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Annotation of wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn, revision 1.139

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:
1.123 gdt 30: Generally any machine that runs NetBSD/amd64 will work with Xen and PV
31: guests. In theory i386 computers (without x86_64/amd64 support) can
32: be used for Xen <= 4.2, but we have no recent reports of this working
33: (this is a hint). For HVM guests, hardware support is needed, but it
34: is common on recent machines. For Intel CPUs, one needs the VT-x
35: extension, shown in "cpuctl identify 0" as VMX. For AMD CPUs, one
36: needs the AMD-V extensions, shown in "cpuctl identify 0" as SVM.
37: There are further features for IOMMU virtualization, Intel's VT-d and
38: AMD's AMD-Vi. TODO: Explain whether Xen on NetBSD makes use of these
39: features. TODO: Review by someone who really understands this.
1.19 gdt 40:
1.123 gdt 41: Note that a FreeBSD dom0 requires VT-x and VT-d (or equivalent); this
42: is because the FreeBSD dom0 does not run in PV mode.
1.118 gdt 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:
1.123 gdt 54: Xen 3.1 in pkgsrc supports "PCI passthrough", which means that
1.20 gdt 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
1.123 gdt 72: architecture, with installing NetBSD on i386/amd64 hardware, and with
73: installing software from pkgsrc. See also the [Xen
74: 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:
1.133 gdt 84: The term "amd64" is used to refer to both the NetBSD port and to the
85: hardware architecture on which it runs. (Such hardware is made by
86: both Intel and AMD, and in 2016 a normal PC has this CPU
87: architecture.)
88:
1.15 gdt 89: Xen
90: ---
91:
1.111 wiz 92: In NetBSD, Xen is provided in pkgsrc, via matching pairs of packages
1.15 gdt 93: xenkernel and xentools. We will refer only to the kernel versions,
94: but note that both packages must be installed together and must have
95: matching versions.
96:
1.133 gdt 97: xenkernel3 provides Xen 3.1. It is no longer maintained by Xen, and
98: the last applied security patch was in 2011. Thus, it should not be
99: used. It supports PCI passthrough, which is why people use it anyway.
100: Xen 3.1 runs on i386 (both non-PAE and PAE) and amd64 hardware.
1.104 gdt 101:
102: xenkernel33 provides Xen 3.3. It is no longer maintained by Xen, and
103: the last applied security patch was in 2012. Thus, it should not be
1.133 gdt 104: used. Xen 3.3 runs on i386 PAE and amd64 hardware. There are no good
1.104 gdt 105: reasons to run this version.
106:
107: xenkernel41 provides Xen 4.1. It is no longer maintained by Xen, but
1.133 gdt 108: as of 2016-12 received backported security patches. Xen 4.1 runs on
109: i386 PAE and amd64 hardware. There are no good reasons to run this
1.104 gdt 110: version.
1.102 gdt 111:
1.137 gdt 112: Note that 3.1, 3.3 and 4.1 have been removed from pkgsrc-current, but
113: are in 2016Q4. They will be removed from this HOWTO sometime after
1.138 wiz 114: 2017Q1.
1.137 gdt 115:
1.104 gdt 116: xenkernel42 provides Xen 4.2. It is no longer maintained by Xen, but
1.133 gdt 117: as of 2016-12 received backported security patches. Xen 4.2 runs on
118: i386 PAE and amd64 hardware. The only reason to run this is if you
119: need to use xm instead of xl, or if you need to run on hardware that
120: supports i386 but not amd64. (This might also be useful if you need
121: an i386 dom0, if it turns out that an amd64 Xen kernel and an i386
122: dom0 is problematic.)
1.104 gdt 123:
1.114 gdt 124: xenkernel45 provides Xen 4.5. As of 2016-12, security patches were
1.133 gdt 125: released by Xen and applied to pkgsrc. Xen 4.5 runs on amd64 hardware
126: only. While slightly old, 4.5 has been tested and run by others, so
127: it is the conservative choice.
1.104 gdt 128:
1.115 gdt 129: xenkernel46 provides Xen 4.6. It is new to pkgsrc as of 2016-05. As
1.114 gdt 130: of 2016-12, security patches were released by Xen and applied to
1.133 gdt 131: pkgsrc. Xen 4.6 runs on amd64 hardware only For new installations,
132: 4.6 is probably the appropriate choice and it will likely soon be the
1.136 gdt 133: standard approach. (If using Ubuntu guests, be sure to have the
134: xentools46 from December, 2016).
1.85 gdt 135:
1.114 gdt 136: Xen 4.7 (released 2016-06) and 4.8 (released 2016-12) are not yet in
137: pkgsrc.
1.113 gdt 138:
1.96 gdt 139: See also the [Xen Security Advisory page](http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/).
140:
1.85 gdt 141: Note that NetBSD support is called XEN3. It works with Xen 3 and Xen
142: 4 because the hypercall interface has been stable.
1.20 gdt 143:
1.19 gdt 144: Xen command program
145: -------------------
146:
1.79 gdt 147: Early Xen used a program called xm to manipulate the system from the
1.19 gdt 148: dom0. Starting in 4.1, a replacement program with similar behavior
1.79 gdt 149: called xl is provided, but it does not work well in 4.1. In 4.2, both
1.127 gdt 150: xm and xl work fine. 4.4 is the last version that has xm.
151:
152: You must make a global choice to use xm or xl, because it affects not
153: only which command you use, but the command used by rc.d scripts
154: (specifically xendomains) and which daemons should be run. The
155: xentools packages provide xm for 3.1, 3.3 and 4.1 and xl for 4.2 and up.
156:
157: In 4.2, you can choose to use xm by simply changing the ctl_command
1.135 gdt 158: variable and setting xend=YES in rc.conf.
1.127 gdt 159:
160: With xl, virtual devices are configured in parallel, which can cause
161: problems if they are written assuming serial operation (e.g., updating
1.130 gdt 162: firewall rules without explicit locking). There is now locking for
163: the provided scripts, which works for normal casses (e.g, file-backed
164: xbd, where a vnd must be allocated). But, as of 201612, it has not
165: been adequately tested for a complex custom setup with a large number
166: of interfaces.
1.19 gdt 167:
1.15 gdt 168: NetBSD
169: ------
170:
1.105 gdt 171: The netbsd-6, netbsd-7, and -current branches are all reasonable
172: choices, with more or less the same considerations for non-Xen use.
173: Therefore, netbsd-7 is recommended as the stable version of the most
1.117 gdt 174: recent release for production use. In addition, netbsd-7 and -current
175: have a important scheduler fix (in November of 2015) affecting
176: contention between dom0 and domUs; see
177: https://releng.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/req-7.cgi?show=1040 for a
178: description. For those wanting to learn Xen or without production
179: stability concerns, netbsd-7 is still likely most appropriate, but
180: -current is also a reasonable choice. (Xen runs ok on netbsd-5, but
181: the xentools packages are likely difficult to build, and netbsd-5 is
182: not supported.)
1.15 gdt 183:
184: As of NetBSD 6, a NetBSD domU will support multiple vcpus. There is
185: no SMP support for NetBSD as dom0. (The dom0 itself doesn't really
1.105 gdt 186: need SMP for dom0 functions; the lack of support is really a problem
187: when using a dom0 as a normal computer.)
