Annotation of wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn, revision 1.202
1.201 gdt 1: [[!meta title="Xen HowTo and Status"]]
1.144 maxv 2:
1.157 maxv 3: Xen is a Type 1 hypervisor which supports running multiple guest operating
4: systems on a single physical machine. One uses the Xen kernel to control the
5: CPU, memory and console, a dom0 operating system which mediates access to
6: other hardware (e.g., disks, network, USB), and one or more domU operating
7: systems which operate in an unprivileged virtualized environment. IO requests
8: from the domU systems are forwarded by the Xen hypervisor to the dom0 to be
9: fulfilled.
1.12 gdt 10:
1.182 gdt 11: This HOWTO presumes a basic familiarity with the Xen system
12: architecture, with installing NetBSD on amd64 hardware, and with
13: installing software from pkgsrc. See also the [Xen
14: website](http://www.xenproject.org/).
15:
1.201 gdt 16: This document also provides status on what Xen things work on NetBSD
17: (upstream documentation might say something works if it works on some
18: particular Linux system).
19:
1.182 gdt 20: [[!toc]]
21:
1.183 gdt 22: # Overview
1.182 gdt 23:
24: The basic concept of Xen is that the hypervisor (xenkernel) runs on
25: the hardware, and runs a privileged domain ("dom0") that can access
26: disks/networking/etc. One then runs additonal unprivileged domains
27: (each a "domU"), presumably to do something useful.
28:
29: This HOWTO addresses how to run a NetBSD dom0 (and hence also build
30: xen itself). It also addresses how to run domUs in that environment,
31: and how to deal with having a domU in a Xen environment run by someone
32: else and/or not running NetBSD.
33:
1.186 gdt 34: There are many choices one can make; the HOWTO recommends the standard
35: approach and limits discussion of alternatives in many cases.
36:
1.182 gdt 37: ## Guest Styles
38:
39: Xen supports different styles of guests.
1.149 maxv 40:
41: [[!table data="""
42: Style of guest |Supported by NetBSD
1.150 maxv 43: PV |Yes (dom0, domU)
44: HVM |Yes (domU)
1.171 gdt 45: PVHVM |current-only (domU)
1.180 gdt 46: PVH |current-only (domU, dom0 not yet)
1.149 maxv 47: """]]
48:
49: In Para-Virtualized (PV) mode, the guest OS does not attempt to access
50: hardware directly, but instead makes hypercalls to the hypervisor; PV
1.170 gdt 51: guests must be specifically coded for Xen.
1.182 gdt 52: See [PV](https://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Paravirtualization_(PV\)).
1.170 gdt 53:
54: In HVM mode, no guest modification is required; however, hardware
55: support is required, such as VT-x on Intel CPUs and SVM on AMD CPUs.
1.199 gdt 56: The dom0 runs qemu to emulate hardware. It is therefore non-sensical
57: to have an HVM dom0.
1.170 gdt 58:
1.176 gdt 59: In PVHVM mode, the guest runs as HVM, but additionally can use PV
1.199 gdt 60: drivers for efficiency. Therefore it is non-sensical for to have a
61: PVHVM dom0. See [PV on HVM](https://wiki.xen.org/wiki/PV_on_HVM).
1.170 gdt 62:
1.180 gdt 63: There have been two PVH modes: original PVH and PVHv2. Original PVH
64: was based on PV mode and is no longer relevant at all. PVHv2 is
65: basically lightweight HVM with PV drivers. A critical feature of it
66: is that qemu is not needed; the hypervisor can do the emulation that
67: is required. Thus, a dom0 can be PVHv2.
1.182 gdt 68: The source code uses PVH and config files use pvh; this refers to PVHv2.
69: See [PVH(v2)](https://wiki.xenproject.org/wiki/PVH_(v2\)_Domu).
1.180 gdt 70:
1.182 gdt 71: At system boot, the dom0 kernel is loaded as a module with Xen as the kernel.
1.12 gdt 72: The dom0 can start one or more domUs. (Booting is explained in detail
73: in the dom0 section.)
74:
1.182 gdt 75: ## CPU Architecture
76:
77: Xen runs on x86_64 hardware (the NetBSD amd64 port).
78:
79: There is a concept of Xen running on ARM, but there are no reports of this working with NetBSD.
80:
81: The dom0 system should be amd64. (Instructions for i386PAE dom0 have been removed from the HOWTO.)
1.1 mspo 82:
1.182 gdt 83: The domU can be i386PAE or amd64.
84: i386PAE at one point was considered as [faster](https://lists.xen.org/archives/html/xen-devel/2012-07/msg00085.html) than amd64.
1.150 maxv 85:
1.182 gdt 86: ## Xen Versions
1.15 gdt 87:
1.111 wiz 88: In NetBSD, Xen is provided in pkgsrc, via matching pairs of packages
1.15 gdt 89: xenkernel and xentools. We will refer only to the kernel versions,
90: but note that both packages must be installed together and must have
91: matching versions.
92:
1.145 maxv 93: Versions available in pkgsrc:
1.85 gdt 94:
1.145 maxv 95: [[!table data="""
1.184 gdt 96: Xen Version |Package Name |Xen CPU Support |EOL'ed By Upstream
97: 4.11 |xenkernel411 |x86_64 |No
98: 4.13 |xenkernel413 |x86_64 |No
1.145 maxv 99: """]]
1.113 gdt 100:
1.96 gdt 101: See also the [Xen Security Advisory page](http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/).
102:
1.166 gdt 103: Older Xen had a python-based management tool called xm, now replaced
1.176 gdt 104: by xl.
1.166 gdt 105:
1.183 gdt 106: ## NetBSD versions
107:
108: Xen has been supported in NetBSD for a long time, at least since 2005.
109: Initially Xen was PV only.
110:
111: NetBSD 8 and up support PV and HVM modes.
112:
113: Support for PVHVM and PVH is available only in NetBSD-current.
114:
1.191 gdt 115: NetBSD up to and including NetBSD 9 as a dom0 does not run SMP,
116: because some drivers are not yet safe for this. NetBSD-current
117: supports SMP in dom0.
1.185 gdt 118:
119: NetBSD, when run as a domU, can and does typically run SMP.
120:
1.191 gdt 121: Note that while Xen 4.13 is current, the kernel support is still
122: called XEN3, because the hypercall interface has not changed
123: significantly.
1.185 gdt 124:
1.187 gdt 125: # Creating a NetBSD dom0
1.15 gdt 126:
1.191 gdt 127: In order to install a NetBSD as a dom0, one first installs a normal
128: NetBSD system, and then pivot the install to a dom0 install by
129: changing the kernel and boot configuration.
1.15 gdt 130:
1.142 gdt 131: In 2018-05, trouble booting a dom0 was reported with 256M of RAM: with
132: 512M it worked reliably. This does not make sense, but if you see
133: "not ELF" after Xen boots, try increasing dom0 RAM.
134:
1.181 gdt 135: ## Installation of NetBSD
1.13 gdt 136:
1.191 gdt 137: [Install NetBSD/amd64](/guide/inst/) just as you would if you were not
138: using Xen. Therefore, use the most recent release, or a build from
139: the most recent stable branch. Alternatively, use -current, being
140: mindful of all the usual caveats of lower stability of current, and
141: likely a bit more so.
1.1 mspo 142:
1.181 gdt 143: ## Installation of Xen
1.1 mspo 144:
1.191 gdt 145: ### Building Xen
146:
1.187 gdt 147: Use the most recent version of Xen in pkgsrc, unless the DESCR says that it is not suitable.
1.186 gdt 148: Therefore, choose 4.13.
149: In the dom0, install xenkernel413 and xentools413 from pkgsrc.
1.155 maxv 150:
1.186 gdt 151: Once this is done, copy the Xen kernel from where pkgsrc puts it to
152: where the boot process will be able to find it:
1.155 maxv 153:
154: [[!template id=programlisting text="""
1.186 gdt 155: # cp -p /usr/pkg/xen413-kernel/xen.gz /
1.155 maxv 156: """]]
157:
1.191 gdt 158: Then, place a NetBSD XEN3_DOM0 kernel in the `/` directory. Such
159: kernel can either be taken from a local release build.sh run, compiled
160: manually, or downloaded from the NetBSD FTP, for example at:
1.159 maxv 161:
162: [[!template id=programlisting text="""
1.186 gdt 163: ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-9.1/amd64/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz
1.159 maxv 164: """]]
1.20 gdt 165:
1.191 gdt 166: ### Configuring booting
167:
1.198 gdt 168: Read boot.cfg(8) carefully. Add lines to /boot.cfg to boot Xen,
169: adjusting for your root filesystem:
1.20 gdt 170:
1.157 maxv 171: [[!template id=filecontent name="/boot.cfg" text="""
1.198 gdt 172: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz root=wd0a console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=512M
173: menu=Xen single user:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz root=wd0a console=pc -s;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=512M
1.152 maxv 174: """]]
1.20 gdt 175:
1.159 maxv 176: This specifies that the dom0 should have 512MB of ram, leaving the rest
1.187 gdt 177: to be allocated for domUs.
178:
1.191 gdt 179: NB: This says add, not replace, so that you will be able to more
180: easily boot a NetBSD kernel without Xen. Once Xen boots ok, you may
181: want to set it as default. It is highly likely that you will have
182: trouble at some point, and keeping an up-to-date GENERIC for use in
183: fixing problems is the standard prudent approach.
184:
1.194 gdt 185: \todo Explain why rndseed is not set with Xen as part of the dom0
186: subconfiguration.
187:
1.198 gdt 188: Note that you are likely to have to set root= because the boot device
189: from /boot is not passed via Xen to the dom0 kernel. With one disk,
190: it will work, but e.g. plugging in USB disk to a machine with root on
191: wd0a causes boot to fail.
192:
1.195 gdt 193: Beware that userconf statements must be attached to the dom0 load, and
194: may not be at top-level, because then they would try to configure the
195: hypervisor, if there is a way to pass them via multiboot . It appears
196: that adding `userconf=pckbc` to `/boot.cfg` causes Xen to crash very
197: early with a heap overflow.
198:
1.191 gdt 199: ### Console selection
200:
201: See boot_console(8). Understand that you should start from a place of
202: having console setup correct for booting GENERIC before trying to
203: configure Xen.
