configuration from the Managed Server pool. 8-25
GetConfiguration Returns a Configuration object matching a configuration 8-26

identifier.
GetConfigurationByName Returns Configuration objects matching a configuration name. 8-27

(Configuration names are not guaranteed to be unique.)
GetMachine Returns a Machine object matching a machine identifier. 8-29
GetMachineByName Returns a Machine object matching a machine name. 8-30
GetSingleConfigurationByName Returns a single Configuration object matching a configuration’s 8-31

name.
ListConfigurations Returns an array of Configuration objects that are either in the 8-32
Workspace or Library.
ListMachines Returns an array of Configuration objects corresponding to a 8-34

configuration’s numeric identifier.
MachinePerformAction Perform action on a machine. 8-36
8-15
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationCapture
ConfigurationCapture
This method captures a Workspace configuration and saves it to a specified Akimbi Storage Server with a name.
Syntax
int newConfigId = ConfigurationCapture(10, “Config10Capture”,”StorageServer3”);
Arguments
configurationID int Configuration identifier
newLibraryName string Capture name
storageName string Akimbi Storage Server
Response
configurationID int Configuration identifier of new capture
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//**
//** AkimbiAPI is the name of the web reference in Visual Studio
//**
AkimbiAPI.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface binding = new
AkimbiAPI.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface();
//** Create login

binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue = new AkimbiAPI.AuthenticationHeader();
//** Get Configuration object

AkimbiAPI.Configuration Config =
binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName("Config26");
//** Get configuration identifier and deployed status from object

int configurationId = Config.id;
bool deployed = Config.isDeployed;
//** Capure configuration if it’s deployed

if (deployed)
{
//** Save capture with date and time stamp
string captureName=Config.name + DateTime.Now.ToString();
string akimbiStorageServer = "Akimbi Server";
binding.ConfigurationCapture(configurationId, captureName,
akimbiStorageServer);
8-16
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationCapture
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-17
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationCheckout
ConfigurationCheckout
This method checks-out a configuration from the Configuration Library and moves it to the Workspace under a different
name.
Syntax
int result = ConfigurationCheckout(7, “Config7May10”,”StorageServer2”);
Arguments
configurationID int Numeric identifier of configuration in the Library
workspaceName string Workspace name of checked-out configuration
storageName string Name of Akimbi Storage Server where configuration is

stored
Response
workspaceID int Numeric identifier of configuration in the Workspace
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//
//** AkimbiSoap is the name of the web reference in Visual Studio
//
AkimbiSoap.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface binding = new
AkimbiSoap.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface();
//
//** Create login
//
binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue = new
AkimbiSoap.AuthenticationHeader();
//
//
AkimbiSoap.Configuration Config =
binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName("Win2K3Exchange");
//
//** Timestamp library configuration name as new Workspace name
8-18
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationCheckout
//
string checkoutName=Config.name + DateTime.Now.ToString();
//
//** Check out and move to Workspace
//
int newConfigID = binding.ConfigurationCheckout(Config.id,
checkoutName,"Akimbi Server");
Console.WriteLine("New Config ID=" + newConfigID.ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error="+e.Message);
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-19
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationClone
ConfigurationClone
This method clones a configuration in the Workspace and saves it to the Configuration Library with a new name.
Syntax
int result = ConfigurationClone(6, “Config6Clone”,”StorageServer1”);
Arguments
configurationId int Numeric identifier of configuration in the Library
newWorkspaceName string Workspace name of clone
storageName string Name of Akimbi Storage Server where configuration is

stored
Response
workspaceId int Numeric identifier of new Workspace configuration
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//**
//**
//** Create login

//** Clone Configuration

int newConfigId =
binding.CloneConfiguration(24, "ClonedConfig24", “StorageServer3”);
Console.WriteLine(“New Config ID=” + newConfigId.ToString());
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-20
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationDelete
ConfigurationDelete
This method deletes a configuration from the Workspace. You can not delete a configuration that is deployed.
Syntax
ConfigurationDelete(6);
Arguments
configurationID int Numeric identifier of Workspace configuration
Response
none
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//** Create login


AkimbiAPI.Configuration Config=binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName("Config24");

//** Delete configuration if it isn’t deployed

if (!deployed)
{
binding.ConfigurationDelete(configurationId);
}
else
{
//**
//** Must undeploy configuration before deleting it
//**
binding.ConfigurationUndeploy(configurationId);
binding.ConfigurationDelete(configurationId);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-21
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationDeploy
ConfigurationDeploy
This method allows you to deploy an undeployed configuration that is in the Workspace.
Syntax
ConfigurationDeploy(6, false, 1);
Arguments
configurationID int Numeric identifier of configuration in the Workspace
isCached boolean True if cached on Managed Server
isFenced int 1 = Not fenced

2 = Fenced—block traffic in and out
3 = Fenced—allow traffic out only
4 = Fenced—allow traffic in and out
Response
none
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//** Create login


AkimbiAPI.Configuration Config=binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName("Config24");

//** Deploy configuration if it isn’t already

if (!deployed)
{
//** Deploy in fenced mode and run from Managed Servers
binding.ConfigurationDeploy(configurationId, true, 1);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-22
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—LiveLink
LiveLink
Syntax
LiveLink(“Win2K”);
Arguments
configurationName string Configuration name
Response
URL string A string containing the configuration’s URL in the

Library. The URL can be sent in an email to recreate the
configuration when clicked.
Sample Code—C#
try
{
AkimbiSoap.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface binding = new
AkimbiSoap.AkimbiSlingshotSOAPinterface();
//** Create login

binding.AuthenticationHeaderValue = new AkimbiSoap.AuthenticationHeader();
//** Get library configuration in a Configuration object

AkimbiSoap.Configuration Config=binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName("Win2kBEA
");
//** If configuration is deployed, livelink it

if (Config.isDeployed)
{
string url = binding.ConfigurationLiveLink(Config.name);
Console.WriteLine("LiveLink URL="+url);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error="+e.Message);
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-23
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationSetPublicPrivate
ConfigurationSetPublicPrivate
This call can be used to set a configuration’s state to public or private. If public, others are able to access this
configuration. If private, only its owner can view or see it.
Syntax
ConfigurationSetPublicPrivate(10, false);
Arguments
isPublic boolean true = public, false = private
Response
none
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//
//
//** Create login


binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName("Config24");
//** Get configuration identifier and shared status from object

bool shared = Config.isPublic;
//** Make configuration public if it isn’t alreary

if (!shared)
{
binding.ConfigurationSetPublicPrivate(Config.id, true);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-24
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ConfigurationUndeploy
ConfigurationUndeploy
Undeploys a configuration in the Workspace
Syntax
ConfigurationUndeploy(10);
Arguments
configurationID int Configuration numeric identifier
Response
none
Sample Code—C#
try
{
int configurationType= 1; //* Get configurations in Workspace, not Library

AkimbiAPI.Configuration [] configurations =
binding.ListConfigurations(configurationType);
//
//** Undeploy all deployed configurations I own
//
for (int i=0; i < configurations.Length; i++)
{
if (configurations[i].owner.Equals("jaya"))
{
binding.ConfigurationUndeploy(configurations[i].id);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-25
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—GetConfiguration
GetConfiguration
This method returns an object of type Configuration matching the configuration ID passed.
Syntax
Configuration config = GetConfiguration(10);
Arguments
Response
configuration Configuration Configuration object matching configuration id passed
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//** Create login


binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName(26);
//** Write to the console all configuration properties

Console.WriteLine("Config name = " + Config.name);
Console.WriteLine("Config id = " + Config.id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config description = " + Config.description);
Console.WriteLine("Config isPublic = " + Config.isPublic.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config isDeployed = " + Config.isDeployed.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config fenceMode = " + Config.fenceMode.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config type = " + Config.type.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config owner = " + Config.owner);
Console.WriteLine("Config dateCreated = " + Config.dateCreated.ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-26
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—GetConfigurationByName
GetConfigurationByName
This call takes the name of a configuration and returns an array of configurations matching that name. Configuration
names are not unique so there can be more than one configuration with a given name. If there are no configurations
with that name, an empty array is returned.
Syntax
Configuration [] config = GetConfigurationByName(“Config9”);
Arguments
Response
configuration[] Configuration Array of Configuration objects with the same name
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//
//
//** Create login

//
//** Get Configuration objects
//
AkimbiAPI.Configuration [] Configs =
binding.GetConfigurationByName("Config24Capture");
//
//** Write to the console all configurations and their properties
//
for (int i=0; i < Configs.Length; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine("Config name = " + Configs[i].name);
Console.WriteLine("id = " + Configs[i].id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("description = " + Configs[i].description);
Console.WriteLine("isPublic = " + Configs[i].isPublic.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("isDeployed = " + Configs[i].isDeployed.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("fenceMode = " + Configs[i].fenceMode.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("type = " + Config.types[i].ToString());
8-27
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—GetConfigurationByName
Console.WriteLine("owner = " + Configs[i].owner);

Console.WriteLine("dateCreated = " + Configs[i].dateCreated.ToString());
Console.WriteLine();
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-28
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—GetMachine
GetMachine
This call takes a machine’s numeric identifier and returns its corresponding Machine object.
Syntax
Machine mach = GetMachine(10);
Arguments
machineID int Machine identifier
Response
machine Machine Machine object matching the machine identifier
Sample Code—C#
try
{
AkimbiAPI.Machine machine = binding.GetMachine(35);
//** Write to the console all machines in configuration

Console.WriteLine("Machine = " + machine.name);
Console.WriteLine("id = " + machine.id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("description = " + machine.description);
Console.WriteLine("internalIP = " + machine.internalIP);
Console.WriteLine("externalIP = " + machine.externalIP);
Console.WriteLine("status = " + machine.status.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("isDeployed = " + machine.isDeployed.ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-29
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—GetMachineByName
GetMachineByName
This call takes a configuration identifier and a machine’s name and returns the matching Machine object.
Syntax
Machine mach = GetMachineByName(10, “Config9VM1”);
Arguments
configurationId int Configuration identifier
Response
machine Machine Machine Object
Sample Code—C#
try
{
AkimbiAPI.Machine machine = binding.GetMachineByName(10, “Config9VM1”);
//** Write to the console all machines fields