1.15 gdt 188:
1.18 gdt 189: Architecture
190: ------------
191:
1.133 gdt 192: Xen itself can run on i386 (Xen < 4.2) or amd64 hardware (all Xen
1.105 gdt 193: versions). (Practically, almost any computer where one would want to
194: run Xen today supports amd64.)
1.99 gdt 195:
1.133 gdt 196: Xen, the dom0 system, and each domU system can be either i386 or
197: amd64. When building a xenkernel package, one obtains an i386 Xen
1.134 wiz 198: kernel on an i386 host, and an amd64 Xen kernel on an amd64 host. If
1.133 gdt 199: the Xen kernel is i386, then the dom0 kernel and all domU kernels must
200: be i386. With an amd64 Xen kernel, an amd64 dom0 kernel is known to
201: work, and an i386 dom0 kernel should in theory work. An amd64
202: Xen/dom0 is known to support both i386 and amd64 domUs.
203:
204: i386 dom0 and domU kernels must be PAE (except for an i386 Xen 3.1
1.135 gdt 205: kernel, where one can use non-PAE for dom0 and all domUs); PAE kernels
206: are included in the NetBSD default build. (Note that emacs (at least)
207: fails if run on i386 with PAE when built without, and vice versa,
208: presumably due to bugs in the undump code.)
209:
210: Because of the above, the standard approach is to use an amd64 Xen
211: kernel and NetBSD/amd64 for the dom0. For domUs, NetBSD/i386 (with
212: the PAE kernel) and NetBSD/amd64 are in widespread use, and there is
213: little to no Xen-specific reason to prefer one over the other.
1.133 gdt 214:
215: Note that to use an i386 dom0 with Xen 4.5 or higher, one must build
1.135 gdt 216: (or obtain from pre-built packages) an amd64 Xen kernel and install
217: that on the system. (One must also use a PAE i386 kernel, but this is
218: also required with an i386 Xen kernel.). Almost no one in the
219: NetBSD/Xen community does this, and the standard, well-tested,
220: approach is to use an amd64 dom0.
221:
222: A [posting on
223: xen-devel](https://lists.xen.org/archives/html/xen-devel/2012-07/msg00085.html)
224: explained that PV system call overhead was higher on amd64, and thus
225: there is some notion that i386 guests are faster. It goes on to
226: caution that the total situation is complex and not entirely
227: understood. On top of that caution, the post is about Linux, not
228: NetBSD. TODO: Include link to benchmarks, if someone posts them.
1.29 gdt 229:
1.89 gdt 230: Stability
231: ---------
232:
233: Mostly, NetBSD as a dom0 or domU is quite stable.
234: However, there are some open PRs indicating problems.
235:
1.91 gdt 236: - [PR 48125](http://gnats.netbsd.org/48125)
237: - [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720)
1.89 gdt 238:
239: Note also that there are issues with sparse vnd(4) instances, but
1.105 gdt 240: these are not about Xen -- they just are noticed with sparse vnd(4)
241: instances in support of virtual disks in a dom0.
1.89 gdt 242:
1.15 gdt 243: Recommendation
244: --------------
245:
1.105 gdt 246: Therefore, this HOWTO recommends running xenkernel45 or xenkernel46,
247: xl, the NetBSD 7 stable branch, and to use an amd64 kernel as the
248: dom0. Either the i386PAE or amd64 version of NetBSD may be used as
249: domUs.
1.15 gdt 250:
1.136 gdt 251: Because bugs are fixed quite often, and because of Xen security
252: advisories, it is good to stay up to date with NetBSD (tracking a
253: stable branch), with the Xen kernel (tracking a Xen version via
254: pkgsrc), and with the Xen tools. Specifically, NetBSD (-7 and
255: -current) got an important fix affecting dom0/domU timesharing in
256: November, 2015, and xentools46 got a fix to enable Ubuntu guests to
257: boot in December, 2016.
258:
1.125 gdt 259: Status
260: ------
1.36 gdt 261:
1.120 gdt 262: Ideally, all versions of Xen in pkgsrc would build on all supported
1.121 gdt 263: versions of NetBSD/amd64, to the point where this section would be
264: silly. However, that has not always been the case. Besides aging
265: code and aging compilers, qemu (included in xentools for HVM support)
1.124 gdt 266: is difficult to build. Note that there is intentionally no data for
1.125 gdt 267: 4.5+ up for i386, and often omits xentools info if the corresponding
268: kernel fails.
269:
270: The following table gives status, with the date last checked
271: (generally on the most recent quarterly branch). The first code is
272: "builds" if it builds ok, and "FAIL" for a failure to build. The
273: second code/date only appears for xenkernel* and is "works" if it runs
1.135 gdt 274: ok as a dom0 and can support a domU, and "FAIL" if it won't boot or
275: run a domU.
1.124 gdt 276:
277: xenkernel3 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612
278: xenkernel33 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612
1.125 gdt 279: xenkernel41 netbsd-6 i386 builds 201612
280: xenkernel42 netbsd-6 i386 builds 201612
1.126 gdt 281: xentools3 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612
1.128 gdt 282: xentools33 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612
1.125 gdt 283: xentools41 netbsd-6 i386 builds 201612
1.126 gdt 284: xentools42 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL 201612
1.64 gdt 285:
1.124 gdt 286: xenkernel3 netbsd-7 i386 FAIL 201412
287: xenkernel33 netbsd-7 i386 FAIL 201412
1.125 gdt 288: xenkernel41 netbsd-7 i386 builds 201412
289: xenkernel42 netbsd-7 i386 builds 201412
290: xentools41 netbsd-7 i386 builds 201412
1.122 gdt 291: xentools42 netbsd-7 i386 ??FAIL 201412
1.121 gdt 292:
1.124 gdt 293: xenkernel3 netbsd-6 amd64 FAIL 201612
294: xenkernel33 netbsd-6 amd64 FAIL 201612
1.125 gdt 295: xenkernel41 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 works 201612
1.126 gdt 296: xenkernel42 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612 works 201612
1.125 gdt 297: xenkernel45 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612
298: xenkernel46 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612
299: xentools41 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612
300: xentools42 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612
301: xentools45 netbsd-6 amd64 builds 201612
1.124 gdt 302: xentools46 netbsd-6 amd64 FAIL 201612
1.121 gdt 303:
1.125 gdt 304: xenkernel3 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
305: xenkernel33 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
306: xenkernel41 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
307: xenkernel42 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
308: xenkernel45 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
309: xenkernel46 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
310: xentools3 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
311: xentools3-hvm netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
1.121 gdt 312: xentools33 netbsd-7 amd64 FAIL 201612
1.125 gdt 313: xentools41 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
314: xentools42 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
315: xentools45 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
316: xentools46 netbsd-7 amd64 builds 201612
1.69 gdt 317:
1.15 gdt 318: NetBSD as a dom0
319: ================
320:
321: NetBSD can be used as a dom0 and works very well. The following
322: sections address installation, updating NetBSD, and updating Xen.
1.19 gdt 323: Note that it doesn't make sense to talk about installing a dom0 OS
324: without also installing Xen itself. We first address installing
325: NetBSD, which is not yet a dom0, and then adding Xen, pivoting the
326: NetBSD install to a dom0 install by just changing the kernel and boot
327: configuration.
1.15 gdt 328:
1.45 gdt 329: For experimenting with Xen, a machine with as little as 1G of RAM and
330: 100G of disk can work. For running many domUs in productions, far
1.135 gdt 331: more will be needed; e.g. 4-8G and 1T of disk is reasonable for a
332: half-dozen domUs of 512M and 32G each. Basically, the RAM and disk
333: have to be bigger than the sum of the RAM/disk needs of the dom0 and
334: all the domUs.
1.45 gdt 335:
1.15 gdt 336: Styles of dom0 operation
337: ------------------------
338:
339: There are two basic ways to use Xen. The traditional method is for
340: the dom0 to do absolutely nothing other than providing support to some
341: number of domUs. Such a system was probably installed for the sole
342: purpose of hosting domUs, and sits in a server room on a UPS.
343:
344: The other way is to put Xen under a normal-usage computer, so that the
345: dom0 is what the computer would have been without Xen, perhaps a
346: desktop or laptop. Then, one can run domUs at will. Purists will
347: deride this as less secure than the previous approach, and for a
348: computer whose purpose is to run domUs, they are right. But Xen and a
1.93 gdt 349: dom0 (without domUs) is not meaningfully less secure than the same
1.15 gdt 350: things running without Xen. One can boot Xen or boot regular NetBSD
351: alternately with little problems, simply refraining from starting the
352: Xen daemons when not running Xen.
353:
354: Note that NetBSD as dom0 does not support multiple CPUs. This will
1.51 gdt 355: limit the performance of the Xen/dom0 workstation approach. In theory
356: the only issue is that the "backend drivers" are not yet MPSAFE:
357: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/08/29/msg015195.html
1.15 gdt 358:
1.19 gdt 359: Installation of NetBSD
360: ----------------------
1.13 gdt 361:
1.19 gdt 362: First,
1.27 jnemeth 363: [install NetBSD/amd64](/guide/inst/)
1.19 gdt 364: just as you would if you were not using Xen.
365: However, the partitioning approach is very important.
366:
367: If you want to use RAIDframe for the dom0, there are no special issues
368: for Xen. Typically one provides RAID storage for the dom0, and the
1.22 gdt 369: domU systems are unaware of RAID. The 2nd-stage loader bootxx_* skips
1.111 wiz 370: over a RAID1 header to find /boot from a file system within a RAID
1.22 gdt 371: partition; this is no different when booting Xen.
1.19 gdt 372:
373: There are 4 styles of providing backing storage for the virtual disks
1.93 gdt 374: used by domUs: raw partitions, LVM, file-backed vnd(4), and SAN.
1.19 gdt 375:
376: With raw partitions, one has a disklabel (or gpt) partition sized for
377: each virtual disk to be used by the domU. (If you are able to predict
378: how domU usage will evolve, please add an explanation to the HOWTO.
379: Seriously, needs tend to change over time.)
380:
1.27 jnemeth 381: One can use [lvm(8)](/guide/lvm/) to create logical devices to use
382: for domU disks. This is almost as efficient as raw disk partitions
383: and more flexible. Hence raw disk partitions should typically not
384: be used.
1.19 gdt 385:
1.111 wiz 386: One can use files in the dom0 file system, typically created by dd'ing
1.19 gdt 387: /dev/zero to create a specific size. This is somewhat less efficient,
388: but very convenient, as one can cp the files for backup, or move them
389: between dom0 hosts.
390:
391: Finally, in theory one can place the files backing the domU disks in a
392: SAN. (This is an invitation for someone who has done this to add a
393: HOWTO page.)
1.1 mspo 394:
1.19 gdt 395: Installation of Xen
396: -------------------
1.1 mspo 397:
1.20 gdt 398: In the dom0, install sysutils/xenkernel42 and sysutils/xentools42 from
1.127 gdt 399: pkgsrc (or another matching pair). See [the pkgsrc
400: documentation](http://www.NetBSD.org/docs/pkgsrc/) for help with
401: pkgsrc. Ensure that your packages are recent; the HOWTO does not
402: contemplate old builds.
403:
1.20 gdt 404:
405: For Xen 3.1, support for HVM guests is in sysutils/xentool3-hvm. More
406: recent versions have HVM support integrated in the main xentools
407: package. It is entirely reasonable to run only PV guests.
408:
409: Next you need to install the selected Xen kernel itself, which is
410: installed by pkgsrc as "/usr/pkg/xen*-kernel/xen.gz". Copy it to /.
411: For debugging, one may copy xen-debug.gz; this is conceptually similar
412: to DIAGNOSTIC and DEBUG in NetBSD. xen-debug.gz is basically only
413: useful with a serial console. Then, place a NetBSD XEN3_DOM0 kernel
414: in /, copied from releasedir/amd64/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz
1.75 gdt 415: of a NetBSD build. If using i386, use
416: releasedir/i386/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz. (If using Xen
417: 3.1 and i386, you may use XEN3_DOM0 with the non-PAE Xen. But you
418: should not use Xen 3.1.) Both xen and the NetBSD kernel may be (and
419: typically are) left compressed.
420:
1.135 gdt 421: In a dom0, kernfs is mandatory for xend to communicate with the
422: kernel, so ensure that /kern is in fstab. (A standard NetBSD install
423: should already mount /kern.)
1.20 gdt 424:
425: Because you already installed NetBSD, you have a working boot setup
426: with an MBR bootblock, either bootxx_ffsv1 or bootxx_ffsv2 at the
1.135 gdt 427: beginning of your root file system, have /boot, and likely also
1.20 gdt 428: /boot.cfg. (If not, fix before continuing!)
429:
1.76 gdt 430: Add a line to to /boot.cfg to boot Xen. See boot.cfg(5) for an
431: example. The basic line is
1.20 gdt 432:
1.37 gdt 433: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
1.20 gdt 434:
435: which specifies that the dom0 should have 256M, leaving the rest to be
1.77 gdt 436: allocated for domUs. To use a serial console, use
437:
1.139 ! gson 438: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M console=com1 com1=9600,8n1
1.77 gdt 439:
440: which will use the first serial port for Xen (which counts starting
1.139 ! gson 441: from 1, unlike NetBSD which counts starting from 0), forcing
! 442: speed/parity. Because the NetBSD command line lacks a
! 443: "console=pc" argument, it will use the default "xencons" console device,
! 444: which directs the console I/O through Xen to the same console device Xen
! 445: itself uses (in this case, the serial port).
! 446:
! 447: In an attempt to add performance, one can also add
1.37 gdt 448:
449: dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin
450:
451: to force only one vcpu to be provided (since NetBSD dom0 can't use
1.111 wiz 452: more) and to pin that vcpu to a physical CPU. TODO: benchmark this.
1.20 gdt 453:
1.93 gdt 454: Xen has [many boot
455: options](http://xenbits.xenproject.org/docs/4.5-testing/misc/xen-command-line.html),
1.111 wiz 456: and other than dom0 memory and max_vcpus, they are generally not
1.93 gdt 457: necessary.
458:
1.20 gdt 459: As with non-Xen systems, you should have a line to boot /netbsd (a
1.127 gdt 460: kernel that works without Xen). Consider a line to boot /netbsd.ok (a
461: fallback version of the non-Xen kernel, updated manually when you are
462: sure /netbsd is ok). Consider also a line to boot fallback versions
463: of Xen and the dom0 kernel, but note that non-Xen NetBSD can be used
464: to resolve Xen booting issues.
465:
466: Probably you want a default=N line to choose Xen in the absence of
467: intervention.
