Almir Kadric
2013-Mar-18 08:34 UTC
Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
Hi all, I''m coming from a lxc background and recently found a real need for a full virtualised windows solution. In the past I have stuck it out with Linux, but Wine just hasn''t been performing and I''ve had nothing but problems. Anyways I tried a few things, and just could not get XEN to work for the life of me. I got KVM working but VGA passthrough was a pain, I could never get it to accept a device, even after I blacklisted it. Eventually I got around to XEN as it is supposed to do this better, however I could not get past the first stage ... a simple minimal virtual machine. No matter what I did, no matter which distro (Debian 6,7 and Ubuntu 12.10) my Host (dom0) would either reboot or lockup. I tried looking for errors in messages, kernel, xen/* but nothing really stood out. So my question would be what am I missing? What logs should I be looking at? I managed to fix the small bugs which popped up like files being in wrong places etc. Lastly I ran this using xm create <config> and after that it would just hang. Machine would become unresponsive, or reboot. Also I did look around if anyone was having these problems, and found a few threads with the exact same issue, but no answers so far. http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2011/12/msg01779.html http://xen.markmail.org/search/?q=GA-970A#query:GA-970A+page:1+mid:fwgjnzmfy4pylgiu+state:results I would really appreciate some help to just be able to start the machine with nothing fancy then I could possibly take it from there. Also if anyone has any good links to guides for successful setups compiling from source, preferably on Debian installation. Don''t get me wrong, I''m no Linux dummy, just would be nice to have something that proven to work before I start stabbing around. I''ve been working on this on and off for about a week, and quite frankly feel extremely defeated by it =_ To help you understand what I may have done wrong I will attach some information below: System: Motherboard: GA-970A-D3 (rev 1.3, BIOS F10) CPU: AMD FX 8300 @ 3.3GHz GPU: Powercolor ATI Radeon 5970 RAM: 16GB Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C10B @ 1333 Setups tried: All were done with a Windows 7 x86_64 guest VM Debian 6: Standard bridge. Installed xen-linux-system, in-fact I followed the official guide http://wiki.debian.org/Xen and quite a few others. Debian 7: same as above, found more guides etc Above 2 would crash and just become plain unresponsive Ubuntu 12.10: Similar, instead followed ubuntu related guides This one would reboot the dom0 Things I tried or did do before you ask them: - Yes I booted into the XEN kernel (Linux x.y.z with XEN 4.0.x) - Enabled IOMMU via kernel options as per XEN wiki documents (referenced these a lot). - Made sure that svm was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg) - Made sure that IOMMU was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg), however this behaved a bit wierd, so i didnt use pci pass through right off the bat. Well again I couldnt even start the vm so no point. Things I didn''t try: - Compile XEN kernel and dom0 kernel from source My HVM config: (Though I technically tried a few different combinations from different guide, including some very minimal ones) name = ''xenvm1'' kernel = ''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/boot/hvmloader'' builder = ''hvm'' memory = ''34096'' shadow_memory = ''8'' device_model=''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/bin/qemu-dm'' disk = [ ''phy:RAID10_LVM/Windows_7_Ultimate.x86_64,hda,w'' ] vif = [''bridge=br0, mac=01:23:de:ad:be:ef''] boot=''dc'' vnc=1 vncviewer=0 sdl=0 vcpus=4 usbdevice=''tablet'' on_poweroff = ''destroy'' on_reboot = ''restart'' on_crash = ''restart'' Best Regards, Almir kadric _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xen.org http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
Andreas Falck
2013-Mar-18 08:59 UTC
Re: Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