Console.WriteLine("Machine = " + machine.name);
Console.WriteLine("id = " + machins.id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("description = " + machine.description);
Console.WriteLine("internalIP = " + machine.internalIP);
Console.WriteLine("externalIP = " + machine.externalIP);
Console.WriteLine("status = " + machine.status.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("isDeployed = " + machine.isDeployed.ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-30
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—GetSingleConfigurationByName
GetSingleConfigurationByName
This call takes a configuration’s name, searches for it in both the Library and Workspace and returns its corresponding
Configuration object. An error is returned if more than one configuration exists with that name.
Syntax
Configuration config = GetSingleConfigurationByName(“Config9”);
Arguments
Response
configuration Configuration Configuration object
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//** Create login


binding.GetSingleConfigurationByName("Config24Capture");
//** Write to the console all configuration properties

Console.WriteLine("Config name = " + Config.name);
Console.WriteLine("Config id = " + Config.id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config description = " + Config.description);
Console.WriteLine("Config isPublic = " + Config.isPublic.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config isDeployed = " + Config.isDeployed.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config fenceMode = " + Config.fenceMode.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config type = " + Config.type.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("Config owner = " + Config.owner);
Console.WriteLine("Config dateCreated = " + Config.dateCreated.ToString());
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-31
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ListConfigurations
ListConfigurations
This method returns an array of type Configuration. Depending on configuration type requested, one object is returned
for each configuration in the Configuration Library or each configuration in the Workspace.
Syntax
Configuration [] config = ListConfigurations(1);
Arguments
confgurationType int 1= Workspace configurations, 2=Library configurations
Response
confgurations[] Configuration Array Array of Configuration objects
Sample Code—C#
try
{
//**
//**
//** Create login

//** Get Configurations in Workspace

int configurationType = 1; //** 1=Workspace
AkimbiAPI.Configuration [] WSconfigurations =
//** Write to the console all configurations

for (int i=0; i < WSconfigurations.Length; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine("Configuration name = " + WSconfigurations[i].name);
Console.WriteLine("id = " + WSconfigurations[i].id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("description = " +WSconfigurations[i].description);
Console.WriteLine("isPublic = " + WSconfigurations[i].isPublic.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("isDeployed = "+
WSconfigurations[i].isDeployed.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("fenceMode = " + WSconfigurations[i].fenceMode.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("type = " + WSconfigurations[i].type.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("owner = " + WSconfigurations[i].owner);
Console.WriteLine("dateCreated = "
+WSconfigurations[i].dateCreated.ToString());
8-32
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ListConfigurations
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-33
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ListMachines
ListMachines
This method returns an array of type Machine. It returns one Machine object for each virutal machine in a
configuration.
Syntax
Machine [] machines = ListMachines(1);
Arguments
confgurationID int Configuration numeric identifier
Response
machine[] Machine array Array of Machine objects
Sample Code—C#
try
{
int configurationType = 1; //** Get workspace configuration
for (int j=0; j < configurations.Length; j++)

{
Console.WriteLine("Configuration = " + configurations[j].name.ToString());

AkimbiAPI.Machine [] machines =
binding.ListMachines(configurations[j].id);
//** Write to the console all machines in configuration

for (int i=0; i < machines.Length; i++)
{
Console.WriteLine("Machine = " + machines[i].name);
Console.WriteLine("id = " + machines[i].id.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("description = " + machines[i].description);
Console.WriteLine("internalIP = " + machines[i].internalIP);
Console.WriteLine("externalIP = " + machines[i].externalIP);
Console.WriteLine("status = " + machines[i].status.ToString());
Console.WriteLine("isDeployed = " + machines[i].isDeployed.ToString());
8-34
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—ListMachines
}
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-35
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—MachinePerformAction
MachinePerformAction
Performs one of the following machine actions as indicated in the action identifier:
• 1—Power On. Same as turning on machine.

• 2—Power Off . Same as turning off machine; nothing is saved.
• 3—Suspend. Freeze machine’s CPU and state.
• 4—Resume. Resume suspended machine.
• 5—Reset. Reboot machine.
• 6—Snapshot. Save machine state at specific point in time.
• 7—Revert. Return machine to snapshot state.
• 8—Shutdown. Orderly shutdown of machine before turning off.
Syntax
MachinePerformAction(3);
Arguments
machineID int Machine identifier
action int Action to take on machine
Response
none
Sample Code—C#
try
{
int configurationType = 1; //** Get workspace configuration
//**
//** Get array of all configurations
//**
//**
//** Loop thru all configurations
//**
for (int j=0; j < configurations.Length; j++)
{
//**
//** Get array of all machines in configurations
8-36
Akimbi SOAP API Methods—MachinePerformAction
//**
AkimbiAPI.Machine [] machines =
binding.ListMachines(configurations[j].id);
//**
//** Loop thru all machines
//**
for (int i=0; i < machines.Length; i++)
{
//**
//** Check status—if machine is suspended, then resume it
//**
if (machines[i].status == 3)
{
binding.MachinePerformAction(4);
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.ReadLine();
}
8-37
9
Troubleshooting
This chapter provides solutions to many common problems. If a problem is our bug, we will do our best to fix it in the
next software release. If, after consulting this guide, you are still having difficulties, contact Akimbi support.
Many errors we are seeing are related to improper configuration. These include the following:
• The Storage Server (a share on a NAS or SAN storage device) is not properly configured as a null
session share
This can cause access and permission related problems. Make sure your Storage Server share is configured
for null session. See the “Adding a Storage Server to Akimbi Slingshot" on page 7-27 for information about
setting up a null session share.
• Component (Slingshot Server, Managed Server(s), etc.) and Network requirements are not being
followed
Not adhering to component and network requirements will cause problems. For example, the account
(username and password) used for attaching GSX Managed Servers to an Akimbi installation must also exist
on all the NAS Storage Servers (but not SAN VFMS Storage Servers). The Storage Server account on NAS
servers must have administrator privileges. Please review the “Component Requirements and
Recommendations" on page 7-3 and the “Network Requirements and Recommendations" on page 7-5.
In this chapter, the following troubleshooting issues are addressed:
Error Messages
• “The system cannot access the specified network location, because the server that it is on has already been
accessed using a different username/password”—page 9-4
• “Access is denied” (On Insert CD)—page 9-4
• “The path ”\\<path>\VM\<n>\<name>.vhd“ does not exist.”—page 9-4
• “Method not found: Void System.Web.HttpResponse.Transmitfile” —page 9-5
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is not installed on the managed server”—page 9-5
• “ ...Could not find a Managed Server with enough Virtual Machine quota to deploy a Virtual Machine...”—page 9-5
• “...This configuration cannot be deployed because of an IP address or MAC Address conflict...”—page 9-5
• “Server Error in ‘/AkimbiUI’ Application”—page 9-5
• “Object Reference not set to an instance of an object” — page 9-5
• “Access to the path ‘\<file or directory>’” —page 9-5
• “Could not run command "C:\Program Files\Akimbi\Akimbi Slingshot\vfd" startOUTPUT: Failed to start the Virtual
Floppy driver. Access is denied“—page 9-5
• “Page cannot be displayed”—page 9-6
• “The network path was not found”—page 9-6
• “Could not find a part of the path ‘\\<path>’”—page 9-6
• “The path ‘\\<path>’ does not exist”—page 9-6
• “The configuration value could not be set. You do not have the appropriate access rights”—page 9-6
9-1
Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide—Troubleshooting
• “The virtual machine configuration could not be added because the configuration file (.VMC) could not be parsed
correctly. It may be damaged.”—page 9-6
• “The virtual machine could not be started because the caller does not have execute access” —page 9-6
• “Access to the path ‘\\pool1\VM\VM\117\117-SDCFV.vmc is denied” —page 9-6
• “1 VM is being deployed. The virtual machine could not be started because the caller does not have execute
access”—page 9-6
• “Could not find file ‘\\<IP address>\AkimbiShare\GSX_templates\Gold1\nvram’”—page 9-6
• “Process must exit before requested information can be determined“—page 9-6
• “Mount failed. Output: System error 1219 has occurred.”—page 9-6
• “Error executing VMware command [register]. [-11: No such virtual machine]”—page 9-6
• “Attaching the VM failed, but it should succeed on a reattempt. Please try again“—page 9-7
• “The operation could not be performed, because there are no more IP Address resources“—page 9-7
• “RPC Server is unavailable”—page 9-7
• “Mount point \\<IP Address>\ VM already contains VM files. Please remove these files before mounting the
Storage Server”—page 9-7
• “VMControl error -14...” —page 9-8
• “VMControl error -12: VM already exists”—page 9-8
• “Could not connect to the remote agent on [<Managed Server IP Address>]. Error
System.Net.Sockets.SockedException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively
refused it”—page 9-8
• “Mount failed. Output: System error 67 has occurred. The network name cannot be found”—page 9-8
• “System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'StoragePoint' with unique index
'unique_ss_name'”—page 9-8
• “The system is either inaccessible, or you have not installed managed server software upon the system yet. No
connection could be made because the target system actively refused it”—page 9-8
• “Could not find any enabled or reachable Managed Server with the proper virtualization technology to execute this
operation”—page 9-9
• “Validating Credentials failed with error Access denied. The Windows credentials provided cannot be used to
connect to the Windows server <IP address>. Please ensure that the user name and password are correct and
part of the local administrators group”—page 9-9
• “The credentials supplied conflict with an existing set of credentials (you have already previously mounted this
location with a different username and password)”—page 9-9
• "The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd suspend <configfile>) failed with error 5" or "The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd
suspend <configfile>) failed with error 11"—page 9-10
• "The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd suspend <configfile>) failed with error 5 —page 9-10
• "The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd suspend <configfile>) failed with error 11"—page 9-10
• "The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd start <configfile>) failed with error 5 —page 9-10
• "The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd start <configfile>) failed with error 11"—page 9-10
• “Error registering VM:<VM>The originating server for this exception is <Managed Server>”—page 9-10
• "Failed to execute process [/usr/sbin/akimbi-diskcreate]. Device or resource busy"—page 9-10
• “ESX P2V requires an ESX Managed Server accessible with root credentials. Slingshot cannot find a Managed
Server with the proper credentials and/or available resources (RAM, disk space or VM slots)”—page 9-10
Operational Errors
• Blank screen when I access Akimbi Slingshot Console—page 9-10
• Virtual machine console does not display—page 9-10
• Not receiving e-mail alerts—page 9-11
• Duplicate IP Address errors—page 9-11
9-2
• Error adding a SCSI virtual hard disk on VMware—page 9-12

