Arun Sharma
2009-May-21 14:26 UTC
[Xen-users] Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
Hello Geert Janssens Its related to the issue which you have faced for Winxp HVM on xen using qcow. http://markmail.org/message/2s34goosaqmd4vuz#query:+page:1+mid:3ufh6ev4oz4n7opf+state:results Have you found any solution till now ? Since i am also facing the same problem. I tried testing on Xen 3.4 on Centos52 but still no luck. I found one old thread which describes the similar thing. Here is that link : http://markmail.org/message/tzpeyhent63t2kgc#query:Xen%20windows%20Vm%20cow%20file%20support+page:1+mid:4ssb3xurmfos4vyp+state:results Please mail me if you find some clue to fix this issue. Thanks Arun _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Geert Janssens
2009-May-21 15:32 UTC
[Xen-users] Re: Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
On Thursday 21 May 2009, Arun Sharma wrote:> Hello Geert Janssens > > Its related to the issue which you have faced for Winxp HVM on xen using > qcow. > > http://markmail.org/message/2s34goosaqmd4vuz#query:+page:1+mid:3ufh6ev4oz4n >7opf+state:results > > Have you found any solution till now ? Since i am also facing the same > problem. >No, I never managed to fix this problem in an optimal way. I was time-limited, so I went for a less optimal solution: I use completely separate (qcow) disk images for each VM. I consider one of these disk images the master and I keep a backup of it. Whenever I have to perform significant system updates, I do them first on this master. If the updates are ok, I simply replace all the other disk images with the new master. I can get around with this because: * The Guest machines are all configured to get their IP address via dhcp, and each guest config has it''s own unique MAC address. So each guest will appear on their own ip address * There is no data on the guest disk images (only OS and applications). All variable data is accessible via samba shares. So I don''t delete anything valuable by overwriting a disk image with the new master. It works ok, but I''m using a lot of wasted diskspace. I still intend to try and setup an LVM based disk image and use LVM snapshots for each guest. This would give me essentially the same thing but with less wasted diskspace. The experiment will have to wait until I find some time for it though. Regards, Geert -- Kobalt W.I.T. Web & Information Technology Brusselsesteenweg 152 1850 Grimbergen Tel : +32 479 339 655 Email: info@kobaltwit.be _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Javier Guerra
2009-May-21 15:44 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Re: Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Geert Janssens <info@kobaltwit.be> wrote:> * The Guest machines are all configured to get their IP address via dhcp, and > each guest config has it''s own unique MAC address. So each guest will appear > on their own ip address > * There is no data on the guest disk images (only OS and applications). All > variable data is accessible via samba shares. So I don''t delete anything > valuable by overwriting a disk image with the new master.if there''s no state on those images, you can mount them as readonly and use the same for all DomUs. of course, any update means shutting down> It works ok, but I''m using a lot of wasted diskspace. I still intend to try > and setup an LVM based disk image and use LVM snapshots for each guest. This > would give me essentially the same thing but with less wasted diskspace. The > experiment will have to wait until I find some time for it though.note that using snapshots and a ''master'' (either LVM or qcow) means you can''t change the ''master'' and expect the snapshots to catch the updates -- Javier _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Geert Janssens
2009-May-21 15:58 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Re: Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
On Thursday 21 May 2009, Javier Guerra wrote:> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Geert Janssens <info@kobaltwit.be> wrote: > > * The Guest machines are all configured to get their IP address via dhcp, > > and each guest config has it''s own unique MAC address. So each guest will > > appear on their own ip address > > * There is no data on the guest disk images (only OS and applications). > > All variable data is accessible via samba shares. So I don''t delete > > anything valuable by overwriting a disk image with the new master. > > if there''s no state on those images, you can mount them as readonly > and use the same for all DomUs. of course, any update means shutting > down >I never tried this... Won''t Windows complain if it''s running off of a read only disk ? I suppose Windows is writing to temporary files, or is keeping state in it''s registry. I''m not interested in these local state differences between guests, that''s why I can simply replace one guest''s disk with an updated master copy. But I just don''t know if Windows can handle a readonly "C" drive. As for shutting down, that''s no problem. I can plan for maintenance downtime pretty easily. The guests aren''t used fulltime.