Xen users - May 2008 - Xen 3.2 hard to install in debian sid

Hi list,

i just gotten a brand new xeon server with VT-d, so i wanted to install the
latest Xen to use the new features (especially the VT-d stuff).
I have always run my stable xen systems with debian (etch), so i started
installing a debian sid.
However, it seems that the current sid does not even have a xen kernel
available as package.
I had to deinstall all xen packages and grab xen from source and recompile
eveything.
That is fine for my first tests (works great btw), but i would like to have
xen as a package for easy upgrades.

- is there going to be a xen kernel package in sid in the near future ?
should i have chosen testing ?
- should i choose another distribution for this ? in that case i''m
thinking
ubuntu server, i would like to avoid RH.

Thanks,
Ban


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On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 11:21:14AM +0200, sven waeyenbergh
wrote:
> Hi list,
> 
> i just gotten a brand new xeon server with VT-d, so i wanted to install the
> latest Xen to use the new features (especially the VT-d stuff).
> I have always run my stable xen systems with debian (etch), so i started
> installing a debian sid.
> However, it seems that the current sid does not even have a xen kernel
> available as package.
> I had to deinstall all xen packages and grab xen from source and recompile
> eveything.
> That is fine for my first tests (works great btw), but i would like to have
> xen as a package for easy upgrades.
> 
> - is there going to be a xen kernel package in sid in the near future ?
> should i have chosen testing ?
> - should i choose another distribution for this ? in that case i''m
thinking
> ubuntu server, i would like to avoid RH.
> 
Official Xen supports only 2.6.18 based kernels.. I don''t know why you
want to avoid RHEL or CentOS, but at the moment they''re one of the best
options
to run as dom0 (they''ve done a lot of testing, patching and
certification on
different server hardware). RHEL/CentOS 5.x is 2.6.18 based with a lot of
the new drivers backported. 

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS has 2.6.24 based dom0/domU kernel, but it''s a
forward-port of
2.6.18 stuff, and based on people''s comments it''s not very
stable.. basicly
all of the later 2.6.2x dom0 kernels haven''t been as stable as 2.6.18
based
ones.

It''s a lot of work and a huge mess to forward-port these 2.6.18 xen
features
to a new kernel every time new kernel gets released.. that''s why noone
wants
to do it. And that''s why Redhat/Fedora started working to get the xen
stuff
integrated into vanilla/mainline kernel.org kernels.. ie. using pv_ops. That
way (in the future) you can use the normal kernel for xen vm''s too..
without
any extra patching or forward-porting.

This is the status page of pv_ops domU kernel-xen for 2.6.25:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvops

Progress/status page about xen dom0 pv_ops work is here: 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvopsDom0

Some of the xen pv_ops features are already in 2.6.24/2.6.25 kernels, and the
rest
have been sent for upstream inclusion, or will be sent shortly, I think.

This means that in the future we should be able to run the normal/vanilla kernel
also for xen virtual machines (and for dom0).. but unfortunately not yet
today.

Recently released Fedora 9 has this 2.6.25 based domU kernel-xen, for both i386
and x86-64. 

-- Pasi

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Pasi,µ

thanks a lot for the detailed info,
i will stick with my compiled version for a while, and see what the future
brings.
if really needed, i''ll go for RH/CentOS - but first look around for a
debian-based solution.

Thanks
Ban



On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 11:44 AM, Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@iki.fi> wrote:
> On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 11:21:14AM +0200, sven waeyenbergh wrote:
> > Hi list,
> >
> > i just gotten a brand new xeon server with VT-d, so i wanted to
install
> the
> > latest Xen to use the new features (especially the VT-d stuff).
> > I have always run my stable xen systems with debian (etch), so i
started
> > installing a debian sid.
> > However, it seems that the current sid does not even have a xen kernel
> > available as package.
> > I had to deinstall all xen packages and grab xen from source and
> recompile
> > eveything.
> > That is fine for my first tests (works great btw), but i would like to
> have
> > xen as a package for easy upgrades.
> >
> > - is there going to be a xen kernel package in sid in the near future
?
> > should i have chosen testing ?
> > - should i choose another distribution for this ? in that case
i''m
> thinking
> > ubuntu server, i would like to avoid RH.
> >
>
> Official Xen supports only 2.6.18 based kernels.. I don''t know why
you
> want to avoid RHEL or CentOS, but at the moment they''re one of the
best
> options
> to run as dom0 (they''ve done a lot of testing, patching and
certification
> on
> different server hardware). RHEL/CentOS 5.x is 2.6.18 based with a lot of
> the new drivers backported.
>
> Ubuntu 8.04 LTS has 2.6.24 based dom0/domU kernel, but it''s a
forward-port
> of
> 2.6.18 stuff, and based on people''s comments it''s not
very stable.. basicly
> all of the later 2.6.2x dom0 kernels haven''t been as stable as
2.6.18 based
> ones.
>
> It''s a lot of work and a huge mess to forward-port these 2.6.18
xen
> features
> to a new kernel every time new kernel gets released.. that''s why
noone
> wants
> to do it. And that''s why Redhat/Fedora started working to get the
xen stuff
> integrated into vanilla/mainline kernel.org kernels.. ie. using pv_ops.
> That
> way (in the future) you can use the normal kernel for xen vm''s
too..
> without
> any extra patching or forward-porting.
>
> This is the status page of pv_ops domU kernel-xen for 2.6.25:
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvops
>
> Progress/status page about xen dom0 pv_ops work is here:
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvopsDom0
>
> Some of the xen pv_ops features are already in 2.6.24/2.6.25 kernels, and
> the rest
> have been sent for upstream inclusion, or will be sent shortly, I think.
>
> This means that in the future we should be able to run the normal/vanilla
> kernel
> also for xen virtual machines (and for dom0).. but unfortunately not yet
> today.
>
> Recently released Fedora 9 has this 2.6.25 based domU kernel-xen, for both
> i386
> and x86-64.
>
> -- Pasi
>

