Fedora xen - Feb 2008 - what steps are required to manually move a PV domU from one machine to another?

Hi,

I am having a problem - I created a lovely bunch of F8 x86_64 domUs and I want 
to create a vast clone army of them using different dom0s. The problem is, I do:

fm # virt-install c1 (no graphics)
fm # xm start c1
fm # xm shutdown c1 [ ok I don''t _always_ shut it down :P  ]
fm # scp -p c1.img othermachine:/var/lib/xen/images
then:
om1 # virsh define c1.xml
om1 # xm start c1

and hangville,
if I do:
om1 # xmstart c1 -c
it seems to hang just after the grub boot menu.

I assume I am "doing it wrong" but this worked great in the past.

I''ve been selling F8/Xen as the answer to all problems,
any help would be appreciated.
VMWare looms like a line of dark clouds on the horizon...

Thanks.

On Sat, Feb 02, 2008 at 12:48:20PM -0800, fc xen list
wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am having a problem - I created a lovely bunch of F8 x86_64 domUs and I 
> want to create a vast clone army of them using different dom0s. The problem
> is, I do:
> 
> fm # virt-install c1 (no graphics)
> fm # xm start c1
> fm # xm shutdown c1 [ ok I don''t _always_ shut it down :P  ]
Welcome to the world of massive data corruption if you copy the
disk without shutting down.
> fm # scp -p c1.img othermachine:/var/lib/xen/images
> then:
> om1 # virsh define c1.xml
You can''t just use the same XML for each - you need to change the UUID,
the namem, and disk image in the XML at very least.
> om1 # xm start c1
> 
> and hangville,
> if I do:
> om1 # xmstart c1 -c
> it seems to hang just after the grub boot menu.
Define hang ? If the guest is configured with graphical framebuffer it
is perfectly expected that you''ll not see anything on the text console
while booting.
> I assume I am "doing it wrong" but this worked great in the past.
You might want to try the ''virt-clone'' tool which will
automate much of
the stuff.

Dan.
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My bad, the clone army master was on eth0 and the clone army slaves were on 
eth1 so when I copied the xml dump, I changed everything but that
       <source bridge=''eth1''/>

ugh, but please read below for problems with vanilla F8 and virt-clone.

Daniel P. Berrange wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 02, 2008 at 12:48:20PM -0800, fc xen list wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am having a problem - I created a lovely bunch of F8 x86_64 domUs and
I
>> want to create a vast clone army of them using different dom0s. The
problem
>> is, I do:
>>
>> fm # virt-install c1 (no graphics)
>> fm # xm start c1
>> fm # xm shutdown c1 [ ok I don''t _always_ shut it down :P  ]
> 
> Welcome to the world of massive data corruption if you copy the
> disk without shutting down.
Yeah, I know, but they are pretty inactive and it has worked great in the past.
> 
>> fm # scp -p c1.img othermachine:/var/lib/xen/images
>> then:
>> om1 # virsh define c1.xml
> 
> You can''t just use the same XML for each - you need to change the
UUID,
> the namem, and disk image in the XML at very least.
Sorry, I do change that - id, name, image, MAC address, etc.
> 
>> om1 # xm start c1
>>
>> and hangville,
>> if I do:
>> om1 # xmstart c1 -c
>> it seems to hang just after the grub boot menu.
> 
> Define hang ? If the guest is configured with graphical framebuffer it
> is perfectly expected that you''ll not see anything on the text
console
> while booting.
I always choose no graphics on the virt-install
The xm list state is usually --p--
> 
>> I assume I am "doing it wrong" but this worked great in the
past.
> 
> You might want to try the ''virt-clone'' tool which will
automate much of
> the stuff.
Thanks for mentioning that, I can''t - my VMs always enter a "no
state" state
when I shut them down and virt-clone won''t clone them unless they are
in a
different state that I can''t seem to get them to go into.

One confusing thing is xm list and virsh use different terms. In xm list the 
VM shows as state "------"

Example:
# xm list
Name                                        ID   Mem VCPUs      State   Time(s)
Domain-0                                     0  5143     8     r-----  10708.0
c1                                          30  1200     1     -b----   3294.3
c2                                          28   768     1     -b----    349.4
c3                                          34  2465     1     ------      0.0

# virsh list --all
  Id Name                 State
----------------------------------
   0 Domain-0             running
  28 m66                  blocked
  30 m62                  blocked
   - m82                  no state

I have never had a machine go to any other state, other than "------"
(or "no
state" in virsh) after a xm shutdown*, should be using some other shutdown 
method? All my builds are using vanilla F8 x86_64 and virt-install, no custom 
kernels or other monkey business. A different dom0 with a centos51 and F8 domU 
that I just did xm shutdown on, they both go to no state:

# xm list
Name                                        ID   Mem VCPUs      State   Time(s)
Domain-0                                     0  2358     4     r-----  15402.7
d1                                           7   375     1     -b----    466.3
c51                                         22   768     1     ------    138.9
f8-2                                        21   512     1     ------     57.3

[root@sc-t131 ~]# virsh list --all
  Id Name                 State
----------------------------------
   0 Domain-0             running
   7 d1                   blocked
   - c51                  no state
   - f8-2                 no state



Example of state during hanging after xm start attempt of c3:
# xm list
Name                                        ID   Mem VCPUs      State   Time(s)
Domain-0                                     0  5143     8     r-----  10715.6
c1                                          30  1200     1     -b----   3294.3
c2                                          28   768     1     -b----    349.4
c3                                          35  2465     1     --p---      0.0

# virsh list --all
  Id Name                 State
----------------------------------
   0 Domain-0             running
  28 m66                  blocked
  30 m62                  blocked
  35 m82                  paused

I''d love to use virt-clone...
> 
> Dan.
* OK, one goes into "---s-d" but that is upgraded from a previous
Fedora
version, so I don''t worry about that one. All others are new
virt-install
installs.

Can you explain for me how to do this using LVM ?


there are a easy way to move a lvm partition from a machine to another 
over network ?





Daniel P. Berrange wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 02, 2008 at 12:48:20PM -0800, fc xen list wrote:
>   
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am having a problem - I created a lovely bunch of F8 x86_64 domUs and
I
>> want to create a vast clone army of them using different dom0s. The
problem
>> is, I do:
>>
>> fm # virt-install c1 (no graphics)
>> fm # xm start c1
>> fm # xm shutdown c1 [ ok I don''t _always_ shut it down :P  ]
>>     
>
> Welcome to the world of massive data corruption if you copy the
> disk without shutting down.
>
>   
>> fm # scp -p c1.img othermachine:/var/lib/xen/images
>> then:
>> om1 # virsh define c1.xml
>>     
>
> You can''t just use the same XML for each - you need to change the
UUID,
> the namem, and disk image in the XML at very least.
>
>   
>> om1 # xm start c1
>>
>> and hangville,
>> if I do:
>> om1 # xmstart c1 -c
>> it seems to hang just after the grub boot menu.
>>     
>
> Define hang ? If the guest is configured with graphical framebuffer it
> is perfectly expected that you''ll not see anything on the text
console
> while booting.
>
>   
>> I assume I am "doing it wrong" but this worked great in the
past.
>>     
>
> You might want to try the ''virt-clone'' tool which will
automate much of
> the stuff.
>
> Dan.
>

itamar wrote:
> Can you explain for me how to do this using LVM ?
> 
> 
> there are a easy way to move a lvm partition from a machine to another 
> over network ?
> 
> 
You can easily do it with dd.

Create your LV on the host you would like to copy the VM to.
dd if=/dev/rootvg/guest1 | ssh newhost dd of=/dev/rootvg/copyguest1

Regards,
Olivier
> 
> 
> 
> Daniel P. Berrange wrote:
>> On Sat, Feb 02, 2008 at 12:48:20PM -0800, fc xen list wrote:
>>  
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I am having a problem - I created a lovely bunch of F8 x86_64 domUs
>>> and I want to create a vast clone army of them using different
dom0s.
>>> The problem is, I do:
>>>
>>> fm # virt-install c1 (no graphics)
>>> fm # xm start c1
>>> fm # xm shutdown c1 [ ok I don''t _always_ shut it down :P 
]
>>>     
>>
>> Welcome to the world of massive data corruption if you copy the
>> disk without shutting down.
>>
>>  
>>> fm # scp -p c1.img othermachine:/var/lib/xen/images
>>> then:
>>> om1 # virsh define c1.xml
>>>     
>>
>> You can''t just use the same XML for each - you need to change
the UUID,
>> the namem, and disk image in the XML at very least.
>>
>>  
>>> om1 # xm start c1
>>>
>>> and hangville,
>>> if I do:
>>> om1 # xmstart c1 -c
>>> it seems to hang just after the grub boot menu.
>>>     
>>
>> Define hang ? If the guest is configured with graphical framebuffer it
>> is perfectly expected that you''ll not see anything on the text
console
>> while booting.
>>
>>  
>>> I assume I am "doing it wrong" but this worked great in
the past.
>>>     
>>
>> You might want to try the ''virt-clone'' tool which
will automate much of
>> the stuff.
>>
>> Dan.
>>   
> 
> 
> -- 
> Fedora-xen mailing list
> Fedora-xen@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-xen
> 

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