• Mouse is not working on guest operating system—page 9-12
• Cannot take remote control of virtual machine—page 9-12
• Akimbi Slingshot Server crashed and now things aren’t working right—page 9-12
• Loss of connectivity to Storage Server (network glitch reboot or crash)—page 9-12
• Temporary Loss of Managed Server—MS reboots—page 9-13
• Temporary Loss of Managed Server—networking issue—page 9-13
• Akimbi Server fails or loses connectivity or reboots—page 9-13
• Permanent loss of Managed Server—server failure—page 9-13
• Network parameters not automatically set for virtual machines created from a VMware Template with Akimbi
Tools installed —page 9-13
• Error in undeploying configuration in GSX—page 9-14
• MAC Address displayed on PROPERTIES page not the same as virtual machine’s—page 9-14
• Errors when using the Microsoft Virtual Server administration console—page 9-14
• Error when I click on a LiveLink URL—page 9-14
• Cannot use host server’s CD drive to install software—page 9-15
• IE on a VMware GSX Win2K3 machine crashes when I change the console display size—page 9-15
• NIC on VM without Akimbi Tools appears broken (red X) and does not work—page 9-15
• In VMware GSX, the VMware Console no longer works after upgrading GSX from 3.20 to 3.2.1 or higher—page 9-
15
• Storage capacity listed as “0” after Storage Server import—page 9-16
• PlateSpin does not work on a French Slingshot Server—page 9-16
• Hard Disk size listed as “inaccessible size” for ESX machine template—page 9-16
9-3
Error Messages
“The system cannot access the specified network location, because the server that it is on has already been
accessed using a different username/password”
Problem: I’m trying to create a Storage Server share on a Windows machine and I’m getting the
above error message. The machine already has a Storage Server share on it, so why
am I having trouble adding an additional one?
Solution: This is a Windows limitation—you cannot concurrently access a Windows machine

using multiple accounts with different credentials. Either use the same credentials
(username/password) for all Storage Server shares on this machine or delete the
existing shares before adding a new one. To do the latter, click the
button that appears in the error message. Clicking

this button doesn’t physically remove existing shares or their contents from the
machine, but does make them inaccessible from Akimbi.
“Access is denied.”
Problem: I’m trying to insert an ISO image into a virtual machine’s CD and I’m getting the
following alert message.
Solution: CD images can’t be bigger than 2GB. Check the size of your image, if it is bigger than
2GB, try using a smaller image.
“The path ”\\<path>\VM\<n>\<name>.vhd“ does not exist.”

Problem: I’m trying to create a configuration on a Managed Server and I’m getting the above
message.
Solution: If you added a Storage Server with a fully-qualified domain name

(i.e., dev.akimbi.com), check to see if your Managed Server is configured to use
DNS. In Windows: Control Panel > Network Connections > (Connection) >
Properties > Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) > Properties > select the Use the following
DNS server addresses checkbox > (configure your DNS server addresses).
9-4
“Method not found: Void System.Web.HttpResponse.Transmitfile (system string)”

Problem: I’m running Akimbi Slingshot in diagnostics mode and I get the above error message:
Solution: To resolve this, you need to install a Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 hotfix—see
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=902780.
“Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is not installed on the managed server”

Problem: I’m trying to attach a Managed Server and I’m seeing the above error message.
Solution: You are attempting to attach a VS 2005 R2 Managed Server with the wrong
virtualization technology. Try attaching it again and select “Microsoft Virtual Server
2005 R2” as the Virtualization Technology.
“...Could not find a Managed Server with enough Virtual Machine quota to deploy a Virtual Machine...”
Problem: I’m trying to deploy a configuration and I’m getting the following error message:
“x VMs is/are being deployed. Could not find a Managed Server

with enough Virtual Machine quota to deploy a Virtual Machine.
Please note that other conditions such as lack of Virtual Machine
Quota, Managed Servers being unreachable, MAC address conflicts
may be restricting Akimbi Slingshot to choose from a smaller set
of Managed Servers.“
Solution: This is the expected error when Managed Server resources are running low. If you are
frequently seeing this error, it could be an indication that you need to add more
Managed Servers or more RAM to your Managed Servers. It could also indicate that a
Managed Server is not “reachable” (check this on the SERVERS screen—ANB >
Servers).
“...This configuration cannot be deployed because of an IP address or MAC Address conflict...”

Problem: I’m trying to deploy a configuration and I’m getting the following error message:
“x VMs is/are being deployed. This configuration cannot be

deployed because of an IP address or MAC Address conflict with
another configuration that is already deployed. Deploy your
configuration in Fenced Mode or undeploy the other
configuration. You can see IP addresses of all deployed machines
on the ‘All Deployed Machines’ screen.“
Solution: This is the expected error when you attempt to deploy two configurations whose
machines have the same network parameters. You will need to deploy the second
configuration in fenced mode or undeploy the first configuration before deploying the
second.
Errors related to ASP.NET setup on the Slingshot Server

• “Server Error in ‘/AkimbiUI’ Application”.
• “Object Reference not set to an instance of an object”.
• “Access to the path ‘\<file or directory>’” .
• “Could not run command "C:\Program Files\Akimbi\Akimbi Slingshot\vfd" startOUTPUT: Failed to start the Virtual
Floppy driver. Access is denied“.
9-5
Problem: The above error messages appear when first accessing the Slingshot Console or
during operation.
Solution: All of the above errors are related to the Slingshot Server not using ASP.NET version
1.1.4322.
To verify you have ASP.NET version 1.1.4322 installed on the Slingshot Server
1. As an administrator, log in to your Slingshot Server machine.
2. Go to Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager
3. Expand the entry for the local computer.
4. Go to Web Sites > Default Web Sites > AkimbiUI > Properties (right-click) >
ASP.NET tab
5. From the ASP.NET version drop-down list, select 1.1.4322
6. Click Apply, then OK.
7. Open a command-line prompt and run “iisreset”.
“Page cannot be displayed”

Problem: The above browser error message appears.
Solution: On your Slingshot Server, check that Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 is installed. If it
isn’t, then install it. If it is, then re-install it.
Errors related to Storage Server null-session share configuration

• “The network path was not found”.
• “The path ‘\\<path>’ does not exist”.
• “Could not find a part of the path ‘\\<path>’”.
• “The configuration value could not be set. You do not have the appropriate access rights”.
• “The virtual machine configuration could not be added because the configuration file (.VMC) could not be parsed
correctly. It may be damaged.”
• “The virtual machine could not be started because the caller does not have execute access”.
• “Access to the path ‘\\pool1\VM\VM\117\117-SDCFV.vmc is denied”.
• “1 VM is being deployed. The virtual machine could not be started because the caller does not have execute
access”.
• “Could not find file ‘\\<IP address>\AkimbiShare\GSX_templates\Gold1\nvram’”.
• “Process must exit before requested information can be determined“.
• “Mount failed. Output: System error 1219 has occurred.”
• “Error executing VMware command [register]. [-11: No such virtual machine]”
Problem: One of the above error messages appears.
Solution: All of these messages are related to not having a Storage Server’s shared folder (the
Akimbi data repository—“C:\AkimbiShare” unless designated otherwise) not correctly
configured as a null-session share. Please refer to the “Adding a Storage Server”
section in the Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide.
9-6
“Could not find a VMware Managed Server that does not already have a Virtual Machine with the same MAC
address <MAC Address> deployed on it....”
Problem: When I try to deploy a cloned configuration in fenced mode I get the following error
message:
“Could not find a VMware Managed Server that does not already
have a Virtual Machine with the same MAC address <MAC Address>
deployed on it....”
I’m deploying this configuration in fenced mode, why am I getting this message?
Solution: There is a VMware limitation: you cannot deploy 2 virtual machines with the same MAC
address on the same Managed Server running VMware ESX, even in fenced mode.
Akimbi Slingshot automatically deploys VMware ESX VMs on Managed Servers to
avoid this, but this is not always possible. When this happens, the above error message
will appear. To get around this, change one of the machines’ MAC addresses: go to the
VM’s console window when deployed, select Properties from the machine’s mouseover
menu, and click the Reset MAC address button. Another solution is to increase the
number of Managed Servers running VMware ESX.
“Attaching the VM failed, but it should succeed on a reattempt. Please try again...“
Problem: During a deploy operation, the above error message appears, even on reattempts.
Solution: This problem may occur if a GSX virtual machine was imported into Akimbi prior to
release 2.3 and has a NIC 2 but no NIC 1. To correct this, from the GSX console,
remove the NIC 2 and add the NIC 1.
“The operation could not be performed, because there are no more IP Address resources“
Problem: During a deploy or another operation, the above error message appears.
Solution: You are running low on addresses in the Akimbi IP address pool and need to add more.
Go to Network > IP Pool tab > Add and add more. See your Network IT administrator
if you are not sure what IP address range to add.
“RPC Server is unavailable”

Problem: During operation, a “RPC Unavailable” message appears.
Solution: If a Managed Server WMI service is down, you may see this error message. To correct
this, take the following steps:
1. On the Managed Server, go to Administrative Tools > Services.
2. Make sure the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service is running.
“Mount point \\<IP Address>\ VM already contains VM files. Please remove these files before mounting the
Storage Server”
Problem: During the adding of a Storage Server, the above message appears.
Solution: It appears that you are trying to attach a Storage Server that already has virtual
machine files on it. Perhaps you removed a Storage Server and are trying to add it
again. This is not allowed. Try a different mount point or move the virtual machine
images to another directory. The virtual machine image files exist in the \\<IP Address>\
VM\ folder. Delete the VM folder when you are done moving images and try the mount
again.
9-7
“VMControl error -14...”