Hi, Sounds like you have been testing extensively. If I get you right, dom0 freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise? I assume you have tried with IOMMU disabled in bios too? In case of a buggy bios, turning IOMMU off could possibly make a difference (in order to find the problem, I realize that you plan to use IOMMU). Also, I assume that memory = ''34096'' Is a typo? Since you say that you have tried different vm configs. Regards, Andreas 2013/3/18 Almir Kadric <almir@kadric.com>> Hi all, > > I''m coming from a lxc background and recently found a real need for a full > virtualised windows solution. In the past I have stuck it out with Linux, > but Wine just hasn''t been performing and I''ve had nothing but problems. > Anyways I tried a few things, and just could not get XEN to work for the > life of me. I got KVM working but VGA passthrough was a pain, I could never > get it to accept a device, even after I blacklisted it. Eventually I got > around to XEN as it is supposed to do this better, however I could not get > past the first stage ... a simple minimal virtual machine. No matter what I > did, no matter which distro (Debian 6,7 and Ubuntu 12.10) my Host (dom0) > would either reboot or lockup. I tried looking for errors in messages, > kernel, xen/* but nothing really stood out. > > So my question would be what am I missing? What logs should I be looking > at? > > I managed to fix the small bugs which popped up like files being in wrong > places etc. Lastly I ran this using xm create <config> and after that it > would just hang. Machine would become unresponsive, or reboot. > > Also I did look around if anyone was having these problems, and found a > few threads with the exact same issue, but no answers so far. > http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2011/12/msg01779.html > > http://xen.markmail.org/search/?q=GA-970A#query:GA-970A+page:1+mid:fwgjnzmfy4pylgiu+state:results > > I would really appreciate some help to just be able to start the machine > with nothing fancy then I could possibly take it from there. > Also if anyone has any good links to guides for successful setups > compiling from source, preferably on Debian installation. Don''t get me > wrong, I''m no Linux dummy, just would be nice to have something that proven > to work before I start stabbing around. > > I''ve been working on this on and off for about a week, and quite frankly > feel extremely defeated by it =_> > To help you understand what I may have done wrong I will attach some > information below: > > *System:* > Motherboard: GA-970A-D3 (rev 1.3, BIOS F10) > CPU: AMD FX 8300 @ 3.3GHz > GPU: Powercolor ATI Radeon 5970 > RAM: 16GB Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C10B @ 1333 > > *Setups tried:* > All were done with a Windows 7 x86_64 guest VM > * > * > Debian 6: Standard bridge. Installed xen-linux-system, in-fact I followed > the official guide http://wiki.debian.org/Xen and quite a few others. > Debian 7: same as above, found more guides etc > Above 2 would crash and just become plain unresponsive > > Ubuntu 12.10: Similar, instead followed ubuntu related guides > This one would reboot the dom0 > > *Things I tried or did do before you ask them:* > - Yes I booted into the XEN kernel (Linux x.y.z with XEN 4.0.x) > - Enabled IOMMU via kernel options as per XEN wiki documents (referenced > these a lot). > - Made sure that svm was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg) > - Made sure that IOMMU was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg), however > this behaved a bit wierd, so i didnt use pci pass through right off the > bat. Well again I couldnt even start the vm so no point. > > *Things I didn''t try:* > - Compile XEN kernel and dom0 kernel from source > > *My HVM config:* > *(Though I technically tried a few different combinations from different > guide, including some very minimal ones)* > > name = ''xenvm1'' > > kernel = ''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/boot/hvmloader'' > builder = ''hvm'' > memory = ''34096'' > shadow_memory = ''8'' > device_model=''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/bin/qemu-dm'' > disk = [ ''phy:RAID10_LVM/Windows_7_Ultimate.x86_64,hda,w'' ] > vif = [''bridge=br0, mac=01:23:de:ad:be:ef''] > boot=''dc'' > vnc=1 > vncviewer=0 > sdl=0 > vcpus=4 > usbdevice=''tablet'' > on_poweroff = ''destroy'' > on_reboot = ''restart'' > on_crash = ''restart'' > > > > Best Regards, > Almir kadric > > _______________________________________________ > 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
Almir Kadric
2013-Mar-18 09:33 UTC
Re: Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
Hi, Andreas, Thanks for your quick response ^_^> Sounds like you have been testing extensively. If I get you right, dom0 freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise?To say the least yes I have, a lot of sleep lost over this. orz> If I get you right, dom0 freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise?That''s correct, dom0 works perfectly fine, right up until I start a domU. Regardless of what''s in that domU.> I assume you have tried with IOMMU disabled in bios too?Hmmm I can''t quite remember, it''s quite a blur after a week of sleepless nights. I''ll give it another whirl and see what happens.> Also, I assume that > > memory = ''34096''Yes sorry typo, I pulled that up quickly from a site I borrowed that config from, was changing it to "4096" Any recommendations for logging to watch? Generally I tail -f a log on my screen and then ssh in to execute xm create. But the logs just die, hoping to find that right one which just shows the error before a freeze. Best Regards, Almir kadric Website: www.almirkadric.com Mobile: +81 90 8008 1578 Office: +81 03 4550 1448 Email: almir@kadric.com On Mar 18, 2013, at 5:59 PM, Andreas Falck wrote:> Hi, > > Sounds like you have been testing extensively. If I get you right, dom0 freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise? > > I assume you have tried with IOMMU disabled in bios too? In case of a buggy bios, turning IOMMU off could possibly make a difference (in order to find the problem, I realize that you plan to use IOMMU). > > Also, I assume that > > memory = ''34096'' > > Is a typo? Since you say that you have tried different vm configs. > > Regards, > Andreas > > > 2013/3/18 Almir Kadric <almir@kadric.com> > Hi all, > > I''m coming from a lxc background and recently found a real need for a full virtualised windows solution. In the past I have stuck it out with Linux, but Wine just hasn''t been performing and I''ve had nothing but problems. Anyways I tried a few things, and just could not get XEN to work for the life of me. I got KVM working but VGA passthrough was a pain, I could never get it to accept a device, even after I blacklisted it. Eventually I got around to XEN as it is supposed to do this better, however I could not get past the first stage ... a simple minimal virtual machine. No matter what I did, no matter which distro (Debian 6,7 and Ubuntu 12.10) my Host (dom0) would either reboot or lockup. I tried looking for errors in messages, kernel, xen/* but nothing really stood out. > > So my question would be what am I missing? What logs should I be looking at? > > I managed to fix the small bugs which popped up like files being in wrong places etc. Lastly I ran this using xm create <config> and after that it would just hang. Machine would become unresponsive, or reboot. > > Also I did look around if anyone was having these problems, and found a few threads with the exact same issue, but no answers so far. > http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2011/12/msg01779.html > http://xen.markmail.org/search/?q=GA-970A#query:GA-970A+page:1+mid:fwgjnzmfy4pylgiu+state:results > > I would really appreciate some help to just be able to start the machine with nothing fancy then I could possibly take it from there. > Also if anyone has any good links to guides for successful setups compiling from source, preferably on Debian installation. Don''t get me wrong, I''m no Linux dummy, just would be nice to have something that proven to work before I start stabbing around. > > I''ve been working on this on and off for about a week, and quite frankly feel extremely defeated by it =_> > To help you understand what I may have done wrong I will attach some information below: > > System: > Motherboard: GA-970A-D3 (rev 1.3, BIOS F10) > CPU: AMD FX 8300 @ 3.3GHz > GPU: Powercolor ATI Radeon 5970 > RAM: 16GB Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C10B @ 1333 > > Setups tried: > All were done with a Windows 7 x86_64 guest VM > > Debian 6: Standard bridge. Installed xen-linux-system, in-fact I followed the official guide http://wiki.debian.org/Xen and quite a few others. > Debian 7: same as above, found more guides etc > Above 2 would crash and just become plain unresponsive > > Ubuntu 12.10: Similar, instead followed ubuntu related guides > This one would reboot the dom0 > > Things I tried or did do before you ask them: > - Yes I booted into the XEN kernel (Linux x.y.z with XEN 4.0.x) > - Enabled IOMMU via kernel options as per XEN wiki documents (referenced these a lot). > - Made sure that svm was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg) > - Made sure that IOMMU was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg), however this behaved a bit wierd, so i didnt use pci pass through right off the bat. Well again I couldnt even start the vm so no point. > > Things I didn''t try: > - Compile XEN kernel and dom0 kernel from source > > My HVM config: > (Though I technically tried a few different combinations from different guide, including some very minimal ones) > name = ''xenvm1'' > kernel = ''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/boot/hvmloader'' > builder = ''hvm'' > memory = ''34096'' > shadow_memory = ''8'' > device_model=''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/bin/qemu-dm'' > disk = [ ''phy:RAID10_LVM/Windows_7_Ultimate.x86_64,hda,w'' ] > vif = [''bridge=br0, mac=01:23:de:ad:be:ef''] > boot=''dc'' > vnc=1 > vncviewer=0 > sdl=0 > vcpus=4 > usbdevice=''tablet'' > on_poweroff = ''destroy'' > on_reboot = ''restart'' > on_crash = ''restart'' > > > Best Regards, > Almir kadric > > _______________________________________________ > 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_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xen.org http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