1.1 mspo 468:
1.76 gdt 469: Now, reboot so that you are running a DOM0 kernel under Xen, rather
470: than GENERIC without Xen.
471:
1.54 gdt 472: Using grub (historic)
473: ---------------------
474:
475: Before NetBSD's native bootloader could support Xen, the use of
476: grub was recommended. If necessary, see the
1.135 gdt 477: [old grub information](/ports/xen/howto-grub).
1.54 gdt 478:
1.28 gdt 479: The [HowTo on Installing into
480: RAID-1](http://mail-index.NetBSD.org/port-xen/2006/03/01/0010.html)
481: explains how to set up booting a dom0 with Xen using grub with
482: NetBSD's RAIDframe. (This is obsolete with the use of NetBSD's native
1.135 gdt 483: boot. Now, just create a system with RAID-1, and alter /boot.cfg as
484: described above.)
1.28 gdt 485:
1.21 gdt 486: Configuring Xen
487: ---------------
488:
1.53 gdt 489: Xen logs will be in /var/log/xen.
490:
1.76 gdt 491: Now, you have a system that will boot Xen and the dom0 kernel, but not
492: do anything else special. Make sure that you have rebooted into Xen.
493: There will be no domUs, and none can be started because you still have
1.102 gdt 494: to configure the dom0 daemons.
1.21 gdt 495:
1.102 gdt 496: The daemons which should be run vary with Xen version and with whether
1.127 gdt 497: one is using xm or xl. The Xen 3.1, 3.3 and 4.1 packages use xm. Xen
498: 4.2 and up packages use xl. To use xm with 4.2, edit xendomains to
499: use xm instead.
500:
1.132 gdt 501: For 3.1 and 3.3, you should enable xend and xenbackendd:
1.31 gdt 502:
1.32 gdt 503: xend=YES
504: xenbackendd=YES
1.31 gdt 505:
1.132 gdt 506: For 4.1 and up, you should enable xencommons. Not enabling xencommons
507: will result in a hang; it is necessary to hit ^C on the console to let
508: the machine finish booting. If you are using xm (default in 4.1, or
509: if you changed xendomains in 4.2), you should also enable xend:
1.31 gdt 510:
1.132 gdt 511: xend=YES # only if using xm, and only installed <= 4.2
1.53 gdt 512: xencommons=YES
1.31 gdt 513:
514: TODO: Recommend for/against xen-watchdog.
1.27 jnemeth 515:
1.53 gdt 516: After you have configured the daemons and either started them (in the
1.79 gdt 517: order given) or rebooted, use xm or xl to inspect Xen's boot messages,
1.102 gdt 518: available resources, and running domains. An example with xl follows:
1.34 gdt 519:
1.102 gdt 520: # xl dmesg
1.43 gdt 521: [xen's boot info]
1.102 gdt 522: # xl info
1.43 gdt 523: [available memory, etc.]
1.102 gdt 524: # xl list
1.43 gdt 525: Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console
526: Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1
1.33 gdt 527:
1.88 gdt 528: ### Issues with xencommons
529:
530: xencommons starts xenstored, which stores data on behalf of dom0 and
531: domUs. It does not currently work to stop and start xenstored.
532: Certainly all domUs should be shutdown first, following the sort order
533: of the rc.d scripts. However, the dom0 sets up state with xenstored,
534: and is not notified when xenstored exits, leading to not recreating
535: the state when the new xenstored starts. Until there's a mechanism to
536: make this work, one should not expect to be able to restart xenstored
537: (and thus xencommons). There is currently no reason to expect that
538: this will get fixed any time soon.
539:
1.127 gdt 540: ### No-longer needed advice about devices
541:
542: The installation of NetBSD should already have created devices for xen
543: (xencons, xenevt, xsd_kva), but if they are not present, create them:
544:
545: cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen
546:
1.41 gdt 547: anita (for testing NetBSD)
548: --------------------------
549:
1.82 gdt 550: With the setup so far (assuming 4.2/xl), one should be able to run
551: anita (see pkgsrc/misc/py-anita) to test NetBSD releases, by doing (as
552: root, because anita must create a domU):
553:
554: anita --vmm=xl test file:///usr/obj/i386/
555:
556: Alternatively, one can use --vmm=xm to use xm-based domU creation
557: instead (and must, on Xen <= 4.1). TODO: confirm that anita xl really works.
558:
1.40 gdt 559: Xen-specific NetBSD issues
560: --------------------------
561:
562: There are (at least) two additional things different about NetBSD as a
563: dom0 kernel compared to hardware.
564:
1.111 wiz 565: One is that the module ABI is different because some of the #defines
1.109 gdt 566: change, so one must build modules for Xen. As of netbsd-7, the build
567: system does this automatically. TODO: check this. (Before building
568: Xen modules was added, it was awkward to use modules to the point
569: where it was considered that it did not work.)
1.40 gdt 570:
571: The other difference is that XEN3_DOM0 does not have exactly the same
572: options as GENERIC. While it is debatable whether or not this is a
573: bug, users should be aware of this and can simply add missing config
574: items if desired.
575:
1.15 gdt 576: Updating NetBSD in a dom0
577: -------------------------
578:
579: This is just like updating NetBSD on bare hardware, assuming the new
580: version supports the version of Xen you are running. Generally, one
581: replaces the kernel and reboots, and then overlays userland binaries
582: and adjusts /etc.
583:
584: Note that one must update both the non-Xen kernel typically used for
585: rescue purposes and the DOM0 kernel used with Xen.
586:
1.55 gdt 587: Converting from grub to /boot
588: -----------------------------
589:
590: These instructions were [TODO: will be] used to convert a system from
591: grub to /boot. The system was originally installed in February of
592: 2006 with a RAID1 setup and grub to boot Xen 2, and has been updated
593: over time. Before these commands, it was running NetBSD 6 i386, Xen
594: 4.1 and grub, much like the message linked earlier in the grub
595: section.
596:
1.111 wiz 597: # Install MBR bootblocks on both disks.
1.55 gdt 598: fdisk -i /dev/rwd0d
599: fdisk -i /dev/rwd1d
600: # Install NetBSD primary boot loader (/ is FFSv1) into RAID1 components.
601: installboot -v /dev/rwd0d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
602: installboot -v /dev/rwd1d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
603: # Install secondary boot loader
604: cp -p /usr/mdec/boot /
1.111 wiz 605: # Create boot.cfg following earlier guidance:
1.55 gdt 606: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
607: menu=Xen.ok:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.ok.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.ok.gz dom0_mem=256M
608: menu=GENERIC:boot
609: menu=GENERIC single-user:boot -s
610: menu=GENERIC.ok:boot netbsd.ok
611: menu=GENERIC.ok single-user:boot netbsd.ok -s
612: menu=Drop to boot prompt:prompt
613: default=1
614: timeout=30
615:
616: TODO: actually do this and fix it if necessary.
1.22 gdt 617:
1.102 gdt 618: Upgrading Xen versions
1.15 gdt 619: ---------------------
620:
1.110 gdt 621: Minor version upgrades are trivial. Just rebuild/replace the
622: xenkernel version and copy the new xen.gz to / (where /boot.cfg
623: references it), and reboot.
624:
625: Major version upgrades are conceptually not difficult, but can run
626: into all the issues found when installing Xen. Assuming migration
627: from 4.1 to 4.2, remove the xenkernel41 and xentools41 packages and
628: install the xenkernel42 and xentools42 packages. Copy the 4.2 xen.gz
629: to /.
1.21 gdt 630:
1.102 gdt 631: Ensure that the contents of /etc/rc.d/xen* are correct. Specifically,
632: they must match the package you just installed and not be left over
633: from some previous installation.
634:
635: Enable the correct set of daemons; see the configuring section above.
636: (Upgrading from 3.x to 4.x without doing this will result in a hang.)
637:
638: Ensure that the domU config files are valid for the new version.
1.110 gdt 639: Specifically, for 4.x remove autorestart=True, and ensure that disks
640: are specified with numbers as the second argument, as the examples
641: above show, and not NetBSD device names.
1.15 gdt 642:
1.97 gdt 643: Hardware known to work
644: ----------------------
645:
646: Arguably, this section is misplaced, and there should be a page of
647: hardware that runs NetBSD/amd64 well, with the mostly-well-founded
648: assumption that NetBSD/xen runs fine on any modern hardware that
1.129 gdt 649: NetBSD/amd64 runs well on. Until then, we give motherboard/CPU (and
650: sometimes RAM) pairs/triples to aid those choosing a motherboard.
651: Note that Xen systems usually do not run X, so a listing here does not
652: imply that X works at all.
1.97 gdt 653:
654: Supermicro X9SRL-F, Xeon E5-1650 v2, 96 GiB ECC
655: Supermicro ??, Atom C2758 (8 core), 32 GiB ECC
656: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ microATX, AMD Piledriver X8 4000MHz, 16 GiB ECC
657:
658: Older hardware:
659:
1.98 gdt 660: Intel D915GEV, Pentium4 CPU 3.40GHz, 4GB 533MHz Synchronous DDR2
1.129 gdt 661: INTEL DG33FB, "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz"
662: INTEL DG33FB, "Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz"
1.28 gdt 663:
1.82 gdt 664: Running Xen under qemu
665: ----------------------
666:
667: The astute reader will note that this section is somewhat twisted.
668: However, it can be useful to run Xen under qemu either because the
669: version of NetBSD as a dom0 does not run on the hardware in use, or to
670: generate automated test cases involving Xen.
671:
1.84 gdt 672: In 2015-01, the following combination was reported to mostly work:
1.82 gdt 673:
674: host OS: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.4
675: qemu: 2.2.0 from pkgsrc
676: Xen kernel: xenkernel42-4.2.5nb1 from pkgsrc
677: dom0 kernel: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.5
678: Xen tools: xentools42-4.2.5 from pkgsrc
679:
1.91 gdt 680: See [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720) for a problem with dom0
681: shutdown.
1.84 gdt 682:
1.28 gdt 683: Unprivileged domains (domU)
684: ===========================
685:
686: This section describes general concepts about domUs. It does not
1.33 gdt 687: address specific domU operating systems or how to install them. The
688: config files for domUs are typically in /usr/pkg/etc/xen, and are
1.60 wiki 689: typically named so that the file name, domU name and the domU's host
1.33 gdt 690: name match.
691:
1.111 wiz 692: The domU is provided with CPU and memory by Xen, configured by the
1.33 gdt 693: dom0. The domU is provided with disk and network by the dom0,
694: mediated by Xen, and configured in the dom0.
695:
696: Entropy in domUs can be an issue; physical disks and network are on
697: the dom0. NetBSD's /dev/random system works, but is often challenged.
698:
1.48 gdt 699: Config files
700: ------------
701:
702: There is no good order to present config files and the concepts
703: surrounding what is being configured. We first show an example config
704: file, and then in the various sections give details.
705:
706: See (at least in xentools41) /usr/pkg/share/examples/xen/xmexample*,
707: for a large number of well-commented examples, mostly for running
708: GNU/Linux.
709:
710: The following is an example minimal domain configuration file
711: "/usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo". It is (with only a name change) an actual
712: known working config file on Xen 4.1 (NetBSD 5 amd64 dom0 and NetBSD 5
713: i386 domU). The domU serves as a network file server.
714:
715: # -*- mode: python; -*-
716:
717: kernel = "/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOMU-i386-foo.gz"
718: memory = 1024
719: vif = [ 'mac=aa:00:00:d1:00:09,bridge=bridge0' ]
720: disk = [ 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd0,0x0,w',
721: 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd1,0x1,w' ]
722:
723: The domain will have the same name as the file. The kernel has the
724: host/domU name in it, so that on the dom0 one can update the various
725: domUs independently. The vif line causes an interface to be provided,
726: with a specific mac address (do not reuse MAC addresses!), in bridge
727: mode. Two disks are provided, and they are both writable; the bits
728: are stored in files and Xen attaches them to a vnd(4) device in the
1.111 wiz 729: dom0 on domain creation. The system treats xbd0 as the boot device
1.48 gdt 730: without needing explicit configuration.
731:
732: By default xm looks for domain config files in /usr/pkg/etc/xen. Note
733: that "xm create" takes the name of a config file, while other commands
734: take the name of a domain. To create the domain, connect to the
735: console, create the domain while attaching the console, shutdown the
736: domain, and see if it has finished stopping, do (or xl with Xen >=
737: 4.2):
738:
739: xm create foo
740: xm console foo
741: xm create -c foo
742: xm shutdown foo
1.90 gdt 743: xm list
1.48 gdt 744:
745: Typing ^] will exit the console session. Shutting down a domain is
746: equivalent to pushing the power button; a NetBSD domU will receive a
747: power-press event and do a clean shutdown. Shutting down the dom0
748: will trigger controlled shutdowns of all configured domUs.
749:
750: domU kernels
751: ------------
752:
753: On a physical computer, the BIOS reads sector 0, and a chain of boot
754: loaders finds and loads a kernel. Normally this comes from the root
1.111 wiz 755: file system. With Xen domUs, the process is totally different. The
1.48 gdt 756: normal path is for the domU kernel to be a file in the dom0's
1.111 wiz 757: file system. At the request of the dom0, Xen loads that kernel into a
1.48 gdt 758: new domU instance and starts execution. While domU kernels can be
759: anyplace, reasonable places to store domU kernels on the dom0 are in /
760: (so they are near the dom0 kernel), in /usr/pkg/etc/xen (near the
761: config files), or in /u0/xen (where the vdisks are).
762:
1.59 gdt 763: Note that loading the domU kernel from the dom0 implies that boot
764: blocks, /boot, /boot.cfg, and so on are all ignored in the domU.
1.48 gdt 765: See the VPS section near the end for discussion of alternate ways to
766: obtain domU kernels.
767:
1.33 gdt 768: CPU and memory
769: --------------
770:
1.48 gdt 771: A domain is provided with some number of vcpus, less than the number
1.111 wiz 772: of CPUs seen by the hypervisor. (For a dom0, this is controlled by
1.48 gdt 773: the boot argument "dom0_max_vcpus=1".) For a domU, it is controlled
774: from the config file by the "vcpus = N" directive.
775:
776: A domain is provided with memory; this is controlled in the config
777: file by "memory = N" (in megabytes). In the straightforward case, the
778: sum of the the memory allocated to the dom0 and all domUs must be less
1.33 gdt 779: than the available memory.
780:
781: Xen also provides a "balloon" driver, which can be used to let domains
782: use more memory temporarily. TODO: Explain better, and explain how
783: well it works with NetBSD.
