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Annotation of wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn, revision 1.122

1.5 mspo 1: Introduction
1.13 gdt 2: ============
1.1 mspo 3:
4: [![[Xen
1.57 gdt 5: screenshot]](http://www.netbsd.org/gallery/in-Action/hubertf-xens.png)](http://www.netbsd.org/gallery/in-Action/hubertf-xen.png)
1.1 mspo 6:
1.58 gdt 7: Xen is a hypervisor (or virtual machine monitor) for x86 hardware
1.12 gdt 8: (i686-class or higher), which supports running multiple guest
1.58 gdt 9: operating systems on a single physical machine. Xen is a Type 1 or
10: bare-metal hypervisor; one uses the Xen kernel to control the CPU,
11: memory and console, a dom0 operating system which mediates access to
12: other hardware (e.g., disks, network, USB), and one or more domU
13: operating systems which operate in an unprivileged virtualized
14: environment. IO requests from the domU systems are forwarded by the
15: hypervisor (Xen) to the dom0 to be fulfilled.
1.12 gdt 16:
17: Xen supports two styles of guests. The original is Para-Virtualized
18: (PV) which means that the guest OS does not attempt to access hardware
19: directly, but instead makes hypercalls to the hypervisor. This is
20: analogous to a user-space program making system calls. (The dom0
21: operating system uses PV calls for some functions, such as updating
22: memory mapping page tables, but has direct hardware access for disk
23: and network.) PV guests must be specifically coded for Xen.
24:
25: The more recent style is HVM, which means that the guest does not have
26: code for Xen and need not be aware that it is running under Xen.
27: Attempts to access hardware registers are trapped and emulated. This
28: style is less efficient but can run unmodified guests.
29:
1.29 gdt 30: Generally any amd64 machine will work with Xen and PV guests. In
31: theory i386 computers without amd64 support can be used for Xen <=
32: 4.2, but we have no recent reports of this working (this is a hint).
1.116 gdt 33: For HVM guests, hardware support is needed, but it is common on recent
34: machines. For Intel CPUs, one needs the VT-x extension, shown in
35: "cpuctl identify 0" as VMX. For AMD CPus, one needs the AMD-V
36: extensions, shown in "cpuctl identify 0" as SVM. There are further
37: features for IOMMU virtualization, Intel's VT-d and AMD's AMD-Vi.
38: TODO: Explain whether Xen on NetBSD makes use of these features.
39: TODO: Review by someone who really understands this.
1.19 gdt 40:
1.118 gdt 41: Note a FreeBSD dom0 requires VT-x and VT-d (or equivalent); this is
42: because the FreeBSD dom0 does not run in PV mode.
43:
1.27 jnemeth 44: At boot, the dom0 kernel is loaded as a module with Xen as the kernel.
1.12 gdt 45: The dom0 can start one or more domUs. (Booting is explained in detail
46: in the dom0 section.)
47:
48: NetBSD supports Xen in that it can serve as dom0, be used as a domU,
49: and that Xen kernels and tools are available in pkgsrc. This HOWTO
50: attempts to address both the case of running a NetBSD dom0 on hardware
1.24 gdt 51: and running domUs under it (NetBSD and other), and also running NetBSD
52: as a domU in a VPS.
1.12 gdt 53:
1.20 gdt 54: Some versions of Xen support "PCI passthrough", which means that
55: specific PCI devices can be made available to a specific domU instead
56: of the dom0. This can be useful to let a domU run X11, or access some
57: network interface or other peripheral.
58:
1.111 wiz 59: NetBSD 6 and earlier supported Xen 2; support was removed from NetBSD
1.104 gdt 60: 7. Xen 2 has been removed from pkgsrc.
1.54 gdt 61:
1.12 gdt 62: Prerequisites
1.13 gdt 63: -------------
1.12 gdt 64:
65: Installing NetBSD/Xen is not extremely difficult, but it is more
66: complex than a normal installation of NetBSD.
1.15 gdt 67: In general, this HOWTO is occasionally overly restrictive about how
68: things must be done, guiding the reader to stay on the established
69: path when there are no known good reasons to stray.
1.12 gdt 70:
71: This HOWTO presumes a basic familiarity with the Xen system
1.16 gdt 72: architecture. This HOWTO presumes familiarity with installing NetBSD
73: on i386/amd64 hardware and installing software from pkgsrc.
1.27 jnemeth 74: See also the [Xen website](http://www.xenproject.org/).
1.1 mspo 75:
1.15 gdt 76: Versions of Xen and NetBSD
77: ==========================
78:
1.27 jnemeth 79: Most of the installation concepts and instructions are independent
80: of Xen version and NetBSD version. This section gives advice on
81: which version to choose. Versions not in pkgsrc and older unsupported
82: versions of NetBSD are intentionally ignored.
1.15 gdt 83:
84: Xen
85: ---
86:
1.111 wiz 87: In NetBSD, Xen is provided in pkgsrc, via matching pairs of packages
1.15 gdt 88: xenkernel and xentools. We will refer only to the kernel versions,
89: but note that both packages must be installed together and must have
90: matching versions.
91:
1.104 gdt 92: xenkernel3 provides Xen 3.1. It is no longer maintained by Xen, and the last applied security patch was in
93: 2011. Thus, it should not be used. It supports PCI passthrough,
94: which is why people use it anyway. Xen 3.1 supports i386, both PAE and
95: non-PAE.
96:
97: xenkernel33 provides Xen 3.3. It is no longer maintained by Xen, and
98: the last applied security patch was in 2012. Thus, it should not be
99: used. Xen 3.3 supports i386, but only in PAE mode. There are no good
100: reasons to run this version.
101:
102: xenkernel41 provides Xen 4.1. It is no longer maintained by Xen, but
1.112 gdt 103: as of 2016-12 received backported security patches. Xen 4.1 supports
1.104 gdt 104: i386, but only in PAE mode. There are no good reasons to run this
105: version.
1.102 gdt 106:
1.104 gdt 107: xenkernel42 provides Xen 4.2. It is no longer maintained by Xen, but
1.112 gdt 108: as of 2016-12 received backported security patches. Xen 4.2 supports
1.104 gdt 109: i386, but only in PAE mode. The only reason to run this is if you
110: need to use xm instead of xl, or if you need to run an i386 dom0
111: (because your hardware is i386 only).
112:
1.114 gdt 113: xenkernel45 provides Xen 4.5. As of 2016-12, security patches were
1.119 gdt 114: released by Xen and applied to pkgsrc. Xen 4.5 requires using a dom0
115: running NetBSD's amd64 port (Intel or AMD hardware is fine), but domUs
116: can be amd64 or i386 PAE. TODO: It is either a conservative choice or
117: somewhat old.
1.104 gdt 118:
1.115 gdt 119: xenkernel46 provides Xen 4.6. It is new to pkgsrc as of 2016-05. As
1.114 gdt 120: of 2016-12, security patches were released by Xen and applied to
1.119 gdt 121: pkgsrc. Xen 4.6 similarly requires a NetBSD/amd64 dom0, but domUs can
122: be amd64 or i386 PAE. TODO: It is either a somewhat aggressive choice
123: or the standard choice.
