Xen users - Jan 2008 - Can Ubuntu HVM guests be installed on a loopback fs image?

Hi

Can Ubuntu HVM guests be installed on a loopback fs image?
Just like images on jailtime.org? I mean e.g Ubuntu 7.10 image?
Canonical makes really weird alternate.iso which is unbootable undera
HVM for installation to a file.
It hangs at loading isolinux.... :(

Does anyone have any success on this?
Any pointers or help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
--
pradeep singh rautela
http://eagain.wordpress.com
http://emptydomain.googlepages.com

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> Can Ubuntu HVM guests be installed on a loopback fs image?
> Just like images on jailtime.org? I mean e.g Ubuntu 7.10 image?
Yes, guests don''t know what their storage is so it''s quite
easy to make a
guest install on a file-backed VBD.  We recommend using blocktap rather than 
loopback to support file-backend VBDs.

In general, you''d just create the VBD file, download an Ubuntu install
ISO and
create a config file that pointed to the VBD file as hda and the ISO as the 
CD-ROM.  Then you start the VM and install normally.
> Canonical makes really weird alternate.iso which is unbootable undera
> HVM for installation to a file.
> It hangs at loading isolinux.... :(
What is this alternate ISO you''re using?  Is it the text mode install
ISO,
or...?  Just a link to where you got it from would be helpful ;-)

On my AMD Xen box I can install Ubuntu using the live CD / graphical installer 
OK.  This is on CentOS Xen 3.1.

Cheers,
Mark
> Does anyone have any success on this?
> Any pointers or help will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> --
> pradeep singh rautela
> http://eagain.wordpress.com
> http://emptydomain.googlepages.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users


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On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:02:53 +0530
"pradeep singh rautela" <rautelap@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Can Ubuntu HVM guests be installed on a loopback fs image?
> Just like images on jailtime.org? I mean e.g Ubuntu 7.10 image?
> Canonical makes really weird alternate.iso which is unbootable undera
> HVM for installation to a file.
> It hangs at loading isolinux.... :(
I''ve been trying to install ubuntu 7.10 HVM guests under the Xen
running on a sles10sp1 64 bit host. My results:

The live CD images get to the ubuntu screen with the orange progress
bouncer running forever and stay there as long as I care to wait.

The alternate-desktop text mode installer iso images work Ok installing
a 32 bit ubuntu HVM, but the 64 bit HVM install crashes the virtual machine
instantly as it loads the linux kernel it is gonna use during the install.

Meanwhile, the 32 bit ubuntu I did get to install hangs as soon as I
try to do anything at all (like download updates) with the virt-manager
app showing it pegged at 100% and the virtual console window non-responsive.

So I haven''t had much ubuntu success under xen :-).

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Hi Mark,
On 18/01/2008, Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
[...]
>
> Yes, guests don''t know what their storage is so it''s
quite easy to make a
> guest install on a file-backed VBD.  We recommend using blocktap rather
than
> loopback to support file-backend VBDs.
>
> In general, you''d just create the VBD file, download an Ubuntu
install ISO and
> create a config file that pointed to the VBD file as hda and the ISO as the
> CD-ROM.  Then you start the VM and install normally.
>
> > Canonical makes really weird alternate.iso which is unbootable undera
> > HVM for installation to a file.
> > It hangs at loading isolinux.... :(
>
> What is this alternate ISO you''re using?  Is it the text mode
install ISO,
> or...?  Just a link to where you got it from would be helpful ;-)
Yes the text mode install ISO which comes as alternate-7.10-ubuntu.iso.
Link is
http://ftp.science.nus.edu.sg/linux/ubuntu-ISO/7.10/ubuntu-7.10-alternate-i386.iso
Surprisingly it hangs at loading isolinux....
Fedora-8 iso also blacks out :-/.

I suspect this may be an issue with the machine instead of Xen then.
Can anyone help me over this?
My hardware specs are -
Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 processor
ICH8 family of Intel Controllers on motherboard.
VGA controller is Intel 82Q963/Q965

My home AMD machine works perfectly though for same fedora iso.
So does this means the Intel machine I have got is the culprit
here?
>
> On my AMD Xen box I can install Ubuntu using the live CD / graphical
installer
> OK.  This is on CentOS Xen 3.1.
AMD box is heaven for HVM guests but I am skeptical about Intel boxes
like in my case.

Can anyone suggest me something or tell me which is to blame here Xen,
Ubuntu, Intel machine or me ?

Thanks,
        ~Pradeep
>
> Cheers,
> Mark
>
> > Does anyone have any success on this?
> > Any pointers or help will be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > --
> > pradeep singh rautela
> > http://eagain.wordpress.com
> > http://emptydomain.googlepages.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Xen-users mailing list
> > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>
>
>
> --
> Push Me Pull You - Distributed SCM tool
(http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~maw48/pmpu/)
>

-- 
--
pradeep singh rautela
http://eagain.wordpress.com
http://emptydomain.googlepages.com

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