Hello I would like to ask about XEN (paravirtualization) + PXE working together .... I have xen environment and would like to install few clients using PXE (everything on debian) ... Is it possible at all? It''s hard to find any useful information on that (even official FAQ has not working link) please check here the question: Is it possible to start a VM that contains just gpxe?http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_FAQ_Installation#Is_it_possible_to_start_a_VM_that_contains_just_gpxe.3F I found some information about gpxy and pypxeboot but i can''t make it work... For pypxeboot it needs udhcp - but it''s not used any more - it''s in busybox now... so could someone confirm that it is possible to make it work ? Regards, nichu _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xen.org http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
On Tue, 2012-04-03 at 14:42 +0100, M N wrote:> Hello > > I would like to ask about XEN (paravirtualization) + PXE working together .... > > I have xen environment and would like to install few clients using PXE (everything on debian) ... > Is it possible at all?It''s not exactly PXE but I think tools/misc/xenpvnetboot can do network boot of various guest types for installation purposes. It is currently only in xen-unstable but it should be pretty independent so I should think you could grab it from there and use it with any release You might also find http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Debian_Guest_Installation_Using_Debian_Installer useful, it describes doing a netboot installation of Debian. A little bit of scripting is all it would take to automate that and have something a bit like PXE.> Is it possible to start a VM that contains just gpxe?gpxe is only available for HVM guests, not PV ones.> I found some information about gpxy and pypxeboot but i can''t make it work... > > For pypxeboot it needs udhcp - but it''s not used any more - it''s in busybox now... > > so could someone confirm that it is possible to make it work ?I do the netboot style of install quite a lot, following the method in the wiki page above. Ian.
Hi, Not sure about Tidyhosts UK - Server & Web Specialists W: www.tidyhosts.com E: enquiries@tidyhosts.com T: 0871 910 6732 This email and its attachments are scanned by TidyHosts UK. All emails and attachments should also be scanned by the recipient. TidyHosts UK accept no responsibility for any damage caused by any virus attached to this email. This email is confidential and is intended only for the addressee(s). On 3 Apr 2012, at 20:31, "M N" <nichuspam@gmail.com> wrote:> Hello > > I would like to ask about XEN (paravirtualization) + PXE working together .... > > I have xen environment and would like to install few clients using PXE (everything on debian) ... > Is it possible at all? > > It''s hard to find any useful information on that (even official FAQ has not working link) > please check here the question: > Is it possible to start a VM that contains just gpxe? > http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_FAQ_Installation#Is_it_possible_to_start_a_VM_that_contains_just_gpxe.3F > > I found some information about gpxy and pypxeboot but i can''t make it work... > > For pypxeboot it needs udhcp - but it''s not used any more - it''s in busybox now... > > so could someone confirm that it is possible to make it work ? > > Regards, > nichu > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xen.org > http://lists.xen.org/xen-users_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xen.org http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
Hi, Not sure about para guests but with him you can boot from network by pressing F12 at boot time Not tried it personally though Cheers Ian On 3 Apr 2012, at 20:31, "M N" <nichuspam@gmail.com> wrote:> Hello > > I would like to ask about XEN (paravirtualization) + PXE working together .... > > I have xen environment and would like to install few clients using PXE (everything on debian) ... > Is it possible at all? > > It''s hard to find any useful information on that (even official FAQ has not working link) > please check here the question: > Is it possible to start a VM that contains just gpxe? > http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_FAQ_Installation#Is_it_possible_to_start_a_VM_that_contains_just_gpxe.3F > > I found some information about gpxy and pypxeboot but i can''t make it work... > > For pypxeboot it needs udhcp - but it''s not used any more - it''s in busybox now... > > so could someone confirm that it is possible to make it work ? > > Regards, > nichu > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xen.org > http://lists.xen.org/xen-users_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xen.org http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
On 4 April 2012 05:45, Ian Tobin <itobin@tidyhosts.com> wrote:> Hi, > > Not sure about para guests but with him you can boot from network by > pressing F12 at boot timeNot sure if the keyboard press will work. However if you specify boot="n" in the config file the guest will DHCP and PXE boot via the network.> > Not tried it personally though > > Cheers > > Ian > > > On 3 Apr 2012, at 20:31, "M N" <nichuspam@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello > > I would like to ask about XEN (paravirtualization) + PXE working together > .... > > I have xen environment and would like to install few clients using PXE > (everything on debian) ... > Is it possible at all? > > It''s hard to find any useful information on that (even official FAQ has not > working link) > please check here the question: > Is it possible to start a VM that contains just gpxe? > http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_FAQ_Installation#Is_it_possible_to_start_a_VM_that_contains_just_gpxe.3F > > I found some information about gpxy and pypxeboot but i can''t make it > work... > > For pypxeboot it needs udhcp - but it''s not used any more - it''s in busybox > now... > > so could someone confirm that it is possible to make it work ? > > Regards, > nichu > > _______________________________________________ > > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xen.org > http://lists.xen.org/xen-users > > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xen.org > http://lists.xen.org/xen-usersJoseph. -- Founder | Director | VP Research Orion Virtualisation Solutions | www.orionvm.com.au | Phone: 1300 56 99 52 | Mobile: 0428 754 846
El 03/04/12 15:43, Joseph Glanville escribió:> On 4 April 2012 05:45, Ian Tobin<itobin@tidyhosts.com> wrote: >> Not sure about para guests but with him you can boot from network by >> pressing F12 at boot time > > Not sure if the keyboard press will work. > However if you specify boot="n" in the config file the guest will DHCP > and PXE boot via the network.That is correct, boot="n" option works fine. Other thing you should have in mind if you use bridged network, is gPXE''s timeout vs bridge forward delay. In short, by default gPXE get desperate of not getting DHCP answer before the bridge become operation, and fails to boot. Can be fixed manually with "brctl setfd $BRIDGENAME 5" or in your network configuration file. I don''t use network-bridge script, my Debian''s /etc/network/interfaces looks like this (note that Dom0 has no IP on that interface in my setup): iface xenbr22 inet manual bridge_ports eth1.22 bridge_stp off bridge_fd 5 All this works for HVM VM''s. I do also boot PV VM''s form network, but i have found nothing better than copy the VM''s kernel and initrd to to Dom0 and boot them as normal DomU (kernel parameters instruct the VM to get rootfs from network). Probably, I will end up writing some wrapper to be used with "bootloader" option. I would talks to TFTP, get specified pxelinux config file, parse it, download the kernel and inirtd, than start up the VM. Although, it has not been written yet. Greetings. -- Alexandre Kouznetsov
On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 4:52 AM, Alexandre Kouznetsov <alk@ondore.com> wrote:> Other thing you should have in mind if you use bridged network, is gPXE''s > timeout vs bridge forward delay. In short, by default gPXE get desperate of > not getting DHCP answer before the bridge become operation, and fails to > boot. Can be fixed manually with "brctl setfd $BRIDGENAME 5" or in your > network configuration file. > > I don''t use network-bridge script, my Debian''s /etc/network/interfaces looks > like this (note that Dom0 has no IP on that interface in my setup): > iface xenbr22 inet manual > bridge_ports eth1.22 > bridge_stp off > bridge_fd 5Any particular reason to use "5"? Why not "0", or "1"?> Probably, I will end up writing some wrapper to be used with > "bootloader" option. I would talks to TFTP, get specified pxelinux config > file, parse it, download the kernel and inirtd, than start up the VM. > Although, it has not been written yet.Isn''t that what pypxeboot does? http://grid.ie/pypxeboot/ -- Fajar
El 03/04/12 17:34, Fajar A. Nugraha escribió:> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 4:52 AM, Alexandre Kouznetsov<alk@ondore.com> wrote: >> I don''t use network-bridge script, my Debian''s /etc/network/interfaces looks >> like this (note that Dom0 has no IP on that interface in my setup): >> iface xenbr22 inet manual >> bridge_ports eth1.22 >> bridge_stp off >> bridge_fd 5 > > Any particular reason to use "5"? Why not "0", or "1"?Just the personal policy to stay as much close to the defaults as possible. I assume that FD is not set to something so small for some reason, which I wish not to have to find under pressure of something not working. I found 5 was small enough. (:>> Probably, I will end up writing some wrapper to be used with >> "bootloader" option. I would talks to TFTP, get specified pxelinux config >> file, parse it, download the kernel and inirtd, than start up the VM. >> Although, it has not been written yet. > > Isn''t that what pypxeboot does? http://grid.ie/pypxeboot/The words "modified version", "patch", and "build" scares me. But basically, yes, pypxeboot should work. Did not think about building a .deb of it instead of custom script. -- Alexandre Kouznetsov
On 04/03/2012 09:42 AM, M N wrote:> Hello > > I would like to ask about XEN (paravirtualization)+ PXE working together .... > > I have xen environment and would like to install few clients using PXE (everything on debian) ... > Is it possible at all? > > It''s hard to find any useful information on that (even official FAQ has not working link) > please check here the question: > Is it possible to start a VM that contains just gpxe? > http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Xen_FAQ_Installation#Is_it_possible_to_start_a_VM_that_contains_just_gpxe.3F > > I found some information about gpxy and pypxeboot but i can''t make it work... > > For pypxeboot it needs udhcp - but it''s not used any more - it''s in busybox now... > > so could someone confirm that it is possible to make it work ?I have been using koan[1] from the cobbler project[2] to handle the PXE boot of my PV guests. Koan connects to the cobbler server to get all details about kernel, initrd, vm RAM size, etc. Koan handles the transfer of kernel and creation of the vm. The cobbler server handles all the DHCP, DNS and TFTP infrastructure. It works quite well. There are some minor caveats of course. - Cobbler is not in Debian. I was able to take the Ubuntu packaging [3] and with a few minor changes (remove upstart and change python version) was able to build and install it on Squeeze. There were some other minor issues so contact me off list if you are interested in this. - Koan uses libvirt which doesn''t create cfg files. This prevents auto boot of the vms from working. I am sure there is a workaround but it hasn''t bothered me enough to look for one. Let me know if you would like more details. [1] https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Koan [2] http://cobbler.github.com/ [3] https://launchpad.net/cobbler -- Konrad Scherer, Sr. Engineer, Linux Products Group, Wind River direct 613-963-1342 fax 613-592-2283