1.85 gdt 124:
1.114 gdt 125: Xen 4.7 (released 2016-06) and 4.8 (released 2016-12) are not yet in
126: pkgsrc.
1.113 gdt 127:
1.96 gdt 128: See also the [Xen Security Advisory page](http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/).
129:
1.85 gdt 130: Note that NetBSD support is called XEN3. It works with Xen 3 and Xen
131: 4 because the hypercall interface has been stable.
1.20 gdt 132:
1.19 gdt 133: Xen command program
134: -------------------
135:
1.79 gdt 136: Early Xen used a program called xm to manipulate the system from the
1.19 gdt 137: dom0. Starting in 4.1, a replacement program with similar behavior
1.79 gdt 138: called xl is provided, but it does not work well in 4.1. In 4.2, both
139: xm and xl work fine. 4.4 is the last version that has xm. You must
140: choose one or the other, because it affects which daemons you run.
1.106 gdt 141: However, the rc.d scripts provided by xentools packages expect a
142: particular version, and you should use the version used by the
143: scripts.
1.19 gdt 144:
1.15 gdt 145: NetBSD
146: ------
147:
1.105 gdt 148: The netbsd-6, netbsd-7, and -current branches are all reasonable
149: choices, with more or less the same considerations for non-Xen use.
150: Therefore, netbsd-7 is recommended as the stable version of the most
1.117 gdt 151: recent release for production use. In addition, netbsd-7 and -current
152: have a important scheduler fix (in November of 2015) affecting
153: contention between dom0 and domUs; see
154: https://releng.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/req-7.cgi?show=1040 for a
155: description. For those wanting to learn Xen or without production
156: stability concerns, netbsd-7 is still likely most appropriate, but
157: -current is also a reasonable choice. (Xen runs ok on netbsd-5, but
158: the xentools packages are likely difficult to build, and netbsd-5 is
159: not supported.)
1.15 gdt 160:
161: As of NetBSD 6, a NetBSD domU will support multiple vcpus. There is
162: no SMP support for NetBSD as dom0. (The dom0 itself doesn't really
1.105 gdt 163: need SMP for dom0 functions; the lack of support is really a problem
164: when using a dom0 as a normal computer.)
1.15 gdt 165:
1.18 gdt 166: Architecture
167: ------------
168:
1.108 gdt 169: Xen itself can run on i386 (Xen < 3.1) or amd64 machines (all Xen
1.105 gdt 170: versions). (Practically, almost any computer where one would want to
171: run Xen today supports amd64.)
1.99 gdt 172:
173: Xen, the dom0 kernel, and each domU kernel can be either i386 or
174: amd64. When building a xenkernel package, one obtains i386 on an i386
1.111 wiz 175: host, and amd64 on an amd64 host. If the Xen kernel is i386, then the
176: dom0 kernel and all domU kernels must be i386. With an amd64 Xen
1.105 gdt 177: kernel, an amd64 dom0 kernel is known to work, and an i386PAE dom0
1.111 wiz 178: kernel should in theory work. An amd64 Xen/dom0 is known to support
1.105 gdt 179: both i386PAE and amd64 domUs.
1.99 gdt 180:
1.101 gdt 181: i386 dom0 and domU kernels must be PAE (except for Xen 3.1); these are
182: built by default. (Note that emacs (at least) fails if run on i386
183: with PAE when built without, and vice versa, presumably due to bugs in
184: the undump code.)
1.99 gdt 185:
186: Because of the above, the standard approach is to use amd64 for the
187: dom0.
1.29 gdt 188:
189: Xen 4.2 is the last version to support i386 as a host. TODO: Clarify
1.111 wiz 190: if this is about the CPU, the Xen kernel, or the dom0 kernel having to
1.100 gdt 191: be amd64.
192:
1.29 gdt 193:
1.89 gdt 194: Stability
195: ---------
196:
197: Mostly, NetBSD as a dom0 or domU is quite stable.
198: However, there are some open PRs indicating problems.
199:
1.91 gdt 200: - [PR 48125](http://gnats.netbsd.org/48125)
201: - [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720)
1.89 gdt 202:
203: Note also that there are issues with sparse vnd(4) instances, but
1.105 gdt 204: these are not about Xen -- they just are noticed with sparse vnd(4)
205: instances in support of virtual disks in a dom0.
1.89 gdt 206:
1.15 gdt 207: Recommendation
208: --------------
209:
1.105 gdt 210: Therefore, this HOWTO recommends running xenkernel45 or xenkernel46,
211: xl, the NetBSD 7 stable branch, and to use an amd64 kernel as the
212: dom0. Either the i386PAE or amd64 version of NetBSD may be used as
213: domUs.
1.15 gdt 214:
1.36 gdt 215: Build problems
216: --------------
217:
1.120 gdt 218: Ideally, all versions of Xen in pkgsrc would build on all supported
1.121 gdt 219: versions of NetBSD/amd64, to the point where this section would be
220: silly. However, that has not always been the case. Besides aging
221: code and aging compilers, qemu (included in xentools for HVM support)
222: is difficult to build. The following are known to be ok or FAIL, with
223: the date last checked:
224:
1.122 ! gdt 225: xenkernel3 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201412
! 226: xenkernel33 netbsd-6 i386 ok 201412
! 227: xenkernel41 netbsd-6 i386 ok 201412
! 228: xenkernel42 netbsd-6 i386 ok 201412
! 229: xentools3 netbsd-6 i386 ok 201412
! 230: xentools3-hvm netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201412
! 231: xentools33 netbsd-6 i386 ok 201412
! 232: xentools41 netbsd-6 i386 ok 201412
! 233: xentools42 netbsd-6 i386 mixed 201412
1.64 gdt 234:
1.69 gdt 235: (all 3 and 33 seem to FAIL)
1.122 ! gdt 236: xenkernel41 netbsd-7 i386 ok 201412
! 237: xenkernel42 netbsd-7 i386 ok 201412
! 238: xentools41 netbsd-7 i386 ok 201412
! 239: xentools42 netbsd-7 i386 ??FAIL 201412
1.121 gdt 240:
241: xenkernel33 netbsd-6 amd64 ok 201612
242: xenkernel42 netbsd-6 amd64 ok 201612
243: xenkernel45 netbsd-6 amd64 ok 201612
244: xenkernel46 netbsd-6 amd64 ok 201612
245: xentools42 netbsd-6 amd64 ok 201612
246: xentools45 netbsd-6 amd64 ok 201612
247:
248: xenkernel3 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
249: xenkernel33 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
250: xenkernel41 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
251: xenkernel42 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
252: xenkernel45 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
253: xenkernel46 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
254: xentools3 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
255: xentools3-hvm netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
256: xentools33 netbsd-7 amd64 FAIL 201612
257: xentools41 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
258: xentools42 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
259: xentools45 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
260: xentools46 netbsd-7 amd64 ok 201612
1.69 gdt 261:
1.15 gdt 262: NetBSD as a dom0
263: ================
264:
265: NetBSD can be used as a dom0 and works very well. The following
266: sections address installation, updating NetBSD, and updating Xen.
1.19 gdt 267: Note that it doesn't make sense to talk about installing a dom0 OS
268: without also installing Xen itself. We first address installing
269: NetBSD, which is not yet a dom0, and then adding Xen, pivoting the
270: NetBSD install to a dom0 install by just changing the kernel and boot
271: configuration.
1.15 gdt 272:
1.45 gdt 273: For experimenting with Xen, a machine with as little as 1G of RAM and
274: 100G of disk can work. For running many domUs in productions, far
275: more will be needed.
276:
1.15 gdt 277: Styles of dom0 operation
278: ------------------------
279:
280: There are two basic ways to use Xen. The traditional method is for
281: the dom0 to do absolutely nothing other than providing support to some
282: number of domUs. Such a system was probably installed for the sole
283: purpose of hosting domUs, and sits in a server room on a UPS.
284:
285: The other way is to put Xen under a normal-usage computer, so that the
286: dom0 is what the computer would have been without Xen, perhaps a
287: desktop or laptop. Then, one can run domUs at will. Purists will
288: deride this as less secure than the previous approach, and for a
289: computer whose purpose is to run domUs, they are right. But Xen and a
1.93 gdt 290: dom0 (without domUs) is not meaningfully less secure than the same
1.15 gdt 291: things running without Xen. One can boot Xen or boot regular NetBSD
292: alternately with little problems, simply refraining from starting the
293: Xen daemons when not running Xen.
294:
295: Note that NetBSD as dom0 does not support multiple CPUs. This will
1.51 gdt 296: limit the performance of the Xen/dom0 workstation approach. In theory
297: the only issue is that the "backend drivers" are not yet MPSAFE:
298: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/08/29/msg015195.html
1.15 gdt 299:
1.19 gdt 300: Installation of NetBSD
301: ----------------------
1.13 gdt 302:
1.19 gdt 303: First,
1.27 jnemeth 304: [install NetBSD/amd64](/guide/inst/)
1.19 gdt 305: just as you would if you were not using Xen.
306: However, the partitioning approach is very important.
307:
308: If you want to use RAIDframe for the dom0, there are no special issues
309: for Xen. Typically one provides RAID storage for the dom0, and the
1.22 gdt 310: domU systems are unaware of RAID. The 2nd-stage loader bootxx_* skips
1.111 wiz 311: over a RAID1 header to find /boot from a file system within a RAID
1.22 gdt 312: partition; this is no different when booting Xen.
1.19 gdt 313:
314: There are 4 styles of providing backing storage for the virtual disks
1.93 gdt 315: used by domUs: raw partitions, LVM, file-backed vnd(4), and SAN.
1.19 gdt 316:
317: With raw partitions, one has a disklabel (or gpt) partition sized for
318: each virtual disk to be used by the domU. (If you are able to predict
319: how domU usage will evolve, please add an explanation to the HOWTO.
320: Seriously, needs tend to change over time.)
321:
1.27 jnemeth 322: One can use [lvm(8)](/guide/lvm/) to create logical devices to use
323: for domU disks. This is almost as efficient as raw disk partitions
324: and more flexible. Hence raw disk partitions should typically not
325: be used.
1.19 gdt 326:
1.111 wiz 327: One can use files in the dom0 file system, typically created by dd'ing
1.19 gdt 328: /dev/zero to create a specific size. This is somewhat less efficient,
329: but very convenient, as one can cp the files for backup, or move them
330: between dom0 hosts.
331:
332: Finally, in theory one can place the files backing the domU disks in a
333: SAN. (This is an invitation for someone who has done this to add a
334: HOWTO page.)
1.1 mspo 335:
1.19 gdt 336: Installation of Xen
337: -------------------
1.1 mspo 338:
1.20 gdt 339: In the dom0, install sysutils/xenkernel42 and sysutils/xentools42 from
340: pkgsrc (or another matching pair).
341: See [the pkgsrc
342: documentation](http://www.NetBSD.org/docs/pkgsrc/) for help with pkgsrc.
343:
344: For Xen 3.1, support for HVM guests is in sysutils/xentool3-hvm. More
345: recent versions have HVM support integrated in the main xentools
346: package. It is entirely reasonable to run only PV guests.
347:
348: Next you need to install the selected Xen kernel itself, which is
349: installed by pkgsrc as "/usr/pkg/xen*-kernel/xen.gz". Copy it to /.
350: For debugging, one may copy xen-debug.gz; this is conceptually similar
351: to DIAGNOSTIC and DEBUG in NetBSD. xen-debug.gz is basically only
352: useful with a serial console. Then, place a NetBSD XEN3_DOM0 kernel
353: in /, copied from releasedir/amd64/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz
1.75 gdt 354: of a NetBSD build. If using i386, use
355: releasedir/i386/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz. (If using Xen
356: 3.1 and i386, you may use XEN3_DOM0 with the non-PAE Xen. But you
357: should not use Xen 3.1.) Both xen and the NetBSD kernel may be (and
358: typically are) left compressed.
359:
1.111 wiz 360: In a dom0 kernel, kernfs is mandatory for xend to communicate with the
1.75 gdt 361: kernel, so ensure that /kern is in fstab. TODO: Say this is default,
362: or file a PR and give a reference.
1.20 gdt 363:
364: Because you already installed NetBSD, you have a working boot setup
365: with an MBR bootblock, either bootxx_ffsv1 or bootxx_ffsv2 at the
1.111 wiz 366: beginning of your root file system, /boot present, and likely
1.20 gdt 367: /boot.cfg. (If not, fix before continuing!)
368:
1.76 gdt 369: Add a line to to /boot.cfg to boot Xen. See boot.cfg(5) for an
370: example. The basic line is
1.20 gdt 371:
1.37 gdt 372: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
1.20 gdt 373:
374: which specifies that the dom0 should have 256M, leaving the rest to be
1.77 gdt 375: allocated for domUs. To use a serial console, use
376:
377: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=com0;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M console=com1 com1=9600,8n1
378:
379: which will use the first serial port for Xen (which counts starting
380: from 1), forcing speed/parity, and also for NetBSD (which counts
381: starting at 0). In an attempt to add performance, one can also add
1.37 gdt 382:
383: dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin
384:
385: to force only one vcpu to be provided (since NetBSD dom0 can't use
1.111 wiz 386: more) and to pin that vcpu to a physical CPU. TODO: benchmark this.
1.20 gdt 387:
1.93 gdt 388: Xen has [many boot
389: options](http://xenbits.xenproject.org/docs/4.5-testing/misc/xen-command-line.html),
1.111 wiz 390: and other than dom0 memory and max_vcpus, they are generally not
1.93 gdt 391: necessary.
392:
1.20 gdt 393: As with non-Xen systems, you should have a line to boot /netbsd (a
394: kernel that works without Xen) and fallback versions of the non-Xen
395: kernel, Xen, and the dom0 kernel.
1.1 mspo 396:
1.76 gdt 397: Now, reboot so that you are running a DOM0 kernel under Xen, rather
398: than GENERIC without Xen.
399:
1.54 gdt 400: Using grub (historic)
401: ---------------------
402:
403: Before NetBSD's native bootloader could support Xen, the use of
404: grub was recommended. If necessary, see the
405: [old grub information](/ports/xen/howto-grub/).
406:
1.28 gdt 407: The [HowTo on Installing into
408: RAID-1](http://mail-index.NetBSD.org/port-xen/2006/03/01/0010.html)
409: explains how to set up booting a dom0 with Xen using grub with
410: NetBSD's RAIDframe. (This is obsolete with the use of NetBSD's native
411: boot.)
412:
1.21 gdt 413: Configuring Xen
414: ---------------
415:
1.53 gdt 416: Xen logs will be in /var/log/xen.
417:
1.76 gdt 418: Now, you have a system that will boot Xen and the dom0 kernel, but not
419: do anything else special. Make sure that you have rebooted into Xen.
420: There will be no domUs, and none can be started because you still have
1.102 gdt 421: to configure the dom0 daemons.
1.21 gdt 422:
1.102 gdt 423: The daemons which should be run vary with Xen version and with whether
424: one is using xm or xl. The Xen 3.1 and 3.3 packages use xm. Xen 4.1
425: and higher packages use xl. While is is possible to use xm with some
426: 4.x versions (TODO: 4.1 and 4.2?), the pkgsrc-provided rc.d scripts do
427: not support this as of 2014-12-26, and thus the HOWTO does not support
428: it either. (Make sure your packages are reasonably recent.)
1.43 gdt 429:
1.102 gdt 430: For "xm" (3.1 and 3.3), you should enable xend and xenbackendd (but
431: note that you should be using 4.x):
1.31 gdt 432:
1.32 gdt 433: xend=YES
434: xenbackendd=YES
1.31 gdt 435:
1.102 gdt 436: For "xl" (4.x), you should enabled xend and xencommons (xenstored).
437: Trying to boot 4.x without xencommons=YES will result in a hang; it is
1.111 wiz 438: necessary to hit ^C on the console to let the machine finish booting.
1.102 gdt 439: TODO: explain why xend is installed by the package.
1.31 gdt 440:
1.53 gdt 441: xencommons=YES
1.31 gdt 442:
1.102 gdt 443: The installation of NetBSD should already have created devices for xen
444: (xencons, xenevt), but if they are not present, create them:
1.31 gdt 445:
1.102 gdt 446: cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen
1.86 gdt 447:
1.31 gdt 448: TODO: Recommend for/against xen-watchdog.
1.27 jnemeth 449:
1.53 gdt 450: After you have configured the daemons and either started them (in the
1.79 gdt 451: order given) or rebooted, use xm or xl to inspect Xen's boot messages,
1.102 gdt 452: available resources, and running domains. An example with xl follows:
1.34 gdt 453:
1.102 gdt 454: # xl dmesg
1.43 gdt 455: [xen's boot info]
1.102 gdt 456: # xl info
1.43 gdt 457: [available memory, etc.]
1.102 gdt 458: # xl list
1.43 gdt 459: Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console
460: Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1
1.33 gdt 461:
1.88 gdt 462: ### Issues with xencommons
463:
464: xencommons starts xenstored, which stores data on behalf of dom0 and
465: domUs. It does not currently work to stop and start xenstored.
466: Certainly all domUs should be shutdown first, following the sort order
467: of the rc.d scripts. However, the dom0 sets up state with xenstored,
468: and is not notified when xenstored exits, leading to not recreating
469: the state when the new xenstored starts. Until there's a mechanism to
470: make this work, one should not expect to be able to restart xenstored
471: (and thus xencommons). There is currently no reason to expect that
472: this will get fixed any time soon.
473:
1.41 gdt 474: anita (for testing NetBSD)
475: --------------------------
476:
1.82 gdt 477: With the setup so far (assuming 4.2/xl), one should be able to run
478: anita (see pkgsrc/misc/py-anita) to test NetBSD releases, by doing (as
479: root, because anita must create a domU):
480:
481: anita --vmm=xl test file:///usr/obj/i386/
482:
483: Alternatively, one can use --vmm=xm to use xm-based domU creation
484: instead (and must, on Xen <= 4.1). TODO: confirm that anita xl really works.
485:
1.40 gdt 486: Xen-specific NetBSD issues
487: --------------------------
488:
489: There are (at least) two additional things different about NetBSD as a
490: dom0 kernel compared to hardware.
491:
1.111 wiz 492: One is that the module ABI is different because some of the #defines
1.109 gdt 493: change, so one must build modules for Xen. As of netbsd-7, the build
494: system does this automatically. TODO: check this. (Before building
495: Xen modules was added, it was awkward to use modules to the point
496: where it was considered that it did not work.)
1.40 gdt 497:
498: The other difference is that XEN3_DOM0 does not have exactly the same
499: options as GENERIC. While it is debatable whether or not this is a
500: bug, users should be aware of this and can simply add missing config
501: items if desired.
502:
1.15 gdt 503: Updating NetBSD in a dom0
504: -------------------------
505:
506: This is just like updating NetBSD on bare hardware, assuming the new
507: version supports the version of Xen you are running. Generally, one
508: replaces the kernel and reboots, and then overlays userland binaries
509: and adjusts /etc.
510:
511: Note that one must update both the non-Xen kernel typically used for
512: rescue purposes and the DOM0 kernel used with Xen.
513:
1.55 gdt 514: Converting from grub to /boot
515: -----------------------------
516:
517: These instructions were [TODO: will be] used to convert a system from
518: grub to /boot. The system was originally installed in February of
519: 2006 with a RAID1 setup and grub to boot Xen 2, and has been updated
520: over time. Before these commands, it was running NetBSD 6 i386, Xen
521: 4.1 and grub, much like the message linked earlier in the grub
522: section.
523:
1.111 wiz 524: # Install MBR bootblocks on both disks.
1.55 gdt 525: fdisk -i /dev/rwd0d
526: fdisk -i /dev/rwd1d
527: # Install NetBSD primary boot loader (/ is FFSv1) into RAID1 components.
528: installboot -v /dev/rwd0d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
529: installboot -v /dev/rwd1d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
530: # Install secondary boot loader
531: cp -p /usr/mdec/boot /
1.111 wiz 532: # Create boot.cfg following earlier guidance:
1.55 gdt 533: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
534: menu=Xen.ok:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.ok.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.ok.gz dom0_mem=256M
535: menu=GENERIC:boot
536: menu=GENERIC single-user:boot -s
537: menu=GENERIC.ok:boot netbsd.ok
538: menu=GENERIC.ok single-user:boot netbsd.ok -s
539: menu=Drop to boot prompt:prompt
540: default=1
541: timeout=30
542:
543: TODO: actually do this and fix it if necessary.
1.22 gdt 544:
1.102 gdt 545: Upgrading Xen versions
1.15 gdt 546: ---------------------
547:
1.110 gdt 548: Minor version upgrades are trivial. Just rebuild/replace the
549: xenkernel version and copy the new xen.gz to / (where /boot.cfg
550: references it), and reboot.
551:
552: Major version upgrades are conceptually not difficult, but can run
553: into all the issues found when installing Xen. Assuming migration
554: from 4.1 to 4.2, remove the xenkernel41 and xentools41 packages and
555: install the xenkernel42 and xentools42 packages. Copy the 4.2 xen.gz
556: to /.
1.21 gdt 557:
1.102 gdt 558: Ensure that the contents of /etc/rc.d/xen* are correct. Specifically,
559: they must match the package you just installed and not be left over
560: from some previous installation.
561:
562: Enable the correct set of daemons; see the configuring section above.
563: (Upgrading from 3.x to 4.x without doing this will result in a hang.)
564:
565: Ensure that the domU config files are valid for the new version.
1.110 gdt 566: Specifically, for 4.x remove autorestart=True, and ensure that disks
567: are specified with numbers as the second argument, as the examples
568: above show, and not NetBSD device names.
1.15 gdt 569:
1.97 gdt 570: Hardware known to work
571: ----------------------
572:
573: Arguably, this section is misplaced, and there should be a page of
574: hardware that runs NetBSD/amd64 well, with the mostly-well-founded
575: assumption that NetBSD/xen runs fine on any modern hardware that
576: NetBSD/amd64 runs well on. Until then, we give motherboard/CPU/RAM
577: triples to aid those choosing a motherboard. Note that Xen systems
578: usually do not run X, so a listing here does not imply that X works at
579: all.
580:
581: Supermicro X9SRL-F, Xeon E5-1650 v2, 96 GiB ECC
582: Supermicro ??, Atom C2758 (8 core), 32 GiB ECC
583: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ microATX, AMD Piledriver X8 4000MHz, 16 GiB ECC
584:
585: Older hardware:
586:
1.98 gdt 587: Intel D915GEV, Pentium4 CPU 3.40GHz, 4GB 533MHz Synchronous DDR2
1.28 gdt 588:
1.82 gdt 589: Running Xen under qemu
590: ----------------------
591:
592: The astute reader will note that this section is somewhat twisted.
593: However, it can be useful to run Xen under qemu either because the
594: version of NetBSD as a dom0 does not run on the hardware in use, or to
595: generate automated test cases involving Xen.
596:
1.84 gdt 597: In 2015-01, the following combination was reported to mostly work:
1.82 gdt 598:
599: host OS: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.4
600: qemu: 2.2.0 from pkgsrc
601: Xen kernel: xenkernel42-4.2.5nb1 from pkgsrc
602: dom0 kernel: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.5
603: Xen tools: xentools42-4.2.5 from pkgsrc
604:
1.91 gdt 605: See [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720) for a problem with dom0
606: shutdown.
1.84 gdt 607:
1.28 gdt 608: Unprivileged domains (domU)
609: ===========================
610:
611: This section describes general concepts about domUs. It does not
1.33 gdt 612: address specific domU operating systems or how to install them. The
613: config files for domUs are typically in /usr/pkg/etc/xen, and are
1.60 wiki 614: typically named so that the file name, domU name and the domU's host
1.33 gdt 615: name match.
616:
1.111 wiz 617: The domU is provided with CPU and memory by Xen, configured by the
1.33 gdt 618: dom0. The domU is provided with disk and network by the dom0,
619: mediated by Xen, and configured in the dom0.
620:
621: Entropy in domUs can be an issue; physical disks and network are on
622: the dom0. NetBSD's /dev/random system works, but is often challenged.
623:
1.48 gdt 624: Config files
625: ------------
626:
627: There is no good order to present config files and the concepts
628: surrounding what is being configured. We first show an example config
629: file, and then in the various sections give details.
630:
631: See (at least in xentools41) /usr/pkg/share/examples/xen/xmexample*,
632: for a large number of well-commented examples, mostly for running
633: GNU/Linux.
634:
635: The following is an example minimal domain configuration file
636: "/usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo". It is (with only a name change) an actual
637: known working config file on Xen 4.1 (NetBSD 5 amd64 dom0 and NetBSD 5
638: i386 domU). The domU serves as a network file server.
639:
640: # -*- mode: python; -*-
641:
642: kernel = "/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOMU-i386-foo.gz"
643: memory = 1024
644: vif = [ 'mac=aa:00:00:d1:00:09,bridge=bridge0' ]
645: disk = [ 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd0,0x0,w',
646: 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd1,0x1,w' ]
647:
648: The domain will have the same name as the file. The kernel has the
649: host/domU name in it, so that on the dom0 one can update the various
650: domUs independently. The vif line causes an interface to be provided,
651: with a specific mac address (do not reuse MAC addresses!), in bridge
652: mode. Two disks are provided, and they are both writable; the bits
653: are stored in files and Xen attaches them to a vnd(4) device in the
1.111 wiz 654: dom0 on domain creation. The system treats xbd0 as the boot device
1.48 gdt 655: without needing explicit configuration.
656:
657: By default xm looks for domain config files in /usr/pkg/etc/xen. Note
658: that "xm create" takes the name of a config file, while other commands
659: take the name of a domain. To create the domain, connect to the
660: console, create the domain while attaching the console, shutdown the
661: domain, and see if it has finished stopping, do (or xl with Xen >=
662: 4.2):
663:
664: xm create foo
665: xm console foo
666: xm create -c foo
667: xm shutdown foo
1.90 gdt 668: xm list
1.48 gdt 669:
670: Typing ^] will exit the console session. Shutting down a domain is
671: equivalent to pushing the power button; a NetBSD domU will receive a
672: power-press event and do a clean shutdown. Shutting down the dom0
673: will trigger controlled shutdowns of all configured domUs.
674:
675: domU kernels
676: ------------
677:
678: On a physical computer, the BIOS reads sector 0, and a chain of boot
679: loaders finds and loads a kernel. Normally this comes from the root
1.111 wiz 680: file system. With Xen domUs, the process is totally different. The
1.48 gdt 681: normal path is for the domU kernel to be a file in the dom0's
1.111 wiz 682: file system. At the request of the dom0, Xen loads that kernel into a
1.48 gdt 683: new domU instance and starts execution. While domU kernels can be
684: anyplace, reasonable places to store domU kernels on the dom0 are in /
685: (so they are near the dom0 kernel), in /usr/pkg/etc/xen (near the
686: config files), or in /u0/xen (where the vdisks are).
687:
1.59 gdt 688: Note that loading the domU kernel from the dom0 implies that boot
689: blocks, /boot, /boot.cfg, and so on are all ignored in the domU.
1.48 gdt 690: See the VPS section near the end for discussion of alternate ways to
691: obtain domU kernels.
692:
1.33 gdt 693: CPU and memory
694: --------------
695:
1.48 gdt 696: A domain is provided with some number of vcpus, less than the number
1.111 wiz 697: of CPUs seen by the hypervisor. (For a dom0, this is controlled by
1.48 gdt 698: the boot argument "dom0_max_vcpus=1".) For a domU, it is controlled
699: from the config file by the "vcpus = N" directive.
700:
701: A domain is provided with memory; this is controlled in the config
702: file by "memory = N" (in megabytes). In the straightforward case, the
703: sum of the the memory allocated to the dom0 and all domUs must be less
1.33 gdt 704: than the available memory.
705:
706: Xen also provides a "balloon" driver, which can be used to let domains
707: use more memory temporarily. TODO: Explain better, and explain how
708: well it works with NetBSD.
