Wednesday, August 29, 2007


Xen 3.1 HVM Windows XP VM install on Debian Etch 4.0 (x86_64)


















Monday, August 27, 2007


Xen 3.1 Binary install on Debian Etch 4.0 (x86_64)



This posting is supposed to respond the notice:-


A note on x86_64 systems: I tried to install Xen 3.1.0 on Debian Etch AMD64 as well,
but regardless of the method (Xen source install vs. Xen x86_64 binary install),
the Xen kernel didn't boot (no error messages, but the boot process was incredibly slow and never finished...)


from The Perfect Xen 3.1.0 Setup For Debian Etch (i386)

Debian Etch 4.0 (amd64) has been installed on box assembled with:-
Core 2 Duo E6600,ASUS P5B Deluxe, 2 GB RAM (Kingston non ECC),
SATA HDD Seagate Barracuda 160 GB x 2


Root login has been enabled :-



# apt-get install bridge-utils
# tar xvzf xen-3.1.0-install-x86_64.tgz
# cd dist/
# ./install.sh




Configuring xend:-



# update-rc.d xend defaults 20 21
# update-rc.d xendomains defaults 21 20
# depmod 2.6.18-xen
# apt-get install yaird




Create ramdisk:-



# mkinitrd.yaird -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-xen 2.6.18-xen




Modify /boot/grub/menu.lst correspondently (add entry for xen kernel ) :-



title Xen-3.1 on Debian Etch x86_64 (2.6.18-xen)
root (hd1,3)
kernel /boot/xen-3.1.gz
module /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-xen ro root=/dev/sdb4
module /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-xen





Reload into xen kernel.



apt-get install xen-tools




HVM CentOS 5.0 (x86_64) VM has been successfully built up.























Disabling system generating DHCP mode for VM's ethernet interface:-








Assign static IP address to eth0:-








Network bridge verification:-











HVM Windows XP VM has been successfully built up as well

Saturday, August 11, 2007


Xen 3.1 Windows XP VM install on CentOS 5.0





Perform HVM Windows XP VM install utilizing ISO image of distribution CD
already copied by "dd" to SATA hard drive.
Set boot="d" in VM's profile (windows.hvm) and proceed:-



# /usr/sbin/xm create windows.hvm
# vncviewer localhost::5901







Another option to build HVM VM utilizing block oriented device:-




Now set boot="c" and proceed:-



# /usr/sbin/xm create windows.hvm
# vncviewer localhost::5901







# /usr/sbin/xm create windows.hvm
# vncviewer localhost::5901










Partitions /dev/sda8 and /dev/sda9 have been used to store Windows XP VMs:-


Friday, August 10, 2007


Xen 3.1 Binary installation on CentOS 5.0 & ASUS P5B Deluxe



Perform Xen 3.1 binary download from following location :-








Try "http://xen.xensource.com/download/dl_31tarballs.html" if mentioned URL doesn't work.




Attempt to use compiled binaries might fail sooner or later due to hardware issues.
Fortunately, 2.6.18-xen kernel does understand the hardware assembled
on ASUS P5B Deluxe and Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet in particular. Actually, it means that any board based on (I965+ICH8R) or (I975+ICH7R) would be in general OK for Xen 3.1 Binary installation , but might have trouble with Ethernet Adapter. The first example is Atansic Gigabit Eternet on ASUS P5B-E. This board would require xen kernel source to compile Atansic Ethernet Driver.


Install bridge-utils-XXXX-x86_64.rpm if needed.



cd /tmp
tar –xzvf xen-3.1.0-install-x86_64.tgz




The tar command will create a directory named "dist"



# cd dist




Place all of the Xen files into their places in the file system by running



# sh ./install.sh




Determine the name of the Xen Linux kernel version that was installed.



# ls /lib/modules




There should be a directory for the Xen Linux kernel (e.g., 2.6.18-xen)
Generate the module dependency list and map files



# /sbin/depmod 2.6.18-xen




Create the Xen initial ramdisk image



# /sbin/mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-xen.img 2.6.18-xen




Disable tls


 
# mv /lib64/tls /lib64/tls.disabled




Set xend service to start



# /sbin/chkconfig --add xend
# /sbin/chkconfig xend on




Edit /boot/grub/grub.conf and copy one of the existing boot entries to make the required changes for Xen.



title Xen-3.1 x86_64 (2.6.16-xen)
root (hd0,2)
kernel /xen-3.1gz
module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol01 rhgb quiet
module /initrd-2.6.18-xen.img




Reboot into new kernel and start network bridge.