1.28 gdt 784:
785: Virtual disks
786: -------------
787:
1.33 gdt 788: With the file/vnd style, typically one creates a directory,
789: e.g. /u0/xen, on a disk large enough to hold virtual disks for all
790: domUs. Then, for each domU disk, one writes zeros to a file that then
791: serves to hold the virtual disk's bits; a suggested name is foo-xbd0
792: for the first virtual disk for the domU called foo. Writing zeros to
793: the file serves two purposes. One is that preallocating the contents
794: improves performance. The other is that vnd on sparse files has
795: failed to work. TODO: give working/notworking NetBSD versions for
1.127 gdt 796: sparse vnd and gnats reference. Note that the use of file/vnd for Xen
797: is not really different than creating a file-backed virtual disk for
798: some other purpose, except that xentools handles the vnconfig
799: commands. To create an empty 4G virtual disk, simply do
1.39 gdt 800:
801: dd if=/dev/zero of=foo-xbd0 bs=1m count=4096
1.33 gdt 802:
1.89 gdt 803: Do not use qemu-img-xen, because this will create sparse file. There
804: have been recent (2015) reports of sparse vnd(4) devices causing
805: lockups, but there is apparently no PR.
806:
1.33 gdt 807: With the lvm style, one creates logical devices. They are then used
1.48 gdt 808: similarly to vnds. TODO: Add an example with lvm.
809:
810: In domU config files, the disks are defined as a sequence of 3-tuples.
811: The first element is "method:/path/to/disk". Common methods are
812: "file:" for file-backed vnd. and "phy:" for something that is already
813: a (TODO: character or block) device.
814:
815: The second element is an artifact of how virtual disks are passed to
816: Linux, and a source of confusion with NetBSD Xen usage. Linux domUs
817: are given a device name to associate with the disk, and values like
818: "hda1" or "sda1" are common. In a NetBSD domU, the first disk appears
819: as xbd0, the second as xbd1, and so on. However, xm/xl demand a
820: second argument. The name given is converted to a major/minor by
1.49 gdt 821: calling stat(2) on the name in /dev and this is passed to the domU.
822: In the general case, the dom0 and domU can be different operating
1.48 gdt 823: systems, and it is an unwarranted assumption that they have consistent
824: numbering in /dev, or even that the dom0 OS has a /dev. With NetBSD
825: as both dom0 and domU, using values of 0x0 for the first disk and 0x1
1.49 gdt 826: for the second works fine and avoids this issue. For a GNU/Linux
827: guest, one can create /dev/hda1 in /dev, or to pass 0x301 for
828: /dev/hda1.
1.48 gdt 829:
830: The third element is "w" for writable disks, and "r" for read-only
831: disks.
1.28 gdt 832:
1.127 gdt 833: Note that NetBSD by default creates only vnd[0123]. If you need more
834: than 4 total virtual disks at a time, run e.g. "./MAKEDEV vnd4" in the
835: dom0.
836:
837: Note that NetBSD by default creates only xbd[0123]. If you need more
838: virtual disks in a domU, run e.g. "./MAKEDEV xbd4" in the domU.
839:
1.28 gdt 840: Virtual Networking
841: ------------------
842:
1.111 wiz 843: Xen provides virtual Ethernets, each of which connects the dom0 and a
1.46 gdt 844: domU. For each virtual network, there is an interface "xvifN.M" in
845: the dom0, and in domU index N, a matching interface xennetM (NetBSD
846: name). The interfaces behave as if there is an Ethernet with two
1.111 wiz 847: adapters connected. From this primitive, one can construct various
1.46 gdt 848: configurations. We focus on two common and useful cases for which
849: there are existing scripts: bridging and NAT.
1.28 gdt 850:
1.48 gdt 851: With bridging (in the example above), the domU perceives itself to be
852: on the same network as the dom0. For server virtualization, this is
853: usually best. Bridging is accomplished by creating a bridge(4) device
854: and adding the dom0's physical interface and the various xvifN.0
855: interfaces to the bridge. One specifies "bridge=bridge0" in the domU
856: config file. The bridge must be set up already in the dom0; an
857: example /etc/ifconfig.bridge0 is:
1.46 gdt 858:
859: create
860: up
861: !brconfig bridge0 add wm0
1.28 gdt 862:
863: With NAT, the domU perceives itself to be behind a NAT running on the
864: dom0. This is often appropriate when running Xen on a workstation.
1.48 gdt 865: TODO: NAT appears to be configured by "vif = [ '' ]".
1.28 gdt 866:
1.49 gdt 867: The MAC address specified is the one used for the interface in the new
1.53 gdt 868: domain. The interface in dom0 will use this address XOR'd with
1.49 gdt 869: 00:00:00:01:00:00. Random MAC addresses are assigned if not given.
870:
1.33 gdt 871: Sizing domains
872: --------------
873:
874: Modern x86 hardware has vast amounts of resources. However, many
875: virtual servers can function just fine on far less. A system with
876: 256M of RAM and a 4G disk can be a reasonable choice. Note that it is
877: far easier to adjust virtual resources than physical ones. For
878: memory, it's just a config file edit and a reboot. For disk, one can
879: create a new file and vnconfig it (or lvm), and then dump/restore,
880: just like updating physical disks, but without having to be there and
881: without those pesky connectors.
882:
1.48 gdt 883: Starting domains automatically
884: ------------------------------
1.28 gdt 885:
1.48 gdt 886: To start domains foo at bar at boot and shut them down cleanly on dom0
887: shutdown, in rc.conf add:
1.28 gdt 888:
1.48 gdt 889: xendomains="foo bar"
1.28 gdt 890:
1.111 wiz 891: Note that earlier versions of the xentools41 xendomains rc.d script
892: used xl, when one should use xm with 4.1.
1.28 gdt 893:
894: Creating specific unprivileged domains (domU)
895: =============================================
1.14 gdt 896:
897: Creating domUs is almost entirely independent of operating system. We
1.49 gdt 898: have already presented the basics of config files. Note that you must
899: have already completed the dom0 setup so that "xl list" (or "xm list")
900: works.
1.14 gdt 901:
902: Creating an unprivileged NetBSD domain (domU)
903: ---------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 904:
1.49 gdt 905: See the earlier config file, and adjust memory. Decide on how much
906: storage you will provide, and prepare it (file or lvm).
907:
1.111 wiz 908: While the kernel will be obtained from the dom0 file system, the same
1.49 gdt 909: file should be present in the domU as /netbsd so that tools like
910: savecore(8) can work. (This is helpful but not necessary.)
911:
912: The kernel must be specifically for Xen and for use as a domU. The
913: i386 and amd64 provide the following kernels:
914:
915: i386 XEN3_DOMU
916: i386 XEN3PAE_DOMU
1.95 gdt 917: amd64 XEN3_DOMU
1.5 mspo 918:
1.49 gdt 919: Unless using Xen 3.1 (and you shouldn't) with i386-mode Xen, you must
920: use the PAE version of the i386 kernel.
921:
922: This will boot NetBSD, but this is not that useful if the disk is
923: empty. One approach is to unpack sets onto the disk outside of xen
924: (by mounting it, just as you would prepare a physical disk for a
925: system you can't run the installer on).