1.28 gdt 709:
710: Virtual disks
711: -------------
712:
1.33 gdt 713: With the file/vnd style, typically one creates a directory,
714: e.g. /u0/xen, on a disk large enough to hold virtual disks for all
715: domUs. Then, for each domU disk, one writes zeros to a file that then
716: serves to hold the virtual disk's bits; a suggested name is foo-xbd0
717: for the first virtual disk for the domU called foo. Writing zeros to
718: the file serves two purposes. One is that preallocating the contents
719: improves performance. The other is that vnd on sparse files has
720: failed to work. TODO: give working/notworking NetBSD versions for
721: sparse vnd. Note that the use of file/vnd for Xen is not really
722: different than creating a file-backed virtual disk for some other
1.39 gdt 723: purpose, except that xentools handles the vnconfig commands. To
724: create an empty 4G virtual disk, simply do
725:
726: dd if=/dev/zero of=foo-xbd0 bs=1m count=4096
1.33 gdt 727:
1.89 gdt 728: Do not use qemu-img-xen, because this will create sparse file. There
729: have been recent (2015) reports of sparse vnd(4) devices causing
730: lockups, but there is apparently no PR.
731:
1.33 gdt 732: With the lvm style, one creates logical devices. They are then used
1.48 gdt 733: similarly to vnds. TODO: Add an example with lvm.
734:
735: In domU config files, the disks are defined as a sequence of 3-tuples.
736: The first element is "method:/path/to/disk". Common methods are
737: "file:" for file-backed vnd. and "phy:" for something that is already
738: a (TODO: character or block) device.
739:
740: The second element is an artifact of how virtual disks are passed to
741: Linux, and a source of confusion with NetBSD Xen usage. Linux domUs
742: are given a device name to associate with the disk, and values like
743: "hda1" or "sda1" are common. In a NetBSD domU, the first disk appears
744: as xbd0, the second as xbd1, and so on. However, xm/xl demand a
745: second argument. The name given is converted to a major/minor by
1.49 gdt 746: calling stat(2) on the name in /dev and this is passed to the domU.
747: In the general case, the dom0 and domU can be different operating
1.48 gdt 748: systems, and it is an unwarranted assumption that they have consistent
749: numbering in /dev, or even that the dom0 OS has a /dev. With NetBSD
750: as both dom0 and domU, using values of 0x0 for the first disk and 0x1
1.49 gdt 751: for the second works fine and avoids this issue. For a GNU/Linux
752: guest, one can create /dev/hda1 in /dev, or to pass 0x301 for
753: /dev/hda1.
1.48 gdt 754:
755: The third element is "w" for writable disks, and "r" for read-only
756: disks.
1.28 gdt 757:
758: Virtual Networking
759: ------------------
760:
1.111 wiz 761: Xen provides virtual Ethernets, each of which connects the dom0 and a
1.46 gdt 762: domU. For each virtual network, there is an interface "xvifN.M" in
763: the dom0, and in domU index N, a matching interface xennetM (NetBSD
764: name). The interfaces behave as if there is an Ethernet with two
1.111 wiz 765: adapters connected. From this primitive, one can construct various
1.46 gdt 766: configurations. We focus on two common and useful cases for which
767: there are existing scripts: bridging and NAT.
1.28 gdt 768:
1.48 gdt 769: With bridging (in the example above), the domU perceives itself to be
770: on the same network as the dom0. For server virtualization, this is
771: usually best. Bridging is accomplished by creating a bridge(4) device
772: and adding the dom0's physical interface and the various xvifN.0
773: interfaces to the bridge. One specifies "bridge=bridge0" in the domU
774: config file. The bridge must be set up already in the dom0; an
775: example /etc/ifconfig.bridge0 is:
1.46 gdt 776:
777: create
778: up
779: !brconfig bridge0 add wm0
1.28 gdt 780:
781: With NAT, the domU perceives itself to be behind a NAT running on the
782: dom0. This is often appropriate when running Xen on a workstation.
1.48 gdt 783: TODO: NAT appears to be configured by "vif = [ '' ]".
1.28 gdt 784:
1.49 gdt 785: The MAC address specified is the one used for the interface in the new
1.53 gdt 786: domain. The interface in dom0 will use this address XOR'd with
1.49 gdt 787: 00:00:00:01:00:00. Random MAC addresses are assigned if not given.
788:
1.33 gdt 789: Sizing domains
790: --------------
791:
792: Modern x86 hardware has vast amounts of resources. However, many
793: virtual servers can function just fine on far less. A system with
794: 256M of RAM and a 4G disk can be a reasonable choice. Note that it is
795: far easier to adjust virtual resources than physical ones. For
796: memory, it's just a config file edit and a reboot. For disk, one can
797: create a new file and vnconfig it (or lvm), and then dump/restore,
798: just like updating physical disks, but without having to be there and
799: without those pesky connectors.
800:
1.48 gdt 801: Starting domains automatically
802: ------------------------------
1.28 gdt 803:
1.48 gdt 804: To start domains foo at bar at boot and shut them down cleanly on dom0
805: shutdown, in rc.conf add:
1.28 gdt 806:
1.48 gdt 807: xendomains="foo bar"
1.28 gdt 808:
1.111 wiz 809: Note that earlier versions of the xentools41 xendomains rc.d script
810: used xl, when one should use xm with 4.1.
1.28 gdt 811:
812: Creating specific unprivileged domains (domU)
813: =============================================
1.14 gdt 814:
815: Creating domUs is almost entirely independent of operating system. We
1.49 gdt 816: have already presented the basics of config files. Note that you must
817: have already completed the dom0 setup so that "xl list" (or "xm list")
818: works.
1.14 gdt 819:
820: Creating an unprivileged NetBSD domain (domU)
821: ---------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 822:
1.49 gdt 823: See the earlier config file, and adjust memory. Decide on how much
824: storage you will provide, and prepare it (file or lvm).
825:
1.111 wiz 826: While the kernel will be obtained from the dom0 file system, the same
1.49 gdt 827: file should be present in the domU as /netbsd so that tools like
828: savecore(8) can work. (This is helpful but not necessary.)
829:
830: The kernel must be specifically for Xen and for use as a domU. The
831: i386 and amd64 provide the following kernels:
832:
833: i386 XEN3_DOMU
834: i386 XEN3PAE_DOMU
1.95 gdt 835: amd64 XEN3_DOMU
1.5 mspo 836:
1.49 gdt 837: Unless using Xen 3.1 (and you shouldn't) with i386-mode Xen, you must
838: use the PAE version of the i386 kernel.
839:
840: This will boot NetBSD, but this is not that useful if the disk is
841: empty. One approach is to unpack sets onto the disk outside of xen
842: (by mounting it, just as you would prepare a physical disk for a
843: system you can't run the installer on).
844:
845: A second approach is to run an INSTALL kernel, which has a miniroot
846: and can load sets from the network. To do this, copy the INSTALL
847: kernel to / and change the kernel line in the config file to:
1.5 mspo 848:
1.49 gdt 849: kernel = "/home/bouyer/netbsd-INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU"
1.5 mspo 850:
1.49 gdt 851: Then, start the domain as "xl create -c configname".
1.1 mspo 852:
1.49 gdt 853: Alternatively, if you want to install NetBSD/Xen with a CDROM image, the following
854: line should be used in the config file.
1.1 mspo 855:
1.3 mspo 856: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w', 'phy:/dev/cd0a,0x2,r' ]
1.1 mspo 857:
858: After booting the domain, the option to install via CDROM may be
1.49 gdt 859: selected. The CDROM device should be changed to `xbd1d`.
1.1 mspo 860:
1.49 gdt 861: Once done installing, "halt -p" the new domain (don't reboot or halt,
862: it would reload the INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU kernel even if you changed the
863: config file), switch the config file back to the XEN3_DOMU kernel,
864: and start the new domain again. Now it should be able to use "root on
865: xbd0a" and you should have a, functional NetBSD domU.
1.1 mspo 866:
1.49 gdt 867: TODO: check if this is still accurate.
1.1 mspo 868: When the new domain is booting you'll see some warnings about *wscons*
869: and the pseudo-terminals. These can be fixed by editing the files
1.5 mspo 870: `/etc/ttys` and `/etc/wscons.conf`. You must disable all terminals in
871: `/etc/ttys`, except *console*, like this:
1.1 mspo 872:
1.3 mspo 873: console "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt100 on secure
874: ttyE0 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
875: ttyE1 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
876: ttyE2 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
877: ttyE3 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
1.1 mspo 878:
1.5 mspo 879: Finally, all screens must be commented out from `/etc/wscons.conf`.
1.1 mspo 880:
881: It is also desirable to add
882:
1.49 gdt 883: powerd=YES
1.1 mspo 884:
1.5 mspo 885: in rc.conf. This way, the domain will be properly shut down if
1.53 gdt 886: `xm shutdown -R` or `xm shutdown -H` is used on the dom0.
1.1 mspo 887:
1.92 gdt 888: It is not strictly necessary to have a kernel (as /netbsd) in the domU
1.111 wiz 889: file system. However, various programs (e.g. netstat) will use that
1.92 gdt 890: kernel to look up symbols to read from kernel virtual memory. If
891: /netbsd is not the running kernel, those lookups will fail. (This is
892: not really a Xen-specific issue, but because the domU kernel is
893: obtained from the dom0, it is far more likely to be out of sync or
894: missing with Xen.)
895:
1.14 gdt 896: Creating an unprivileged Linux domain (domU)
1.5 mspo 897: --------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 898:
899: Creating unprivileged Linux domains isn't much different from
900: unprivileged NetBSD domains, but there are some details to know.
901:
902: First, the second parameter passed to the disk declaration (the '0x1' in
903: the example below)
904:
1.3 mspo 905: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w' ]
1.1 mspo 906:
907: does matter to Linux. It wants a Linux device number here (e.g. 0x300
1.49 gdt 908: for hda). Linux builds device numbers as: (major \<\< 8 + minor).
909: So, hda1 which has major 3 and minor 1 on a Linux system will have
910: device number 0x301. Alternatively, devices names can be used (hda,
911: hdb, ...) as xentools has a table to map these names to devices
912: numbers. To export a partition to a Linux guest we can use:
1.1 mspo 913:
1.49 gdt 914: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x300,w' ]
915: root = "/dev/hda1 ro"
1.1 mspo 916:
917: and it will appear as /dev/hda on the Linux system, and be used as root
918: partition.
919:
1.49 gdt 920: To install the Linux system on the partition to be exported to the
921: guest domain, the following method can be used: install
922: sysutils/e2fsprogs from pkgsrc. Use mke2fs to format the partition
923: that will be the root partition of your Linux domain, and mount it.
924: Then copy the files from a working Linux system, make adjustments in
925: `/etc` (fstab, network config). It should also be possible to extract
926: binary packages such as .rpm or .deb directly to the mounted partition
927: using the appropriate tool, possibly running under NetBSD's Linux
1.111 wiz 928: emulation. Once the file system has been populated, umount it. If
929: desirable, the file system can be converted to ext3 using tune2fs -j.
1.49 gdt 930: It should now be possible to boot the Linux guest domain, using one of
931: the vmlinuz-\*-xenU kernels available in the Xen binary distribution.
1.1 mspo 932:
1.111 wiz 933: To get the Linux console right, you need to add:
1.1 mspo 934:
1.3 mspo 935: extra = "xencons=tty1"
1.1 mspo 936:
1.111 wiz 937: to your configuration since not all Linux distributions auto-attach a
1.1 mspo 938: tty to the xen console.
939:
1.14 gdt 940: Creating an unprivileged Solaris domain (domU)
1.5 mspo 941: ----------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 942:
1.50 gdt 943: See possibly outdated
944: [Solaris domU instructions](/ports/xen/howto-solaris/).
1.5 mspo 945:
1.1 mspo 946:
1.52 gdt 947: PCI passthrough: Using PCI devices in guest domains
948: ---------------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 949:
1.53 gdt 950: The dom0 can give other domains access to selected PCI
1.52 gdt 951: devices. This can allow, for example, a non-privileged domain to have
952: access to a physical network interface or disk controller. However,
953: keep in mind that giving a domain access to a PCI device most likely
954: will give the domain read/write access to the whole physical memory,
955: as PCs don't have an IOMMU to restrict memory access to DMA-capable
1.53 gdt 956: device. Also, it's not possible to export ISA devices to non-dom0
1.52 gdt 957: domains, which means that the primary VGA adapter can't be exported.
958: A guest domain trying to access the VGA registers will panic.
959:
1.53 gdt 960: If the dom0 is NetBSD, it has to be running Xen 3.1, as support has
1.52 gdt 961: not been ported to later versions at this time.
962:
963: For a PCI device to be exported to a domU, is has to be attached to
964: the "pciback" driver in dom0. Devices passed to the dom0 via the
965: pciback.hide boot parameter will attach to "pciback" instead of the
966: usual driver. The list of devices is specified as "(bus:dev.func)",
1.5 mspo 967: where bus and dev are 2-digit hexadecimal numbers, and func a
968: single-digit number:
1.1 mspo 969:
1.52 gdt 970: pciback.hide=(00:0a.0)(00:06.0)
1.1 mspo 971:
1.52 gdt 972: pciback devices should show up in the dom0's boot messages, and the
1.5 mspo 973: devices should be listed in the `/kern/xen/pci` directory.
1.1 mspo 974:
1.52 gdt 975: PCI devices to be exported to a domU are listed in the "pci" array of
976: the domU's config file, with the format "0000:bus:dev.func".
1.1 mspo 977:
1.52 gdt 978: pci = [ '0000:00:06.0', '0000:00:0a.0' ]
1.1 mspo 979:
1.52 gdt 980: In the domU an "xpci" device will show up, to which one or more pci
1.111 wiz 981: buses will attach. Then the PCI drivers will attach to PCI buses as
1.52 gdt 982: usual. Note that the default NetBSD DOMU kernels do not have "xpci"
983: or any PCI drivers built in by default; you have to build your own
984: kernel to use PCI devices in a domU. Here's a kernel config example;
985: note that only the "xpci" lines are unusual.
