--- wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn 2015/03/12 23:40:07 1.101 +++ wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn 2016/12/19 21:11:03 1.102 @@ -81,19 +81,27 @@ xenkernel and xentools. We will refer o but note that both packages must be installed together and must have matching versions. -xenkernel3 and xenkernel33 provide Xen 3.1 and 3.3. These no longer -receive security patches and should not be used. Xen 3.1 supports PCI -passthrough. Xen 3.1 supports non-PAE on i386. +xenkernel3 provides Xen 3.1. This no longer receives security patches +and should not be used. It supports PCI passthrough, which is why +people use it anyway. Xen 3.1 supports non-PAE on i386. -xenkernel41 provides Xen 4.1. This is no longer maintained by Xen, -but as of 2014-12 receives backported security patches. It is a -reasonable although trailing-edge choice. +xenkernel33 provides Xen 3.3. This no longer receives security +patches and should not be used. Xen 3.3 supports non-PAE on i386. -xenkernel42 provides Xen 4.2. This is maintained by Xen, but old as -of 2014-12. +xenkernel41 provides Xen 4.1. This is no longer maintained by Xen, +but as of 2014-12 receives backported security patches. There are no +good reasons to run this version. reasonable although trailing-edge +choice. + +xenkernel42 provides Xen 4.2. This is no longer maintained by Xen, but +as of 2014-12 receives backported security patches. The only reason +to run this is if you need to use xm instead of xl. xenkernel45 provides Xen 4.5. This is new to pkgsrc as of 2015-01 and -not yet recommended for other than experimental/testing use. +recommended for use as a conservative choice. + +xenkernel46 provides Xen 4.6. TODO: Probably this is the recommended +version. See also the [Xen Security Advisory page](http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/). @@ -368,67 +376,47 @@ Xen logs will be in /var/log/xen. Now, you have a system that will boot Xen and the dom0 kernel, but not do anything else special. Make sure that you have rebooted into Xen. There will be no domUs, and none can be started because you still have -to configure the dom0 tools. The daemons which should be run vary -with Xen version and with whether one is using xm or xl. Note that -xend is for supporting "xm", and should only be used if you plan on -using "xm". Do NOT enable xend if you plan on using "xl" as it will -cause problems. Running xl without xencommons=YES (and starting it) -will result in a hang (so don't do that; follow the HOWTO!). +to configure the dom0 daemons. -The installation of NetBSD should already have created devices for xen -(xencons, xenevt), but if they are not present, create them: +The daemons which should be run vary with Xen version and with whether +one is using xm or xl. The Xen 3.1 and 3.3 packages use xm. Xen 4.1 +and higher packages use xl. While is is possible to use xm with some +4.x versions (TODO: 4.1 and 4.2?), the pkgsrc-provided rc.d scripts do +not support this as of 2014-12-26, and thus the HOWTO does not support +it either. (Make sure your packages are reasonably recent.) - cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen - -TODO: Give 3.1 advice (or remove it from pkgsrc). - -For 3.3 (and thus xm), add to rc.conf (but note that you should have -installed 4.1 or 4.2): +For "xm" (3.1 and 3.3), you should enable xend and xenbackendd (but +note that you should be using 4.x): xend=YES xenbackendd=YES -For 4.1 (and thus xm; xl is believed not to work well), add to rc.conf: - - xencommons=YES - xend=YES - -(If you are using xentools41 from before 2014-12-26, change -rc.d/xendomains to use xm rather than xl.) - -For 4.2 with xm, add to rc.conf - - xencommons=YES - xend=YES - -For 4.2 with xl, add to rc.conf: +For "xl" (4.x), you should enabled xend and xencommons (xenstored). +Trying to boot 4.x without xencommons=YES will result in a hang; it is +necessary to hig ^C on the console to let the machine finish booting. +TODO: explain why xend is installed by the package. xencommons=YES - TODO: explain if there is a xend replacement -For 4.5 (and thus with xl), add to rc.conf: +The installation of NetBSD should already have created devices for xen +(xencons, xenevt), but if they are not present, create them: - xencommons=YES - TODO: explain if there is a xend replacement + cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen TODO: Recommend for/against xen-watchdog. After you have configured the daemons and either started them (in the order given) or rebooted, use xm or xl to inspect Xen's boot messages, -available resources, and running domains. An example with xm follows: +available resources, and running domains. An example with xl follows: - # xm dmesg + # xl dmesg [xen's boot info] - # xm info + # xl info [available memory, etc.] - # xm list + # xl list Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1 -With xl, the commands are the same, and the output may be slightly -different. TODO: add example output for xl before the xm example, -after confirming on 4.2 and resolving the TODO about rc.conf. - ### Issues with xencommons xencommons starts xenstored, which stores data on behalf of dom0 and @@ -513,7 +501,7 @@ section. TODO: actually do this and fix it if necessary. -Updating Xen versions +Upgrading Xen versions --------------------- Updating Xen is conceptually not difficult, but can run into all the @@ -521,9 +509,17 @@ issues found when installing Xen. Assum remove the xenkernel41 and xentools41 packages and install the xenkernel42 and xentools42 packages. Copy the 4.2 xen.gz to /. -Ensure that the contents of /etc/rc.d/xen* are correct. Enable the -correct set of daemons. Ensure that the domU config files are valid -for the new version. +Ensure that the contents of /etc/rc.d/xen* are correct. Specifically, +they must match the package you just installed and not be left over +from some previous installation. + +Enable the correct set of daemons; see the configuring section above. +(Upgrading from 3.x to 4.x without doing this will result in a hang.) + +Ensure that the domU config files are valid for the new version. +Specifically: remove autorestart=True, and ensure that disks are +specified with numbers as the second argument, as the examples above +show, and not NetBSD device names. Hardware known to work ----------------------