Xen users - Feb 2009 - I''m looking for the right distribution to run Xen

Hi,

we''ll start virtualization with Xen in our company and we''re
looking for the
right distribution. The most important Servers in DomUs are working with a
MS OS (Win2000/2003/2008). I''ve read something about to accelerate
Windows
with paravirtual drivers in some distributions. Other distributions have
specific tools to install and support DomUs. And now I''m really
confused.

I need a distribution to run fast and stable Windows Servers. It should be
easy to do the daily administration job for an experienced Linux system
administrator. The distribution should support the hardware in an HP
ProLiant ML350 G5 (Intel Xeon) with Raid 5 and shouldn''t waste hardware
performance.

Is there a distribution that fulfills these requirements?

Thanks

Marc


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hi,

I''ve a xen 3.3.1 running with a windows server 2003.

Our computer is a dell poweredge 2900 with 48gb  of ram and two intel xeon
X5470  @ 3.33GHz. However  we use a raid 1+0 but you dont should have
problems because this.

Anyway  I''ve had to compile the kernel source for my sas raid
controller.





On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 2:21 PM, Marc <xen@rohrer.info> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> we''ll start virtualization with Xen in our company and
we''re looking for
> the
> right distribution. The most important Servers in DomUs are working with a
> MS OS (Win2000/2003/2008). I''ve read something about to accelerate
Windows
> with paravirtual drivers in some distributions. Other distributions have
> specific tools to install and support DomUs. And now I''m really
confused.
>
> I need a distribution to run fast and stable Windows Servers. It should be
> easy to do the daily administration job for an experienced Linux system
> administrator. The distribution should support the hardware in an HP
> ProLiant ML350 G5 (Intel Xeon) with Raid 5 and shouldn''t waste
hardware
> performance.
>
> Is there a distribution that fulfills these requirements?
>
> Thanks
>
> Marc
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>

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On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 8:21 PM, Marc <xen@rohrer.info>
wrote:
> we''ll start virtualization with Xen in our company and
we''re looking for the
> right distribution. The most important Servers in DomUs are working with a
> MS OS (Win2000/2003/2008).
> I need a distribution to run fast and stable Windows Servers.
That line alone might make Xen that you know (i.e. downloaded from
xen.org, or bundled in a Linux distro) irrelevant. Seriously.

Depending on how you define "fast and stable" (I assume you also mean
"supported"?), it might be best to simply use Windows Server 2008 with
hyper-v. Next down the "supported" line would be the lineup of
commercial products like VMWare ESX, Citrix XenServer, or Virtual
Iron.

With that out of the way ...
> It should be
> easy to do the daily administration job for an experienced Linux system
> administrator. The distribution should support the hardware in an HP
> ProLiant ML350 G5 (Intel Xeon) with Raid 5 and shouldn''t waste
hardware
> performance.
>
I use RHEL5 (Centos will also do) with (on most servers) bundled Xen
and (on some servers) Xen 3.3.1 from Gitco. All provisioning using
command line, without any special xen management GUI. You might want
to try virt-manager (bundled) or convirt for GUI though.

For Windows domUs I use Xen PV Driver
(http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenWindowsGplPv). Note that it
comes with NO commercial support whatsoever, so if support is your
main concern see the list of commercial virtualization solutions I
listed above.

