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-version 1.18, 2014/12/24 00:11:15
+version 1.19, 2014/12/24 00:41:04
  Line 27  code for Xen and need not be aware that
  Attempts to access hardware registers are trapped and emulated.  This
  style is less efficient but can run unmodified guests.
+ Generally any amd64 machine will work with Xen and PV guests.  For HVM
+ guests, the VMX cpu feature (Intel) or VT?? (amd64) is needed.  TODO:
+ Explain if i386 (non-amd64) machines can still be used - I think that
+ witthe requirement to use PAE kernels is about the hypervisor being
+ amd64 only.
  At boot, the dom0 kernel is loaded as module with Xen as the kernel.
  The dom0 can start one or more domUs.  (Booting is explained in detail
  in the dom0 section.)
- Line 50  architecture.  This HOWTO presumes famil
+ Line 56  architecture.  This HOWTO presumes famil
  on i386/amd64 hardware and installing software from pkgsrc.
  See also the [Xen website](http://www.xen.org/).
+ History
+ -------
+ NetBSD used to support Xen2; this has been removed.
+ Before NetBSD's native bootloader could support Xen, the use of
+ grub was recommended.  If necessary, see the
+ [old grub information](/xen/howto-grub/).
  Versions of Xen and NetBSD
  ==========================
- Line 78  of 2014-12.
+ Line 93  of 2014-12.
  Ideally newer versions of Xen will be added to pkgsrc.
+ Xen command program
+ -------------------
+ Early Xen used a program called "xm" to manipulate the system from the
+ dom0.  Starting in 4.1, a replacement program with similar behavior
+ called "xl" is provided.  In 4.2, "xm" is no longer available.
  NetBSD
  ------
- Line 106  Recommendation
+ Line 128  Recommendation
  --------------
  Therefore, this HOWTO recommends running xenkernel42 (and xentools42),
- the NetBSD 6 stable branch, and to use amd64 as the dom0.  Either the
+ xl, the NetBSD 6 stable branch, and to use amd64 as the dom0.  Either
- i386 or amd64 of NetBSD may be used as domUs.
+ the i386 or amd64 of NetBSD may be used as domUs.
  NetBSD as a dom0
  ================
  NetBSD can be used as a dom0 and works very well.  The following
  sections address installation, updating NetBSD, and updating Xen.
+ Note that it doesn't make sense to talk about installing a dom0 OS
+ without also installing Xen itself.  We first address installing
+ NetBSD, which is not yet a dom0, and then adding Xen, pivoting the
+ NetBSD install to a dom0 install by just changing the kernel and boot
+ configuration.
  Styles of dom0 operation
  ------------------------
- Line 136  Xen daemons when not running Xen.
+ Line 163  Xen daemons when not running Xen.
  Note that NetBSD as dom0 does not support multiple CPUs.  This will
  limit the performance of the Xen/dom0 workstation approach.
- Installation of NetBSD and Xen
+ Installation of NetBSD
- ------------------------------
+ ----------------------
- Note that it doesn't make sense to talk about installing a dom0 OS
+ First,
- without also installing Xen itself.
+ [install NetBSD/amd64](../../docs/guide/en/chap-inst.html)
+ just as you would if you were not using Xen.
+ However, the partitioning approach is very important.
+ If you want to use RAIDframe for the dom0, there are no special issues
+ for Xen.  Typically one provides RAID storage for the dom0, and the
+ domU systems are unaware of RAID.
+ There are 4 styles of providing backing storage for the virtual disks
+ used by domUs: raw partitions, LVM, file-backed vnd(4), and SAN,
+ With raw partitions, one has a disklabel (or gpt) partition sized for
+ each virtual disk to be used by the domU.  (If you are able to predict
+ how domU usage will evolve, please add an explanation to the HOWTO.
+ Seriously, needs tend to change over time.)
+ One can use lvm(8) to create logical devices to use for domU disks.
+ This is almost as efficient sa raw disk partitions and more flexible.
+ Hence raw disk partitions should typically not be used.
+ One can use files in the dom0 filesystem, typically created by dd'ing
+ /dev/zero to create a specific size.  This is somewhat less efficient,
+ but very convenient, as one can cp the files for backup, or move them
+ between dom0 hosts.
+ Finally, in theory one can place the files backing the domU disks in a
+ SAN.  (This is an invitation for someone who has done this to add a
+ HOWTO page.)
- First do a NetBSD/i386 or NetBSD/amd64
+ Installation of Xen
- [installation](../../docs/guide/en/chap-inst.html) of the 5.1 release
+ -------------------
- (or newer) as you usually do on x86 hardware. The binary releases are
- available from [](ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/). Binary snapshots
- for current and the stable branches are available on daily autobuilds.
- If you plan to use the `grub` boot loader, when partitioning the disk
- you have to make the root partition smaller than 512Mb, and formatted as
- FFSv1 with 8k block/1k fragments. If the partition is larger than this,
- uses FFSv2 or has different block/fragment sizes, grub may fail to load
- some files. Also keep in mind that you'll probably want to provide
- virtual disks to other domains, so reserve some partitions for these
- virtual disks. Alternatively, you can create large files in the file
- system, map them to vnd(4) devices and export theses vnd devices to
- other domains.
  Next step is to install the Xen packages via pkgsrc or from binary
  packages. See [the pkgsrc
- Line 461  working vif-bridge is also provided with
+ Line 503  working vif-bridge is also provided with
      #!/bin/sh
      #============================================================================
-     # $NetBSD: howto.mdwn,v 1.17 2014/12/24 00:06:31 gdt Exp $
+     # $NetBSD: howto.mdwn,v 1.18 2014/12/24 00:11:15 gdt Exp $
      #
      # /usr/pkg/etc/xen/vif-bridge
      #

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