Re: Getting started with Xen -- Xen enabled kernel for Lenny?
Hi all,
I might be rushing in to conversation, but I will try to install Debian
Etch and make it Dom0 this very weekend. I really look forward to it -
although with a little hope to success :)
Nevermind, I wanted wish you good luck with xen, and the important is
let everybody here know what happened. I will do that after weekend as
well, I will post my experience in a short mail to this threat.
Have a nice day all
KaiSVK
On Thu, 2008-01-24 at 00:24 -0700, Ted Hilts wrote:
> Rick
> My response at very bottom.
> Ted
>
> Rick Thomas wrote:
> > I'm trying to get started with Xen.
> >
> > I've installed Lenny and a bunch of packages that looked interesting
> > and mentioned Xen in their descriptions. But there does not seem to
> > be a Xen enabled kernel available. Is Xen built-in to the Lenny
> > kernels, or what?
> >
> > I plan to spend tonite with my feet up in the easy chair reading the
> > documents in /usr/share/doc/Xen-docs-3.1/ . I hope they will be
> > helpful, but they don't seem to mention Debian specifically. I've
> > googled every which way, but everything I find is for Etch or Sarge
> > and expects me to have a Xen enabled kernel.
> >
> > More generally, is there a HOWTO or FAQ that would give me some
> > pointers to getting Xen up and running?
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> > Rick
> >
> >
> Hi Rick
>
> Sorry for any typos. There is a problem for newer Debian kernels (as in
> the etch distribution) and Xen. They just don't work and there is
> currently no patch to save the day. Ubuntu has Xen based recent kernels
> which apparently work well but I have not yet tried them. The Xen web
> site has 3 Xen options one of which I think is still free. Either one of
> these 3 options can be installed providing a DOM 0 basic virtualizing
> machine. Also, some of the other Linux distributions like SuSE have Xen
> based kernels. Xen based kernels are regular kernels but have the Xen
> application compiled into them making them the basis for hardware
> virtualization and thus called DOM 0 meaning the virtualization machine
> that redirects system calls from DOM U distributions. A DOM U
> distribution is virtualized meaning that during the time slice for a
> particular DOM U distribution it's system calls get re-routed to the DOM
> 0 computer resources (mostly hardware including CPU, memory, drives, LAN
> interface, etc.). DOM U distributions each have their own partition and
> are activated by the DOM 0 Xen application as a virtual machine..
> There can be as many as 64 partitions in total including the partition
> for DOM 0. Most designers prefer to have the DOM 0 Xen system as a
> minimal distribution. The DOM 0 distribution can create virtual
> machines from it's own distribution so that you might have several
> virtual machines each doing one important thing instead of the
> conventional way where all these things get done on the one
> distribution. Of course, you can run other Linux distributions as DOM U
> installations. This is what makes Xen most efficient.
>
> Your fastest, safest, and best solution right now would be to get one of
> the 3 optional systems offered by the Xen developers. Apparently, they
> have a blog and I know they have a list. I have a download of the
> free Xen package on a CD which is now a year old and which I will be
> installing on a computer. I will install a large Debian distribution
> as well as smaller Debian distributions each in their own partition and
> use them as virtual machines. DOM 0 will be the free Xen package which
> took me a week to download and now I am trying to find it. The Xen
> documentation describes how the DOM 0 machine is made aware of the DOM U
> partitions with their respective distributions. BTW, you can now take a
> Windowzzzzz distribution like XP or more recent and run it as a DOM U
> virtual machine.That's neat if you have applications like I have that
> can only run on Windowzzzzz. But you have to buy a license from MS.
>
> Hope this information gets you going. There is one fellow on the
> debian-user list that has had a Linux Xen system running for about 2
> years or more but that system would be running on an older kernel and he
> would have compiled the Xen application into the kernel and I think he
> used the AMD CPU. A number of people have tried to update their older
> Debian kernel with patches which automatically makes their system non
> operational. I think Debian really missed the importance of Xen and to
> get a Debian DOM 0 system from the etch distribution was not possible.
> Apparently there is a new distribution by what I hear on the list
> chatter. That distribution I am not aware of other than it is Debian 4.x
> distribution. Hopefully, if that is the case there may now be kernels
> available with the Xen application installed.
>
> Have a nice day and if you get Xen up and running please be kind enough
> to let the list know about your configuration and other issues as there
> have been many over the last few years that have wanted help and advice.
> I reiterate, your best chance of success is to run out of the Xen box as
> provided by the Xen developers.
>
> Thanks -- Ted
>
>
Reply to: