--- wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn 2017/12/15 16:40:59 1.141 +++ wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn 2018/07/26 16:29:45 1.154 @@ -1,78 +1,53 @@ +[[!meta title="Xen HowTo"]] + Introduction ============ [![[Xen screenshot]](https://www.netbsd.org/gallery/in-Action/hubertf-xens.png)](https://www.netbsd.org/gallery/in-Action/hubertf-xen.png) -Xen is a hypervisor (or virtual machine monitor) for x86 hardware -(i686-class or higher), which supports running multiple guest +Xen is a hypervisor for x86 hardware, which supports running multiple guest operating systems on a single physical machine. Xen is a Type 1 or bare-metal hypervisor; one uses the Xen kernel to control the CPU, memory and console, a dom0 operating system which mediates access to other hardware (e.g., disks, network, USB), and one or more domU operating systems which operate in an unprivileged virtualized environment. IO requests from the domU systems are forwarded by the -hypervisor (Xen) to the dom0 to be fulfilled. +Xen hypervisor to the dom0 to be fulfilled. + +Xen supports different styles of guest: + +[[!table data=""" +Style of guest |Supported by NetBSD +PV |Yes (dom0, domU) +HVM |Yes (domU) +PVHVM |No +PVH |No +"""]] + +In Para-Virtualized (PV) mode, the guest OS does not attempt to access +hardware directly, but instead makes hypercalls to the hypervisor; PV +guests must be specifically coded for Xen. In HVM mode, no guest +modification is required; however, hardware support is required, such +as VT-x on Intel CPUs and SVM on AMD CPUs. -Xen supports two styles of guests. The original is Para-Virtualized -(PV) which means that the guest OS does not attempt to access hardware -directly, but instead makes hypercalls to the hypervisor. This is -analogous to a user-space program making system calls. (The dom0 -operating system uses PV calls for some functions, such as updating -memory mapping page tables, but has direct hardware access for disk -and network.) PV guests must be specifically coded for Xen. - -The more recent style is HVM, which means that the guest does not have -code for Xen and need not be aware that it is running under Xen. -Attempts to access hardware registers are trapped and emulated. This -style is less efficient but can run unmodified guests. - -Generally any machine that runs NetBSD/amd64 will work with Xen and PV -guests. In theory i386 computers (without x86_64/amd64 support) can -be used for Xen <= 4.2, but we have no recent reports of this working -(this is a hint). For HVM guests, hardware support is needed, but it -is common on recent machines. For Intel CPUs, one needs the VT-x -extension, shown in "cpuctl identify 0" as VMX. For AMD CPUs, one -needs the AMD-V extensions, shown in "cpuctl identify 0" as SVM. There are further features for IOMMU virtualization, Intel's VT-d and AMD's AMD-Vi. TODO: Explain whether Xen on NetBSD makes use of these features. TODO: Review by someone who really understands this. -Note that a FreeBSD dom0 requires VT-x and VT-d (or equivalent); this -is because the FreeBSD dom0 does not run in PV mode. - At boot, the dom0 kernel is loaded as a module with Xen as the kernel. The dom0 can start one or more domUs. (Booting is explained in detail in the dom0 section.) -NetBSD supports Xen in that it can serve as dom0, be used as a domU, -and that Xen kernels and tools are available in pkgsrc. This HOWTO -attempts to address both the case of running a NetBSD dom0 on hardware -and running domUs under it (NetBSD and other), and also running NetBSD -as a domU in a VPS. - -Xen 3.1 in pkgsrc supports "PCI passthrough", which means that -specific PCI devices can be made available to a specific domU instead -of the dom0. This can be useful to let a domU run X11, or access some -network interface or other peripheral. - -NetBSD 6 and earlier supported Xen 2; support was removed from NetBSD -7. Xen 2 has been removed from pkgsrc. - -Prerequisites -------------- - -Installing NetBSD/Xen is not extremely difficult, but it is more -complex than a normal installation of NetBSD. -In general, this HOWTO is occasionally overly restrictive about how -things must be done, guiding the reader to stay on the established -path when there are no known good reasons to stray. - This HOWTO presumes a basic familiarity with the Xen system architecture, with installing NetBSD on i386/amd64 hardware, and with installing software from pkgsrc. See also the [Xen website](http://www.xenproject.org/). +This HOWTO attempts to address both the case of running a NetBSD dom0 +on hardware and running domUs under it (NetBSD and other), and also +running NetBSD as a domU in a VPS. + Versions of Xen and NetBSD ========================== @@ -82,64 +57,31 @@ which version to choose. Versions not i versions of NetBSD are intentionally ignored. The term "amd64" is used to refer to both the NetBSD port and to the -hardware architecture on which it runs. (Such hardware is made by -both Intel and AMD, and in 2016 a normal PC has this CPU -architecture.) +hardware architecture on which it runs. Such hardware is generally +made by both Intel and AMD, and common on PC computers. -Xen ---- +Xen versions +------------ In NetBSD, Xen is provided in pkgsrc, via matching pairs of packages xenkernel and xentools. We will refer only to the kernel versions, but note that both packages must be installed together and must have matching versions. -xenkernel3 provides Xen 3.1. It is no longer maintained by Xen, and -the last applied security patch was in 2011. Thus, it should not be -used. It supports PCI passthrough, which is why people use it anyway. -Xen 3.1 runs on i386 (both non-PAE and PAE) and amd64 hardware. - -xenkernel33 provides Xen 3.3. It is no longer maintained by Xen, and -the last applied security patch was in 2012. Thus, it should not be -used. Xen 3.3 runs on i386 PAE and amd64 hardware. There are no good -reasons to run this version. - -xenkernel41 provides Xen 4.1. It is no longer maintained by Xen, but -as of 2016-12 received backported security patches. Xen 4.1 runs on -i386 PAE and amd64 hardware. There are no good reasons to run this -version. - -Note that 3.1, 3.3 and 4.1 have been removed from pkgsrc-current, but -are in 2016Q4. They will be removed from this HOWTO sometime after -2017Q1. - -xenkernel42 provides Xen 4.2. It is no longer maintained by Xen, but -as of 2016-12 received backported security patches. Xen 4.2 runs on -i386 PAE and amd64 hardware. The only reason to run this is if you -need to use xm instead of xl, or if you need to run on hardware that -supports i386 but not amd64. (This might also be useful if you need -an i386 dom0, if it turns out that an amd64 Xen kernel and an i386 -dom0 is problematic.) - -xenkernel45 provides Xen 4.5. As of 2016-12, security patches were -released by Xen and applied to pkgsrc. Xen 4.5 runs on amd64 hardware -only. While slightly old, 4.5 has been tested and run by others, so -it is the conservative choice. - -xenkernel46 provides Xen 4.6. It is new to pkgsrc as of 2016-05. As -of 2016-12, security patches were released by Xen and applied to -pkgsrc. Xen 4.6 runs on amd64 hardware only For new installations, -4.6 is probably the appropriate choice and it will likely soon be the -standard approach. (If using Ubuntu guests, be sure to have the -xentools46 from December, 2016). +Versions available in pkgsrc: -Xen 4.7 (released 2016-06) and 4.8 (released 2016-12) are not yet in -pkgsrc. +[[!table data=""" +Xen Version |Package Name |Xen CPU Support |EOL'ed By Upstream +4.2 |xenkernel42 |32bit, 64bit |Yes +4.5 |xenkernel45 |64bit |Yes +4.6 |xenkernel46 |64bit |Partially +4.8 |xenkernel48 |64bit |No +4.11 |xenkernel411 |64bit |No +"""]] See also the [Xen Security Advisory page](http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/). -Note that NetBSD support is called XEN3. It works with Xen 3 and Xen -4 because the hypercall interface has been stable. +Note: Xen 4.2 was the last version to support 32bit CPUs. Xen command program ------------------- @@ -152,7 +94,7 @@ xm and xl work fine. 4.4 is the last ve You must make a global choice to use xm or xl, because it affects not only which command you use, but the command used by rc.d scripts (specifically xendomains) and which daemons should be run. The -xentools packages provide xm for 3.1, 3.3 and 4.1 and xl for 4.2 and up. +xentools packages provide xl for 4.2 and up. In 4.2, you can choose to use xm by simply changing the ctl_command variable and setting xend=YES in rc.conf. @@ -165,33 +107,30 @@ xbd, where a vnd must be allocated). Bu been adequately tested for a complex custom setup with a large number of interfaces. -NetBSD ------- +NetBSD versions +--------------- -The netbsd-6, netbsd-7, and -current branches are all reasonable +The netbsd-7, netbsd-8, and -current branches are all reasonable choices, with more or less the same considerations for non-Xen use. -Therefore, netbsd-7 is recommended as the stable version of the most -recent release for production use. In addition, netbsd-7 and -current -have a important scheduler fix (in November of 2015) affecting -contention between dom0 and domUs; see -https://releng.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/req-7.cgi?show=1040 for a -description. For those wanting to learn Xen or without production -stability concerns, netbsd-7 is still likely most appropriate, but --current is also a reasonable choice. (Xen runs ok on netbsd-5, but -the xentools packages are likely difficult to build, and netbsd-5 is -not supported.) +NetBSD 8 is recommended as the stable version of the most recent +release for production use. + +For developing Xen, netbsd-current may be appropriate. As of NetBSD 6, a NetBSD domU will support multiple vcpus. There is no SMP support for NetBSD as dom0. (The dom0 itself doesn't really need SMP for dom0 functions; the lack of support is really a problem when using a dom0 as a normal computer.) +Note: NetBSD support is called XEN3. However, it does support Xen 4, +because the hypercall interface has remained identical. + Architecture ------------ Xen itself can run on i386 (Xen < 4.2) or amd64 hardware (all Xen -versions). (Practically, almost any computer where one would want to -run Xen today supports amd64.) +versions). Practically, almost any computer where one would want to +run Xen today supports amd64. Xen, the dom0 system, and each domU system can be either i386 or amd64. When building a xenkernel package, one obtains an i386 Xen @@ -201,23 +140,18 @@ be i386. With an amd64 Xen kernel, an a work, and an i386 dom0 kernel should in theory work. An amd64 Xen/dom0 is known to support both i386 and amd64 domUs. -i386 dom0 and domU kernels must be PAE (except for an i386 Xen 3.1 -kernel, where one can use non-PAE for dom0 and all domUs); PAE kernels -are included in the NetBSD default build. (Note that emacs (at least) -fails if run on i386 with PAE when built without, and vice versa, -presumably due to bugs in the undump code.) +i386 dom0 and domU kernels must be PAE. PAE kernels are included in +the NetBSD default build. Because of the above, the standard approach is to use an amd64 Xen -kernel and NetBSD/amd64 for the dom0. For domUs, NetBSD/i386 (with -the PAE kernel) and NetBSD/amd64 are in widespread use, and there is +kernel and NetBSD/amd64 for the dom0. For domUs, NetBSD/i386 (PAE) and +NetBSD/amd64 are in widespread use, and there is little to no Xen-specific reason to prefer one over the other. Note that to use an i386 dom0 with Xen 4.5 or higher, one must build (or obtain from pre-built packages) an amd64 Xen kernel and install -that on the system. (One must also use a PAE i386 kernel, but this is -also required with an i386 Xen kernel.). Almost no one in the -NetBSD/Xen community does this, and the standard, well-tested, -approach is to use an amd64 dom0. +that on the system. Almost no one in the NetBSD/Xen community does +this, and the standard, well-tested, approach is to use an amd64 dom0. A [posting on xen-devel](https://lists.xen.org/archives/html/xen-devel/2012-07/msg00085.html) @@ -227,93 +161,6 @@ caution that the total situation is comp understood. On top of that caution, the post is about Linux, not NetBSD. TODO: Include link to benchmarks, if someone posts them. -Stability ---------- - -Mostly, NetBSD as a dom0 or domU is quite stable. -However, there are some open PRs indicating problems. - - - [PR 48125](http://gnats.netbsd.org/48125) - -Note also that there are issues with sparse vnd(4) instances, but -these are not about Xen -- they just are noticed with sparse vnd(4) -instances in support of virtual disks in a dom0. - -Recommendation --------------- - -Therefore, this HOWTO recommends running xenkernel45 or xenkernel46, -xl, the NetBSD 7 stable branch, and to use an amd64 kernel as the -dom0. Either the i386PAE or amd64 version of NetBSD may be used as -domUs. - -Because bugs are fixed quite often, and because of Xen security -advisories, it is good to stay up to date with NetBSD (tracking a -stable branch), with the Xen kernel (tracking a Xen version via -pkgsrc), and with the Xen tools. Specifically, NetBSD (-7 and --current) got an important fix affecting dom0/domU timesharing in -November, 2015, and xentools46 got a fix to enable Ubuntu guests to -boot in December, 2016. - -Status ------- - -Ideally, all versions of Xen in pkgsrc would build on all supported -versions of NetBSD/amd64, to the point where this section would be -silly. However, that has not always been the case. Besides aging -code and aging compilers, qemu (included in xentools for HVM support) -is difficult to build. Note that there is intentionally no data for -4.5+ up for i386, and often omits xentools info if the corresponding -kernel fails. - -The following table gives status, with the date last checked -(generally on the most recent quarterly branch). The first code is -"builds" if it builds ok, and "FAIL" for a failure to build. The -second code/date only appears for xenkernel* and is "works" if it runs -ok as a dom0 and can support a domU, and "FAIL" if it won't boot or -run a domU. - - xenkernel3 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612 - xenkernel33 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612 - xenkernel41 netbsd-6 i386 builds 201612 - xenkernel42 netbsd-6 i386 builds 201612 - xentools3 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612 - xentools33 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612 - xentools41 netbsd-6 i386 builds 201612 - xentools42 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612 - - xenkernel3 netbsd-7 i386 FAIL 201412 - xenkernel33 netbsd-7 i386 FAIL 201412 - xenkernel41 netbsd-7 i386 builds 201412 - xenkernel42 netbsd-7 i386 builds 201412 - xentools41 netbsd-7 i386 builds 201412 - xentools42 netbsd-7 i386 ??FAIL 201412 - - xenkernel3 netbsd-6 amd64 FAIL 201612 - xenkernel33 netbsd-6 amd64 FAIL 201612 - xenkernel41 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 works 201612 - xenkernel42 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 works 201612 - xenkernel45 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 - xenkernel46 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools41 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools42 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools45 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools46 netbsd-6 amd64 FAIL 201612 - - xenkernel3 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xenkernel33 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xenkernel41 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xenkernel42 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xenkernel45 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xenkernel46 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools3 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools3-hvm netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools33 netbsd-7 amd64 FAIL 201612 - xentools41 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools42 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools45 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - xentools46 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612 - NetBSD as a dom0 ================ @@ -332,6 +179,10 @@ half-dozen domUs of 512M and 32G each. have to be bigger than the sum of the RAM/disk needs of the dom0 and all the domUs. +In 2018-05, trouble booting a dom0 was reported with 256M of RAM: with +512M it worked reliably. This does not make sense, but if you see +"not ELF" after Xen boots, try increasing dom0 RAM. + Styles of dom0 operation ------------------------ @@ -400,11 +251,6 @@ documentation](https://www.NetBSD.org/do pkgsrc. Ensure that your packages are recent; the HOWTO does not contemplate old builds. - -For Xen 3.1, support for HVM guests is in sysutils/xentool3-hvm. More -recent versions have HVM support integrated in the main xentools -package. It is entirely reasonable to run only PV guests. - Next you need to install the selected Xen kernel itself, which is installed by pkgsrc as "/usr/pkg/xen*-kernel/xen.gz". Copy it to /. For debugging, one may copy xen-debug.gz; this is conceptually similar @@ -412,10 +258,8 @@ to DIAGNOSTIC and DEBUG in NetBSD. xen- useful with a serial console. Then, place a NetBSD XEN3_DOM0 kernel in /, copied from releasedir/amd64/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz of a NetBSD build. If using i386, use -releasedir/i386/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz. (If using Xen -3.1 and i386, you may use XEN3_DOM0 with the non-PAE Xen. But you -should not use Xen 3.1.) Both xen and the NetBSD kernel may be (and -typically are) left compressed. +releasedir/i386/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz. Both xen and +the NetBSD kernel may be (and typically are) left compressed. In a dom0, kernfs is mandatory for xend to communicate with the kernel, so ensure that /kern is in fstab. (A standard NetBSD install @@ -426,15 +270,19 @@ with an MBR bootblock, either