It seems that Xen VMs are subject to file system corruption under certain conditions. I find that often when I reboot or shutdown a VM the filesystem is corrupted after that and the VM no longer usable. The xm create then fails with some Python errors and an eventual Runtime Error: unable to read filesystem No handlers could be found for logger "xend". Error: boot loader didn't return any data. and I have to throw it away as there doesn't seem a way to fix that (or is there?). I use files for storing the VMs. There is enough space on the drive. The problem seems to happen when I reboot the machine from within itself, not each time, but almost each time. When I shut it down with CTRL+ALT+DEL or with the Shutdown button it doesn't seem to happen. I also find that sometimes a good VM will start up and crash early with a kernel panic, but start up just fine when I try a second or third time. Most often this happened after a new installation on the first reboot. Anyone else seen this or known how to fix that? Kai -- Kai Sch?tzl, Berlin, Germany Get your web at Conactive Internet Services: http://www.conactive.com
Stephen John Smoogen
2007-Oct-12 19:37 UTC
[CentOS] Xen VMs: regular filesystem corruption
On 10/12/07, Kai Schaetzl <maillists at conactive.com> wrote:> It seems that Xen VMs are subject to file system corruption under certain > conditions. I find that often when I reboot or shutdown a VM the > filesystem is corrupted after that and the VM no longer usable. The xm > create then fails with some Python errors and an eventual > > Runtime Error: unable to read filesystem > No handlers could be found for logger "xend". > Error: boot loader didn't return any data. > > and I have to throw it away as there doesn't seem a way to fix that (or is > there?). > I use files for storing the VMs. There is enough space on the drive. The > problem seems to happen when I reboot the machine from within itself, not > each time, but almost each time. When I shut it down with CTRL+ALT+DEL or > with the Shutdown button it doesn't seem to happen. > I also find that sometimes a good VM will start up and crash early with a > kernel panic, but start up just fine when I try a second or third time. > Most often this happened after a new installation on the first reboot. > > Anyone else seen this or known how to fix that? >I have not seen this... and my setup seems similar to yours. I have been building and rebuilding xen boxes, rebooting and running them quite a bit. I would first suspect dodgy hardware. -- Stephen J Smoogen. -- CSIRT/Linux System Administrator How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world. = Shakespeare. "The Merchant of Venice"