Regards,

Fajar

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Marc wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> we''ll start virtualization with Xen in our company and
we''re looking for the
> right distribution. The most important Servers in DomUs are working with a
> MS OS (Win2000/2003/2008). I''ve read something about to accelerate
Windows
> with paravirtual drivers in some distributions. Other distributions have
> specific tools to install and support DomUs. And now I''m really
confused.
You are mistaking. The drivers are to be installed in Windows, not in
the dom0. You shall use the GPLPV drivers (the URL has been written here
MANY times).
> I need a distribution to run fast and stable Windows Servers. It should be
> easy to do the daily administration job for an experienced Linux system
> administrator. The distribution should support the hardware in an HP
> ProLiant ML350 G5 (Intel Xeon) with Raid 5 and shouldn''t waste
hardware
> performance.
> 
> Is there a distribution that fulfills these requirements?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Marc
ANY distribution would do. Xen is just a modified Linux kernel, with a
layer on top of it (to make things simple). As in all distributions you
can make a custom kernel yourself, you can use ANY distribution. Your
problem is more to know if the current Xen compatible kernels can
support your hardware. Currently, Xen is available with the following
kernels version: 2.6.18, 2.6.26 (patch from Suse, also included in
Debian) and 2.6.27. Note that only kernel 2.6.18 is officially supported
by upstream currently, and that Xen dom0 support is said to be available
in the kernel.org kernels only in the next 2.6.29 (but nobody can tell
if this will happen or not for this version, it''s just hopes that the
patches will be accepted).

I hope that helps.

Thomas


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--- On Wed, 2/4/09, Thomas Goirand <thomas@goirand.fr> wrote:
From: Thomas Goirand <thomas@goirand.fr>
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] I''m looking for the right distribution to run
Xen
To: 
Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 8:47 AM

Marc wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> we''ll start virtualization with Xen in our company and
we''re
looking for the
> right distribution. The most important Servers in DomUs are working with a
> MS OS (Win2000/2003/2008). I''ve read something about to accelerate
Windows
> with paravirtual drivers in some distributions. Other distributions have
> specific tools to install and support DomUs. And now I''m really
confused.

You are mistaking. The drivers are to be installed in Windows, not in
the dom0. You shall use the GPLPV drivers (the URL has been written here
MANY times).
> I need a distribution to run fast and stable Windows Servers. It should be
> easy to do the daily administration job for an experienced Linux system
> administrator. The distribution should support the hardware in an HP
> ProLiant ML350 G5 (Intel Xeon) with Raid 5 and shouldn''t waste
hardware
> performance.
> 
> Is there a distribution that fulfills these requirements?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Marc
ANY distribution would do. Xen is just a modified Linux kernel, with a
layer on top of it (to make things simple). As in all distributions you
can make a custom kernel yourself, you can use ANY distribution. Your
problem is more to know if the current Xen compatible kernels can
support your hardware. 

Currently, Xen is available with the following
kernels version: 2.6.18, 2.6.26 (patch from Suse, 
also included in Debian) and 2.6.27. 

**************************************************************************************
Are you saying that Suse''s Xen patch is included in stable
2.6.27 at kernel.org ?

# git clone
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.6.27.y.git
# cd linux-2.6.27.y
# make menuconfig

Didn''t provide me an option for Xen Dom0 support.

Just Xen DomU support as for previous versions.
Maybe wrong kernel has been taken ?

I was able to get Suse''s kernel only via :-
# hg clone http://xenbits.xensource.com/ext/linux-2.6.27-xen.hg

**************************************************************************************



Note that only kernel 2.6.18 is officially supported
by upstream currently, and that Xen dom0 support is said to be available
in the kernel.org kernels only in the next 2.6.29
**************************************************************************************************************
This kernel,finally, may or may not support pv_ops in Dom0 :-

root@ServerUbuntu:/boot# file vmlinuz-2.6.27.5
vmlinuz-2.6.27.5: gzip compressed data, from Unix, last modified: Thu Jan 29
06:54:29 2009, max compression

root@ServerUbuntu:/boot# file vmlinuz-2.6.29-rc3-tip
vmlinuz-2.6.29-rc3-tip: Linux kernel x86 boot executable RO-rootFS, root_dev
0x811, swap_dev 0x2, Normal VGA

For now i am just unable to load the last kernel under Xen Unstable on the box
with
standard Intel AHCI SATA Controller, first one works pretty smoothly
(it''s xen-ified).
**************************************************************************************************************


(but nobody can tell if this will happen or not for this version, it''s
just hopes that the
patches will be accepted).

I hope that helps.

Thomas


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