Hi all, When a box is powered on, first bios is loaded and executed, then the boot loader, then the operating system. Now with the introduction of VMM, the boot loader first loads the VMM, then loads the OS. Why not implement a boot loader which is itself a VMM? That is, the boot loader can fulfil its traditional function, as to select to load an OS separately, but also, it can function as a VMM, which can load two or more OSes as guest OSes simultaneously. I have started a project with the name vGRUB, to enhance GRUB with the virtualization functions of XEN. The aim of the project is to simplify the hierachy of software. That is, vGRUB is the firmware that between bios and OSes. vGRUB equals GRUB plus XEN. I am anxious for all your suggestions. Thanks a lot. FireWatcher _______________________________________________ Xen-devel mailing list Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
Hi all, When a box is powered on, first bios is loaded and executed, then the boot loader, then the operating system. Now with the introduction of VMM, the boot loader first loads the VMM, then loads the OS. Why not implement a boot loader which is itself a VMM? That is, the boot loader can fulfil its traditional function, as to select to load an OS separately, but also, it can function as a VMM, which can load two or more OSes as guest OSes simultaneously. I have started a project with the name vGRUB, to enhance GRUB with the virtualization functions of XEN. The aim of the project is to simplify the hierachy of software. That is, vGRUB is the firmware that between bios and OSes. vGRUB equals GRUB plus XEN. I am anxious for all your suggestions. Thanks a lot. FireWatcher _______________________________________________ Xen-devel mailing list Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
> When a box is powered on, first bios is loaded and executed, then the boot > loader, then the operating system. > > Now with the introduction of VMM, the boot loader first loads the VMM, then > loads the OS. > > Why not implement a boot loader which is itself a VMM? That is, the boot > loader can fulfil its traditional function, as to select to load an OS > separately, but also, it can function as a VMM, which can load two or more > OSes as guest OSes simultaneously. > > I have started a project with the name vGRUB, to enhance GRUB with the > virtualization functions of XEN. The aim of the project is to simplify the > hierachy of software. That is, vGRUB is the firmware that between bios and > OSes. > > vGRUB equals GRUB plus XEN. > > I am anxious for all your suggestions. Thanks a lot.It''s a good concept. FYI, there are companies doing something similar to this at the moment, since they''re putting Xen in flash on their systems - although that''s almost more like making Xen the *bios*. Question: with Xen you need a dom0 running in the background in order to support multiple virtual machines. Where do you see it fitting in your model? Would it be loaded by vGRUB? Part of vGRUB? Cheers, Mark -- Push Me Pull You - Distributed SCM tool (http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~maw48/pmpu/) _______________________________________________ Xen-devel mailing list Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
On Sat, 2008-06-28 at 22:30 +0800, firewatcher wrote:> Why not implement a boot loader which is itself a VMM? That is, the > boot loader can fulfil its traditional function, as to > select to load an OS separately, but also, it can function as a VMM, > which can load two or more OSes as guest OSes simultaneously.The concept of bootloader is to provide a control for selecting and loading one of the installed program, and usually that program is usually the OS. In case of machine installed xen hypervisor (VMM), the first thing that the bootloader loads is the hypervisor itself.This in turn will start the linux OS which is nothing but a privileged domain called dom0. So according to me i dont think it makes any practical sense to incorporate bootloader with VMM functionality. Moreover you cannot bring up a domain without the hypervisor being loaded in the first place, it completely overrides the xen architecture.> I have started a project with the name vGRUB, to enhance GRUB with the > virtualization functions of XEN. The aim of the project is to > simplify the hierachy of software. That is, vGRUB is the firmware that > between bios and OSes.As i do not get the complete perspective of your idea, all i can do is suggest you to investigate xen before you actually commit to this project. Regards, Sandesh \m/ \m/ Please do not print this email unless it is absolutely necessary. The information contained in this electronic message and any attachments to this message are intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain proprietary, confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately and destroy all copies of this message and any attachments. WARNING: Computer viruses can be transmitted via email. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. The company accepts no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email. www.wipro.com _______________________________________________ Xen-devel mailing list Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel