Xen users - Sep 2005 - Newbie: How to run Xwindows in the guest OS

Hi

I got Fedora Core 4 to boot via the Xen kernel.  Then I configured the guest os
config files as recommended in the examples on teh Xen documentation.  Then
tried loading Ubuntu via the guest OS.  Ubuntu boots and stops at login prompt
and I am able to login to tty1.  I tried with Suse 10 and same result (run level
in both configs was set to 5)   

Question:  How do I get X to run in the guest operating systems ie. Suse or
Ubuntu ?

System: P4/512MB RAM/256 is used by Xen on FC4 and the balance is for the guest
OS

Regards
Srini

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On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 06:15:00AM -0000, Srinivasan S
wrote:
> Question:  How do I get X to run in the guest operating systems ie. Suse
> or Ubuntu ?
I don''t really think you can, at least not directly.  The problem is
that
the X server typically wants direct access to the video hardware, and the
domU guest isn''t allowed near it.  Short of making your dom0
serial-console
only, I don''t think you could do it.

I vaguely recall something about a framebuffer device appearing in Xen 3,
which you could point the X session in your domU at, but I could be
completely off-the-mark.

A way (not the only one, though) to get full X sessions happening is to
install an appropriate X server in your dom0, configure the domU to expose
it''s display manager via XDMCP over the network (you can restrict who
can
connect, for security), and then run something like

X -query <domU IP address>

in the dom0.  Make it an init script if you want.  That should start the X
server in the dom0, and then connect it to the display manager on the domU,
which should produce a nice GUI login screen.

Note that things probably won''t run as well as they would normally, and
3D
accelerated graphics almost certainly won''t work.

- Matt

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On Thu, 2005-09-22 at 06:15 +0000, Srinivasan S wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I got Fedora Core 4 to boot via the Xen kernel.  Then I configured the
> guest os config files as recommended in the examples on teh Xen
> documentation.  Then tried loading Ubuntu via the guest OS.  Ubuntu
> boots and stops at login prompt and I am able to login to tty1.  I
> tried with Suse 10 and same result (run level in both configs was set
> to 5)   
> 
> Question:  How do I get X to run in the guest operating systems ie.
> Suse or Ubuntu ?
> 
> System: P4/512MB RAM/256 is used by Xen on FC4 and the balance is for
> the guest OS
> 
<snip>
I do not believe you can run an XConsole directly.  When we have needed
an XConsole, we have installed VNCServer on the domU and accessed
graphical applications that way.  However, I would assume you can find a
way to run a terminal based installation or, better yet, drop down a
preconfigured file system and simply edit the pertinent files (since the
device drivers are all virtualized).  Hope this helps - John

PS - I am also pretty new so someone else may have much better ideas :-)
-- 
John A. Sullivan III
Open Source Development Corporation
+1 207-985-7880
jsullivan@opensourcedevel.com

If you would like to participate in the development of an open source
enterprise class network security management system, please visit
http://iscs.sourceforge.net


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On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 06:15:00AM -0000, Srinivasan S
wrote:
> I got Fedora Core 4 to boot via the Xen kernel.  Then I configured the
guest os config files as recommended in the examples on teh Xen documentation. 
Then tried loading Ubuntu via the guest OS.  Ubuntu boots and stops at login
prompt and I am able to login to tty1.  I tried with Suse 10 and same result
(run level in both configs was set to 5)   
> 
> Question:  How do I get X to run in the guest operating systems ie. Suse or
Ubuntu ?
If you''re trying to run a full-blown X server (i.e., something other
than
Xnest or Xvnc or similar) inside a domU, unless you have a video card
dedicated to that domain (maybe not even then, dunno), you''re not going
to be running an X session in a domU. You can use Xnest and have it
display to a window in another X session elsewhere, or use Xvnc for a
detachable X display. I''ve also run a display manager in a domU and
used
a dedicated X terminal device (an NCD Explora) to run an X session with
all the apps running in the domU.

-- 
Derrik Pates
demon@devrandom.net

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There''s not a virtual display device, so you can''t just run
startx.  You need
to treat the domUs like separate computers on the network.  That means you 
should either:

* forward X11 apps through ssh (connect to the domain with ssh -X, run an 
xterm - it should just appear).
* Run "vncserver" in the guest, connect to it from dom0 (or any other
system).
By playing with your gdm / kdm / xdm config, you can cause the vncserver to 
be started automatically and display the login screen.
* Run Xnest in dom0, tell apps to connect to that instead of a local Xserver.
* Run FreeNX server in the domU, connect to it using the free (as in beer) 
client from NoMachine.  NX performs well and can do nifty things like 
forwarding sound, printing and local filesystems (if you can figure out how 
to set it up!)

HTH,
Mark

On Thursday 22 September 2005 07:15, Srinivasan S wrote:
> Hi
>
> I got Fedora Core 4 to boot via the Xen kernel.  Then I configured the
> guest os config files as recommended in the examples on teh Xen
> documentation.  Then tried loading Ubuntu via the guest OS.  Ubuntu boots
> and stops at login prompt and I am able to login to tty1.  I tried with
> Suse 10 and same result (run level in both configs was set to 5)   
>
> Question:  How do I get X to run in the guest operating systems ie. Suse or
> Ubuntu ?
>
> System: P4/512MB RAM/256 is used by Xen on FC4 and the balance is for the
> guest OS
>
> Regards
> Srini
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On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 07:05:24PM +1000, Matt Palmer
wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 06:15:00AM -0000, Srinivasan S wrote:
> > Question:  How do I get X to run in the guest operating systems ie.
Suse
> > or Ubuntu ?
> 
> I don''t really think you can, at least not directly.  The problem
is that
> the X server typically wants direct access to the video hardware, and the
> domU guest isn''t allowed near it.  Short of making your dom0
serial-console
> only, I don''t think you could do it.
You can run X over TCP/IP. If you *just* want to run X Windows programs,
ssh is particularly suited.

-- 
Arild Jensen

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