Hi, I''m new to Xen, and I just installed Xen 4.1 on 64-bit Ubuntu Server 11.10. I''ve confirmed I''m booting into the Xen kernel. Now I''m trying to create guests for 64-bit and 32-bit Ubuntu Desktop 11.10. I''ve downloaded the ISOs, and while I''ve been reading through the docs, several things are unclear to me. First, there seems to be two primary methods for creating guests. One, using `xen create ...` and another using `xen-create-image`. Which should I use? Second, I don''t see any simple way to create a guest from an ISO. I''ve searched for hours, but all I could find was one brief mention at http://wiki.debian.org/Xen, stating that Xen is unable to directly read ISO images, and that a workaround was to create a loop device, and use that device in a Xen cfg file to create the guest. Is this correct? I found some suggestions that the --mirror parameter could be used to specify the ISO filename, but I haven''t been able to get this to work. Is that possible? So far, to create two guests, one 64-bit and one 32-bit, each with 100Gb storage, 1Gb swap, and 2Gb memory, and a static IP, I have: sudo xen-create-image --hostname=guest64bit --ip=192.168.1.20 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.1.1 --dir=/data/vm/images --arch=amd64 --passwd --size=160Gb --swap=1Gb --memory=2048Mb --boot --mirror=file:/data/iso/ubuntu-11.10-desktop-amd64.iso sudo xen-create-image --hostname=guest32bit --ip=192.168.1.21 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.1.1 --dir=/data/vm/images --arch=i386 --passwd --size=160Gb --swap=1Gb --memory=2048Mb --mirror=file:/data/iso/ubuntu-11.10-desktop-i386.iso Obviously, these commands don''t work. Running the first gives me the output: <bash> WARNING ------- You appear to have a missing vif-script, or network-script, in the Xen configuration file /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp. Please fix this and restart Xend, or your guests will not be able to use any networking! General Information -------------------- Hostname : guest64bit Distribution : oneiric Mirror : file:/data/iso/ubuntu-11.10-desktop-amd64.iso Partitions : swap 1Gb (swap) / 160Gb (ext3) Image type : sparse Memory size : 2048Mb Kernel path : /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-16-server Initrd path : /boot/initrd.img-3.0.0-16-server Networking Information ---------------------- IP Address 1 : 192.168.1.20 [MAC: 00:16:3E:86:7C:34] Netmask : 255.255.255.0 Gateway : 192.168.1.1 WARNING ------- Loopback module not loaded and you''re using loopback images Run the following to load the module: modprobe loop max_loop=255 Creating partition image: /data/vm/images/domains/guest64bit/swap.img Done Creating swap on /data/vm/images/domains/guest64bit/swap.img Done Creating partition image: /data/vm/images/domains/guest64bit/disk.img Done Creating ext3 filesystem on /data/vm/images/domains/guest64bit/disk.img Done Installation method: debootstrap Running command ''xt-install-image --hostname=guest64bit --location=/tmp/4CVk3xAv_k --dist=oneiric --install-method=debootstrap --mirror=file:/data/iso/ubuntu-11.10-desktop-amd64.iso --cache=yes --cachedir=/var/cache/apt/archives/ --arch=amd64 2>&1'' failed with exit code 256. Aborting See /var/log/xen-tools/guest64bit.log for details /tmp/4CVk3xAv_k/etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub: No such file or directory Running command ''umount /tmp/4CVk3xAv_k/proc 2>&1'' failed with exit code 256. Aborting See /var/log/xen-tools/guest64bit.log for details cannot remove directory for /tmp/4CVk3xAv_k: Device or resource busy at /usr/share/perl/5.12/File/Temp.pm line 902 </bash> Attached is the resulting log file. Based on the log, one problem seems to be that Oneiric is an unsupported distro. How far off am I with these commands? How do I fix them? Sorry if these are newbie questions. Any help or advice is appreciated. Regards, Chris _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 6:25 AM, Chris Spencer <chrisspen@gmail.com> wrote:> Hi, > > I''m new to Xen, and I just installed Xen 4.1 on 64-bit Ubuntu Server > 11.10. I''ve confirmed I''m booting into the Xen kernel.Judging from the state of https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Xen , there''s not much interest (at least not from those who''s willing to edit the documentation) for Xen on Ubuntu. I haven''t used the combination you use, so my replies will be generic ones from someone who used Xen on other distro/version.> > Now I''m trying to create guests for 64-bit and 32-bit Ubuntu Desktop > 11.10. I''ve downloaded the ISOs, and while I''ve been reading through > the docs, several things are unclear to me. > > First, there seems to be two primary methods for creating guests. One, > using `xen create ...` and another using `xen-create-image`. Which > should I use?There''s no such thing as "xen create". There''s "xm create" (or "xl create", but that''s another story). Read the wiki link above, some of it should still be valid, and it explains what xen-create-image and "xm create" is for.> > Second, I don''t see any simple way to create a guest from an ISO. I''ve > searched for hours, but all I could find was one brief mention at > http://wiki.debian.org/Xen, stating that Xen is unable to directly > read ISO images, and that a workaround was to create a loop device, > and use that device in a Xen cfg file to create the guest. Is this > correct? I found some suggestions that the --mirror parameter could be > used to specify the ISO filename, but I haven''t been able to get this > to work. Is that possible?Last time I tried (which, admittedly was quite a while ago), the only OS that was able to be installed as PV domU from ISO was opensolaris/openindiana. For linux, you need to either: - use ISO to install HVM guests, and then convert it to PV (pretty complicated for newbies), OR - use a special kernel and initrd to do network install, e.g. http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/oneiric/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/xen/ . Highly recommended if your internet connection is fast-enough, as this is a well-supported method. OR - create an image using other method (e.g. xen-create-image) which does not involve the normal distro installer.> You appear to have a missing vif-script, or network-script, in the > Xen configuration file /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp.That''s another different issue. Did you do what it tells you to do? I''ve said this a lot lately: if you simply want something that just works, Xenserver/XCP might be a better choice for servers, while virtualbox might be a better choice if you use it on PC/notebook. If you DO manage to get it to work correctly with Xen, you''ll have a very flexible and powerful virtualization setup. Please spend some time to edit the wiki. -- Fajar