Andreas Falck
2013-Mar-18 10:16 UTC
Re: Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
Hi Almir, Sorry, I have no good advice on which logs to watch. It is possible that if the dom0 kernel ever gets time to ouput something, it will do it to the console. One piece of information that might be useful for further debugging is whether the error occurs when the VM kernel boots or already when the HVM bios boots. You can try this by starting a HVM vm without any virtual disk, thus booting only the HVM bios. Also, it would probably be of interest to know if a PV guest works (you can probably do this easily by starting only a PV kernel, no need to install a full PV system). However, I am not sure on what to do with that information, but someone else might have a clue. Regards, Andreas 2013/3/18 Almir Kadric <almir@kadric.com>> Hi, Andreas, > > Thanks for your quick response ^_^ > > Sounds like you have been testing extensively. If I get you right, dom0 > freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise? > > To say the least yes I have, a lot of sleep lost over this. orz > > If I get you right, dom0 freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, > but works otherwise? > > That''s correct, dom0 works perfectly fine, right up until I start a domU. > Regardless of what''s in that domU. > > I assume you have tried with IOMMU disabled in bios too? > > Hmmm I can''t quite remember, it''s quite a blur after a week of sleepless > nights. I''ll give it another whirl and see what happens. > > Also, I assume that > > memory = ''34096'' > > Yes sorry typo, I pulled that up quickly from a site I borrowed that > config from, was changing it to "4096" > > > Any recommendations for logging to watch? Generally I tail -f a log on my > screen and then ssh in to execute xm create. But the logs just die, hoping > to find that right one which just shows the error before a freeze. > > > Best Regards, > Almir kadric > > Website: www.almirkadric.com > Mobile: +81 90 8008 1578**** > Office: +81 03 4550 1448 > Email: almir@kadric.com > > On Mar 18, 2013, at 5:59 PM, Andreas Falck wrote: > > Hi, > > Sounds like you have been testing extensively. If I get you right, dom0 > freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise? > > I assume you have tried with IOMMU disabled in bios too? In case of a > buggy bios, turning IOMMU off could possibly make a difference (in order to > find the problem, I realize that you plan to use IOMMU). > > Also, I assume that > > memory = ''34096'' > > > Is a typo? Since you say that you have tried different vm configs. > > Regards, > Andreas > > > 2013/3/18 Almir Kadric <almir@kadric.com> > >> Hi all, >> >> I''m coming from a lxc background and recently found a real need for a >> full virtualised windows solution. In the past I have stuck it out with >> Linux, but Wine just hasn''t been performing and I''ve had nothing but >> problems. Anyways I tried a few things, and just could not get XEN to work >> for the life of me. I got KVM working but VGA passthrough was a pain, I >> could never get it to accept a device, even after I blacklisted it. >> Eventually I got around to XEN as it is supposed to do this better, however >> I could not get past the first stage ... a simple minimal virtual machine. >> No matter what I did, no matter which distro (Debian 6,7 and Ubuntu 12.10) >> my Host (dom0) would either reboot or lockup. I tried looking for errors in >> messages, kernel, xen/* but nothing really stood out. >> >> So my question would be what am I missing? What logs should I be looking >> at? >> >> I managed to fix the small bugs which popped up like files being in wrong >> places etc. Lastly I ran this using xm create <config> and after that it >> would just hang. Machine would become unresponsive, or reboot. >> >> Also I did look around if anyone was having these problems, and found a >> few threads with the exact same issue, but no answers so far. >> http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2011/12/msg01779.html >> >> http://xen.markmail.org/search/?q=GA-970A#query:GA-970A+page:1+mid:fwgjnzmfy4pylgiu+state:results >> >> I would really appreciate some help to just be able to start the machine >> with nothing fancy then I could possibly take it from there. >> Also if anyone has any good links to guides for successful setups >> compiling from source, preferably on Debian installation. Don''t get me >> wrong, I''m no Linux dummy, just would be nice to have something that proven >> to work before I start stabbing around. >> >> I''ve been working on this on and off for about a week, and quite frankly >> feel extremely defeated by it =_>> >> To help you understand what I may have done wrong I will attach some >> information below: >> >> *System:* >> Motherboard: GA-970A-D3 (rev 1.3, BIOS F10) >> CPU: AMD FX 8300 @ 3.3GHz >> GPU: Powercolor ATI Radeon 5970 >> RAM: 16GB Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C10B @ 1333 >> >> *Setups tried:* >> All were done with a Windows 7 x86_64 guest VM >> * >> * >> Debian 6: Standard bridge. Installed xen-linux-system, in-fact I followed >> the official guide http://wiki.debian.org/Xen and quite a few others. >> Debian 7: same as above, found more guides etc >> Above 2 would crash and just become plain unresponsive >> >> Ubuntu 12.10: Similar, instead followed ubuntu related guides >> This one would reboot the dom0 >> >> *Things I tried or did do before you ask them:* >> - Yes I booted into the XEN kernel (Linux x.y.z with XEN 4.0.x) >> - Enabled IOMMU via kernel options as per XEN wiki documents (referenced >> these a lot). >> - Made sure that svm was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg) >> - Made sure that IOMMU was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg), however >> this behaved a bit wierd, so i didnt use pci pass through right off the >> bat. Well again I couldnt even start the vm so no point. >> >> *Things I didn''t try:* >> - Compile XEN kernel and dom0 kernel from source >> >> *My HVM config:* >> *(Though I technically tried a few different combinations from different >> guide, including some very minimal ones)* >> >> name = ''xenvm1'' >> >> kernel = ''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/boot/hvmloader'' >> builder = ''hvm'' >> memory = ''34096'' >> shadow_memory = ''8'' >> device_model=''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/bin/qemu-dm'' >> disk = [ ''phy:RAID10_LVM/Windows_7_Ultimate.x86_64,hda,w'' ] >> vif = [''bridge=br0, mac=01:23:de:ad:be:ef''] >> boot=''dc'' >> vnc=1 >> vncviewer=0 >> sdl=0 >> vcpus=4 >> usbdevice=''tablet'' >> on_poweroff = ''destroy'' >> on_reboot = ''restart'' >> on_crash = ''restart'' >> >> >> >> Best Regards, >> Almir kadric >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 > > >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xen.org http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
Casey DeLorme
2013-Mar-18 13:30 UTC
Re: Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
Hi Almir, I don''t have much to offer by way of suggestions for packaged Xen and the xm toolstack, but I wrote a (slightly dated) guide for Debian Wheezy<http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Xen_Debian_Wheezy_PCI_Passthrough_Tutorial>building Xen from source, which should hold mostly accurate for Xen 4.2 stable with minor changes. Primary benefit is it is comprehensive, starts with installing Debian and works all the way to running a Windows 7 HVM (DomU), complete with videos. Following that guides instructions minus the EFI Source Modification (which has been patched and only applies) and using Xen 4.2.1 stable (revision 25950 I believe) should take approx. 2~ hours to complete, substantially longer to understand all the details. I intend to update the guide when Debian Wheezy releases as stable. In March last year I was in your shoes, just getting my feet wet with Xen and after a month of failed package tests I went with building from source. If it makes you feel any better about your week, it took me half a year to get things sorted out. Hope this helps, ~Casey On Mon, Mar 18, 2013 at 6:16 AM, Andreas Falck < falck.andreas.lists@gmail.com> wrote:> Hi Almir, > > Sorry, I have no good advice on which logs to watch. It is possible that > if the dom0 kernel ever gets time to ouput something, it will do it to the > console. > > One piece of information that might be useful for further debugging is > whether the error occurs when the VM kernel boots or already when the HVM > bios boots. You can try this by starting a HVM vm without any virtual disk, > thus booting only the HVM bios. Also, it would probably be of interest to > know if a PV guest works (you can probably do this easily by starting only > a PV kernel, no need to install a full PV system). However, I am not sure > on what to do with that information, but someone else might have a clue. > > > Regards, > Andreas > > 2013/3/18 Almir Kadric <almir@kadric.com> > >> Hi, Andreas, >> >> Thanks for your quick response ^_^ >> >> Sounds like you have been testing extensively. If I get you right, dom0 >> freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise? >> >> To say the least yes I have, a lot of sleep lost over this. orz >> >> If I get you right, dom0 freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, >> but