version 1.149, 2018/07/26 11:00:10
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version 1.150, 2018/07/26 11:08:33
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Line 19 Xen supports different styles of guest:
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Line 19 Xen supports different styles of guest:
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[[!table data=""" |
[[!table data=""" |
Style of guest |Supported by NetBSD |
Style of guest |Supported by NetBSD |
PV |Yes |
PV |Yes (dom0, domU) |
HVM |Yes |
HVM |Yes (domU) |
PVHVM |No |
PVHVM |No |
PVH |No |
PVH |No |
"""]] |
"""]] |
Line 35 There are further features for IOMMU vir
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Line 35 There are further features for IOMMU vir
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AMD's AMD-Vi. TODO: Explain whether Xen on NetBSD makes use of these |
AMD's AMD-Vi. TODO: Explain whether Xen on NetBSD makes use of these |
features. TODO: Review by someone who really understands this. |
features. TODO: Review by someone who really understands this. |
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Generally any machine that runs NetBSD/amd64 will work with Xen and PV |
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guests. In theory i386 computers (without x86_64/amd64 support) can |
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be used for Xen <= 4.2, but we have no recent reports of this working |
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(this is a hint). For HVM guests, hardware support is needed, but it |
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is common on recent machines. |
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At boot, the dom0 kernel is loaded as a module with Xen as the kernel. |
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 |
The dom0 can start one or more domUs. (Booting is explained in detail |
in the dom0 section.) |
in the dom0 section.) |
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NetBSD supports Xen in that it can serve as dom0, be used as a domU, |
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and that Xen kernels and tools are available in pkgsrc. This HOWTO |
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attempts to address both the case of running a NetBSD dom0 on hardware |
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and running domUs under it (NetBSD and other), and also running NetBSD |
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as a domU in a VPS. |
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Xen 3.1 in pkgsrc used to support "PCI passthrough", which means that |
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specific PCI devices can be made available to a specific domU instead |
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of the dom0. This can be useful to let a domU run X11, or access some |
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network interface or other peripheral. |
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NetBSD 6 and earlier supported Xen 2; support was removed from NetBSD |
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7. Xen 2 has been removed from pkgsrc. |
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Prerequisites |
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------------- |
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Installing NetBSD/Xen is not extremely difficult, but it is more |
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complex than a normal installation of NetBSD. |
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In general, this HOWTO is occasionally overly restrictive about how |
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things must be done, guiding the reader to stay on the established |
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path when there are no known good reasons to stray. |
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This HOWTO presumes a basic familiarity with the Xen system |
This HOWTO presumes a basic familiarity with the Xen system |
architecture, with installing NetBSD on i386/amd64 hardware, and with |
architecture, with installing NetBSD on i386/amd64 hardware, and with |
installing software from pkgsrc. See also the [Xen |
installing software from pkgsrc. See also the [Xen |
website](http://www.xenproject.org/). |
website](http://www.xenproject.org/). |
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This HOWTO attempts to address both the case of running a NetBSD dom0 |
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on hardware and running domUs under it (NetBSD and other), and also |
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running NetBSD as a domU in a VPS. |
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Versions of Xen and NetBSD |
Versions of Xen and NetBSD |
========================== |
========================== |
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Line 82 which version to choose. Versions not i
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Line 57 which version to choose. Versions not i
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versions of NetBSD are intentionally ignored. |
versions of NetBSD are intentionally ignored. |
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The term "amd64" is used to refer to both the NetBSD port and to the |
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 |
hardware architecture on which it runs. Such hardware is generally |
both Intel and AMD, and in 2016 a normal PC has this CPU |
made by both Intel and AMD, and common on PC computers. |
architecture.) |
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Xen versions |
Xen versions |
------------ |
------------ |
Line 192 caution that the total situation is comp
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Line 166 caution that the total situation is comp
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understood. On top of that caution, the post is about Linux, not |
understood. On top of that caution, the post is about Linux, not |
NetBSD. TODO: Include link to benchmarks, if someone posts them. |
NetBSD. TODO: Include link to benchmarks, if someone posts them. |
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Recommendation |
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-------------- |
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Therefore, this HOWTO recommends running xenkernel46, xl, the NetBSD 7 |
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stable branch, and therefore to use an amd64 kernel as the dom0. |
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Either the i386PAE or amd64 version of NetBSD may be used as domUs. |
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A tentative replacement recommendation is xenkernel48, xl, and NetBSD |
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8. |
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Because bugs are fixed quite often, and because of Xen security |
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advisories, it is good to stay up to date with NetBSD (tracking a |
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stable branch), with the Xen kernel (tracking a Xen version via |
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pkgsrc), and with the Xen tools. Specifically, NetBSD (-7 and |
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-current) got an important fix affecting dom0/domU timesharing in |
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November, 2015, and xentools46 got a fix to enable Ubuntu guests to |
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boot in December, 2016. |
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NetBSD as a dom0 |
NetBSD as a dom0 |
================ |
================ |
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