> > It works ok, but I''m using a lot of wasted diskspace. I still intend to > > try and setup an LVM based disk image and use LVM snapshots for each > > guest. This would give me essentially the same thing but with less wasted > > diskspace. The experiment will have to wait until I find some time for it > > though. > > note that using snapshots and a ''master'' (either LVM or qcow) means > you can''t change the ''master'' and expect the snapshots to catch the > updatesI''m well aware of that and I can live without this advanced feature. As I understand it from reading this list, ZFS is currently the only filesystem that has something along those lines. But I may even misunderstand that much. Geert -- Kobalt W.I.T. Web & Information Technology Brusselsesteenweg 152 1850 Grimbergen Tel : +32 479 339 655 Email: info@kobaltwit.be _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Javier Guerra
2009-May-21 16:39 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Re: Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:58 AM, Geert Janssens <info@kobaltwit.be> wrote:> I never tried this... Won''t Windows complain if it''s running off of a read > only disk ? I suppose Windows is writing to temporary files, or is keeping > state in it''s registry. I''m not interested in these local state differences > between guests, that''s why I can simply replace one guest''s disk with an > updated master copy. But I just don''t know if Windows can handle a readonly > "C" drive.ups... didn''t realize you''re using windows... right, no R/O C drive -- Javier _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Arun Sharma
2009-May-21 16:59 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Re: Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
Thank you all for replying so quick. On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:09 PM, Javier Guerra <javier@guerrag.com> wrote:> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 10:58 AM, Geert Janssens <info@kobaltwit.be> > wrote: > > I never tried this... Won''t Windows complain if it''s running off of a > read > > only disk ? I suppose Windows is writing to temporary files, or is > keeping > > state in it''s registry. I''m not interested in these local state > differences > > between guests, that''s why I can simply replace one guest''s disk with an > > updated master copy. But I just don''t know if Windows can handle a > readonly > > "C" drive. > > ups... didn''t realize you''re using windows... right, no R/O C drive > > > -- > Javier >-- Regards Arun Sharma 0-939-692-3118 _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Fajar A. Nugraha
2009-May-22 03:22 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 9:26 PM, Arun Sharma <arunain@gmail.com> wrote:> Hello Geert Janssens > > Its related to the issue which you have faced for Winxp HVM on xen using > qcow. > > http://markmail.org/message/2s34goosaqmd4vuz#query:+page:1+mid:3ufh6ev4oz4n7opf+state:results > > Have you found any solution till now ? Since i am also facing the same > problem. > > I tried testing on Xen 3.4 on Centos52 but still no luck. I found one old > thread which describes the similar thing.Which dom0 kernel did you use? From Centos or from Xen.org? I assumed by looking at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=486353 and http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg?rev/eeeb77195ac2 the fix should be in Xen 3.4 already. -- Fajar _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Arun Sharma
2009-May-23 16:31 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
Hello Fazar Thanks for your reply. Just an update, i am using dom0 ( centos 52 ) having Xen downloaded from xen.org (3.4). Thanks for the links, I will check that and will get back to you. Arun On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 8:52 AM, Fajar A. Nugraha <fajar@fajar.net> wrote:> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 9:26 PM, Arun Sharma <arunain@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello Geert Janssens > > > > Its related to the issue which you have faced for Winxp HVM on xen using > > qcow. > > > > > http://markmail.org/message/2s34goosaqmd4vuz#query:+page:1+mid:3ufh6ev4oz4n7opf+state:results > > > > Have you found any solution till now ? Since i am also facing the same > > problem. > > > > I tried testing on Xen 3.4 on Centos52 but still no luck. I found one > old > > thread which describes the similar thing. > > Which dom0 kernel did you use? From Centos or from Xen.org? > I assumed by looking at > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=486353 and > http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg?rev/eeeb77195ac2 the fix > should be in Xen 3.4 already. > > -- > Fajar >-- Regards Arun Sharma 0-939-692-3118 _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Arun Sharma