works otherwise? >> >> That''s correct, dom0 works perfectly fine, right up until I start a domU. >> Regardless of what''s in that domU. >> >> I assume you have tried with IOMMU disabled in bios too? >> >> Hmmm I can''t quite remember, it''s quite a blur after a week of sleepless >> nights. I''ll give it another whirl and see what happens. >> >> Also, I assume that >> >> memory = ''34096'' >> >> Yes sorry typo, I pulled that up quickly from a site I borrowed that >> config from, was changing it to "4096" >> >> >> Any recommendations for logging to watch? Generally I tail -f a log on my >> screen and then ssh in to execute xm create. But the logs just die, hoping >> to find that right one which just shows the error before a freeze. >> >> >> Best Regards, >> Almir kadric >> >> Website: www.almirkadric.com >> Mobile: +81 90 8008 1578**** >> Office: +81 03 4550 1448 >> Email: almir@kadric.com >> >> On Mar 18, 2013, at 5:59 PM, Andreas Falck wrote: >> >> Hi, >> >> Sounds like you have been testing extensively. If I get you right, dom0 >> freezes or reboots when you try to start the VM, but works otherwise? >> >> I assume you have tried with IOMMU disabled in bios too? In case of a >> buggy bios, turning IOMMU off could possibly make a difference (in order to >> find the problem, I realize that you plan to use IOMMU). >> >> Also, I assume that >> >> memory = ''34096'' >> >> >> Is a typo? Since you say that you have tried different vm configs. >> >> Regards, >> Andreas >> >> >> 2013/3/18 Almir Kadric <almir@kadric.com> >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> I''m coming from a lxc background and recently found a real need for a >>> full virtualised windows solution. In the past I have stuck it out with >>> Linux, but Wine just hasn''t been performing and I''ve had nothing but >>> problems. Anyways I tried a few things, and just could not get XEN to work >>> for the life of me. I got KVM working but VGA passthrough was a pain, I >>> could never get it to accept a device, even after I blacklisted it. >>> Eventually I got around to XEN as it is supposed to do this better, however >>> I could not get past the first stage ... a simple minimal virtual machine. >>> No matter what I did, no matter which distro (Debian 6,7 and Ubuntu 12.10) >>> my Host (dom0) would either reboot or lockup. I tried looking for errors in >>> messages, kernel, xen/* but nothing really stood out. >>> >>> So my question would be what am I missing? What logs should I be looking >>> at? >>> >>> I managed to fix the small bugs which popped up like files being in >>> wrong places etc. Lastly I ran this using xm create <config> and after that >>> it would just hang. Machine would become unresponsive, or reboot. >>> >>> Also I did look around if anyone was having these problems, and found a >>> few threads with the exact same issue, but no answers so far. >>> http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2011/12/msg01779.html >>> >>> http://xen.markmail.org/search/?q=GA-970A#query:GA-970A+page:1+mid:fwgjnzmfy4pylgiu+state:results >>> >>> I would really appreciate some help to just be able to start the machine >>> with nothing fancy then I could possibly take it from there. >>> Also if anyone has any good links to guides for successful setups >>> compiling from source, preferably on Debian installation. Don''t get me >>> wrong, I''m no Linux dummy, just would be nice to have something that proven >>> to work before I start stabbing around. >>> >>> I''ve been working on this on and off for about a week, and quite frankly >>> feel extremely defeated by it =_>>> >>> To help you understand what I may have done wrong I will attach some >>> information below: >>> >>> *System:* >>> Motherboard: GA-970A-D3 (rev 1.3, BIOS F10) >>> CPU: AMD FX 8300 @ 3.3GHz >>> GPU: Powercolor ATI Radeon 5970 >>> RAM: 16GB Corsair CML16GX3M2A1600C10B @ 1333 >>> >>> *Setups tried:* >>> All were done with a Windows 7 x86_64 guest VM >>> * >>> * >>> Debian 6: Standard bridge. Installed xen-linux-system, in-fact I >>> followed the official guide http://wiki.debian.org/Xen and quite a few >>> others. >>> Debian 7: same as above, found more guides etc >>> Above 2 would crash and just become plain unresponsive >>> >>> Ubuntu 12.10: Similar, instead followed ubuntu related guides >>> This one would reboot the dom0 >>> >>> *Things I tried or did do before you ask them:* >>> - Yes I booted into the XEN kernel (Linux x.y.z with XEN 4.0.x) >>> - Enabled IOMMU via kernel options as per XEN wiki documents (referenced >>> these a lot). >>> - Made sure that svm was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg) >>> - Made sure that IOMMU was enabled during kernel boot (xm dmsg), however >>> this behaved a bit wierd, so i didnt use pci pass