Annotation of wikisrc/ports/xen/howto.mdwn, revision 1.98
1.5 mspo 1: Introduction
1.13 gdt 2: ============
1.1 mspo 3:
4: [![[Xen
1.57 gdt 5: screenshot]](http://www.netbsd.org/gallery/in-Action/hubertf-xens.png)](http://www.netbsd.org/gallery/in-Action/hubertf-xen.png)
1.1 mspo 6:
1.58 gdt 7: Xen is a hypervisor (or virtual machine monitor) for x86 hardware
1.12 gdt 8: (i686-class or higher), which supports running multiple guest
1.58 gdt 9: operating systems on a single physical machine. Xen is a Type 1 or
10: bare-metal hypervisor; one uses the Xen kernel to control the CPU,
11: memory and console, a dom0 operating system which mediates access to
12: other hardware (e.g., disks, network, USB), and one or more domU
13: operating systems which operate in an unprivileged virtualized
14: environment. IO requests from the domU systems are forwarded by the
15: hypervisor (Xen) to the dom0 to be fulfilled.
1.12 gdt 16:
17: Xen supports two styles of guests. The original is Para-Virtualized
18: (PV) which means that the guest OS does not attempt to access hardware
19: directly, but instead makes hypercalls to the hypervisor. This is
20: analogous to a user-space program making system calls. (The dom0
21: operating system uses PV calls for some functions, such as updating
22: memory mapping page tables, but has direct hardware access for disk
23: and network.) PV guests must be specifically coded for Xen.
24:
25: The more recent style is HVM, which means that the guest does not have
26: code for Xen and need not be aware that it is running under Xen.
27: Attempts to access hardware registers are trapped and emulated. This
28: style is less efficient but can run unmodified guests.
29:
1.29 gdt 30: Generally any amd64 machine will work with Xen and PV guests. In
31: theory i386 computers without amd64 support can be used for Xen <=
32: 4.2, but we have no recent reports of this working (this is a hint).
33: For HVM guests, the VT or VMX cpu feature (Intel) or SVM/HVM/VT
34: (amd64) is needed; "cpuctl identify 0" will show this. TODO: Clean up
35: and check the above features.
1.19 gdt 36:
1.27 jnemeth 37: At boot, the dom0 kernel is loaded as a module with Xen as the kernel.
1.12 gdt 38: The dom0 can start one or more domUs. (Booting is explained in detail
39: in the dom0 section.)
40:
41: NetBSD supports Xen in that it can serve as dom0, be used as a domU,
42: and that Xen kernels and tools are available in pkgsrc. This HOWTO
43: attempts to address both the case of running a NetBSD dom0 on hardware
1.24 gdt 44: and running domUs under it (NetBSD and other), and also running NetBSD
45: as a domU in a VPS.
1.12 gdt 46:
1.20 gdt 47: Some versions of Xen support "PCI passthrough", which means that
48: specific PCI devices can be made available to a specific domU instead
49: of the dom0. This can be useful to let a domU run X11, or access some
50: network interface or other peripheral.
51:
1.54 gdt 52: NetBSD used to support Xen2; this has been removed.
53:
1.12 gdt 54: Prerequisites
1.13 gdt 55: -------------
1.12 gdt 56:
57: Installing NetBSD/Xen is not extremely difficult, but it is more
58: complex than a normal installation of NetBSD.
1.15 gdt 59: In general, this HOWTO is occasionally overly restrictive about how
60: things must be done, guiding the reader to stay on the established
61: path when there are no known good reasons to stray.
1.12 gdt 62:
63: This HOWTO presumes a basic familiarity with the Xen system
1.16 gdt 64: architecture. This HOWTO presumes familiarity with installing NetBSD
65: on i386/amd64 hardware and installing software from pkgsrc.
1.27 jnemeth 66: See also the [Xen website](http://www.xenproject.org/).
1.1 mspo 67:
1.15 gdt 68: Versions of Xen and NetBSD
69: ==========================
70:
1.27 jnemeth 71: Most of the installation concepts and instructions are independent
72: of Xen version and NetBSD version. This section gives advice on
73: which version to choose. Versions not in pkgsrc and older unsupported
74: versions of NetBSD are intentionally ignored.
1.15 gdt 75:
76: Xen
77: ---
78:
79: In NetBSD, xen is provided in pkgsrc, via matching pairs of packages
80: xenkernel and xentools. We will refer only to the kernel versions,
81: but note that both packages must be installed together and must have
82: matching versions.
83:
84: xenkernel3 and xenkernel33 provide Xen 3.1 and 3.3. These no longer
1.20 gdt 85: receive security patches and should not be used. Xen 3.1 supports PCI
1.29 gdt 86: passthrough. Xen 3.1 supports non-PAE on i386.
1.15 gdt 87:
88: xenkernel41 provides Xen 4.1. This is no longer maintained by Xen,
89: but as of 2014-12 receives backported security patches. It is a
90: reasonable although trailing-edge choice.
91:
92: xenkernel42 provides Xen 4.2. This is maintained by Xen, but old as
93: of 2014-12.
94:
1.85 gdt 95: xenkernel45 provides Xen 4.5. This is new to pkgsrc as of 2015-01 and
96: not yet recommended for other than experimental/testing use.
97:
1.96 gdt 98: See also the [Xen Security Advisory page](http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/).
99:
1.15 gdt 100: Ideally newer versions of Xen will be added to pkgsrc.
101:
1.85 gdt 102: Note that NetBSD support is called XEN3. It works with Xen 3 and Xen
103: 4 because the hypercall interface has been stable.
1.20 gdt 104:
1.19 gdt 105: Xen command program
106: -------------------
107:
1.79 gdt 108: Early Xen used a program called xm to manipulate the system from the
1.19 gdt 109: dom0. Starting in 4.1, a replacement program with similar behavior
1.79 gdt 110: called xl is provided, but it does not work well in 4.1. In 4.2, both
111: xm and xl work fine. 4.4 is the last version that has xm. You must
112: choose one or the other, because it affects which daemons you run.
1.19 gdt 113:
1.15 gdt 114: NetBSD
115: ------
116:
117: The netbsd-5, netbsd-6, netbsd-7, and -current branches are all
118: reasonable choices, with more or less the same considerations for
119: non-Xen use. Therefore, netbsd-6 is recommended as the stable version
1.29 gdt 120: of the most recent release for production use. For those wanting to
121: learn Xen or without production stability concerns, netbsd-7 is likely
122: most appropriate.
1.15 gdt 123:
124: As of NetBSD 6, a NetBSD domU will support multiple vcpus. There is
125: no SMP support for NetBSD as dom0. (The dom0 itself doesn't really
126: need SMP; the lack of support is really a problem when using a dom0 as
127: a normal computer.)
128:
1.18 gdt 129: Architecture
130: ------------
131:
1.29 gdt 132: Xen itself can run on i386 or amd64 machines. (Practically, almost
133: any computer where one would want to run Xen supports amd64.) If
134: using an i386 NetBSD kernel for the dom0, PAE is required (PAE
135: versions are built by default). While i386 dom0 works fine, amd64 is
136: recommended as more normal.
137:
138: Xen 4.2 is the last version to support i386 as a host. TODO: Clarify
139: if this is about the CPU having to be amd64, or about the dom0 kernel
140: having to be amd64.
141:
142: One can then run i386 domUs and amd64 domUs, in any combination. If
143: running an i386 NetBSD kernel as a domU, the PAE version is required.
144: (Note that emacs (at least) fails if run on i386 with PAE when built
145: without, and vice versa, presumably due to bugs in the undump code.)
1.18 gdt 146:
1.89 gdt 147: Stability
148: ---------
149:
150: Mostly, NetBSD as a dom0 or domU is quite stable.
151: However, there are some open PRs indicating problems.
152:
1.91 gdt 153: - [PR 48125](http://gnats.netbsd.org/48125)
154: - [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720)
1.89 gdt 155:
156: Note also that there are issues with sparse vnd(4) instances, but
157: these are not about Xen.
158:
1.15 gdt 159: Recommendation
160: --------------
161:
1.18 gdt 162: Therefore, this HOWTO recommends running xenkernel42 (and xentools42),
1.30 gdt 163: xl, the NetBSD 6 stable branch, and to use an amd64 kernel as the
164: dom0. Either the i386 or amd64 of NetBSD may be used as domUs.
1.15 gdt 165:
1.36 gdt 166: Build problems
167: --------------
168:
169: Ideally, all versions of Xen in pkgsrc would build on all versions of
170: NetBSD on both i386 and amd64. However, that isn't the case. Besides
171: aging code and aging compilers, qemu (included in xentools for HVM
1.62 gdt 172: support) is difficult to build. The following are known to work or FAIL:
1.36 gdt 173:
1.62 gdt 174: xenkernel3 netbsd-5 amd64
1.63 gdt 175: xentools3 netbsd-5 amd64
1.64 gdt 176: xentools3=hvm netbsd-5 amd64 ????
1.62 gdt 177: xenkernel33 netbsd-5 amd64
1.63 gdt 178: xentools33 netbsd-5 amd64
1.36 gdt 179: xenkernel41 netbsd-5 amd64
180: xentools41 netbsd-5 amd64
1.62 gdt 181: xenkernel42 netbsd-5 amd64
1.64 gdt 182: xentools42 netbsd-5 amd64
1.62 gdt 183:
184: xenkernel3 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL
185: xentools3 netbsd-6 i386
1.63 gdt 186: xentools3-hvm netbsd-6 i386 FAIL (dependencies fail)
187: xenkernel33 netbsd-6 i386
188: xentools33 netbsd-6 i386
1.36 gdt 189: xenkernel41 netbsd-6 i386
190: xentools41 netbsd-6 i386
1.63 gdt 191: xenkernel42 netbsd-6 i386
1.64 gdt 192: xentools42 netbsd-6 i386 *MIXED
193:
1.69 gdt 194: (all 3 and 33 seem to FAIL)
195: xenkernel41 netbsd-7 i386
196: xentools41 netbsd-7 i386
197: xenkernel42 netbsd-7 i386
198: xentools42 netbsd-7 i386 ??FAIL
199:
1.64 gdt 200: (*On netbsd-6 i386, there is a xentools42 in the 2014Q3 official builds,
201: but it does not build for gdt.)
1.36 gdt 202:
1.15 gdt 203: NetBSD as a dom0
204: ================
205:
206: NetBSD can be used as a dom0 and works very well. The following
207: sections address installation, updating NetBSD, and updating Xen.
1.19 gdt 208: Note that it doesn't make sense to talk about installing a dom0 OS
209: without also installing Xen itself. We first address installing
210: NetBSD, which is not yet a dom0, and then adding Xen, pivoting the
211: NetBSD install to a dom0 install by just changing the kernel and boot
212: configuration.
1.15 gdt 213:
1.45 gdt 214: For experimenting with Xen, a machine with as little as 1G of RAM and
215: 100G of disk can work. For running many domUs in productions, far
216: more will be needed.
217:
1.15 gdt 218: Styles of dom0 operation
219: ------------------------
220:
221: There are two basic ways to use Xen. The traditional method is for
222: the dom0 to do absolutely nothing other than providing support to some
223: number of domUs. Such a system was probably installed for the sole
224: purpose of hosting domUs, and sits in a server room on a UPS.
225:
226: The other way is to put Xen under a normal-usage computer, so that the
227: dom0 is what the computer would have been without Xen, perhaps a
228: desktop or laptop. Then, one can run domUs at will. Purists will
229: deride this as less secure than the previous approach, and for a
230: computer whose purpose is to run domUs, they are right. But Xen and a
1.93 gdt 231: dom0 (without domUs) is not meaningfully less secure than the same
1.15 gdt 232: things running without Xen. One can boot Xen or boot regular NetBSD
233: alternately with little problems, simply refraining from starting the
234: Xen daemons when not running Xen.
235:
236: Note that NetBSD as dom0 does not support multiple CPUs. This will
1.51 gdt 237: limit the performance of the Xen/dom0 workstation approach. In theory
238: the only issue is that the "backend drivers" are not yet MPSAFE:
239: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/08/29/msg015195.html
1.15 gdt 240:
1.19 gdt 241: Installation of NetBSD
242: ----------------------
1.13 gdt 243:
1.19 gdt 244: First,
1.27 jnemeth 245: [install NetBSD/amd64](/guide/inst/)
1.19 gdt 246: just as you would if you were not using Xen.
247: However, the partitioning approach is very important.
248:
249: If you want to use RAIDframe for the dom0, there are no special issues
250: for Xen. Typically one provides RAID storage for the dom0, and the
1.22 gdt 251: domU systems are unaware of RAID. The 2nd-stage loader bootxx_* skips
252: over a RAID1 header to find /boot from a filesystem within a RAID
253: partition; this is no different when booting Xen.
1.19 gdt 254:
255: There are 4 styles of providing backing storage for the virtual disks
1.93 gdt 256: used by domUs: raw partitions, LVM, file-backed vnd(4), and SAN.
1.19 gdt 257:
258: With raw partitions, one has a disklabel (or gpt) partition sized for
259: each virtual disk to be used by the domU. (If you are able to predict
260: how domU usage will evolve, please add an explanation to the HOWTO.
261: Seriously, needs tend to change over time.)
262:
1.27 jnemeth 263: One can use [lvm(8)](/guide/lvm/) to create logical devices to use
264: for domU disks. This is almost as efficient as raw disk partitions
265: and more flexible. Hence raw disk partitions should typically not
266: be used.
1.19 gdt 267:
268: One can use files in the dom0 filesystem, typically created by dd'ing
269: /dev/zero to create a specific size. This is somewhat less efficient,
270: but very convenient, as one can cp the files for backup, or move them
271: between dom0 hosts.
272:
273: Finally, in theory one can place the files backing the domU disks in a
274: SAN. (This is an invitation for someone who has done this to add a
275: HOWTO page.)
