Xen users - Nov 2007 - paravirtulized suse 10.3 DomU over a suse 10.2 dom0

Hi,
      I am using a Suse 10.2 Dom0 (xen 3.0.3) on an old Dell poweredge.
I succesfully installed a Suse 10.2 DomU (paravirtualization).
All is fine and working very well.

Now i am trying a Suse 10.3 domU on the same machine.

I tried different ways, and each time i can''t achieve my setup:

- xm create -c /mnt/sdb1/vm-suse10.3.cfg
kernel=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-kernel
initrd=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-ramdisk

is waiting forever during boot:
"[...]Non-volatile memory driver v1.2
NET: Registered protocol family 17
loop: module loaded
XENBUS: Waiting for devices to initialise:
295s...290s...285s...280s...275s...270s...265s...260s...255s...250s...245s...240s...235s...230s...225s...220s...215s...210s...205s...200s...195s...190s...185s...180s...175s...170s...165s...160s...155s...150s...145s...140s...135s...130s...125s...120s...115s...110s...105s...100s...95s...90s...85s...80s...75s...70s...65s...60s...55s...50s...45s...40s...35s...30s...25s...20s...15s...10s...5s...0s...
XENBUS: Timeout connecting to device: device/vbd/769 (local state 3,
remote state 2)
XENBUS: Timeout connecting to device: device/vbd/770 (local state 3,
remote state 2)
netfront: Initialising virtual ethernet driver.
netfront: device eth0 has flipping receive path."

-Using a 10.3 network boot cd to launch the domU setup shows well the
firsts yast setup menues but the install fails after the parameters steps
as well.

Has someone experienced the same and have some idea to get rid of this ?



-- 
Laurent HENRY
Administrateur Systèmes & Réseaux
EHESS
Centre de Ressources Informatiques
54 Boulevard Raspail
75006 Paris
01.49.54.23.61

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>
>
> I tried different ways, and each time i can''t achieve my setup:
>
> - xm create -c /mnt/sdb1/vm-suse10.3.cfg
> kernel=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-kernel
> initrd=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-ramdisk
>
(1) It looks like you are manually trying to install the the domU. Have you
tried using the Yast2 Virtual Machine Manager to do the domU installation?
(2) It looks like the paths to your kernel and initrd are incorrect. If you
use the Yast2 Virtual Machine Manager it will give the right paths.

> Has someone experienced the same and have some idea to get rid of this ?
>
I have tried installing 10.3 as a guest of 10.2 and was also unsuccessful.
So this confirms that someone has had the same experience but I have not
been able to fix this.

Has anyone successfully installed a 10.3 domU in a 10.2 dom0?

I think the reason is that a 10.3 domU does not work in a 10.2 dom0 is that
the kernel is xen aware and since the 10.2 kernel is older than the 10.3kernel,
10.2 is not aware of how to host 10.3 as a guest/domU. It may be possible to
install 10.3 as a guest of 10.2 but you would probably have to do it much
like installing a completely different OS such as Centos, or RedHat. in
otherwords you must install 10.3 as a guest OS that is not xen aware.  Im
speculating here (based on my limited understanding of opensuse and xen
documentation ive read), so more educated opinions are welcome.

I resorted to installing 10.3 as Dom0 and 10.2 as a  DomU and this works.
10.3 is much nicer since it has a paravirtualized graphics adapter so you
can do a graphical install and have graphical access to your machine without
having to setup VNC on your own.

In your case and in my case (since the hard disk for my 10.2 system is lying
around), if it is not possible to erase your 10.2 system  it would be
helpful to determine how to take an existing 10.2 filesystem, convert that
into a  "Sparse Image File", and use the "Sparse Image File"
to boot my old
10.2 system. Is this possible? Anyone know how to do this?

Razi


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> Now i am trying a Suse 10.3 domU on the same machine.
>
> I tried different ways, and each time i can''t achieve my setup:
>
> - xm create -c /mnt/sdb1/vm-suse10.3.cfg
> kernel=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-kernel
> initrd=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-ramdisk
>
(1) It looks like you are manually trying to install the the domU.
Have you tried using the Yast2 Virtual Machine Manager to do the domU
installation?
(2) It looks like the paths to your kernel and initrd are incorrect.
If you use the Yast2 Virtual Machine Manager it will give the right
paths.
>
> -Using a 10.3 network boot cd to launch the domU setup shows well the
> firsts yast setup menues but the install fails after the parameters steps
> as well.
>
One explanation for why your 10.3 install is not working is because
the 10.3 network boot cd (73MB) does not have a Xen Kernel.
>
> Has someone experienced the same and have some idea to get rid of this ?
>
I have tried installing 10.3 as a guest of 10.2 and was also
unsuccessful. So this confirms that someone has had the same
experience but I have not been able to fix this.