986:
987: include "arch/i386/conf/XEN3_DOMU"
988:
1.111 wiz 989: # Add support for PCI buses to the XEN3_DOMU kernel
1.52 gdt 990: xpci* at xenbus ?
991: pci* at xpci ?
992:
993: # PCI USB controllers
994: uhci* at pci? dev ? function ? # Universal Host Controller (Intel)
995:
996: # USB bus support
997: usb* at uhci?
998:
999: # USB Hubs
1000: uhub* at usb?
1001: uhub* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
1002:
1003: # USB Mass Storage
1004: umass* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
1005: wd* at umass?
1006: # SCSI controllers
1007: ahc* at pci? dev ? function ? # Adaptec [23]94x, aic78x0 SCSI
1008:
1009: # SCSI bus support (for both ahc and umass)
1010: scsibus* at scsi?
1011:
1012: # SCSI devices
1013: sd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI disk drives
1014: cd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI CD-ROM drives
1.1 mspo 1015:
1016:
1.28 gdt 1017: NetBSD as a domU in a VPS
1018: =========================
1019:
1020: The bulk of the HOWTO is about using NetBSD as a dom0 on your own
1021: hardware. This section explains how to deal with Xen in a domU as a
1022: virtual private server where you do not control or have access to the
1.70 gdt 1023: dom0. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of VPS providers;
1024: only a few are mentioned that specifically support NetBSD.
1.28 gdt 1025:
1.52 gdt 1026: VPS operators provide varying degrees of access and mechanisms for
1027: configuration. The big issue is usually how one controls which kernel
1.111 wiz 1028: is booted, because the kernel is nominally in the dom0 file system (to
1029: which VPS users do not normally have access). A second issue is how
1.70 gdt 1030: to install NetBSD.
1.52 gdt 1031: A VPS user may want to compile a kernel for security updates, to run
1032: npf, run IPsec, or any other reason why someone would want to change
1033: their kernel.
1034:
1.111 wiz 1035: One approach is to have an administrative interface to upload a kernel,
1.68 gdt 1036: or to select from a prepopulated list. Other approaches are pygrub
1.59 gdt 1037: (deprecated) and pvgrub, which are ways to have a bootloader obtain a
1.111 wiz 1038: kernel from the domU file system. This is closer to a regular physical
1.59 gdt 1039: computer, where someone who controls a machine can replace the kernel.
1.52 gdt 1040:
1.74 gdt 1041: A second issue is multiple CPUs. With NetBSD 6, domUs support
1042: multiple vcpus, and it is typical for VPS providers to enable multiple
1043: CPUs for NetBSD domUs.
1044:
1.68 gdt 1045: pygrub
1.59 gdt 1046: -------
1.52 gdt 1047:
1.111 wiz 1048: pygrub runs in the dom0 and looks into the domU file system. This
1049: implies that the domU must have a kernel in a file system in a format
1.68 gdt 1050: known to pygrub. As of 2014, pygrub seems to be of mostly historical
1051: interest.
1.52 gdt 1052:
1.59 gdt 1053: pvgrub
1054: ------
1055:
1056: pvgrub is a version of grub that uses PV operations instead of BIOS
1057: calls. It is booted from the dom0 as the domU kernel, and then reads
1.111 wiz 1058: /grub/menu.lst and loads a kernel from the domU file system.
1.59 gdt 1059:
1.70 gdt 1060: [Panix](http://www.panix.com/) lets users use pvgrub. Panix reports
1.71 gdt 1061: that pvgrub works with FFsv2 with 16K/2K and 32K/4K block/frag sizes
1062: (and hence with defaults from "newfs -O 2"). See [Panix's pvgrub
1.70 gdt 1063: page](http://www.panix.com/v-colo/grub.html), which describes only
1.74 gdt 1064: Linux but should be updated to cover NetBSD :-).
1.70 gdt 1065:
1066: [prgmr.com](http://prgmr.com/) also lets users with pvgrub to boot
1067: their own kernel. See then [prgmr.com NetBSD
1.74 gdt 1068: HOWTO](http://wiki.prgmr.com/mediawiki/index.php/NetBSD_as_a_DomU)
1069: (which is in need of updating).
1.59 gdt 1070:
1.70 gdt 1071: It appears that [grub's FFS
1072: code](http://xenbits.xensource.com/hg/xen-unstable.hg/file/bca284f67702/tools/libfsimage/ufs/fsys_ufs.c)
1073: does not support all aspects of modern FFS, but there are also reports
1.72 gdt 1074: that FFSv2 works fine. At prgmr, typically one has an ext2 or FAT
1.70 gdt 1075: partition for the kernel with the intent that grub can understand it,
1076: which leads to /netbsd not being the actual kernel. One must remember
1.111 wiz 1077: to update the special boot partition.
1.59 gdt 1078:
1079: Amazon
1080: ------
1081:
1.95 gdt 1082: See the [Amazon EC2 page](../amazon_ec2/).
1.44 gdt 1083:
1084: Using npf
1085: ---------
1086:
1.81 gdt 1087: In standard kernels, npf is a module, and thus cannot be loaded in a
1.44 gdt 1088: DOMU kernel.
1089:
1.95 gdt 1090: TODO: Explain how to compile npf into a custom kernel, answering (but
1091: note that the problem was caused by not booting the right kernel)
1092: [this email to
1093: netbsd-users](http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/12/26/msg015576.html).
1.65 gdt 1094:
1095: TODO items for improving NetBSD/xen
1096: ===================================
1097:
1.93 gdt 1098: * Make the NetBSD dom0 kernel work with SMP.
1099: * Test the Xen 4.5 packages adequately to be able to recommend them as
1100: the standard approach.
1101: * Get PCI passthrough working on Xen 4.5
1.65 gdt 1102: * Get pvgrub into pkgsrc, either via xentools or separately.
1103: * grub
1.70 gdt 1104: * Check/add support to pkgsrc grub2 for UFS2 and arbitrary
1.66 gdt 1105: fragsize/blocksize (UFS2 support may be present; the point is to
1.111 wiz 1106: make it so that with any UFS1/UFS2 file system setup that works
1.66 gdt 1107: with NetBSD grub will also work).
1.70 gdt 1108: See [pkg/40258](http://gnats.netbsd.org/40258).
1.65 gdt 1109: * Push patches upstream.
1110: * Get UFS2 patches into pvgrub.
1111: * Add support for PV ops to a version of /boot, and make it usable as
1112: a kernel in Xen, similar to pvgrub.
1.93 gdt 1113: * Solve somehow the issue with modules for GENERIC not being loadable
1114: in a Xen dom0 or domU kernel.
1115:
1116: Random pointers
1117: ===============
1118:
1.117 gdt 1119: This section contains links from elsewhere not yet integrated into the
1120: HOWTO, and other guides.
1.93 gdt 1121:
1122: * http://www.lumbercartel.ca/library/xen/
1123: * http://pbraun.nethence.com/doc/sysutils/xen_netbsd_dom0.html
1.117 gdt 1124: * https://gmplib.org/~tege/xen.html

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