Xen users - Oct 2008 - Xen3.1 and win2k8 hvm: lvm-backed disk sized 0 bytes

Good Day,

We''re testing the Xen3.1 branch used on CentOS5 with a win2k8 hvm  
guest. Unfortunately, it seems like disks exported with phy from an  
lvm-backed partition show up in the windows installer with a size of 0  
bytes. Is this a known issue and/or is there a workaround?

Cheers,
Pim


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On Oct 6, 2008, at 12:45 , Pim van Riezen wrote:
> Good Day,
>
> We''re testing the Xen3.1 branch used on CentOS5 with a win2k8 hvm
> guest. Unfortunately, it seems like disks exported with phy from an  
> lvm-backed partition show up in the windows installer with a size of  
> 0 bytes. Is this a known issue and/or is there a workaround?
Additional details:

	disk = [ ''phy:vpsvg-006/win2k8,hda,w'', ''file:/root/ 
win2k8.iso,hdc:cdrom,r'' ]

Result:






Using an image file with tap:aio instead of an LVM partition does  
work, but dd''ing the installed image back to a LVM partition renders  
it unusable. Any hints appreciated.

Cheers,
Pim


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>Additional details:
>
>        disk = [ ''phy:vpsvg-006/win2k8,hda,w'',
''file:/root/ win2k8.iso,hdc:cdrom,r'' ]
>
Not in front of my Xen machines now, but don''t you need the full path
to the VG
such as ''phy:/dev/vpsvg-006/win2k8,hda,w'' ?

jlc

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On Oct 6, 2008, at 14:28 , Joseph L. Casale wrote:
>> Additional details:
>>
>>       disk = [ ''phy:vpsvg-006/win2k8,hda,w'',
''file:/root/
>> win2k8.iso,hdc:cdrom,r'' ]
>>
>
> Not in front of my Xen machines now, but don''t you need the full  
> path to the VG
> such as ''phy:/dev/vpsvg-006/win2k8,hda,w'' ?
It assumes a prefix of /dev. But I tried a full path just to be sure,  
same result I''m afraid.

Pi


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On Oct 6, 2008, at 9:08 AM, Pim van Riezen <pi+lists@panelsix.com>  
wrote:
>
> On Oct 6, 2008, at 14:28 , Joseph L. Casale wrote:
>
>>> Additional details:
>>>
>>>      disk = [ ''phy:vpsvg-006/win2k8,hda,w'',
''file:/root/
>>> win2k8.iso,hdc:cdrom,r'' ]
>>>
>>
>> Not in front of my Xen machines now, but don''t you need the
full
>> path to the VG
>> such as ''phy:/dev/vpsvg-006/win2k8,hda,w'' ?
>
> It assumes a prefix of /dev. But I tried a full path just to be  
> sure, same result I''m afraid.
>
Try creating a blank mbr on the lv with  fdisk first.

# fdisk /dev/vpsvg-006/win2k8

Just ''w'' write out an empty one then try to run install again.

-Ross


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On Oct 6, 2008, at 15:33 , Ross Walker wrote:
> Try creating a blank mbr on the lv with  fdisk first.
>
> # fdisk /dev/vpsvg-006/win2k8
>
> Just ''w'' write out an empty one then try to run install
again.
I already went over it with fdisk. Even tried creating a full  
partition table on the volume with an NTFS partition. Windows keeps  
reporting it as a 0.0 MB drive.

Pi


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Once upon a time, without Windows or HVM being in the picture, I had
to use the true path instead of the LVM path (I don''t have any LVM
machines
to reference, but it was more like /dev/lvm/volgroups/volgroup00/logvol01
instead of /dev/volgroup00/logvol01.  Don''t get caught up on the
/lvm/volgroups/ reference, it is an example, I honestly don''t remember
what
the real path was at all.  However, you might try this if you haven''t,
there
could be some problem with links (sym and/or hard), I have certainly read
about problems with symlinks. I have also read about problems with LVM
partitions for Windows HVMs, but I thought that was only with GPLPV drivers.
	Dustin

-----Original Message-----
From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Pim van Riezen
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 09:37
To: Ross Walker
Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Xen3.1 and win2k8 hvm: lvm-backed disk sized 0
bytes


On Oct 6, 2008, at 15:33 , Ross Walker wrote:
> Try creating a blank mbr on the lv with  fdisk first.
>
> # fdisk /dev/vpsvg-006/win2k8
>
> Just ''w'' write out an empty one then try to run install
again.
I already went over it with fdisk. Even tried creating a full  
partition table on the volume with an NTFS partition. Windows keeps  
reporting it as a 0.0 MB drive.

Pi


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On Oct 6, 2008, at 12:45 , Pim van Riezen wrote:
> Good Day,
>
> We''re testing the Xen3.1 branch used on CentOS5 with a win2k8 hvm
> guest. Unfortunately, it seems like disks exported with phy from an  
> lvm-backed partition show up in the windows installer with a size of  
> 0 bytes. Is this a known issue and/or is there a workaround?
I upgraded from the CentOS xen package to Xen-3.2 built from the  
xensource rpms and the problem went away.

Pi


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On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Dustin Henning
<Dustin.Henning@prd-inc.com> wrote:
>        Once upon a time, without Windows or HVM being in the picture, I had
> to use the true path instead of the LVM path (I don''t have any LVM
machines
> to reference, but it was more like /dev/lvm/volgroups/volgroup00/logvol01
> instead of /dev/volgroup00/logvol01.  Don''t get caught up on the
> /lvm/volgroups/ reference, it is an example, I honestly don''t
remember what
> the real path was at all.  However, you might try this if you
haven''t, there
> could be some problem with links (sym and/or hard), I have certainly read
> about problems with symlinks. I have also read about problems with LVM
> partitions for Windows HVMs, but I thought that was only with GPLPV
drivers.
That would be the /dev/mapper/... nodes, the OP can definitely give those a
go.

What''s the output of the ''lvs'' command?

-Ross

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On Oct 6, 2008, at 22:33 , Ross Walker wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 12:38 PM, Pim van Riezen <pi 
> +lists@panelsix.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Oct 6, 2008, at 12:45 , Pim van Riezen wrote:
>>
>>> Good Day,
>>>
>>> We''re testing the Xen3.1 branch used on CentOS5 with a
win2k8 hvm
>>> guest.
>>> Unfortunately, it seems like disks exported with phy from an lvm- 
>>> backed
>>> partition show up in the windows installer with a size of 0 bytes.
>>> Is this a
>>> known issue and/or is there a workaround?
>>
>> I upgraded from the CentOS xen package to Xen-3.2 built from the  
>> xensource
>> rpms and the problem went away.
>
> Ok, good to know, but it would be nice to know why stock RH Xen has
> the LVM problem... Oh, well.
I''ve got two nodes connected to that FC fabric, so if there''s
something interesting to test I can still give it a whirr on the  
original RedHat xen. I don''t think pointing it to the /dev/mapper/  
device node is going to do much good, though. The issue is that "phy:"
images go through the xenblk back-end driver where "file:" images are
fed directly to qemu. Since xenblk has no issue with accessing LV  
nodes on paravirtualized guests, I am assuming the issue is in the  
communication between qemu-dm and xenblk. Anyway, this is the lvs  
output:

   vps001swap vpsswap-003 -wi-a- 256.00M
   animage    vpsvg-005   -wi-a-   1.00G
   img_store  vpsvg-005   -wi-a- 100.00G
   sdb_conf   vpsvg-005   -wi-a-   4.00M
   sdb_hardy  vpsvg-005   -wi-a-   4.00M
   sdb_laurel vpsvg-005   -wi-a-   4.00M
   vps001root vpsvg-005   -wi-a-  10.00G
   win2k8     vpsvg-006   -wi-a-  20.00G

vps001swap/vps001root contain a paravirtualized guest that is  
configured as:

	disk = [ ''phy:vpsvg-005/vps001root,sda1,w'',
''phy:vpsswap-003/
vps001swap,sda2,w'' ]

without incident. The win2k8 hvm guest, if I follow the xend log  
correctly, spawns a vbd instance just fine for the devicenode if I  
feed it "phy:vpsvg-006/win2k8". I''m on a shitty connection
right now,
so I can''t really test stuff that requires vnc right now, but
I''ll see
if pointing it directly to /dev/mapper/vpsvg--006-win2k8 will do any  
good.

Cheers,
Pi


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On Oct 6, 2008, at 22:39 , Pim van Riezen wrote:
> vps001swap/vps001root contain a paravirtualized guest that is  
> configured as:
>
> 	disk = [ ''phy:vpsvg-005/vps001root,sda1,w'',
''phy:vpsswap-003/
> vps001swap,sda2,w'' ]
>
> without incident. The win2k8 hvm guest, if I follow the xend log  
> correctly, spawns a vbd instance just fine for the devicenode if I  
> feed it "phy:vpsvg-006/win2k8". I''m on a shitty
connection right
> now, so I can''t really test stuff that requires vnc right now, but
> I''ll see if pointing it directly to /dev/mapper/vpsvg--006-win2k8
> will do any good.
Ok, pointing to the non-softlinked /dev/mapper node indeed works. I  
don''t think I want to know how that can happen :)

Pi


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