Problem: In my VMware ESX installation, during a snapshot operation, I get this error message:
“VMControl error -14: Unexpected response from vmware-authd: Error

connecting to //usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx process."
Solution: This is an internal VMware error that can occur after installation during any operation—
clone, snapshot, revert, deploy, undeploy, etc. If this occurs, try the operation again.
“VMControl error -12: VM already exists”

Problem: In my VMware ESX installation, during a snapshot operation, I get the above error
message:
Solution: This is an another internal VMware error that can occur after installation during any
operation—clone, snapshot, revert, deploy, undeploy, etc. If this occurs, try the
operation again.
“Could not connect to the remote agent on [<Managed Server IP Address>]. Error
System.Net.Sockets.SockedException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively
refused it”
Problem: During an operation, the above error message appears. The Slingshot Server is unable
to communicate with the Agent software running on a Managed Server.
Solution: Try the operation again. If you continue to see this message, try stopping and restarting
the Managed Server Agent service:
• On Windows, go to Administrative Tools > Services and stop and restart “Akimbi
Remote Virtual Service.”
• On Linux, log in as root and at the command-line type “service akimbiagentd

restart” and press Enter.
If the problem persists, reinstall the Managed Server Agent software.
“Mount failed. Output: System error 67 has occurred. The network name cannot be found”
Problem: I’m trying to attach a Storage Server and I’m getting this error message.
Solution: Check to make sure that the Storage Server mount point you’re entering is valid and try
adding it again.
“System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'StoragePoint' with unique
index 'unique_ss_name'
Problem: I’m trying to attach a Storage Server and I’m getting the above error message.
Solution: You’re entering the name of a Storage Server that already exists. Enter a unique name
and try again.
“The system is either inaccessible, or you have not installed managed server software upon the system yet.
No connection could be made because the target system actively refused it”
Problem: I am trying to attach a Managed Server in the Slingshot Console and I am getting this
error message.
9-8
Solution: You are having network problems or you have not installed the Managed Server Agent
software on the machine you are trying to attach. Make sure the Agent is installed and
try again.
“A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or
established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond”
Problem: I am trying a deploy operation and I am seeing the above message.
Solution: You are experiencing network problems and/or a response from a Managed Server has
timed out. Try the operation again. If the problem persists, see if there is a problem with
your network you can fix. Perhaps your Managed Server is running at or beyond full
capacity and is unable to respond in a timely fashion. If the latter, undeploy some of its
virtual machines. In the long term, consider whether you need to add more Managed
Servers or increase the RAM of the Managed Servers you do have.
“Mount failed. Output: System error 1219 has occurred.”

Problem: If you have added a share to the \AkimbiShare directory and are using that for the
StorageServer there is a conflict. Windows does not allow multiple connections from
the same user.
Solution: If you used a DNS name for the Mount Point when attaching the Storage Server, try
using the IP address or vice-versa.
“Could not find any enabled or reachable Managed Server with the proper virtualization technology to execute
this operation”
Problem: I’m trying to deploy a Virtual Server 2005 R2 virtual machine and I’m getting the above
message.
Solution: Slingshot is unable to find a Managed Server running Virtual Server 2005 R2. You may
have a Managed Server running Virtual Server 2005, but even that cannot host an R2
virtual machine. You need to either add a new Virtual Server 2005 R2 Managed Server
or convert your VS 2005 MS to VS 2005 R2. See the “Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2
Support” section in the Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide.
“Validating Credentials failed with error Access denied. The Windows credentials provided cannot be used to
connect to the Windows server <IP address>. Please ensure that the user name and password are correct and
part of the local administrators group”
Problem: I’ve just added a Managed Server and when I try to deploy a configuration I’m getting
the above error message.
Solution: This is a Managed Server credentials problem. Check that the username and password
you used to add the Managed Server in the Slingshot Console is a purely local (not
domain) user on the Managed Server.
“The credentials supplied conflict with an existing set of credentials (you have already previously mounted
this location with a different username and password)”
Problem: I’m trying to mount a Storage Server share and I’m getting the above message.
Solution: The message indicates that you previously mounted this location and are trying to
mount it again with the same credentials. Try using the machine name instead of an IP
address (or vice-versa) for the UNC Path field when adding the Storage Server.
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“The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd suspend <configfile>) failed with error 5"

“The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd suspend <configfile>) failed with error 11"
“The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd start <configfile>) failed with error 5"
“The VM Operation (akimbi-cmd start <configfile>) failed with error 11"
“Error registering VM:<VM>The originating server for this exception is <Managed Server>”
Problem: During a configuration operation, one of the above error messages appears.
Solution: If you are using VMware GSX Managed Servers, one of the above error messages can
appear during a configuration operation. For VMware GSX, the account (username and
password) used for attaching Managed Servers to an Akimbi installation must also
exist on all the NAS Storage Servers (but not SAN VFMS Storage Servers). The
Storage Server account on NAS servers must have administrator privileges.
“Failed to execute process [/usr/sbin/akimbi-diskcreate]. Device or resource busy"

Problem: I’m trying to export a configuration and it fails with the above error message.
Solution: If this message appears during a configuration or template export, please try the
operation again. This can happen if multiple exports are occurring at the same time.
“ESX P2V requires an ESX Managed Server accessible with root credentials. Slingshot cannot find a Managed
Server with the proper credentials and/or available resources (RAM, disk space or VM slots)."
Problem: I’m attempting a P2V operation in an ESX-only installation and I’m seeing the above
error message.
Solution: For the P2V operation to work in ESX, an ESX Managed Server accessible with root
user credentials must be available. The credentials (username/password) are entered
when a Managed Server is added to Akimbi. One must exist and also currently have the
resources (RAM, disk space, VM slots) to complete the operation. If this is a resources
problem, consider undeploying some VMs from this Managed Server and trying again.
Operational Errors
Blank screen when I access Akimbi Slingshot Console

Problem: When I try to access the Akimbi Slingshot Console, a blank screen appears even
though it says “Done” at the bottom. As required, I'm using an Internet Explorer 6+
browser. Why is this happening?
Solution: You may not have enabled all the IE options needed for client access, specifically, the
“Allow paste operations via script” option. See Component Requirements and
Recommendations, Client Machines in the Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator
Guide or the Troubleshooting Akimbi Slingshot Guide for further information on setting
up Internet Explorer for client operation.
Virtual machine console does not display

Problem: When I click a virtual machine thumbnail icon, the virtual machine console display
window does not appear. I'm taken to a screen where a tab appears at the top-left that
can display a machine's mouseover menu, but the console display does not appear.
9-10
Solution: You may not have enabled all the Internet Explorer options needed for client access,
specifically the ones for downloading and running Active X controls. Akimbi uses an
Active X control to display a virtual machine's console window. See Setting Internet
Explorer Options in the Akimbi Slingshot Installation Guide for information on setting up
Internet Explorer for client operation.
Problem: We recently added a new Managed Server, however, no console display windows
appear for virtual machines running on that Managed Server.
Solution: When you added the Managed Server, did you add it with a host name or an IP
address? We’ve seen cases where a host name was used but the DNS was not
configured correctly in that installation and for some machines the host name was not
getting correctly resolved. Go to the Managed Server’s properties page (ANB >
Servers > (Properties) Managed Server’s mouseover menu) and enter an IP address
instead of a DNS host name.
NOTE: Another possible reason for this problem is that your machine does not have routable access to the
Akimbi Servers. See “Configuring Routing" in the Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide for
information on setting ports for routable access.
Not receiving e-mail alerts

Problem: None of my Akimbi administrators are receiving e-mail alerts when disk thresholds are
crossed.
Solution: Make sure you have entered a correct DNS or IP address for your SMTP machine
(ANB > Slingshot > E-mail Preferences). If you are using a DNS name instead on an
IP address, make sure your DNS server is able to resolve it.
Duplicate IP Address errors

Problem: I’ve created a baseline configuration that I want to duplicate. After creating my baseline
configuration and saving it to the Configuration Library, I checked it out and saved it
back to create my duplicate.
In the Library, from the Configuration’s details screen, I went to the properties page for
each virtual machine in the duplicate and modified its IP and MAC addresses. I
attempted to deploy first the original configuration and then the duplicate. When I tried
deploying the second configuration I got “duplicate IP address” errors and it wouldn’t
deploy. What is going on?
Solution: You’ve modified the information Akimbi has about the virtual machines but you haven’t
changed the actual IP and MAC addresses themselves. This has to be done manually,
through each virtual machine’s console window. You have to modify both to avoid
network errors.
Instead of manually changing IP and MAC addresses, you have two easier options to
get around duplicate IP address errors:
1. Deploy your configurations in fenced mode. Each VM in a fenced configuration

mode is given a unique, external IP address. However, be aware that subnet
broadcasts will not go outside the fence. If you want your two configurations to talk
to each other via broadcasts then you need to implement option #2.
2. In your baseline configuration, create a machine template from each virtual

machine and install Akimbi Tools on it. To build your duplicate configuration, create
your virtual machines from the templates you’ve created. You can then deploy both
configurations in unfenced mode without IP address errors because Akimbi Tools
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takes care of automatically assigning unique IP addresses from its IP pool. Your
configuration’s machines will then be able to respond to subnet broadcasts.
Error adding a SCSI virtual hard disk on VMware

Solution: When I add a new SCSI virtual hard disk to a VM with one IDE hard disk and running on
VMware, I get an operating system message saying drivers for this device cannot be
found or are missing.
Problem: You will need to download and install the appropriate driver from
www.vmware.com/download and contact VMware for support.
Mouse is not working on guest operating system

Problem: When I move my mouse into a virtual machine console display it appears as a small
dot. After that, I’m unable to move it out of the window and use it on my host operating
system.
Solution: VM Additions (Virtual Server) or VM Tools (VMware) has not been installed on the
guest operating system. If Virtual Machine Additions is not installed, the cursor will
appear as a small dot and you will not be able to move the cursor outside of the guest
operating system unless you use the right ALT key (VS) or CTRL-ALT (VMware). Install
the current version of Virtual Machine Additions to provide mouse functionality and
move the pointer freely between the virtual machine window and the host operating
system. For more information, see “Install VM Additions or VM Tools” in the Akimbi
Slingshot User and Administrator Guide.
Cannot take remote control of virtual machine

Problem: I’m unable to use Remote Desktop Connection on a virtual machine.
Solution: To take remote control of a virtual machine, you need to have configured a virtual
machine’s operating system to allow remote connections. On Windows 2003, the user
must either be an Administrator or explicitly added to the list of authorized users. In
Windows, to allow remote desktop connections, go to Control Panel > System >
Remote tab > Remote Desktop section, select the Allow users to connect remotely
to this computer check box. To allow users, go to the same place and click “Select
Remote Users”.
Akimbi Slingshot Server crashed and now things aren’t working right
Problem: My Akimbi Slingshot Server experienced a power failure and rebooted. Now my
operations are failing or getting stuck.
Solution: If the Akimbi Slingshot Server crashes, you will need to reboot the Managed Servers to
clear up any anomalies.
Loss of connectivity to Storage Server (network glitch reboot or crash)

Problem: Connectivity to Storage Server is lost. VMs cached on Managed Servers continue
operation; however, if you undeploy the VM when the Storage Server is down, you may
lose work. VMs that are running from the Storage Server cease to operate properly.
Non-cached VMware VMs go into “pending” state. Non-cached VS 2005 VMs go into
an “invisible VM” state.
Solution: You need to reboot Managed Servers running non-cached images from the Storage
Server.
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Temporary Loss of Managed Server—MS reboots