bootxx_ffs beginning of your root file system, have /boot, and likely also /boot.cfg. (If not, fix before continuing!) -Add a line to to /boot.cfg to boot Xen. See boot.cfg(5) for an -example. The basic line is +Add a line to /boot.cfg to boot Xen. See boot.cfg(5) for an +example. The basic line is: - menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M +[[!template id=programlisting text=""" +menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=512M +"""]] -which specifies that the dom0 should have 256M, leaving the rest to be +which specifies that the dom0 should have 512M, leaving the rest to be allocated for domUs. To use a serial console, use - menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M console=com1 com1=9600,8n1 +[[!template id=programlisting text=""" +menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=512M console=com1 com1=9600,8n1 +"""]] which will use the first serial port for Xen (which counts starting from 1, unlike NetBSD which counts starting from 0), forcing @@ -443,9 +291,11 @@ speed/parity. Because the NetBSD comman which directs the console I/O through Xen to the same console device Xen itself uses (in this case, the serial port). -In an attempt to add performance, one can also add +In an attempt to add performance, one can also add: - dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin +[[!template id=programlisting text=""" +dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin +"""]] to force only one vcpu to be provided (since NetBSD dom0 can't use more) and to pin that vcpu to a physical CPU. TODO: benchmark this. @@ -462,9 +312,6 @@ sure /netbsd is ok). Consider also a li of Xen and the dom0 kernel, but note that non-Xen NetBSD can be used to resolve Xen booting issues. -Probably you want a default=N line to choose Xen in the absence of -intervention. - Now, reboot so that you are running a DOM0 kernel under Xen, rather than GENERIC without Xen. @@ -485,30 +332,24 @@ described above.) Configuring Xen --------------- -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 daemons. The daemons which should be run vary with Xen version and with whether -one is using xm or xl. The Xen 3.1, 3.3 and 4.1 packages use xm. Xen -4.2 and up packages use xl. To use xm with 4.2, edit xendomains to -use xm instead. - -For 3.1 and 3.3, you should enable xend and xenbackendd: - - xend=YES - xenbackendd=YES +one is using xm or xl. Xen 4.2 and up packages use xl. To use xm with 4.2, +edit xendomains to use xm instead. For 4.1 and up, you should enable xencommons. Not enabling xencommons will result in a hang; it is necessary to hit ^C on the console to let the machine finish booting. If you are using xm (default in 4.1, or if you changed xendomains in 4.2), you should also enable xend: - xend=YES # only if using xm, and only installed <= 4.2 - xencommons=YES +[[!template id=programlisting text=""" +xend=YES # only if using xm, and only installed <= 4.2 +xencommons=YES +"""]] TODO: Recommend for/against xen-watchdog. @@ -516,13 +357,17 @@ After you have configured the daemons an order given) or rebooted, use xm or xl to inspect Xen's boot messages, available resources, and running domains. An example with xl follows: - # xl dmesg - [xen's boot info] - # xl info - [available memory, etc.] - # xl list - Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console - Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1 +[[!template id=programlisting text=""" +# xl dmesg +... xen's boot info ... +# xl info +... available memory, etc ... +# xl list +Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console +Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1 +"""]] + +Xen logs will be in /var/log/xen. ### Issues with xencommons @@ -541,7 +386,9 @@ this will get fixed any time soon. The installation of NetBSD should already have created devices for xen (xencons, xenevt, xsd_kva), but if they are not present, create them: - cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen +[[!template id=programlisting text=""" +cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen +"""]] anita (for testing NetBSD) -------------------------- @@ -550,7 +397,9 @@ With the setup so far (assuming 4.2/xl), anita (see pkgsrc/misc/py-anita) to test NetBSD releases, by doing (as root, because anita must create a domU): - anita --vmm=xl test file:///usr/obj/i386/ +[[!template id=programlisting text=""" +anita --vmm=xl test file:///usr/obj/i386/ +"""]] Alternatively, one can use --vmm=xm to use xm-based domU creation instead (and must, on Xen <= 4.1). TODO: confirm that anita xl really works. @@ -602,8 +451,8 @@ section. # Install secondary boot loader cp -p /usr/mdec/boot / # Create boot.cfg following earlier guidance: - menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M - menu=Xen.ok:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.ok.