926:
927: A second approach is to run an INSTALL kernel, which has a miniroot
928: and can load sets from the network. To do this, copy the INSTALL
929: kernel to / and change the kernel line in the config file to:
1.5 mspo 930:
1.49 gdt 931: kernel = "/home/bouyer/netbsd-INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU"
1.5 mspo 932:
1.49 gdt 933: Then, start the domain as "xl create -c configname".
1.1 mspo 934:
1.49 gdt 935: Alternatively, if you want to install NetBSD/Xen with a CDROM image, the following
936: line should be used in the config file.
1.1 mspo 937:
1.3 mspo 938: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w', 'phy:/dev/cd0a,0x2,r' ]
1.1 mspo 939:
940: After booting the domain, the option to install via CDROM may be
1.49 gdt 941: selected. The CDROM device should be changed to `xbd1d`.
1.1 mspo 942:
1.49 gdt 943: Once done installing, "halt -p" the new domain (don't reboot or halt,
944: it would reload the INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU kernel even if you changed the
945: config file), switch the config file back to the XEN3_DOMU kernel,
946: and start the new domain again. Now it should be able to use "root on
947: xbd0a" and you should have a, functional NetBSD domU.
1.1 mspo 948:
1.49 gdt 949: TODO: check if this is still accurate.
1.1 mspo 950: When the new domain is booting you'll see some warnings about *wscons*
951: and the pseudo-terminals. These can be fixed by editing the files
1.5 mspo 952: `/etc/ttys` and `/etc/wscons.conf`. You must disable all terminals in
953: `/etc/ttys`, except *console*, like this:
1.1 mspo 954:
1.3 mspo 955: console "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt100 on secure
956: ttyE0 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
957: ttyE1 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
958: ttyE2 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
959: ttyE3 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
1.1 mspo 960:
1.5 mspo 961: Finally, all screens must be commented out from `/etc/wscons.conf`.
1.1 mspo 962:
963: It is also desirable to add
964:
1.49 gdt 965: powerd=YES
1.1 mspo 966:
1.5 mspo 967: in rc.conf. This way, the domain will be properly shut down if
1.53 gdt 968: `xm shutdown -R` or `xm shutdown -H` is used on the dom0.
1.1 mspo 969:
1.92 gdt 970: It is not strictly necessary to have a kernel (as /netbsd) in the domU
1.111 wiz 971: file system. However, various programs (e.g. netstat) will use that
1.92 gdt 972: kernel to look up symbols to read from kernel virtual memory. If
973: /netbsd is not the running kernel, those lookups will fail. (This is
974: not really a Xen-specific issue, but because the domU kernel is
975: obtained from the dom0, it is far more likely to be out of sync or
976: missing with Xen.)
977:
1.14 gdt 978: Creating an unprivileged Linux domain (domU)
1.5 mspo 979: --------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 980:
981: Creating unprivileged Linux domains isn't much different from
982: unprivileged NetBSD domains, but there are some details to know.
983:
984: First, the second parameter passed to the disk declaration (the '0x1' in
985: the example below)
986:
1.3 mspo 987: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w' ]
1.1 mspo 988:
989: does matter to Linux. It wants a Linux device number here (e.g. 0x300
1.49 gdt 990: for hda). Linux builds device numbers as: (major \<\< 8 + minor).
991: So, hda1 which has major 3 and minor 1 on a Linux system will have
992: device number 0x301. Alternatively, devices names can be used (hda,
993: hdb, ...) as xentools has a table to map these names to devices
994: numbers. To export a partition to a Linux guest we can use:
1.1 mspo 995:
1.49 gdt 996: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x300,w' ]
997: root = "/dev/hda1 ro"
1.1 mspo 998:
999: and it will appear as /dev/hda on the Linux system, and be used as root
1000: partition.
1001:
1.49 gdt 1002: To install the Linux system on the partition to be exported to the
1003: guest domain, the following method can be used: install
1004: sysutils/e2fsprogs from pkgsrc. Use mke2fs to format the partition
1005: that will be the root partition of your Linux domain, and mount it.
1006: Then copy the files from a working Linux system, make adjustments in
1007: `/etc` (fstab, network config). It should also be possible to extract
1008: binary packages such as .rpm or .deb directly to the mounted partition
1009: using the appropriate tool, possibly running under NetBSD's Linux
1.111 wiz 1010: emulation. Once the file system has been populated, umount it. If
1011: desirable, the file system can be converted to ext3 using tune2fs -j.
1.49 gdt 1012: It should now be possible to boot the Linux guest domain, using one of
1013: the vmlinuz-\*-xenU kernels available in the Xen binary distribution.
1.1 mspo 1014:
1.111 wiz 1015: To get the Linux console right, you need to add:
1.1 mspo 1016:
1.3 mspo 1017: extra = "xencons=tty1"
1.1 mspo 1018:
1.111 wiz 1019: to your configuration since not all Linux distributions auto-attach a
1.1 mspo 1020: tty to the xen console.
1021:
1.14 gdt 1022: Creating an unprivileged Solaris domain (domU)
1.5 mspo 1023: ----------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 1024:
1.50 gdt 1025: See possibly outdated
1026: [Solaris domU instructions](/ports/xen/howto-solaris/).
1.5 mspo 1027:
1.1 mspo 1028:
1.52 gdt 1029: PCI passthrough: Using PCI devices in guest domains
1030: ---------------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 1031:
1.53 gdt 1032: The dom0 can give other domains access to selected PCI
1.52 gdt 1033: devices. This can allow, for example, a non-privileged domain to have
1034: access to a physical network interface or disk controller. However,
1035: keep in mind that giving a domain access to a PCI device most likely
1036: will give the domain read/write access to the whole physical memory,
1037: as PCs don't have an IOMMU to restrict memory access to DMA-capable
1.53 gdt 1038: device. Also, it's not possible to export ISA devices to non-dom0
1.52 gdt 1039: domains, which means that the primary VGA adapter can't be exported.
1040: A guest domain trying to access the VGA registers will panic.
1041:
1.53 gdt 1042: If the dom0 is NetBSD, it has to be running Xen 3.1, as support has
1.52 gdt 1043: not been ported to later versions at this time.
1044:
1045: For a PCI device to be exported to a domU, is has to be attached to
1046: the "pciback" driver in dom0. Devices passed to the dom0 via the
1047: pciback.hide boot parameter will attach to "pciback" instead of the
1048: usual driver. The list of devices is specified as "(bus:dev.func)",
1.5 mspo 1049: where bus and dev are 2-digit hexadecimal numbers, and func a
1050: single-digit number:
1.1 mspo 1051:
1.52 gdt 1052: pciback.hide=(00:0a.0)(00:06.0)
1.1 mspo 1053:
1.52 gdt 1054: pciback devices should show up in the dom0's boot messages, and the
1.5 mspo 1055: devices should be listed in the `/kern/xen/pci` directory.
1.1 mspo 1056:
1.52 gdt 1057: PCI devices to be exported to a domU are listed in the "pci" array of
1058: the domU's config file, with the format "0000:bus:dev.func".
1.1 mspo 1059:
1.52 gdt 1060: pci = [ '0000:00:06.0', '0000:00:0a.0' ]
1.1 mspo 1061:
1.52 gdt 1062: In the domU an "xpci" device will show up, to which one or more pci
1.111 wiz 1063: buses will attach. Then the PCI drivers will attach to PCI buses as
1.52 gdt 1064: usual. Note that the default NetBSD DOMU kernels do not have "xpci"
1065: or any PCI drivers built in by default; you have to build your own
1066: kernel to use PCI devices in a domU. Here's a kernel config example;
1067: note that only the "xpci" lines are unusual.