Problem: A Managed Server is temporarily lost and reboots. Within 2 minutes, the Akimbi
Console displays the lost Managed Server as “Unreachable”. Virtual machines running
on the MS cannot be accessed using remote console. Thumbnail icons display
“Unavailable”. All operations of virtual machines on that machine fail (except for
undeploy). Configurations with virtual routers running on the lost MS can no longer
communicate outside the fence. This MS is no longer chosen to deploy VMs.
Solution: When Managed Server comes back up, all its VMs are in the “Off” or “Suspended” state
(depending on whether Virtual Server was able to suspend or turn off the VM). The VMs
are accessible as before. Configurations with virtual routers running on the Managed
Server are no longer able to communicate outside the fence until they are redeployed.
Temporary Loss of Managed Server—networking issue

Problem: A Managed Server is lost due to network difficulties. Within 2 minutes, the Akimbi
Console displays the lost Managed Server as “Unreachable”. Virtual machines running
on the MS cannot be accessed using remote console. Thumbnail icons display
“Unavailable”. All operations of virtual machines on that machine fail (except for
undeploy). This MS is no longer chosen to deploy VMs. If networking fails between the
MS and other Managed Servers, external networking stops working for fenced
configurations with virtual routers on the lost MS.
Solution: When the network glitch goes away, the Managed Server works as before. If the
Managed Server lost network connectivity to the Storage Servers, you will need to
reboot the Managed Server to restore original behavior.
Akimbi Server fails or loses connectivity or reboots

Problem: The Akimbi Server stops working or loses connectivity. Virtual machines not using the
Akimbi Server as its Storage Server continue to run. The user interface fails. Any
currently running operation is aborted.
Solution: Once the Akimbi Server reconnects it resumes control of all deployed virtual machines.
You may have to delete or undeploy any objects that were in the midst of being created
before being aborted and try creating them again.
Permanent loss of Managed Server—server failure

Problem: A Managed Server fails. Within 2 minutes the Slingshot Console displays the Managed
Server as “Unreachable.” All operations of virtual machines on that machine fail except
for undeploy. Configurations with virtual routers running on the lost MS can no longer
communicate outside the fence. Everything else continues to work fine—all VMs
running on other Managed Servers continue to work. Slingshot no longer chooses this
MS to deploy VMs.
Solution: There is no automatic recovery. You can recover manually taking the following steps:
1. Undeploy VMs on the lost MS (with loss of data for cached VM images)
2. Redeploy VMs on other Managed Servers
Network parameters not automatically set for virtual machines created from a VMware Template with Akimbi
Tools installed.
Problem: I’ve created a virtual machine from a VMware machine template with Akimbi Tools
installed. When I open its console and check the IP address, I notice it’s “0.0.0.0.” In
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other words, the IP address is not getting automatically set. I thought Akimbi Tools was
supposed to handle this?
Solution: Akimbi Tools does not work on VMware machines using vmxnet drivers. You can either
configure the template VM to use vmlance drivers, or manually configure the network
parameters for VMs created from this template.
Error in undeploying configuration in GSX

Problem: A undeployment of a configuration in GSX fails. In the Workspace, the message “Error
in undeploying” appears in red in the Status column.
Solution: Undeploying configuration VMs in GSX can fail for unknown reasons and leave the
virtual machines in an unstable state. Clicking on the “Error in undeploying” text takes
you to the VIEW JOB DETAILS screen. On this screen you have the option to force
undeployment; some loss of VM state may result but problems deploying this
configuration in the future will be avoided.
MAC Address displayed on PROPERTIES page not the same as virtual machine’s
Problem: I’ve deployed a template running VMware GSX. I’ve noticed that the MAC address
shown in the Akimbi Slingshot Console on the machine’s properties screen is different
from the actual MAC address I saw configured when I went into the template’s virtual
machine console.
Solution: The MAC address displayed in the Slingshot Console is incorrect. This is a known
VMware GSX/ESX bug.
Errors when using the Microsoft Virtual Server administration console

Problem: The Microsoft Virtual Server application bundled with Slingshot is accessible from the
Start Menu. However, I found that script exceptions are thrown when trying to
administer virtual machines through the Microsoft Virtual Server Administration Website
program. Is this because of custom settings during the Akimbi installation, and does it
mean that all administration should be done strictly from the Akimbi Slingshot console?
Solution: Our relationship with Microsoft requires that we embed their technology into our
product. Our application extends the capabilities of Virtual Server and its interaction
with virtual machines. If you are using the Virtual Server that came bundled with Akimbi,
the Administration Website program is disabled. Using their UI could create conflict with
Akimbi operation so we, therefore, recommend that all interactions with virtual
machines be done through our interface. If you need access to the VS Administration
program, contact Akimbi support and we can enable it for you.
Error when I click on a LiveLink URL

Problem: A tester e-mailed me a LiveLink URL. I clicked on it, logged in, and got an error
message saying “Could not perform operation because the object is busy.”
Solution: The LiveLink you received is the URL of a configuration that has been captured to the
Configuration Library. The sender may have sent the e-mail to you before the capture
operation completed. Give the operation a few more minutes to complete then try
again.
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Cannot use host server’s CD drive to install software

Problem: I would like to use the host server’s physical CD drive to install software on a virtual
machine instead of using ISO images. Is there any way to do this?
Solution: Currently, by design, we don't allow direct physical access to the CD-ROM. With a
server farm, you don't necessarily know on which physical servers virtual machines will
be deployed. Even if you did, it would require someone to physically access the server
and insert a CD. If you put your CD ISO images into the Slingshot Server’s
AkimbiShare\ISO directory (by default, on the C: drive), they are automatically
populated to the ISO image drop-down list. You can use the MEDIA screen (ANB >
Media) to populate images to the AkimbiShare.
Internet Explorer on a VMware GSX Win2K3 machine crashes when I change the console display size
Problem: On a VMware GSX Win2K machine, when I increase the display size to 800 x 600,
Internet Explorer crashes.
Solution: This is a problem we’ve seen on Windows 2000 machines. The workaround is to first
change the display to a larger size than 800 x 600, either 1280 x 1024 or 1600 x 1200.
Once you’ve applied the larger size, go back and change it to 800 x 600.
NIC on VM without Akimbi Tools installed appears broken (red X) and does not work
Problem: I have a virtual machine created from a template without Akimbi Tools installed. When I
look at the VM console, the NIC appears disabled—it appears on the system tray as a
red x.
Solution: This is a Virtual Server 2005 R2 issue. When 2 machines are running with the same
MAC address the second machine’s NIC is disabled and appears as a red x. Virtual
Server uses an XML configuration file with an entry to indicate whether duplicate MAC
addresses are allowed. To fix this, you need to manually configure the virtual machine’s
network parameters to unique values.
Alternatively, you could change the Virtual Server’s XML configuration file to allow
duplicate MAC addresses:
1. In the VM console, use notepad to open “C:\Documents and Settings\All

Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Virtual Server\options.xml”.
2. Change the following field to true:
<virtual_network>
<duplicate_mac>
<isAllowed type="boolean">true</isAllowed>
</duplicate_mac>
In VMware GSX, the VMware Console no longer works after upgrading GSX from 3.20 to 3.2.1 or higher
Problem: After upgrading GSX, the VMware GSX console no longer works.
Solution: You need to log into the Managed Server as an administrator and modify the SQL
database where Akimbi keeps information about the installed GSX version.
Open a command-line prompt and run the following commands (press Enter after each
line):
> Osql –s localhost –d akimbi – E
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1> UPDATE config SET value = ‘http://{0}:8222/vmware/bin/

<executable>‘ WHERE name = ‘ConsoleEXELocation’
NOTE: Enter the above command as one line.
2> go
1> exit
For example:

1> UPDATE config SET value = ‘http://{0}:8222/vmware/bin/VMware-
console-3.2.0-14497.exe‘ WHERE name = ‘ConsoleEXELocation’
2> go
1> exit
Storage capacity listed as “0” after Storage Server import

Problem: I’ve attached a Storage Server but on the STORAGE screen its storage capacity is
listed as” 0”.
Solution: If this happens, you’ll have to update the SQL database on the Slingshot Server.
Log in to the Akimbi Slingshot Server machine as an administrator, open a command-

line prompt and run the following commands (press Enter after each line):

1> UPDATE StoragePoint set disk_size = 99999 where disk_size = 0
2> go
1> exit
PlateSpin does not work on a French Slingshot Server

Problem: I’m using PlateSpin on my French Slingshot Server and I’m getting an error during the
discovery process.
Solution: This a PlateSpin bug. The solution is to change, on the Slingshot Server, the account
the PlateSpin service— PlateSpin Operations Framework Controller—is running under.
If it is set to run as a "Local System" ( "Systeme local" ) account, then it needs to run
using a local Administrator account.
Hard Disk size listed as “inaccessible size” for ESX machine template
Problem: I’m looking at the MACHINE TEMPLATES properties screen for an ESX machine
template and the disk size is displayed as “Inaccessible size.”
Problem: This is a known ESX bug. It occurs when a virtual machine created from this template is
running. “Inaccessible size” is also listed on the deployed VM’s properties screen. If you
undeploy the virtual machine and return to the template’s properties screen, the correct
size is listed.
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Appendix A: Glossary
Word Definition
Access Control List See ACL.
ACL Short for access control list, a set of data that informs a
computer's operating system which permissions, or access rights,
that each user or group has to a specific system object, such as a
directory or file. Each object has a unique security attribute that
identifies which users have access to it, and the ACL is a list of
each object and user access privileges such as read, write or
execute.
Activity Log The Activity Log is a screen where you can view the status and
other information about Akimbi operations that take time and occur
asynchronously (also called jobs). These include cloning a
configuration, importing a configuration, capturing a configuration
and so on. During asynchronous operations, you can perform
other tasks at the Akimbi Console. Later, you can return to this
screen (ANB > Activity Log) to check the operations’ status and
view detailed error and debugging information.
Agent (Managed Server) Software installed on Managed Server to allow connection with the
Akimbi Slingshot system.
Akimbi Console The browser-based, GUI Interface to the Akimbi System,

accessible using HTTP from the Akimbi Slingshot Server.
Akimbi Fence Switch See Virtual Router.
Akimbi IP Pool Range of IP addresses that Akimbi automatically assigns to virtual

machines.
Akimbi Slingshot Server Server that provides a browser-based interface (Akimbi Slingshot
Console) to the Akimbi system and manages and deploys
configurations against a pool of Managed Servers.
Akimbi Tools A collection of software utilities you install on a machine template

when it is created or modified. Installing Akimbi Tools allows
Akimbi Slingshot to automatically assign network settings for a
virtual machine made from a template.
AkimbiShare A directory Akimbi uses to store, among other things, ISO images.
The directory’s location is set up during installation. By default, it’s
C:\AkimbiShare.
Autorun The operating system facility and associated files that

automatically open an application or document when a CD is
inserted in a CD-ROM drive.
Capture To save a copy of configuration at a specific point in time to the