Has anyone successfully installed a 10.3 domU in a 10.2 dom0?

Another possible explanation for why a 10.3 domU does not work in a
10.2 dom0 is that the kernel is xen aware and since the 10.2 kernel is
older than the 10.3 kernel, 10.2 is not aware of how to host 10.3 as a
guest/domU. It may be possible to install 10.3 as a guest of 10.2 but
you would probably have to do it much like installing a completely
different OS such as Centos, or RedHat. in otherwords you must install
10.3 as a guest OS that is not xen aware.  Im speculating here (based
on my limited understanding of opensuse and xen documentation ive
read), so more educated opinions are welcome.

I resorted to installing 10.3 as Dom0 and 10.2 as a  DomU and this
works. 10.3 is much nicer since it has a paravirtualized graphics
adapter so you can do a graphical install and have graphical access to
your machine without having to setup VNC on your own.

In your case and in my case (since the hard disk for my 10.2 system is
lying around), if it is not possible to erase your 10.2 system  it
would be helpful to determine how to take an existing 10.2 filesystem
(ext3), convert that into a  "Sparse Image File", and use the
"Sparse
Image File" to boot my old 10.2 system. Is this possible? Anyone know
how to do this?

Razi

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Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
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yes, i install it manually, my kernel/initrd are hand made from
kernel-xen-2.6.22.5-31.i586.rpm and install-initrd-1.0-228.i586.rpm in the
10.3 opensuse repository.
(http://et.redhat.com/~kraxel/xen/suse-guest.html)
i have also tried to with kernel and initrd from the boot repository with
the same result.
i think my paths are correct, i used the same way to install 10.2 domU

With the yast install manager (ftp setup), same result, it fails after
dowload of the guest kernel).

About the net install boot cd, the minikernel on it is fine to launch the
install procedure, nothing happens just when the guest kernel is
downloaded (after you entered correct ip,gw,etc).

It seems to me like the paravirtualized 10.3 xen kernel doesn''t
"recognize" well the virtualized hardware shown by 10.2 dom0 (or as
you
say 10.2 doesn''t know how to host the 10.3 one).

Any successfull attempt around ?

>
>> Now i am trying a Suse 10.3 domU on the same machine.
>>
>> I tried different ways, and each time i can''t achieve my
setup:
>>
>> - xm create -c /mnt/sdb1/vm-suse10.3.cfg
>> kernel=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-kernel
>> initrd=/root/Kernel/inst.xen-2.6.22.5-31-i586-ramdisk
>>
>
> (1) It looks like you are manually trying to install the the domU.
> Have you tried using the Yast2 Virtual Machine Manager to do the domU
> installation?
> (2) It looks like the paths to your kernel and initrd are incorrect.
> If you use the Yast2 Virtual Machine Manager it will give the right
> paths.
>
>>
>> -Using a 10.3 network boot cd to launch the domU setup shows well the
>> firsts yast setup menues but the install fails after the parameters
>> steps
>> as well.
>>
>
> One explanation for why your 10.3 install is not working is because
> the 10.3 network boot cd (73MB) does not have a Xen Kernel.
>
>>
>> Has someone experienced the same and have some idea to get rid of this
?
>>
>
> I have tried installing 10.3 as a guest of 10.2 and was also
> unsuccessful. So this confirms that someone has had the same
> experience but I have not been able to fix this.
>
> Has anyone successfully installed a 10.3 domU in a 10.2 dom0?
>
> Another possible explanation for why a 10.3 domU does not work in a
> 10.2 dom0 is that the kernel is xen aware and since the 10.2 kernel is
> older than the 10.3 kernel, 10.2 is not aware of how to host 10.3 as a
> guest/domU. It may be possible to install 10.3 as a guest of 10.2 but
> you would probably have to do it much like installing a completely
> different OS such as Centos, or RedHat. in otherwords you must install
> 10.3 as a guest OS that is not xen aware.  Im speculating here (based
> on my limited understanding of opensuse and xen documentation ive
> read), so more educated opinions are welcome.
>
> I resorted to installing 10.3 as Dom0 and 10.2 as a  DomU and this
> works. 10.3 is much nicer since it has a paravirtualized graphics
> adapter so you can do a graphical install and have graphical access to
> your machine without having to setup VNC on your own.
>
> In your case and in my case (since the hard disk for my 10.2 system is
> lying around), if it is not possible to erase your 10.2 system  it
> would be helpful to determine how to take an existing 10.2 filesystem
> (ext3), convert that into a  "Sparse Image File", and use the
"Sparse
> Image File" to boot my old 10.2 system. Is this possible? Anyone know
> how to do this?
>
> Razi
>
>
>
> ------------------------------

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