2009-May-24 04:38 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
Hello Fazar Just conforming , Is the below fix is present in Xen 3.4 ? (Downloaded from Xen.org and source compiled) . *I assumed by looking at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=486353 and http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg?rev/eeeb77195ac2 the fix should be in Xen 3.4 already. * If this patch or fix is present on xen 3.4 then too things didn''t worked for me. The whole idea is to run Winxp domU with COW , so that we have one ( readonly ) winxp base image and one read write cow image. Any more help related to this will be appreciated a lot. Arun On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 10:01 PM, Arun Sharma <arunain@gmail.com> wrote:> Hello Fazar > > Thanks for your reply. > > Just an update, i am using dom0 ( centos 52 ) having Xen downloaded from > xen.org (3.4). > > Thanks for the links, I will check that and will get back to you. > > > > Arun > > > > On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 8:52 AM, Fajar A. Nugraha <fajar@fajar.net> wrote: > >> On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 9:26 PM, Arun Sharma <arunain@gmail.com> wrote: >> > Hello Geert Janssens >> > >> > Its related to the issue which you have faced for Winxp HVM on xen using >> > qcow. >> > >> > >> http://markmail.org/message/2s34goosaqmd4vuz#query:+page:1+mid:3ufh6ev4oz4n7opf+state:results >> > >> > Have you found any solution till now ? Since i am also facing the same >> > problem. >> > >> > I tried testing on Xen 3.4 on Centos52 but still no luck. I found one >> old >> > thread which describes the similar thing. >> >> Which dom0 kernel did you use? From Centos or from Xen.org? >> I assumed by looking at >> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=486353 and >> http://xenbits.xensource.com/xen-unstable.hg?rev/eeeb77195ac2 the fix >> should be in Xen 3.4 already. >> >> -- >> Fajar >> > > > > -- > Regards > Arun Sharma > 0-939-692-3118 >-- Regards Arun Sharma 0-939-692-3118 _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Fajar A. Nugraha
2009-May-24 12:20 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Arun Sharma <arajmail@gmail.com> wrote:> Just conforming , Is the below fix is present in Xen 3.4 ? (Downloaded from > Xen.org and source compiled) .I don''t know. You can check the sources yourself to find out :) Redhat has listed the package version where the bug is fixed (see the mentioned RH bugzilla), so if you use RHEL/Centos packages you can wait for it to be available. As for Xen 3.4, there seems to be other problems : http://bugzilla.xensource.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1430 So at this moment I suggest your best option is to have snapshot/clone features at storage level. Something that a Netapp box or zfs-based SAN/NAS would provide. The cheapest way to do so is to have an opensolaris server exporting zvols using iscsi. -- Fajar _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
David
2009-May-26 15:03 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Having Windows XP HVM on qcow diskfile and snapshots.
I''m trying to work on a VDI solution based around xen, if you can get COW files to work reliably, i''d be very interested to see how you get on. Thanks, David. On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 1:20 PM, Fajar A. Nugraha <fajar@fajar.net> wrote:> On Sun, May 24, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Arun Sharma <arajmail@gmail.com> wrote: > > Just conforming , Is the below fix is present in Xen 3.4 ? (Downloaded > from > > Xen.org and source compiled) . > > I don''t know. You can check the sources yourself to find out :) > Redhat has listed the package version where the bug is fixed (see the > mentioned RH bugzilla), so if you use RHEL/Centos packages you can > wait for it to be available. > > As for Xen 3.4, there seems to be other problems : > http://bugzilla.xensource.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1430 > > So at this moment I suggest your best option is to have snapshot/clone > features at storage level. Something that a Netapp box or zfs-based > SAN/NAS would provide. The cheapest way to do so is to have an > opensolaris server exporting zvols using iscsi. > > -- > Fajar > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users