Akimbi Configuration Library.
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Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide—Glossary
Word Definition
Configuration A group of virtual machines (and their operating systems,

applications and data) that Akimbi Slingshot controls as a single
unit.
Configuration Library The Configuration Library stores captured configurations. These

can be re-deployed to the Workspace and saved again as new
captured configurations.
Deployed Configuration A configuration and its virtual machines that are currently running
on Managed Server(s).
DHCP Short for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a protocol for

assigning dynamic IP addresses to devices on a network. With
dynamic addressing, a device can have a different IP address
every time it connects to the network. In some systems, the
device's IP address can even change while it is still connected.
DHCP also supports a mix of static and dynamic IP addresses.
Disk Image Byte-by-byte copy of a hard drive, partition or logical disk.
DNS Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet
service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because
domain names are alphabetic, they're easier to remember. The
Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you
use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the
name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain
name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4.
Domain Name System See DNS.
Dynamic Host Configuration See DHCP.

Protocol
External IP A virtual machine’s temporarily assigned network IP address when

it is in a fenced configuration. This is different from its internal IP
which is permanently assigned.
Fenced Configuration A configuration whose network interactions have been isolated

from others using Akimbi network fencing technology. This allows
multiple configurations to be run on the same subnet even if they
contain machines with the same IP addresses. Within a fenced
configuration, which can span multiple Managed Servers, each
virtual machine is given an additional, inside, fenced IP address. A
virtual router resolves each virtual machine’s inside, fenced IP
address with its external IP address.
Fenced IP Address If a virtual machine is within a fenced configuration it is given an

external IP address in addition to its already allocated internal IP
address. A virtual router resolves each virtual machine’s inside,
fenced IP address with its external IP address.
A-2
Word Definition
Gateway A node on a network that serves as an entrance to another

network. In enterprises, the gateway is the computer that routes
the traffic from a workstation to the outside network that is serving
the Web pages. In homes, the gateway is the ISP that connects
the user to the internet.
In enterprises, the gateway node often acts as a proxy server and
a firewall. The gateway is also associated with both a router, which
use headers and forwarding tables to determine where packets
are sent, and a switch, which provides the actual path for the
packet in and out of the gateway.
Guest Operating System A virtual machine’s operating system. The term “Guest” is used to
distinguish it from the Managed Server’s OS (“Host OS) that the
VM is running on.
Host Operating System A Managed Server’s operating system (OS). The term “Host” is
used to distinguish it from the OS (“Guest OS”) of the virtual
machine it is deploying.
Image Bits on disk. More specifically, a set of disk files representing a

Virtual Machine or byte-by-byte copy of a disk.
Internal IP A virtual machine’s permanently assigned IP address as opposed

to its external IP address that is temporarily assigned when the VM
is in a fenced configuration.
ISO file An ISO file is a computer file that is an exact copy of an existing
file system. An ISO file can contain the entire contents of a CD-
ROM disc. Note that ISO is not an acronym; instead, the name
derives from the Greek word iso, which means equal.
Library (Akimbi) See Configuration Library.
LiveLink A URL for a captured configuration in the Configuration Library.

This URL can be e-mailed to another user. When clicked, the
configuration is automatically checked out of the Library and
deployed, and the user is taken to the Akimbi Console.
MAC address Short for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that
uniquely identifies each node of a network. In IEEE 802 networks,
the Data Link Control (DLC) layer of the OSI Reference Model is
divided into two sublayers: the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer
and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer
interfaces directly with the network medium. Consequently, each
different type of network medium requires a different MAC layer.
Machine A computer, either virtual or physical.
Machine Template A virtual machine image loaded with an operating system,

applications and data, ready to be used as a building block for
configurations.
Managed Server Agent Software installed on a server to create a Managed Server. It

allows Akimbi Slingshot to communicate with and control it.
A-3
Word Definition
Managed Server A server running the Akimbi Managed Server software that the
Akimbi Slingshot Server uses to deploy configurations and their
virtual machines
Managed Server Pool Collection of Managed Servers the Akimbi Slingshot Server uses
to deploy and run configurations.
Maximum Transmission Unit See MTU.
Media Access Control See MAC.
Mono Sponsored by Novell, the Mono open source project provides the
necessary software to develop and run .NET client and server
applications on Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, Windows, and Unix.
Mouseover Menu (MOM) Similar to a right-click menu—they appear when you move (hover)
your mouse over an object name (i.e., template, configuration,
virtual machine, etc.) or screen title.
MTU Short for Maximum Transmission Unit, the largest physical packet
size, measured in bytes, that a network can transmit. Any
messages larger than the MTU are divided into smaller packets
before being sent.
Every network has a different MTU, which is set by the network
administrator. On most versions of Windows and Linux, you can
also set the MTU of your machine. This defines the maximum size
of the packets sent from your computer onto the network. Ideally,
you want the MTU to be the same as the smallest MTU of all the
networks between your machine and a message's final
destination. Otherwise, if your messages are larger than one of the
intervening MTUs, they will get broken up (fragmented), which
slows down transmission speeds.
NAT Short for Network Address Translation, an Internet standard that

enables a local-area network (LAN) to use one set of IP addresses
for internal traffic and a second set of addresses for external
traffic. A NAT box located where the LAN meets the Internet
makes all necessary IP address translations.
NDIS Short for Network Driver Interface Specification, a Windows device

driver interface that enables a single network interface card (NIC)
to support multiple network protocols. For example, with NDIS a
single NIC can support both TCP/IP and IPX connections. NDIS
can also be used by some ISDN adapters.
Netmask A netmask is a 32-bit mask used to divide an IP address into

subnets and specify the networks available hosts. In a netmask
two bits are always automatically assigned. For example in
255.255.225.0, "0" is the assigned network address and in
255.255.255.255, "255" is the assigned broadcast address. The 0
and 255 are always assigned and cannot be used.
Network Address Translation See NAT.
A-4
Word Definition
Network Driver Interface See NDIS.

Specification
Network Fencing Akimbi proprietary technology that allows configurations to be

deployed multiple times on a single network segment without
encountering duplicate IP address errors.
Network Interface Card See NIC.
NIC Short for Network Interface Card, an expansion board you insert
into a computer so the computer can be connected to a network.
Most NICs are designed for a particular type of network, protocol,
and media, although some can serve multiple networks.
Non-Fenced Configuration A configuration that is not running in fenced mode. Unlike fenced
configurations, IP address contention errors will occur if it is
deployed more than once in non-fenced mode.
Null Session Null sessions are un-authenticated connections (not using a

username or password) to a system. Windows and Linux systems
can to be configured to allow null sessions.
Private Configuration A private configuration is available to its owner and administrators

to use and is visible to them in the Workplace. See also Shared
Configuration.
Proxy Server A server that sits between a client application, such as a Web
browser, and a real server. It intercepts all requests to the real
server to see if it can fulfill the requests itself. If not, it forwards the
request to the real server.
Red Hat Package Manager See RPM.
RPM Short for Red Hat Package Manager, the most common software
package manager used for Linux distributions. Because it allows
compiled software distribution, users can install the software with a
single command.
Shared Configuration A shared configuration is available for other users to deploy and
use and is visible to all users in the Workplace. See also Private
Configuration.
Snapshot (Configuration) A configuration (and all its virtual machines) captured at a specific
point of time when deployed. The snapshot is saved even when
the configuration is undeployed. Only one configuration snapshot
is active at a time. If another one is set, it replaces the previous
one.
Snapshot (Virtual Machine) A virtual machine captured at a specific point of time when
deployed. Only one revert point is active at a time. The snapshot is
saved with the virtual machine in the Library.
Security Identifier See SID.
A-5
Word Definition
SID Short for security identifier, a security feature of the Windows NT

and 2000 operating systems. The SID is a unique name
(alphanumeric character string) that is used to identify an object,
such as a user or a group of users in a network of NT/2000
systems.
Windows grants or denies access and privileges to resources
based on ACLs, which use SIDs to uniquely identify users and
their group memberships. When a user requests access to a
resource, the user’s SID is checked by the ACL to determine if that
user is allowed to perform that action or if that user is part of a
group that is allowed to perform that action
Snapshot See Capture.
Storage Server Server used for saving configurations and other Akimbi data.
SupportLink Akimbi Slingshot's SupportLink feature sends usage data to

Akimbi, enhancing our ability to provide support and improve our
product. This data is not shared with any other organization, nor
can it be traced back to individual users. With the aid of
SupportLink information, Akimbi can provide individualized e-mail
support with guaranteed 24-hour response time.
A-6
Word Definition
Subnet Mask A mask used to determine what subnet an IP address belongs to.
An IP address has two components, the network address and the
host address. For example, consider the IP address
150.215.017.009. Assuming this is part of a Class B network, the
first two numbers (150.215) represent the Class B network
address, and the second two numbers (017.009) identify a
particular host on this network.
Subnetting enables the network administrator to further divide the
host part of the address into two or more subnets. In this case, a
part of the host address is reserved to identify the particular
subnet. This is easier to see if we show the IP address in binary
format. The full address is:
10010110.11010111.00010001.00001001
The Class B network part is: 10010110.11010111
and the host address is: 00010001.00001001
If this network is divided into 14 subnets, however, then the first 4
bits of the host address (0001) are reserved for identifying the
subnet.
The subnet mask is the network address plus the bits reserved for
identifying the subnetwork. (By convention, the bits for the network
address are all set to 1, though it would also work if the bits were
set exactly as in the network address.) In this case, therefore, the
subnet mask would be 11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000.
It's called a mask because it can be used to identify the subnet to
which an IP address belongs by performing a bitwise AND
operation on the mask and the IP address. The result is the
subnetwork address: Subnet Mask 255.255.240.000
11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
IP Address 150.215.017.009
10010110.11010111.00010001.00001001
Subnet Address 150.215.016.000
10010110.11010111.00010000.00000000
The subnet address, therefore, is 150.215.016.000.
SupportLink Network connection between an Akimbi Server and Akimbi.