# /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge start netdev=eth0




System and Windows 2000 VM configuration:-








Perform HVM Windows 2000 VM install utilizing ISO image of distribution CD
already copied by "dd" to SATA hard drive.
Set boot="d" in VM's profile (w2k0.hvm) and proceed:-



# /usr/sbin/xm create w2k0.hvm
# vncviewer localhost::5900







Now set boot="c" in VM's profile (w2k0.hvm) :-



# /usr/sbin/xm create w2k0.hvm
# vncviewer localhost::5900







# /usr/sbin/xm create w2k0.hvm
# vncviewer localhost::5900









Windows XP VM installation procedure is quite similar


Network Bridge verification for Windows XP VM:-






Wednesday, August 08, 2007


Xen 3.1 Network Configuration on SLES 10 SP1



This posting is targeting to accomplish work started in [1]
Modify VMs profiles in /etc/xen/vm directory as follows:-





This is not important when you have just one Ethernet interface on the box.
Suppose you have two and created two bridges:-



# /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge start bridge=xenbr0 netdev=eth0
# /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge start bridge=xenbr1 netdev=eth1




For example the line:-



vif = [ 'bridge=xenbr0, mac=00:00:00:11:11:11' , 'bridge-xenbr1, mac=00:00:00:22:22:22' ]




would pass two NICs to the VM with different MAC addresses, eth0 pointing to xenbr0
and eth1 pointing to xenbr1, either you can choose which one of NICs to pass to particular VM.
Start network bridge with default name, start VMs windowsxp and windowsxp1 and disable Control Panel->Firewall
for both of them , then issue "brctl show":-








Start Network Wizard in each one of VMs and activate Windows Network GUI.
Verification of TCP/IP connectivity:-














Verification of TCP/IP connectivity from remote PC:-








VNC Connection to SLES 10 SP1 box running Xen 3.1 HVM VM



Adding line containing IP-address of SLES box on local network :-



vnclisten="192.168.0.56"




to VM's profile /etc/xen/vm/windowsxp
allows vncviewer to run Windows XP session on remote Linux and Windows boxes:-











References
1.Xen 3.1 HVM on SLES 10 SP1
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/90738/index.html

Friday, August 03, 2007


Xen 3.1 HVM on SLES 10 SP1



RPM's install suggested in [1] still causes SLES 10 GUI procedure creating Xen Windows XP VM to crash:-




Workaround for this issue follows bellow.


Kernel vmlinuz-2.6.16.46-12-xen and initrd-2.6.16.46-12-xen have been
created with YaST->Software Management using distribution CD
and system rebooted with new entry into menu.lst (grub.conf)
referencing xen-3.1.gz.








When graphical install for HVM VMS fails, keeping in mind notice [2] copy all missing files:-



-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18512 Aug 3 06:22 xenstore-chmod
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 17360 Aug 3 06:22 xenstore-exists
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18280 Aug 3 06:22 xenstore-list
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 18312 Aug 3 06:22 xenstore-read
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 17960 Aug 3 06:22 xenstore-rm
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 17616 Aug 3 06:22 xenstore-write




from /usr/bin to /bin



# cd /etc/xen/vm
# ls -l
total 16
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 496 Aug 3 15:25 windowsxp
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1032 Aug 3 15:19 windowsxp.xml


# /usr/sbin/xm create windowsxp




At this time boot="d" in file /etc/xen/vm/windowsxp
File /var/lib/xen/images/windowsxp/disk0 has been created 10 GB size utizing "dd":-



# dd if=/dev/zero of=/var/lib/xen/images/windowsxp/disk0 bs=1k count=10000000




Next:-



# vncviewer localhost




Perform text part of installation :-

formatting and coping data from CD to reiser FS file /var/lib/xen/images/windowsxp/disk0





After windows reboots vncviewer connection to server gets lost
Change boot from "d" to "c" in file /etc/xen/vm/windowsxp










# /usr/sbin/xm create windowsxp
# vncviewer localhost




Perform graphical part of installation




After windows reboots vncviewer connection to server gets lost again



# /usr/sbin/xm create windowsxp
# vncviewer localhost




Perform final part of installation




Start of already created HVM VMS:-






Several HVM VMs running at a time:-






References
1.http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tools/19338.html
2.http://wiki.novell.com/index.php/Talk:Xen_3.1_On_SLES_10_SP1