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.ok.gz dom0_mem=256M + menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=512M + menu=Xen.ok:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.ok.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.ok.gz dom0_mem=512M menu=GENERIC:boot menu=GENERIC single-user:boot -s menu=GENERIC.ok:boot netbsd.ok @@ -639,46 +488,6 @@ Specifically, for 4.x remove autorestart are specified with numbers as the second argument, as the examples above show, and not NetBSD device names. -Hardware known to work ----------------------- - -Arguably, this section is misplaced, and there should be a page of -hardware that runs NetBSD/amd64 well, with the mostly-well-founded -assumption that NetBSD/xen runs fine on any modern hardware that -NetBSD/amd64 runs well on. Until then, we give motherboard/CPU (and -sometimes RAM) pairs/triples to aid those choosing a motherboard. -Note that Xen systems usually do not run X, so a listing here does not -imply that X works at all. - - Supermicro X9SRL-F, Xeon E5-1650 v2, 96 GiB ECC - Supermicro ??, Atom C2758 (8 core), 32 GiB ECC - ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ microATX, AMD Piledriver X8 4000MHz, 16 GiB ECC - -Older hardware: - - Intel D915GEV, Pentium4 CPU 3.40GHz, 4GB 533MHz Synchronous DDR2 - INTEL DG33FB, "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz" - INTEL DG33FB, "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz" - -Running Xen under qemu ----------------------- - -The astute reader will note that this section is somewhat twisted. -However, it can be useful to run Xen under qemu either because the -version of NetBSD as a dom0 does not run on the hardware in use, or to -generate automated test cases involving Xen. - -In 2015-01, the following combination was reported to mostly work: - - host OS: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.4 - qemu: 2.2.0 from pkgsrc - Xen kernel: xenkernel42-4.2.5nb1 from pkgsrc - dom0 kernel: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.5 - Xen tools: xentools42-4.2.5 from pkgsrc - -See [PR 47720](https://gnats.netbsd.org/47720) for a problem with dom0 -shutdown. - Unprivileged domains (domU) =========================== @@ -872,7 +681,7 @@ Sizing domains Modern x86 hardware has vast amounts of resources. However, many virtual servers can function just fine on far less. A system with -256M of RAM and a 4G disk can be a reasonable choice. Note that it is +512M of RAM and a 4G disk can be a reasonable choice. Note that it is far easier to adjust virtual resources than physical ones. For memory, it's just a config file edit and a reboot. For disk, one can create a new file and vnconfig it (or lvm), and then dump/restore, @@ -911,13 +720,9 @@ savecore(8) can work. (This is helpful The kernel must be specifically for Xen and for use as a domU. The i386 and amd64 provide the following kernels: - i386 XEN3_DOMU i386 XEN3PAE_DOMU amd64 XEN3_DOMU -Unless using Xen 3.1 (and you shouldn't) with i386-mode Xen, you must -use the PAE version of the i386 kernel. - This will boot NetBSD, but this is not that useful if the disk is empty. One approach is to unpack sets onto the disk outside of xen (by mounting it, just as you would prepare a physical disk for a @@ -1160,18 +965,7 @@ to update the special boot partition. Amazon ------ -See the [Amazon EC2 page](../amazon_ec2/). - -Using npf ---------- - -In standard kernels, npf is a module, and thus cannot be loaded in a -DOMU kernel. - -TODO: Explain how to compile npf into a custom kernel, answering (but -note that the problem was caused by not booting the right kernel) -[this email to -netbsd-users](https://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/12/26/msg015576.html). +See the [Amazon EC2 page](/amazon_ec2/). TODO items for improving NetBSD/xen =================================== @@ -1191,8 +985,6 @@ TODO items for improving NetBSD/xen * Get UFS2 patches into pvgrub. * Add support for PV ops to a version of /boot, and make it usable as a kernel in Xen, similar to pvgrub. -* Solve somehow the issue with modules for GENERIC not being loadable - in a Xen dom0 or domU kernel. Random pointers ===============