Statistics get sent to Akimbi; updates are sent to the customer.
A-7
Word Definition
UNC Short for Universal Naming Convention or Uniform Naming

Convention, a PC format for specifying the location of resources
on a local-area network (LAN).
A UNC path uses double slashes or backslashes to precede the
name of the computer. The path (disk and directories) within the
computer are separated with a single slash or backslash, as in the
following examples. Note that in the DOS/Windows example, drive
letters (c:, d:, etc.) are not used in UNC names.
//server-name/path/Unix (Unix)
\\server-name\shared-resource-pathname (DOS/Windows)
So, for example, in Windows, to access the file test.txt in the
directory examples on the shared server silo, you would write:
\\silo\examples\test.txt
Undeployed Configuration A configuration and its virtual machines that is active in the
Workspace but is not currently running on Managed Server(s).
Universal Naming Convention See UNC.
Virtual CD A Virtual CD is a path to a CD image on the network. Typically, this

CD image is an ISO file.
Virtual Machine A computer emulated on a physical computer. The Virtual Machine

runs as a self-contained environment with its own operating
system, applications, data and virtual peripherals.
Virtual Router A virtual machine Akimbi creates within a Fenced Configuration,

hidden from the user. A virtual router translates internal, fenced IP
addresses into external, network IP addresses.
VM Additions Virtual Machine Additions is Microsoft software installed on a

guest OS that improves many aspects of using a virtual machine
with Virtual Server. VM Additions provides the following
enhancements: improved performance of the guest operating
system, integrated use of the mouse, optimized video drivers, and
time synchronization. See also VM Tools.
VM Chain A virtual machine’s original image and all its deltas of changes
over time linked together. To consolidate a VM chain is to
consolidate its image and deltas into a contiguous block,
improving performance when accessing it.
VM Image A file that can be loaded on a virtual machine and executed.
VM Tools VM Tools is VMware software installed on a guest OS that

supports significantly faster graphics performance, shared folders,
drag and drop operations, synchronization of time in the guest
operating system with time on the host, automatic grabbing and
releasing of the mouse cursor, copying and pasting between guest
and host, and improved mouse performance in some guest
operating systems. See also VM Additions.
A-8
Word Definition
Workspace The Akimbi Console control center. You can monitor and control
deployed and undeployed configurations and their virtual
machines from this screen (ANB > Workspace).
A-9
Appendix B: Akimbi Slingshot
Edition Comparison
Edition Personal Team Enterpris
Number of Managed Servers 5 unlimited unlimited
Number of Users 1 unlimited unlimited
Number of Storage Servers 1 (local only) 5 unlimited
Training & Support web web+phone web+phone
SupportLink Enhanced Support yes yes yes
Configuration Management yes yes yes
Easy to Use Browser UI yes yes yes
Configuration Library Management yes yes yes
Network Fencing yes yes
Cached Operation yes yes
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, R2 yes yes yes
VMware GSX Server yes yes
VMware ESX Server yes
Team Support limited yes yes
LiveLink yes yes yes
Configuration Sharing yes yes
SOAP Integration API yes yes
Import/ Export yes yes
Real-Time Monitoring limited yes yes
Activity Log yes yes yes
P2V option (PlateSpin add-on) yes yes
Server Pool yes yes
B-1
Appendix C: Command Summary
Listed below are the commands for the main Akimbi objects—Configuration, Machine, Managed Server, Storage
Server, User and Job (activity).
Commands appear in an object’s mouseover menu. To access an object’s mouseover menu, move (hover) your
mouse over an object's name in the Akimbi Console UI. An arrow appears next to object names with mouseover
menus. Commands available in an object’s mouseover menu are dependent on an object’s current state (deployed,
undeployed, enabled, disabled, in service, not in service, etc.).
Configuration D U L (D = Deployed, U = Undeployed, L = Library)
Capture to Library X X Suspend, store machines' state to Library, then resume

Checkout X Copy Library configuration to Workspace as undeployed
Clone X X Suspend, copy configuration to Workspace as undeployed, then resume
Delete X X Delete configuration
Deploy X Instantiate configuration on Managed Server Pool. Review and possibly set
deployment options first
Deploy with defaults X Instantiate configuration on Managed Server using user's preferences
Details X X X Go to configuration details screen
Export X Export configuration to a network directory
LiveLink X Create HTTP link (URL) of Library configuration
Make Shared/Private X X X Share configuration or make private
Properties X X X Display and edit configuration properties
Reset X Reset all configuration machines
Resume X Resume all suspended configuration machines
Revert X Revert machines to last configuration snapshot revert point
Show Consoles X Show and control consoles of all configuration machines
Snapshot X Set configuration snapshot revert point
Suspend X Suspend all configuration machines
Turn Off X Turn off all configuration machines
Turn On X Turn on all configuration machines
Undeploy X Remove configuration from Managed Servers
Managed Server I N (I = In Service, N = Not in Service)
Allow Deployments X Allow Managed Server deployments

Disallow Deployments X Stop Managed Server deployments
Properties X X View and edit Managed Server properties
Reboot X X Reboot Managed Server machine
Remove X Remove disabled Managed Server
Undeploy all and cleanup X Undeploy all VMs and clean cache
C-1
Akimbi Slingshot Command Summary
User E D (E = Enabled, D = Disabled)
Delete X Delete user

Disable X Stop user from using Akimbi
Properties X X View and edit user properties
Enable X Allow user to use Akimbi
Machine (DVM = Deployed VM, UVM = Undeployed VM, LIB = Library,

DVM
UVM
DT = Deployed Template, UT = Undeployed Template)
LIB
DT
UT
Add to Templates X X Add VM to your owned templates
Clone X X Copy machine
Ctrl-Alt-Delete X Send CTRL-ALT-DELETE to the VM
Consolidate VM Chain X Group VM image and deltas in sequential storage
Delete X X Delete machine
Deploy X X Deploy with assigned options
Deploy with defaults Deploy with user's preferences
Export X Export to a network directory
Insert/ Eject CD X Insert/Eject ISO image into/from machine's virtual CD
Insert/ Eject Floppy X Insert/Eject floppy image (.vfd) into/from machine's virtual floppy
Install VM Additions X Install VM Additions (VS) or VM Tools (VMware) on virtual machine
Make Shared/Private X Share machine template or make private
Properties X X X X X View and edit machine properties
Publish/Unpublish X Allow or not allow creating configurations with machine template
Reset X Reset machine
Revert X Return machine to last snapshot revert point
Snapshot X Set machine's snapshot revert point
Suspend X Suspend machine (freeze CPU)
Turn On/Off X Turn machine on or off
Undeploy X X Undeploy machine from Managed Servers
View console X X Show and control console display
Storage Server E D (E = Enabled, D = Disabled)
Dependencies X X View storage content on Server

Disable X Disallow further storage on Server
Enable X Allow storage on Server
Properties X X Edit and view Storage Server properties
Remove X Remove Storage Server
Undeploy all VMs X X Undeploy all deployed machines stored on this Server
Job (Activity)
Details X Show details of asynchronous job
C-2
Appendix D: Akimbi’s Network
Fencing and Caching Technology
Akimbi’s Network Fencing Technology

One of the major features of Akimbi Slingshot is its network fencing technology. This technology allows the same
configuration to be deployed multiple times without encountering duplicate IP address errors. Frequently, when a bug
is discovered, a developer has to be found to look at the problem and all testing on that configuration grinds to a halt. If
a developer cannot be found, or, is unavailable at that time (perhaps asleep in another time zone), the bug may not be
reproducible later. While a developer is debugging a configuration, which may take considerable time, the tester is
unable to continue testing on that configuration. With fencing, while a developer debugs, testers can continue their
testing, or even, run multiple, independent tests on a configuration deployed multiple times.
Figure D-1: Normal conflict with multiple configuration deployment

The above illustration shows what normally occurs when two configurations are deployed on the same subnet
simultaneously. The first configuration is deployed on the Managed Server pool successfully; the second runs into
“duplicate IP address” errors and is unable to deploy.
NOTE: Akimbi’s network fencing technology availability is dependent on license type. (See “Appendix B:
Akimbi Slingshot Edition Comparison" for more information on license types.)
The next graphic shows what occurs using Akimbi’s network fencing technology. In this case, the same configuration
has been deployed twice to the server pool. But unlike before, the second configuration is deployed in “fenced mode.”
In fenced mode, the virtual machines within the two configurations keep their existing, duplicate IP addresses, but the
Akimbi “fence” shields them from each other and prevents conflict. The virtual machines inside the fence continue to
interact with each other using their pre-configured (“internal”) IP addresses.
To allow the fenced virtual machines to communicate outside the fence, they are assigned “external” IP addresses.
Through these addresses, an outside machine can communicate with the virtual machines inside the fence. The virtual
D-1
machines inside the fence can also communicate with any address outside the fence. Akimbi automates the address
translation and routing support needed though the creation of a virtual router. All this requires no user intervention.
Figure D-2: IP address conflict resolved with Akimbi Tools installed on VMs
Fenced Configuration Deployment Options

Fenced configurations can be deployed in three ways:
Traffic allowed in and out—In this deployment, virtual machines can send traffic out onto the network and machines
outside the fence can send messages in.
Figure D-3: Network fencing with traffic allowed in and out

The figure above illustrates the virtual router that is automatically created for a fenced configuration. The virtual router
resolves the virtual machines’ internal IP addresses with their assigned, external IP addresses. It also routes traffic
within the fence.
D-2
Traffic allowed out, but not in—In this deployment, virtual machines within the fence are allowed to send messages
out and can receive messages back on the same connection. Outside machines, however, are not allowed to initiate a
connection or send messages to virtual machines in the fence. This may be useful, for instance, when virtual machines
need to obtain data or execute code outside the fence, such as via web services or from databases, but do not want to
receive messages that may disrupt testing.
Figure D-4: Network fencing with traffic allowed out only

Traffic blocked both in and out—In this deployment, traffic is not allowed out from fenced virtual machines or in from
outside machines.
Figure D-5: Traffic blocked in and out of the fence

This kind of configuration would be useful, for instance, if you were testing with software viruses that you didn’t want to
get out onto the network or if you wanted to test a client-server application in isolation.
D-3
Virtual Machine Cached Deployment Options
Figure D-6: Virtual machine deployment options

You have the option to store and run a virtual machine image from a Managed Server or run it from an Akimbi Storage
Server. If run from a Managed Server, network traffic is reduced and execution and redeployment time is faster. The
trade-off is that, initially, there is a delay of up to several minutes as the virtual machine image is transferred to the
Managed Server.
We recommend you run images from the Managed Servers if your configuration is going to be deployed for a
considerable time. In that case, the time it takes to initially transfer images is negligible compared to overall testing
time. For short or one-time tests, keeping images on the Storage Server is a better choice.
NOTE: Akimbi’s cached deployment availability depends on license type. (See “Appendix B: Akimbi
Slingshot Edition Comparison" for more information on license types.)
Table D-1: Virtual image deployment options
Run from location Advantages Disadvantages
Storage Server Faster initial start More network traffic

Slower execution
Managed Server Faster execution Slower initial start while image is

Less network traffic transferred to Managed Server
Quicker redeployment
D-4
Akimbi Slingshot User and Administrator Guide—Index
A cloning 4-12
creating 4-6
Abbreviations 1-2
creating a LiveLink 4-15
About this Guide 1-1
deployment options 4-9, 7-38
Adding a Managed Server 7-20 exporting 4-13
Adding a Storage Server 7-26 importing 4-14
Adding More IP Addresses to the Akimbi IP Pool 7-33 removing from the Workspace 4-17
Adding New Users 7-17 sharing 4-14
Akimbi Console viewing and monitoring virtual machines 4-16
breadcrumb titles 3-6 Configuration Operations 4-2
column sorting 3-8 Create a Blank Template 5-10
filtering 3-8 Creating a Template from a Virtual Machine 5-14
icons 3-6 Creating a Template from Another Template 5-14
mouseover menus 3-5
setting Internet Explorer options 3-5 D
Akimbi Console User Interface Features 3-5 Deploy Your Template 5-10
Akimbi Slingshot at a Glance 3-1 Deploying Configurations 4-9
Akimbi Slingshot Command Summary C-1 Deployment options
Akimbi Slingshot Quick Start 3-1 caching 4-9, 7-38
Akimbi Slingshot Settings 7-35 network fencing 4-9, 7-38
Akimbi SOAP API Methods 8-15 Documentation Set 1-4
Akimbi Tools
F
installed option 5-4
installing on Linux machines 5-12 Filtering 3-8
installing on Windows machines 5-12 I
supported operating systems 5-4
Icons 3-6
when to install on template 5-4
Akimbi Tools 5-3 Importing a Machine Template 5-15
AkimbiShareCreator.exe 7-28 Inserting a Floppy Disk on a Virtual Machine 6-7
Install Additional Software 5-12
B Install Akimbi Tools 5-12
Basic Operational Navigation 3-4 Install an Operating System on the Template Virtual Ma-
Breadcrumb Titles 3-6 chine 5-11
Building Configurations 4-6 Install VM Additions 5-12
Intended Audience 1-1
C Internet Explorer
Capturing Configurations 4-10 setting options for client operation 3-5
Changing a Virtual Machine’s Console Display Size 6-5 Introducing Akimbi Slingshot 2-1
Checking Out a Configuration 4-11 IP Address
Cloning Configurations 4-12 changing manually 6-5
Column sorting 3-8 IP addresses
Command Summary C-1 adding to Akimbi IP pool 7-33
Configuration Mouseover Menus 4-4 removing from Akimbi IP pool 7-34
Configuration States 4-3 viewing 7-32
Configurations ISO file
adding a virual machine 4-8 creating 5-11
capturing 4-10 definition 5-11
checking out 4-11
1
L Reset MAC address 6-5
LiveLink S
creating 4-15 Server Pool 7-9
restoring 4-15
Server preferences 7-35
M SetMTU Tools
Mac Address installing on Linux machines 5-13

Setting and Restoring Configuration Revert Points 4-15
resetting 6-5
Machine Template Operations 5-2 Sharing Configurations 4-10
Machine Template States 5-2 Sharing Templates 5-15
Managed Servers Slingshot
adding 7-20 server preferences 7-35

monitoring 7-9 SOAP API Data Types
removing 7-22 AuthenticationHeader 8-12
requirements for adding 7-20 Configuration 8-13
viewing 7-19 Machine 8-14
Managing Storage Servers 7-25 SOAP API Methods
Managing Users 7-13 ConfigurationCapture 8-16
Monitoring Activities 7-8 ConfigurationClone 8-20
ConfigurationDelete 8-21
Monitoring All Deployed Machines 7-8
ConfigurationDeploy 8-22
Monitoring and Configuring Managed Servers 7-19
ConfigurationLiveLink 8-23
Monitoring and Managing Akimbi Slingshot 7-1
ConfigurationSetPublicPrivate 8-24
Mouseover Menus 3-5
ConfigurationUndeploy 8-25
N GetConfiguration 8-26
GetConfigurationByName 8-27
Network fencing
GetMachine 8-29
deployment options 4-9, 7-38
GetMachineByName 8-30
Network settings
GetSingleConfigurationByName 8-31
viewing 7-32 ListConfigurations 8-32
Network Settings 7-32 ListMachines 8-34
Notational Conventions 1-1 MachinePerformAction 8-36
Null session Stopping Configurations 4-11
enabling with AkimbiShareCreator.exe 7-28 Storage Servers
manually enabling on a Storage Server 7-29 adding 7-27
O attaching to Akimbi Slingshot 7-30
configuring for Akimbi Slingshot 7-27
Online References 1-3
editing properties 7-31
Other Storage Server Options 7-32 managing 7-25
Other User Operations 7-17 removing 7-31
P viewing 7-26
viewing Storage Serve contents 7-26
Publish Your Template 5-13 Support
R online support 1-4
premium support 1-4
Removing a Configuration from the Workspace 4-17
standard support 1-4
Removing a Managed Server 7-22
SupportLink 7-38
Removing Templates 5-15 SupportLink 7-38
Requirements for Adding a Managed Server 7-20
2
T consolidating chains 6-7

Table of API primitive XML data types 8-12
inserting a CD 6-7
Templates
inserting a floppy disk 6-7
adding a virtual hard disk 6-8 returning to a revert point 6-7
creating 5-6 setting revert points 6-6
creating a blank template 5-10 taking remote control 6-6
creating from a physical machine 5-8 viewing console window 6-4
creating from a virtual machine 5-14 Virtual Machine Operations 6-1
creating from another template 5-14
VM Additions
creating from scratch 5-9
installing 5-12
deploying 5-10
VM Tools
installing 5-12
exporting 5-15
installing additional software 5-12 W
installing Akimbi Tools 5-12
Working with Configurations 4-1, 5-1
installing an operating system 5-11
Working With Machine Templates 4-17, 5-1
installing VM Additions 5-12
Working with Virtual Machines 6-1
installing VM Tools 5-12
publishing 5-13
removing 5-17
sharing 5-15
viewing 5-5
The Akimbi Console User Interface 3-3
Troubleshooting 9-1
U
Users
adding 7-16
deleting 7-17
viewing 7-15
Using Akimbi SOAP API methods 8-3
V
Viewing a Virtual Machine’s Console Window 6-4
Viewing and Monitoring a Configuration's Virtual Ma-
chines 4-16
Viewing Configurations 4-5
Viewing IP Addresses in the Akimbi IP Pool 7-32
Viewing Managed Servers 7-19
Viewing Network Settings 7-32
Viewing Storage Servers 7-26
Viewing Users 7-13
Virtual Machine States 6-3
Virtual Machines
adding a virtual hard disk 6-8
changing console display size 6-5
changing IP or MAC address 6-5
3

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Akimbi® Slingshot™

User and Administrator Guide

Virtual Server 2005 ©2005-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Introducing Akimbi Slingshot ............................................................................................................ 2-1

Working with the Akimbi Slingshot Console .................................................................................... 3-1

Working with Configurations ............................................................................................................. 4-1

Working with Virtual Machines .......................................................................................................... 6-1

Administering and Monitoring Akimbi Slingshot ............................................................................ 7-1

Akimbi SOAP Web Service API .......................................................................................................... 8-1

Troubleshooting .................................................................................................................................. 9-1

Appendix A: Glossary ........................................................................................................................ A-1

Appendix B: Akimbi Slingshot Edition Comparison ....................................................................... B-1

Appendix C: Command Summary .................................................................................................... C-1

Appendix D: Akimbi’s Network Fencing and Caching Technology ............................................... D-1

• Virtual machine technology

• Basic concepts of distributed, multi-tiered systems

• Current development and testing practices

• Windows or Linux operating systems

Licensing and Available Functionality

• Availability of Akimbi’s network fencing technology.

• Availability of cached deployment

• Number of Akimbi Managed Servers

• Number of Akimbi Storage Servers

code Code examples and command-line

filename Variable or user-defined elements are

Edit > Copy Window titles, menu choices, field names,

CTRL-C A key sequence you must enter using your

ANB Akimbi Navigation Bar

GUI Graphical User Interface

HTTP HyperText Transport Protocol

IE Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser

IIS Internet Information Services

MOM Mouseover Menu (Akimbi)

MS Managed Server (Akimbi)

MSVS Microsoft Virtual Server

MT Machine Template (Akimbi)

NIC Network Interface Card

Table 1-2: Abbreviations used in this document

P2V Physical to Virtual

SLS Slingshot Server (Akimbi)

SMB Server Message Block

SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol

SS Storage Server (Akimbi)

Test-dev Testing and development

UNC Universal Naming Convention

URL Uniform Resource Locator

• Akimbi Web site—http://www.akimbi.com

Virtual Server 2005

• Virtual Server 2005 Web site

• Virtual Server 2005 performance tips—http://blogs.technet.com/megand/articles/406145.aspx

• Virtual Server 2005 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• Virtual Server Deployment Requirements

• VMware Web site—http://www.vmware.com

• VMware ESX Web site—http://www.vmware.com/products/esx/

• VMware ESX hardware compatibility list

• VMware GSX Web site—http://www.vmware.com/products/gsx/

• VMware GSX hardware compatibility list—http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/resources/gsx_resources.html

• PlateSpin Web site—http://www.platespin.com

• Xen Open Source Hypervisor Web site—http://www.xensource.com

• Mercury Web site—http://www.mercury.com

• Segue Web site—http://www.segue.com

Akimbi Slingshot Documentation Set

• Akimbi Slingshot Quick Reference Guide