through right off the >>> bat. Well again I couldnt even start the vm so no point. >>> >>> *Things I didn''t try:* >>> - Compile XEN kernel and dom0 kernel from source >>> >>> *My HVM config:* >>> *(Though I technically tried a few different combinations from >>> different guide, including some very minimal ones)* >>> >>> name = ''xenvm1'' >>> >>> kernel = ''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/boot/hvmloader'' >>> builder = ''hvm'' >>> memory = ''34096'' >>> shadow_memory = ''8'' >>> device_model=''/usr/lib/xen-4.0/bin/qemu-dm'' >>> disk = [ ''phy:RAID10_LVM/Windows_7_Ultimate.x86_64,hda,w'' ] >>> vif = [''bridge=br0, mac=01:23:de:ad:be:ef''] >>> boot=''dc'' >>> vnc=1 >>> vncviewer=0 >>> sdl=0 >>> vcpus=4 >>> usbdevice=''tablet'' >>> on_poweroff = ''destroy'' >>> on_reboot = ''restart'' >>> on_crash = ''restart'' >>> >>> >>> >>> Best Regards, >>> Almir kadric >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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 >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > 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
Ian
2013-Mar-19 00:03 UTC
Re: Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
> *Things I didn''t try:* > - Compile XEN kernel and dom0 kernel from source >I had a pretty frustrating time using various pre-built Xen dom0 stuff until I started compiling from source. I have Xen 4.2.1 working on a Dom0 12.04 server. Never tried IOMMU, however. I had similar problems to you (reboots, etc) using a compiled-from-source 3.8.0 kernel so I reverted back to 3.4.0 which was fine apart from being out of date. This was on a Scientific Linux box. I need to revisit that at some point.
jacek burghardt
2013-Mar-19 01:48 UTC
Re: Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
Maybe problem is caused by domO ballooning I have this line in grub dom0_mem=1024M,max:1024M loglvl=all guest_loglvl=all and I am using 3.8.3 kernel with opensuse patches and seems to be very stable with 4.3 unstable _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xen.org http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
Almir Kadric
2013-Mar-21 01:49 UTC
Re: Can''t get XEN to work at all on Debian 6, 7 and Ubuntu 12.10
Sorry for the late response, @Andreas> One piece of information that might be useful for further debugging is whether the error occurs when the VM kernel boots or already when the HVM bios boots. You can try this by starting a HVM vm without any virtual disk, thus booting only the HVM bios. Also, it would probably be of interest to know if a PV guest works (you can probably do this easily by starting only a PV kernel, no need to install a full PV system). However, I am not sure on what to do with that information, but someone else might have a clue.I have tried booting without a virtual disk in the past, that didn''t work. However I have not tried a PV guest yet. @Paul, that''s most interested I will give that a go and see what happens. @Casey, I will take a look at the guide and thank you for the information. It does make me feel a little better ^_^ @Jacek, haven''t tried that yet, will give it a go as well. Also an update: Which might interest all with a GA-970A or similar chipset motherboard. I got a speedy response from gigabyte as follows:> If you need to enable IOMMU, please update motherboard BIOS to the latest version F12c and then reset "IOMMU support" this BIOS item to Enabled and save BIOS change to test again.So it seems that my current BIOS is also a bit dodgy and could be causing me the headache. So my plans for the weekend are as follows to help shine some light on this: Will re-create Squeeze environment Try a PV guest Will try turning off ballooning Turn off IOMMU support and try HVM / PVM Possibly test the above in Wheezy and Ubuntu 12.10 Update BIOS to latest mentioned version as above (F12c is actually a beta candidate, soooo.....) Give it all another whirl If all else fails will try to compile before mentioned versions from source Will update everyone with findings after I have completed my tests over the weekend. If anyone is really interested in the results (has a GA-970 or similar chipset setup) and I happen to forget, feel free to give me a direct ping and I will try to respond in a timely manner. Best Regards, Almir kadric Website: www.almirkadric.com Mobile: +81 90 8008 1578 Office: +81 03 4550 1448 Email: almir@kadric.com On Mar 19, 2013, at 10:48 AM, jacek burghardt wrote:> > Maybe problem is caused by domO ballooning I have this line in grub dom0_mem=1024M,max:1024M loglvl=all guest_loglvl=all and I am using 3.8.3 kernel with opensuse patches and seems to be very stable with 4.3 unstable > > _______________________________________________ > 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