{\Large Xen is Copyright (c) 2004, The Xen Team} \\[3mm]
{\Large University of Cambridge, UK} \\[20mm]
-{\large Last updated on 12th October, 2004}
+{\large Last updated on 26th October, 2004}
\end{tabular}
\vfill
\end{center}
\section{Prerequisites}
\label{sec:prerequisites}
\begin{itemize}
+\item i686-class CPU or newer
\item A working installation of your favourite Linux distribution.
\item A working installation of the GRUB bootloader.
\item An installation of Twisted v1.3 or above (see {\tt
http://www.twistedmatrix.com}). There may be a package available for
your distribution; alternatively it can be installed by running {\tt \#
make install-twisted} in the root of the Xen source tree.
+\item Python logging package (see {\tt http://www.red-dove.com/})
\item The Linux bridge control tools (see {\tt
http://bridge.sourceforge.net}). There may be packages of these tools
available for your distribution.
\item python2.3-twisted
\end{itemize}
-\section{Optional}
-\begin{itemize}
-\item The Python logging package (see {\tt http://www.red-dove.com/})
-for additional Xend logging functionality.
-\end{itemize}
-
\section{Install Bitkeeper (Optional)}
To fetch a local copy, first download the BitKeeper tools.
\item[\path{tools/}] Xen node controller daemon (Xend), command line tools,
control libraries
\item[\path{xen/}] The Xen hypervisor itself.
-\item[\path{linux-2.4.27-xen/}] Xen support for Linux 2.4
-\item[\path{linux-2.6.8.1-xen/}] Xen support for Linux 2.6
+\item[\path{linux-2.4.27-xen-sparse/}] Xen support for Linux 2.4
+\item[\path{linux-2.6.9-xen-sparse/}] Xen support for Linux 2.6
+\item[\path{linux-2.6.9-patches/}] Experimental patches for Linux 2.6
\item[\path{netbsd-2.0-xen-sparse/}] Xen support for NetBSD 2.0
\item[\path{docs/}] various documentation files for users and developers
\item[\path{extras/}] currently this contains the Mini OS, aimed at developers
If you have an SMP machine you may wish to give the {\tt '-j4'}
argument to make to get a parallel build.
-XXX Insert details on customising the kernel to be built.
-i.e. merging config files
-
If you have an existing Linux kernel configuration that you would like
to use for domain 0, you should copy it to
install/boot/config-2.6.8.1-xen0. During the first build, you may be
-asked about some Xen-specific options. We advised accepting the
+asked about some Xen-specific options. We advise accepting the
defaults for these options.
\framebox{\parbox{5in}{
instructing that console output be sent both to the screen and to the
serial port).
+If you want to use an initrd, just add another {\tt module} line to
+the configuration, as usual:
+\begin{verbatim}
+ module /boot/my_initrd.gz
+\end{verbatim}
+
As always when installing a new kernel, it is recommended that you do
not remove the original contents of \path{menu.lst} --- you may want
to boot up with your old Linux kernel in future, particularly if you
\chapter{Other kinds of storage}
-It is possible to use any Linux block device to store virtual machine
-disk images. This chapter covers some of the possibilities; note that
-it is also possible to use network-based block devices and other
-unconventional block devices.
+It is possible to directly export any Linux block device to a virtual,
+or to export filesystems / devices to virtual machines using standard
+network protocals (e.g. NBD, iSCSI, NFS, etc). This chapter covers
+some of the possibilities.
\section{File-backed virtual block devices}
As the virtual machine writes to its `disk', the sparse file will be
filled in and consume more space up to the original 2GB.
+\section{NFS Root}
+
+The procedure for using NFS root in a virtual machine is basically the
+same as you would follow for a real machine. NB. the Linux NFS root
+implementation is known to have stability problems under high load
+(this is not a Xen-specific problem), so this configuration may not be
+appropriate for critical servers.
+
+First, populate a root filesystem in a directory on the server machine
+--- this can be on another physical machine, or perhaps just another
+virtual machine on the same node.
+
+Now, configure the NFS server to export this filesystem over the
+network by adding a line to /etc/exports, for instance:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+/export/vm1root w.x.y.z/m (rw,sync,no_root_squash)
+\end{verbatim}
+
+Finally, configure the domain to use NFS root. In addition to the
+normal variables, you should make sure to set the following values in
+the domain's configuration file:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+root = '/dev/nfs'
+nfs_server = 'a.b.c.d' # Substitute the IP for the server here
+nfs_root = '/path/to/root' # Path to root FS on the server machine
+\end{verbatim}
+
+The domain will need network access at boot-time, so either statically
+configure an IP address (Using the config variables {\tt ip}, {\tt
+netmask}, {\tt gateway}, {\tt hostname}) or enable DHCP ({\tt
+dhcp='dhcp'}).
+
\section{LVM-backed virtual block devices}
XXX Put some simple examples here - would be nice if an LVM user could
runlevel directories or use the {\tt chkconfig} tool, where available.
Once Xend is running, more sophisticated administration can be done
-using the Xensv web interface (see Chapter~\ref{cha:xensv}).
-
-\chapter{Xensv (Web interface server)}
-\label{cha:xensv}
-
-Xensv is the server for the web control interface. It can be started
-using:\\
-\verb_# xensv start_ \\
-and stopped using:
-\verb_# xensv stop_ \\
-It will automatically start Xend if it is not already running.
-
-By default, Xensv will serve out the web interface on port 8080. This
-can be changed by editing {\tt
-/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/xen/sv/params.py}.
-
-Once Xensv is running, the web interface can be used to manage running
-domains and provides a user friendly domain creation wizard.
+using the xm tool (see Chapter~\ref{cha:xm}) and the experimental
+Xensv web interface (see Chapter~\ref{cha:xensv}).
\chapter{The xm tool}
\label{cha:xm}
-XXX Add description of arguments and switches for all the options
-
The xm tool is the primary tool for managing Xen from the console.
The general format of an xm command line is:
# xm help command
\end{verbatim}
+\chapter{Xensv (Web control interface)}
+\label{cha:xensv}
+
+Xensv is the experimental web control interface for managing a Xen
+machine. It can be used to perform some (but not yet all) of the
+management tasks that can be done using the xm tool.
+
+It can be started using:\\ \verb_# xensv start_ \\ and
+stopped using: \verb_# xensv stop_ \\ It will automatically start Xend
+if it is not already running.
+
+By default, Xensv will serve out the web interface on port 8080. This
+can be changed by editing {\tt
+/usr/lib/python2.3/site-packages/xen/sv/params.py}.
+
+Once Xensv is running, the web interface can be used to manage running
+domains and provides a user friendly domain creation wizard.
+
+
+
\chapter{Glossary}
\begin{description}
\item[Atropos] One of the CPU schedulers provided by Xen.
Atropos provides domains with absolute shares
of the CPU, with timeliness guarantees and a
- mechanism for sharing out ``slack time''.
+ mechanism for sharing out `slack time'.
\item[BVT] The BVT scheduler is used to give proportional
fair shares of the CPU to domains.
%% You can use these modules to write your own custom scripts or you can
%% customise the scripts supplied in the Xen distribution.
+
+% Explain about AGP GART
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