Xen users - Jun 2010 - PVM from ISO?

I work with a lot of projects that provide ISO''s for their projects, 
such as pbxinaflash or mailcleaner, etc. Many times those are the only 
way to install a project versus using a repo. I hate the idea of having 
to setup an HVM when a PVM would be fine as the ISO''s just contain 
debian or centos, etc, and would normally paravirtualize just fine. So 
my question is. How do we easily create paravirtualized guests from 
ISO''s? Every modern *nix distro out there pretty much has pvm drivers, 
so why is it still a limitation with tools such as virt-install that 
iso''s can only be used with hvm, etc?

Anyway, any tips in general for creating a pvm guest from an iso are 
extremely appreciated.

Note: I am still only running Xen 3.4.2 and my dom0''s OS is Centos 5.5 
x86_64.

Thanks,
Mark

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On Fri, Jun 18, 2010 at 3:52 AM, Mark Chaney <lists@macscr.com>
wrote:
> Every modern *nix distro
> out there pretty much has pvm drivers, so why is it still a limitation with
> tools such as virt-install that iso''s can only be used with hvm,
etc?
Actually you can install opensolaris PV just fine using ISO. They''ve
done it right over there.
Linux distros, however, is another story.
>
> Anyway, any tips in general for creating a pvm guest from an iso are
> extremely appreciated.
It all comes down to whether or not the installer can recognize the
media. Last time I tried, RHEL installer can''t recognize the the
content of DVD iso when I try to use it during installation. Perhaps
it''s confusing it with hard disk while it''s looking for a
cdrom drive,
or something like that.

The usual workaround now is to use files from the iso to create a
local http/nfs install server, and point the installer there.

Anyway, IMHO this is more of distro-specific installer issue, so
you''ll probably get better response asking distro maintainers.

-- 
Fajar

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