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Re: Xen, Squeeze, and Beyond



Hi,

1) in Lenny I use the Xen hypervisor 3.4 from Squeeze, so it works.
The main problem is that the linux dom0 patch is not (yet) upstream, and Debian can't really maintain it.
But we hope, it will be accepted upstream, a lot of works have be done.
As you can see on the Xen wiki http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenDom0Kernels , "Xen 4.0 switched to using Linux pv_ops based dom0 kernel as a default. This is the kernel all users should be using and testing, and all the development should be made against this kernel tree." So we already use that version for testing (and I use it for production too... with some limitations).

But xen-tools have be removed from Squeeze, so I suppose it will be more difficult to create new installations (require much more work to replace the xen-create-image script).

2) Well, I have a Debian squeeze running on a Lenny Dom0 Xen. Today it seem to works.

3) LXC, Xen, KVM, or others. You choose what you want no ? I dislike KVM, except on desktops.

5) Linux dom0 kernel from Lenny doesn't work at all on some hardware with recent pv_ops domu. In that case you have to change to a different version...


But I'm not a debian developper.

Olivier

On 25/02/2010 23:53, John Goerzen wrote:
Hi folks,

There was a thread here a little while back about the status of Xen in
future Debian releases.  It left me rather confused, and I'm hoping to
find some answers (which I will then happily document in the wiki).

According to http://wiki.debian.org/SystemVirtualization :

"Qemu and KVM - Mostly used on Desktops/Laptops"

"VirtualBox - Mostly used on Desktops/Laptops"

"Xen - Provides para-virtualization and full-virtualization. Mostly used
on servers. Will be abandoned after squeeze."

The Xen page on the wiki makes no mention of this.

So, I am wondering about our direction in this way:

1) Will a squeeze system be able to run the Xen hypervisor?  A Xen dom0?

2) Will a squeeze system be able to be installed as a Xen domU with a
lenny dom0?  What about squeeze+1?

3) What will be our preferred Linux server virtualization option after
squeeze?  Are we confident enough in the stability and performance of
KVM to call it such?  (Last I checked, its paravirt support was of
rather iffy stability and performance, but I could be off.)

3a) What about Linux virtualization on servers that lack hardware
virtualization support, which Xen supports but KVM doesn't?

4) What will be our preferred server virtualization option for non-Linux
guests after squeeze?  Still KVM?

5) Do we recommend that new installations of lenny or of squeeze avoid
Xen for ease of upgrading to squeeze+1?  If so, what should they use?

6) Are we communicating this to Debian users in some way?  What can I do
to help with this point?

Thanks,

-- John




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