1068:
1069: include "arch/i386/conf/XEN3_DOMU"
1070:
1.111 wiz 1071: # Add support for PCI buses to the XEN3_DOMU kernel
1.52 gdt 1072: xpci* at xenbus ?
1073: pci* at xpci ?
1074:
1075: # PCI USB controllers
1076: uhci* at pci? dev ? function ? # Universal Host Controller (Intel)
1077:
1078: # USB bus support
1079: usb* at uhci?
1080:
1081: # USB Hubs
1082: uhub* at usb?
1083: uhub* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
1084:
1085: # USB Mass Storage
1086: umass* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
1087: wd* at umass?
1088: # SCSI controllers
1089: ahc* at pci? dev ? function ? # Adaptec [23]94x, aic78x0 SCSI
1090:
1091: # SCSI bus support (for both ahc and umass)
1092: scsibus* at scsi?
1093:
1094: # SCSI devices
1095: sd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI disk drives
1096: cd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI CD-ROM drives
1.1 mspo 1097:
1098:
1.28 gdt 1099: NetBSD as a domU in a VPS
1100: =========================
1101:
1102: The bulk of the HOWTO is about using NetBSD as a dom0 on your own
1103: hardware. This section explains how to deal with Xen in a domU as a
1104: virtual private server where you do not control or have access to the
1.70 gdt 1105: dom0. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of VPS providers;
1106: only a few are mentioned that specifically support NetBSD.
1.28 gdt 1107:
1.52 gdt 1108: VPS operators provide varying degrees of access and mechanisms for
1109: configuration. The big issue is usually how one controls which kernel
1.111 wiz 1110: is booted, because the kernel is nominally in the dom0 file system (to
1111: which VPS users do not normally have access). A second issue is how
1.70 gdt 1112: to install NetBSD.
1.52 gdt 1113: A VPS user may want to compile a kernel for security updates, to run
1114: npf, run IPsec, or any other reason why someone would want to change
1115: their kernel.
1116:
1.111 wiz 1117: One approach is to have an administrative interface to upload a kernel,
1.68 gdt 1118: or to select from a prepopulated list. Other approaches are pygrub
1.59 gdt 1119: (deprecated) and pvgrub, which are ways to have a bootloader obtain a
1.111 wiz 1120: kernel from the domU file system. This is closer to a regular physical
1.59 gdt 1121: computer, where someone who controls a machine can replace the kernel.
1.52 gdt 1122:
1.74 gdt 1123: A second issue is multiple CPUs. With NetBSD 6, domUs support
1124: multiple vcpus, and it is typical for VPS providers to enable multiple
1125: CPUs for NetBSD domUs.
1126:
1.68 gdt 1127: pygrub
1.59 gdt 1128: -------
1.52 gdt 1129:
1.111 wiz 1130: pygrub runs in the dom0 and looks into the domU file system. This
1131: implies that the domU must have a kernel in a file system in a format
1.68 gdt 1132: known to pygrub. As of 2014, pygrub seems to be of mostly historical
1133: interest.
1.52 gdt 1134:
1.59 gdt 1135: pvgrub
1136: ------
1137:
1138: pvgrub is a version of grub that uses PV operations instead of BIOS
1139: calls. It is booted from the dom0 as the domU kernel, and then reads
1.111 wiz 1140: /grub/menu.lst and loads a kernel from the domU file system.
1.59 gdt 1141:
1.70 gdt 1142: [Panix](http://www.panix.com/) lets users use pvgrub. Panix reports
1.71 gdt 1143: that pvgrub works with FFsv2 with 16K/2K and 32K/4K block/frag sizes
1144: (and hence with defaults from "newfs -O 2"). See [Panix's pvgrub
1.70 gdt 1145: page](http://www.panix.com/v-colo/grub.html), which describes only
1.74 gdt 1146: Linux but should be updated to cover NetBSD :-).
1.70 gdt 1147:
1148: [prgmr.com](http://prgmr.com/) also lets users with pvgrub to boot
1149: their own kernel. See then [prgmr.com NetBSD
1.74 gdt 1150: HOWTO](http://wiki.prgmr.com/mediawiki/index.php/NetBSD_as_a_DomU)
1151: (which is in need of updating).
1.59 gdt 1152:
1.70 gdt 1153: It appears that [grub's FFS
1154: code](http://xenbits.xensource.com/hg/xen-unstable.hg/file/bca284f67702/tools/libfsimage/ufs/fsys_ufs.c)
1155: does not support all aspects of modern FFS, but there are also reports
1.72 gdt 1156: that FFSv2 works fine. At prgmr, typically one has an ext2 or FAT
1.70 gdt 1157: partition for the kernel with the intent that grub can understand it,
1158: which leads to /netbsd not being the actual kernel. One must remember
1.111 wiz 1159: to update the special boot partition.
1.59 gdt 1160:
1161: Amazon
1162: ------
1163:
1.95 gdt 1164: See the [Amazon EC2 page](../amazon_ec2/).
1.44 gdt 1165:
1166: Using npf
1167: ---------
1168:
1.81 gdt 1169: In standard kernels, npf is a module, and thus cannot be loaded in a
1.44 gdt 1170: DOMU kernel.
1171:
1.95 gdt 1172: TODO: Explain how to compile npf into a custom kernel, answering (but
1173: note that the problem was caused by not booting the right kernel)
1174: [this email to
1175: netbsd-users](http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/12/26/msg015576.html).
1.65 gdt 1176:
1177: TODO items for improving NetBSD/xen
1178: ===================================
1179:
1.93 gdt 1180: * Make the NetBSD dom0 kernel work with SMP.
1181: * Test the Xen 4.5 packages adequately to be able to recommend them as
1182: the standard approach.
1183: * Get PCI passthrough working on Xen 4.5
1.65 gdt 1184: * Get pvgrub into pkgsrc, either via xentools or separately.
1185: * grub
1.70 gdt 1186: * Check/add support to pkgsrc grub2 for UFS2 and arbitrary
1.66 gdt 1187: fragsize/blocksize (UFS2 support may be present; the point is to
1.111 wiz 1188: make it so that with any UFS1/UFS2 file system setup that works
1.66 gdt 1189: with NetBSD grub will also work).
1.70 gdt 1190: See [pkg/40258](http://gnats.netbsd.org/40258).
1.65 gdt 1191: * Push patches upstream.
1192: * Get UFS2 patches into pvgrub.
1193: * Add support for PV ops to a version of /boot, and make it usable as
1194: a kernel in Xen, similar to pvgrub.
1.93 gdt 1195: * Solve somehow the issue with modules for GENERIC not being loadable
1196: in a Xen dom0 or domU kernel.
1197:
1198: Random pointers
1199: ===============
1200:
1.117 gdt 1201: This section contains links from elsewhere not yet integrated into the
1202: HOWTO, and other guides.
1.93 gdt 1203:
1204: * http://www.lumbercartel.ca/library/xen/
1205: * http://pbraun.nethence.com/doc/sysutils/xen_netbsd_dom0.html
1.117 gdt 1206: * https://gmplib.org/~tege/xen.html

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