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Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Hi!
> - is there going to be a xen kernel package in sid in the near future ?
> should i have chosen testing ?
> - should i choose another distribution for this ? in that case i''m
thinking
> ubuntu server, i would like to avoid RH.

Use Debian Etch 4.0, which includes a xenalized kernel, and get the Xen
hypervisor via backport.org:

http://packages.debian.org/etch-backports/xen-hypervisor-3.2-1-amd64

Greetings,
Gernot

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Because RedHat and Fedora SUCK for one thing, wount run either of them

On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@iki.fi> wrote:
> On Mon, May 26, 2008 at 11:21:14AM +0200, sven waeyenbergh wrote:
> > Hi list,
> >
> > i just gotten a brand new xeon server with VT-d, so i wanted to
install
> the
> > latest Xen to use the new features (especially the VT-d stuff).
> > I have always run my stable xen systems with debian (etch), so i
started
> > installing a debian sid.
> > However, it seems that the current sid does not even have a xen kernel
> > available as package.
> > I had to deinstall all xen packages and grab xen from source and
> recompile
> > eveything.
> > That is fine for my first tests (works great btw), but i would like to
> have
> > xen as a package for easy upgrades.
> >
> > - is there going to be a xen kernel package in sid in the near future
?
> > should i have chosen testing ?
> > - should i choose another distribution for this ? in that case
i''m
> thinking
> > ubuntu server, i would like to avoid RH.
> >
>
> Official Xen supports only 2.6.18 based kernels.. I don''t know why
you
> want to avoid RHEL or CentOS, but at the moment they''re one of the
best
> options
> to run as dom0 (they''ve done a lot of testing, patching and
certification
> on
> different server hardware). RHEL/CentOS 5.x is 2.6.18 based with a lot of
> the new drivers backported.
>
> Ubuntu 8.04 LTS has 2.6.24 based dom0/domU kernel, but it''s a
forward-port
> of
> 2.6.18 stuff, and based on people''s comments it''s not
very stable.. basicly
> all of the later 2.6.2x dom0 kernels haven''t been as stable as
2.6.18 based
> ones.
>
> It''s a lot of work and a huge mess to forward-port these 2.6.18
xen
> features
> to a new kernel every time new kernel gets released.. that''s why
noone
> wants
> to do it. And that''s why Redhat/Fedora started working to get the
xen stuff
> integrated into vanilla/mainline kernel.org kernels.. ie. using pv_ops.
> That
> way (in the future) you can use the normal kernel for xen vm''s
too..
> without
> any extra patching or forward-porting.
>
> This is the status page of pv_ops domU kernel-xen for 2.6.25:
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvops
>
> Progress/status page about xen dom0 pv_ops work is here:
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvopsDom0
>
> Some of the xen pv_ops features are already in 2.6.24/2.6.25 kernels, and
> the rest
> have been sent for upstream inclusion, or will be sent shortly, I think.
>
> This means that in the future we should be able to run the normal/vanilla
> kernel
> also for xen virtual machines (and for dom0).. but unfortunately not yet
> today.
>
> Recently released Fedora 9 has this 2.6.25 based domU kernel-xen, for both
> i386
> and x86-64.
>
> -- Pasi
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>

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Outback Dingo wrote:
> Because RedHat and Fedora SUCK for one thing, wount run either of them
That is purely a matter of opinion. 

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