204:
1.193 gdt 205: Generally for GENERIC, one sets the console in bootxx_ffsv1 or
206: equivalent, and this is passed on to /boot (where one typically does
207: not set the console). This configuration of bootxx_ffsv1 should also
208: be in place for Xen systems, to allow seeing messages from /boot and
209: use of a keyboard to select a line from the menu. And, one should
210: have a working boot path to GENERIC for rescue situations.
211:
212: With GENERIC, the boot options are passed on to /netbsd, but there is
213: currently no mechanism to pass these via multiboot to the hypervisor.
214: Thus, in addition to configuring the console in the boot blocks, one
215: must also configure it for Xen.
216:
217: By default, the hypervisor (Xen itself) will use some sort of vga
218: device as the console, much like GENERIC uses by default. The vga
219: console is relinquished at the conclusion of hypervisor boot, before
1.194 gdt 220: the dom0 is started. Xen when using a vga console does not process
221: console input.
1.77 gdt 222:
1.193 gdt 223: The hypervisor can be configured to use a serial port console, e.g.
1.157 maxv 224: [[!template id=filecontent name="/boot.cfg" text="""
1.202 ! gson 225: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=com0;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=512M console=com1 com1=9600,8n1
1.152 maxv 226: """]]
1.194 gdt 227: This example uses the first serial port (Xen counts from 1; this is
1.193 gdt 228: what NetBSD would call com0), and sets speed and parity. (The dom0 is
229: then configured to use the same serial port in this example.)
230:
1.194 gdt 231: With the hypervisor configured for a serial console, it can get input,
232: and there is a notion of passing this input to the dom0. \todo
233: Explain why, if Xen has a serial console, the dom0 console is
234: typically also configured to open that same serial port, instead of
235: getting the passthrough input via the xen console.
236:
1.193 gdt 237: One also configures the console for the dom0. While one might expect
238: console=pc to be default, following behavior of GENERIC, a hasty read
239: of the code suggests there is no default and booting without a
240: selected console might lead to a panic. Also, there is merit in
241: explicit configuration. Therefore the standard approach is to place
242: console=pc as part of the load statement for the dom0 kernel, or
243: alternatively console=com0.
244:
245: The NetBSD dom0 kernel will attach xencons(4) (the man page does not
246: exist), but this is not used as a console. It is used to obtain the
247: messages from the hypervisor's console; run `xl dmesg` to see them.
1.191 gdt 248:
249: ### Tuning
250:
1.157 maxv 251: In an attempt to add performance, one can also add `dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin`,
1.37 gdt 252: to force only one vcpu to be provided (since NetBSD dom0 can't use
1.158 maxv 253: more) and to pin that vcpu to a physical CPU. Xen has
1.178 gdt 254: [many boot options](http://xenbits.xenproject.org/docs/4.13-testing/misc/xen-command-line.html),
1.111 wiz 255: and other than dom0 memory and max_vcpus, they are generally not
1.93 gdt 256: necessary.
1.191 gdt 257: \todo Revisit this advice with current.
258: \todo Explain if anyone has ever actually measured that this helps.
259:
260: ### rc.conf
1.93 gdt 261:
1.186 gdt 262: Ensure that the boot scripts installed in
263: `/usr/pkg/share/examples/rc.d` are in `/etc/rc.d`, either because you
264: have `PKG_RCD_SCRIPTS=yes`, or manually. (This is not special to Xen,
265: but a normal part of pkgsrc usage.)
1.159 maxv 266:
1.186 gdt 267: Set `xencommons=YES` in rc.conf:
1.31 gdt 268:
1.157 maxv 269: [[!template id=filecontent name="/etc/rc.conf" text="""
1.152 maxv 270: xencommons=YES
271: """]]
1.31 gdt 272:
1.187 gdt 273: \todo Recommend for/against xen-watchdog.
274:
1.191 gdt 275: ### Testing
276:
1.158 maxv 277: Now, reboot so that you are running a DOM0 kernel under Xen, rather
278: than GENERIC without Xen.
1.157 maxv 279:
1.158 maxv 280: Once the reboot is done, use `xl` to inspect Xen's boot messages,
1.157 maxv 281: available resources, and running domains. For example:
1.34 gdt 282:
1.153 maxv 283: [[!template id=programlisting text="""
284: # xl dmesg
285: ... xen's boot info ...
286: # xl info
287: ... available memory, etc ...
288: # xl list
289: Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console
290: Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1
291: """]]
292:
293: Xen logs will be in /var/log/xen.
1.33 gdt 294:
1.88 gdt 295: ### Issues with xencommons
296:
1.157 maxv 297: `xencommons` starts `xenstored`, which stores data on behalf of dom0 and
1.88 gdt 298: domUs. It does not currently work to stop and start xenstored.
299: Certainly all domUs should be shutdown first, following the sort order
300: of the rc.d scripts. However, the dom0 sets up state with xenstored,
301: and is not notified when xenstored exits, leading to not recreating
302: the state when the new xenstored starts. Until there's a mechanism to
303: make this work, one should not expect to be able to restart xenstored
304: (and thus xencommons). There is currently no reason to expect that
305: this will get fixed any time soon.
1.187 gdt 306: \todo Confirm if this is still true in 2020.
1.82 gdt 307:
1.181 gdt 308: ## Xen-specific NetBSD issues
1.40 gdt 309:
310: There are (at least) two additional things different about NetBSD as a
311: dom0 kernel compared to hardware.
312:
1.191 gdt 313: One is that through NetBSD 9 the module ABI is different because some
314: of the #defines change, so there are separate sets of modules in
315: /stand. In NetBSD-current, there is only one set of modules.
1.40 gdt 316:
317: The other difference is that XEN3_DOM0 does not have exactly the same
318: options as GENERIC. While it is debatable whether or not this is a
319: bug, users should be aware of this and can simply add missing config
320: items if desired.
321:
1.187 gdt 322: Finally, there have been occasional reports of trouble with X11
323: servers in NetBSD as a dom0.
324:
325: ## Updating Xen in a dom0
326:
327: Basically, update the xenkernel and xentools packages and copy the new
328: Xen kernel into place, and reboot. This procedure should be usable to
329: update to a new Xen release, but the reader is reminded that having a
330: non-Xen boot methods was recommended earlier.
331:
1.181 gdt 332: ## Updating NetBSD in a dom0
1.15 gdt 333:
334: This is just like updating NetBSD on bare hardware, assuming the new
335: version supports the version of Xen you are running. Generally, one
336: replaces the kernel and reboots, and then overlays userland binaries
1.157 maxv 337: and adjusts `/etc`.
1.15 gdt 338:
1.191 gdt 339: Note that one should update both the non-Xen kernel typically used for
340: rescue purposes, as well as the DOM0 kernel used with Xen.
1.15 gdt 341:
1.187 gdt 342: ## anita (for testing NetBSD)
343:
344: With a NetBSD dom0, even without any domUs, one should be able to run
345: anita (see pkgsrc/misc/py-anita) to test NetBSD releases, by doing (as
346: root, because anita must create a domU):
347:
348: [[!template id=programlisting text="""
349: anita --vmm=xl test file:///usr/obj/i386/
350: """]]
351:
352: # Unprivileged domains (domU)
1.28 gdt 353:
354: This section describes general concepts about domUs. It does not
1.33 gdt 355: address specific domU operating systems or how to install them. The
1.157 maxv 356: config files for domUs are typically in `/usr/pkg/etc/xen`, and are
1.60 wiki 357: typically named so that the file name, domU name and the domU's host
1.33 gdt 358: name match.
359:
1.111 wiz 360: The domU is provided with CPU and memory by Xen, configured by the
1.33 gdt 361: dom0. The domU is provided with disk and network by the dom0,
362: mediated by Xen, and configured in the dom0.
363:
364: Entropy in domUs can be an issue; physical disks and network are on
365: the dom0. NetBSD's /dev/random system works, but is often challenged.
366:
1.181 gdt 367: ## Config files
1.48 gdt 368:
1.200 gdt 369: See /usr/pkg/share/examples/xen/xlexample* for a very small number of
370: examples for running GNU/Linux.
1.48 gdt 371:
1.157 maxv 372: The following is an example minimal domain configuration file. The domU
373: serves as a network file server.
374:
375: [[!template id=filecontent name="/usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo" text="""
376: name = "domU-id"
377: kernel = "/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOMU-i386-foo.gz"
378: memory = 1024
379: vif = [ 'mac=aa:00:00:d1:00:09,bridge=bridge0' ]
380: disk = [ 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd0,0x0,w',
381: 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd1,0x1,w' ]
382: """]]
1.48 gdt 383:
1.157 maxv 384: The domain will have name given in the `name` setting. The kernel has the
1.48 gdt 385: host/domU name in it, so that on the dom0 one can update the various
1.157 maxv 386: domUs independently. The `vif` line causes an interface to be provided,
1.48 gdt 387: with a specific mac address (do not reuse MAC addresses!), in bridge
388: mode. Two disks are provided, and they are both writable; the bits
389: are stored in files and Xen attaches them to a vnd(4) device in the
1.111 wiz 390: dom0 on domain creation. The system treats xbd0 as the boot device
1.48 gdt 391: without needing explicit configuration.
392:
1.200 gdt 393: There is not type line; that implicitly defines a pv domU. Otherwise,
394: one sets type to the lower-case version of the domU type in the table
1.201 gdt 395: above, e.g. `type = "hvm"`.
1.187 gdt 396:
1.163 gson 397: By convention, domain config files are kept in `/usr/pkg/etc/xen`. Note
1.157 maxv 398: that "xl create" takes the name of a config file, while other commands
399: take the name of a domain.
400:
401: Examples of commands:
1.48 gdt 402:
1.157 maxv 403: [[!template id=programlisting text="""
1.163 gson 404: xl create /usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo
405: xl console domU-id
406: xl create -c /usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo
407: xl shutdown domU-id
1.157 maxv 408: xl list
409: """]]
410:
411: Typing `^]` will exit the console session. Shutting down a domain is
1.48 gdt 412: equivalent to pushing the power button; a NetBSD domU will receive a
413: power-press event and do a clean shutdown. Shutting down the dom0
414: will trigger controlled shutdowns of all configured domUs.
415:
1.181 gdt 416: ## CPU and memory
1.33 gdt 417:
1.169 plunky 418: A domain is provided with some number of vcpus, up to the number
1.157 maxv 419: of CPUs seen by the hypervisor. For a domU, it is controlled
1.48 gdt 420: from the config file by the "vcpus = N" directive.
421:
422: A domain is provided with memory; this is controlled in the config
423: file by "memory = N" (in megabytes). In the straightforward case, the
424: sum of the the memory allocated to the dom0 and all domUs must be less
1.33 gdt 425: than the available memory.
426:
1.197 gdt 427: ## Balloon driver
428:
429: Xen provides a `balloon` driver, which can be used to let domains use
430: more memory temporarily.
431:
432: \todo Explain how to set up a aystem to use the balloon scheme in a
433: useful manner.
1.28 gdt 434:
1.181 gdt 435: ## Virtual disks
1.28 gdt 436:
1.158 maxv 437: In domU config files, the disks are defined as a sequence of 3-tuples:
438:
439: * The first element is "method:/path/to/disk". Common methods are
1.162 gutterid 440: "file:" for a file-backed vnd, and "phy:" for something that is already
441: a device, such as an LVM logical volume.
1.158 maxv 442:
443: * The second element is an artifact of how virtual disks are passed to
444: Linux, and a source of confusion with NetBSD Xen usage. Linux domUs
445: are given a device name to associate with the disk, and values like
446: "hda1" or "sda1" are common. In a NetBSD domU, the first disk appears
447: as xbd0, the second as xbd1, and so on. However, xl demands a
448: second argument. The name given is converted to a major/minor by
449: calling stat(2) on the name in /dev and this is passed to the domU.
450: In the general case, the dom0 and domU can be different operating
451: systems, and it is an unwarranted assumption that they have consistent
452: numbering in /dev, or even that the dom0 OS has a /dev. With NetBSD
453: as both dom0 and domU, using values of 0x0 for the first disk and 0x1
454: for the second works fine and avoids this issue. For a GNU/Linux
455: guest, one can create /dev/hda1 in /dev, or to pass 0x301 for
456: /dev/hda1.
1.48 gdt 457:
1.158 maxv 458: * The third element is "w" for writable disks, and "r" for read-only
459: disks.
460:
461: Example:
462: [[!template id=filecontent name="/usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo" text="""
463: disk = [ 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd0,0x0,w' ]
464: """]]
1.28 gdt 465:
1.127 gdt 466: Note that NetBSD by default creates only vnd[0123]. If you need more
467: than 4 total virtual disks at a time, run e.g. "./MAKEDEV vnd4" in the
468: dom0.
469:
1.187 gdt 470: ## Virtual Networking
1.28 gdt 471:
1.111 wiz 472: Xen provides virtual Ethernets, each of which connects the dom0 and a
1.46 gdt 473: domU. For each virtual network, there is an interface "xvifN.M" in
1.158 maxv 474: the dom0, and a matching interface xennetM (NetBSD name) in domU index N.
475: The interfaces behave as if there is an Ethernet with two
1.111 wiz 476: adapters connected. From this primitive, one can construct various
1.46 gdt 477: configurations. We focus on two common and useful cases for which
478: there are existing scripts: bridging and NAT.
1.28 gdt 479:
1.48 gdt 480: With bridging (in the example above), the domU perceives itself to be
481: on the same network as the dom0. For server virtualization, this is
482: usually best. Bridging is accomplished by creating a bridge(4) device
483: and adding the dom0's physical interface and the various xvifN.0
484: interfaces to the bridge. One specifies "bridge=bridge0" in the domU
485: config file. The bridge must be set up already in the dom0; an
486: example /etc/ifconfig.bridge0 is:
1.46 gdt 487:
1.157 maxv 488: [[!template id=filecontent name="/etc/ifconfig.bridge0" text="""
489: create
490: up
491: !brconfig bridge0 add wm0
492: """]]
1.28 gdt 493:
494: With NAT, the domU perceives itself to be behind a NAT running on the
495: dom0. This is often appropriate when running Xen on a workstation.
1.48 gdt 496: TODO: NAT appears to be configured by "vif = [ '' ]".
1.28 gdt 497:
1.49 gdt 498: The MAC address specified is the one used for the interface in the new
1.53 gdt 499: domain. The interface in dom0 will use this address XOR'd with
1.49 gdt 500: 00:00:00:01:00:00. Random MAC addresses are assigned if not given.
501:
1.187 gdt 502: ## Starting domains automatically
1.28 gdt 503:
1.158 maxv 504: To start domains `domU-netbsd` and `domU-linux` at boot and shut them
505: down cleanly on dom0 shutdown, add the following in rc.conf:
1.28 gdt 506:
1.158 maxv 507: [[!template id=filecontent name="/etc/rc.conf" text="""
508: xendomains="domU-netbsd domU-linux"
509: """]]
1.28 gdt 510:
1.188 gdt 511: # domU setup for specific systems
1.14 gdt 512:
513: Creating domUs is almost entirely independent of operating system. We
1.188 gdt 514: have already presented the basics of config files in the previous system.
515:
516: Of course, this section presumes that you have a working dom0.
1.14 gdt 517:
1.187 gdt 518: ## Creating a NetBSD PV domU
519:
1.49 gdt 520: See the earlier config file, and adjust memory. Decide on how much
1.162 gutterid 521: storage you will provide, and prepare it (file or LVM).
1.49 gdt 522:
1.111 wiz 523: While the kernel will be obtained from the dom0 file system, the same
1.49 gdt 524: file should be present in the domU as /netbsd so that tools like
525: savecore(8) can work. (This is helpful but not necessary.)
526:
1.188 gdt 527: The kernel must be specifically built for Xen, to use PV interfacesas
528: a domU. NetBSD release builds provide the following kernels:
1.49 gdt 529:
530: i386 XEN3PAE_DOMU
1.95 gdt 531: amd64 XEN3_DOMU
1.5 mspo 532:
1.49 gdt 533: This will boot NetBSD, but this is not that useful if the disk is
1.188 gdt 534: empty. One approach is to unpack sets onto the disk outside of Xen
1.49 gdt 535: (by mounting it, just as you would prepare a physical disk for a
536: system you can't run the installer on).
537:
538: A second approach is to run an INSTALL kernel, which has a miniroot
539: and can load sets from the network. To do this, copy the INSTALL
540: kernel to / and change the kernel line in the config file to:
1.5 mspo 541:
1.49 gdt 542: kernel = "/home/bouyer/netbsd-INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU"
1.5 mspo 543:
1.163 gson 544: Then, start the domain as "xl create -c configfile".
1.1 mspo 545:
1.49 gdt 546: Alternatively, if you want to install NetBSD/Xen with a CDROM image, the following
547: line should be used in the config file.
1.1 mspo 548:
1.3 mspo 549: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w', 'phy:/dev/cd0a,0x2,r' ]
1.1 mspo 550:
551: After booting the domain, the option to install via CDROM may be
1.49 gdt 552: selected. The CDROM device should be changed to `xbd1d`.
1.1 mspo 553:
1.188 gdt 554: Once done installing, "halt -p" the new domain (don't reboot or halt:
1.49 gdt 555: it would reload the INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU kernel even if you changed the
556: config file), switch the config file back to the XEN3_DOMU kernel,
557: and start the new domain again. Now it should be able to use "root on
1.188 gdt 558: xbd0a" and you should have a functional NetBSD domU.
1.1 mspo 559:
1.49 gdt 560: TODO: check if this is still accurate.
1.1 mspo 561: When the new domain is booting you'll see some warnings about *wscons*
562: and the pseudo-terminals. These can be fixed by editing the files
1.5 mspo 563: `/etc/ttys` and `/etc/wscons.conf`. You must disable all terminals in
564: `/etc/ttys`, except *console*, like this:
1.1 mspo 565:
1.3 mspo 566: console "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt100 on secure
567: ttyE0 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
568: ttyE1 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
569: ttyE2 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
570: ttyE3 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
1.1 mspo 571:
1.5 mspo 572: Finally, all screens must be commented out from `/etc/wscons.conf`.
1.1 mspo 573:
1.192 gdt 574: One should also run `powerd` in a domU, but this should not need
575: configuring. With powerd, the domain will run a controlled shutdown
576: if `xl shutdown -R` or `xl shutdown -H` is used on the dom0, via
577: receiving a synthetic `power button pressed` signal. In 9 and
578: current, `powerd` is run by default under Xen kernels (or if ACPI is
579: present), and it can be added to rc.conf if not.
1.1 mspo 580:
1.92 gdt 581: It is not strictly necessary to have a kernel (as /netbsd) in the domU
1.111 wiz 582: file system. However, various programs (e.g. netstat) will use that
1.92 gdt 583: kernel to look up symbols to read from kernel virtual memory. If
584: /netbsd is not the running kernel, those lookups will fail. (This is
585: not really a Xen-specific issue, but because the domU kernel is
586: obtained from the dom0, it is far more likely to be out of sync or
587: missing with Xen.)
588:
1.187 gdt 589: Note that NetBSD by default creates only xbd[0123]. If you need more
590: virtual disks in a domU, run e.g. "./MAKEDEV xbd4" in the domU.
591:
1.196 gdt 592: ## Creating a Linux PV domU
1.1 mspo 593:
594: Creating unprivileged Linux domains isn't much different from
595: unprivileged NetBSD domains, but there are some details to know.
596:
597: First, the second parameter passed to the disk declaration (the '0x1' in
598: the example below)
599:
1.3 mspo 600: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w' ]
1.1 mspo 601:
602: does matter to Linux. It wants a Linux device number here (e.g. 0x300
1.49 gdt 603: for hda). Linux builds device numbers as: (major \<\< 8 + minor).
604: So, hda1 which has major 3 and minor 1 on a Linux system will have
605: device number 0x301. Alternatively, devices names can be used (hda,
606: hdb, ...) as xentools has a table to map these names to devices
607: numbers. To export a partition to a Linux guest we can use:
1.1 mspo 608:
1.49 gdt 609: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x300,w' ]
610: root = "/dev/hda1 ro"
1.1 mspo 611:
612: and it will appear as /dev/hda on the Linux system, and be used as root
613: partition.
614:
1.49 gdt 615: To install the Linux system on the partition to be exported to the
616: guest domain, the following method can be used: install
617: sysutils/e2fsprogs from pkgsrc. Use mke2fs to format the partition
618: that will be the root partition of your Linux domain, and mount it.
619: Then copy the files from a working Linux system, make adjustments in
620: `/etc` (fstab, network config). It should also be possible to extract
621: binary packages such as .rpm or .deb directly to the mounted partition
622: using the appropriate tool, possibly running under NetBSD's Linux
1.111 wiz 623: emulation. Once the file system has been populated, umount it. If
624: desirable, the file system can be converted to ext3 using tune2fs -j.
1.49 gdt 625: It should now be possible to boot the Linux guest domain, using one of
626: the vmlinuz-\*-xenU kernels available in the Xen binary distribution.
1.1 mspo 627:
1.111 wiz 628: To get the Linux console right, you need to add:
1.1 mspo 629:
1.3 mspo 630: extra = "xencons=tty1"
1.1 mspo 631:
1.111 wiz 632: to your configuration since not all Linux distributions auto-attach a
1.1 mspo 633: tty to the xen console.
634:
1.180 gdt 635: ## Creating a NetBSD HVM domU
636:
1.196 gdt 637: Use type='hvm', probably. Use a GENERIC kernel within the disk image.
1.180 gdt 638:
639: ## Creating a NetBSD PVH domU
640:
1.196 gdt 641: This only works with a current kernel in the domU.
1.180 gdt 642:
1.196 gdt 643: Use type='pvh'. Probably, use a GENERIC kernel within the disk image,
644: which in current has PV support.
645:
646: \todo Verify.
647:
648: \todo Verify if one can have current PVH domU on a 9 dom0.
1.180 gdt 649:
1.187 gdt 650: ## Creating a Solaris domU
1.1 mspo 651:
1.50 gdt 652: See possibly outdated
653: [Solaris domU instructions](/ports/xen/howto-solaris/).
1.5 mspo 654:
1.187 gdt 655: ## PCI passthrough: Using PCI devices in guest domains
1.1 mspo 656:
1.180 gdt 657: NB: PCI passthrough only works on some Xen versions and as of 2020 it
1.196 gdt 658: is not clear that it works on any version in pkgsrc. \todo Reports
1.180 gdt 659: confirming or denying this notion should be sent to port-xen@.
660:
1.53 gdt 661: The dom0 can give other domains access to selected PCI
1.52 gdt 662: devices. This can allow, for example, a non-privileged domain to have
663: access to a physical network interface or disk controller. However,
664: keep in mind that giving a domain access to a PCI device most likely
665: will give the domain read/write access to the whole physical memory,
666: as PCs don't have an IOMMU to restrict memory access to DMA-capable
1.53 gdt 667: device. Also, it's not possible to export ISA devices to non-dom0
1.52 gdt 668: domains, which means that the primary VGA adapter can't be exported.
669: A guest domain trying to access the VGA registers will panic.
670:
1.53 gdt 671: If the dom0 is NetBSD, it has to be running Xen 3.1, as support has
1.52 gdt 672: not been ported to later versions at this time.
673:
674: For a PCI device to be exported to a domU, is has to be attached to
675: the "pciback" driver in dom0. Devices passed to the dom0 via the
676: pciback.hide boot parameter will attach to "pciback" instead of the
677: usual driver. The list of devices is specified as "(bus:dev.func)",
1.5 mspo 678: where bus and dev are 2-digit hexadecimal numbers, and func a
679: single-digit number:
1.1 mspo 680:
1.52 gdt 681: pciback.hide=(00:0a.0)(00:06.0)
1.1 mspo 682:
1.52 gdt 683: pciback devices should show up in the dom0's boot messages, and the
1.5 mspo 684: devices should be listed in the `/kern/xen/pci` directory.
1.1 mspo 685:
1.52 gdt 686: PCI devices to be exported to a domU are listed in the "pci" array of
687: the domU's config file, with the format "0000:bus:dev.func".
1.1 mspo 688:
1.52 gdt 689: pci = [ '0000:00:06.0', '0000:00:0a.0' ]
1.1 mspo 690:
1.52 gdt 691: In the domU an "xpci" device will show up, to which one or more pci
1.111 wiz 692: buses will attach. Then the PCI drivers will attach to PCI buses as
1.52 gdt 693: usual. Note that the default NetBSD DOMU kernels do not have "xpci"
694: or any PCI drivers built in by default; you have to build your own
695: kernel to use PCI devices in a domU. Here's a kernel config example;
696: note that only the "xpci" lines are unusual.
697:
698: include "arch/i386/conf/XEN3_DOMU"
699:
1.111 wiz 700: # Add support for PCI buses to the XEN3_DOMU kernel
1.52 gdt 701: xpci* at xenbus ?
702: pci* at xpci ?
703:
704: # PCI USB controllers
705: uhci* at pci? dev ? function ? # Universal Host Controller (Intel)
706:
707: # USB bus support
708: usb* at uhci?
709:
710: # USB Hubs
711: uhub* at usb?
712: uhub* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
713:
714: # USB Mass Storage
715: umass* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
716: wd* at umass?
717: # SCSI controllers
718: ahc* at pci? dev ? function ? # Adaptec [23]94x, aic78x0 SCSI
719:
720: # SCSI bus support (for both ahc and umass)
721: scsibus* at scsi?
722:
723: # SCSI devices
724: sd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI disk drives
725: cd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI CD-ROM drives
1.1 mspo 726:
727:
1.189 gdt 728: # Miscellaneous Information
1.173 gdt 729:
1.189 gdt 730: ## Nesting under Linux KVM
731:
732: It is possible to run a Xen and a NetBSD dom0 under Linux KVM. One
733: can enable virtio in the dom0 for greater speed.
734:
735: ## Other nesting
736:
737: In theory, any full emulation should be able to run Xen and a NetBSD
738: dom0. The HOWTO does not currently have information about Xen XVM
739: mode, nvmm, qemu, Virtualbox, etc.
740:
741: ## NetBSD 5 as domU
1.173 gdt 742:
1.176 gdt 743: [NetBSD 5 is known to panic.](http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-xen/2018/04/17/msg009181.html)
1.175 gdt 744: (However, NetBSD 5 systems should be updated to a supported version.)
1.173 gdt 745:
746: # NetBSD as a domU in a VPS
1.28 gdt 747:
748: The bulk of the HOWTO is about using NetBSD as a dom0 on your own
749: hardware. This section explains how to deal with Xen in a domU as a
750: virtual private server where you do not control or have access to the
1.70 gdt 751: dom0. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of VPS providers;
752: only a few are mentioned that specifically support NetBSD.
1.28 gdt 753:
1.52 gdt 754: VPS operators provide varying degrees of access and mechanisms for
755: configuration. The big issue is usually how one controls which kernel
1.111 wiz 756: is booted, because the kernel is nominally in the dom0 file system (to
757: which VPS users do not normally have access). A second issue is how
1.70 gdt 758: to install NetBSD.
1.52 gdt 759: A VPS user may want to compile a kernel for security updates, to run
760: npf, run IPsec, or any other reason why someone would want to change
761: their kernel.
762:
1.111 wiz 763: One approach is to have an administrative interface to upload a kernel,
1.68 gdt 764: or to select from a prepopulated list. Other approaches are pygrub
1.59 gdt 765: (deprecated) and pvgrub, which are ways to have a bootloader obtain a
1.111 wiz 766: kernel from the domU file system. This is closer to a regular physical
1.59 gdt 767: computer, where someone who controls a machine can replace the kernel.
1.52 gdt 768:
1.74 gdt 769: A second issue is multiple CPUs. With NetBSD 6, domUs support
770: multiple vcpus, and it is typical for VPS providers to enable multiple
771: CPUs for NetBSD domUs.
772:
1.180 gdt 773: ## Complexities due to Xen changes
774:
775: Xen has many security advisories and people running Xen systems make
776: different choices.
777:
778: ### stub domains
779:
780: Some (Linux only?) dom0 systems use something called "stub domains" to
781: isolate qemu from the dom0 system, as a security and reliabilty
782: mechanism when running HVM domUs. Somehow, NetBSD's GENERIC kernel
783: ends up using PIO for disks rather than DMA. Of course, all of this
784: is emulated, but emulated PIO is unusably slow. This problem is not
785: currently understood.
786:
787: ### Grant tables
788:
789: There are multiple versions of using grant tables, and some security
790: advisories have suggested disabling some versions. Some versions of
791: NetBSD apparently only use specific versions and this can lead to
792: "NetBSD current doesn't run on hosting provider X" situations.
793:
794: \todo Explain better.
795:
1.181 gdt 796: ## Boot methods
797:
798: ### pvgrub
1.59 gdt 799:
800: pvgrub is a version of grub that uses PV operations instead of BIOS
801: calls. It is booted from the dom0 as the domU kernel, and then reads
1.111 wiz 802: /grub/menu.lst and loads a kernel from the domU file system.
1.59 gdt 803:
1.70 gdt 804: [Panix](http://www.panix.com/) lets users use pvgrub. Panix reports
1.71 gdt 805: that pvgrub works with FFsv2 with 16K/2K and 32K/4K block/frag sizes
806: (and hence with defaults from "newfs -O 2"). See [Panix's pvgrub
1.70 gdt 807: page](http://www.panix.com/v-colo/grub.html), which describes only
1.74 gdt 808: Linux but should be updated to cover NetBSD :-).
1.70 gdt 809:
810: [prgmr.com](http://prgmr.com/) also lets users with pvgrub to boot
811: their own kernel. See then [prgmr.com NetBSD
1.74 gdt 812: HOWTO](http://wiki.prgmr.com/mediawiki/index.php/NetBSD_as_a_DomU)
813: (which is in need of updating).
1.59 gdt 814:
1.70 gdt 815: It appears that [grub's FFS
816: code](http://xenbits.xensource.com/hg/xen-unstable.hg/file/bca284f67702/tools/libfsimage/ufs/fsys_ufs.c)
817: does not support all aspects of modern FFS, but there are also reports
1.72 gdt 818: that FFSv2 works fine. At prgmr, typically one has an ext2 or FAT
1.70 gdt 819: partition for the kernel with the intent that grub can understand it,
820: which leads to /netbsd not being the actual kernel. One must remember
1.111 wiz 821: to update the special boot partition.
1.59 gdt 822:
1.181 gdt 823: ### pygrub
1.168 wiki 824:
825: pygrub runs in the dom0 and looks into the domU file system. This
826: implies that the domU must have a kernel in a file system in a format
827: known to pygrub.
828:
829: pygrub doesn't seem to work to load Linux images under NetBSD dom0,
830: and is inherently less secure than pvgrub due to running inside dom0. For both these
831: reasons, pygrub should not be used, and is only still present so that
832: historical DomU images using it still work.
833:
834: As of 2014, pygrub seems to be of mostly historical
835: interest. New DomUs should use pvgrub.
836:
1.181 gdt 837: ## Specific Providers
838:
839: ### Amazon
1.59 gdt 840:
1.143 wiki 841: See the [Amazon EC2 page](/amazon_ec2/).
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