1.1 mspo 276:
1.19 gdt 277: Installation of Xen
278: -------------------
1.1 mspo 279:
1.20 gdt 280: In the dom0, install sysutils/xenkernel42 and sysutils/xentools42 from
281: pkgsrc (or another matching pair).
282: See [the pkgsrc
283: documentation](http://www.NetBSD.org/docs/pkgsrc/) for help with pkgsrc.
284:
285: For Xen 3.1, support for HVM guests is in sysutils/xentool3-hvm. More
286: recent versions have HVM support integrated in the main xentools
287: package. It is entirely reasonable to run only PV guests.
288:
289: Next you need to install the selected Xen kernel itself, which is
290: installed by pkgsrc as "/usr/pkg/xen*-kernel/xen.gz". Copy it to /.
291: For debugging, one may copy xen-debug.gz; this is conceptually similar
292: to DIAGNOSTIC and DEBUG in NetBSD. xen-debug.gz is basically only
293: useful with a serial console. Then, place a NetBSD XEN3_DOM0 kernel
294: in /, copied from releasedir/amd64/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz
1.75 gdt 295: of a NetBSD build. If using i386, use
296: releasedir/i386/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz. (If using Xen
297: 3.1 and i386, you may use XEN3_DOM0 with the non-PAE Xen. But you
298: should not use Xen 3.1.) Both xen and the NetBSD kernel may be (and
299: typically are) left compressed.
300:
301: In a dom0 kernel, kernfs is mandatory for xend to comunicate with the
302: kernel, so ensure that /kern is in fstab. TODO: Say this is default,
303: or file a PR and give a reference.
1.20 gdt 304:
305: Because you already installed NetBSD, you have a working boot setup
306: with an MBR bootblock, either bootxx_ffsv1 or bootxx_ffsv2 at the
307: beginning of your root filesystem, /boot present, and likely
308: /boot.cfg. (If not, fix before continuing!)
309:
1.76 gdt 310: Add a line to to /boot.cfg to boot Xen. See boot.cfg(5) for an
311: example. The basic line is
1.20 gdt 312:
1.37 gdt 313: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
1.20 gdt 314:
315: which specifies that the dom0 should have 256M, leaving the rest to be
1.77 gdt 316: allocated for domUs. To use a serial console, use
317:
318: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=com0;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M console=com1 com1=9600,8n1
319:
320: which will use the first serial port for Xen (which counts starting
321: from 1), forcing speed/parity, and also for NetBSD (which counts
322: starting at 0). In an attempt to add performance, one can also add
1.37 gdt 323:
324: dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin
325:
326: to force only one vcpu to be provided (since NetBSD dom0 can't use
327: more) and to pin that vcpu to a physical cpu. TODO: benchmark this.
1.20 gdt 328:
1.93 gdt 329: Xen has [many boot
330: options](http://xenbits.xenproject.org/docs/4.5-testing/misc/xen-command-line.html),
331: and other tham dom0 memory and max_vcpus, they are generally not
332: necessary.
333:
1.20 gdt 334: As with non-Xen systems, you should have a line to boot /netbsd (a
335: kernel that works without Xen) and fallback versions of the non-Xen
336: kernel, Xen, and the dom0 kernel.
1.1 mspo 337:
1.76 gdt 338: Now, reboot so that you are running a DOM0 kernel under Xen, rather
339: than GENERIC without Xen.
340:
1.54 gdt 341: Using grub (historic)
342: ---------------------
343:
344: Before NetBSD's native bootloader could support Xen, the use of
345: grub was recommended. If necessary, see the
346: [old grub information](/ports/xen/howto-grub/).
347:
1.28 gdt 348: The [HowTo on Installing into
349: RAID-1](http://mail-index.NetBSD.org/port-xen/2006/03/01/0010.html)
350: explains how to set up booting a dom0 with Xen using grub with
351: NetBSD's RAIDframe. (This is obsolete with the use of NetBSD's native
352: boot.)
353:
1.21 gdt 354: Configuring Xen
355: ---------------
356:
1.53 gdt 357: Xen logs will be in /var/log/xen.
358:
1.76 gdt 359: Now, you have a system that will boot Xen and the dom0 kernel, but not
360: do anything else special. Make sure that you have rebooted into Xen.
361: There will be no domUs, and none can be started because you still have
362: to configure the dom0 tools. The daemons which should be run vary
363: with Xen version and with whether one is using xm or xl. Note that
364: xend is for supporting "xm", and should only be used if you plan on
365: using "xm". Do NOT enable xend if you plan on using "xl" as it will
1.87 gdt 366: cause problems. Running xl without xencommons=YES (and starting it)
367: will result in a hang (so don't do that; follow the HOWTO!).
1.21 gdt 368:
1.43 gdt 369: The installation of NetBSD should already have created devices for xen
370: (xencons, xenevt), but if they are not present, create them:
371:
372: cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen
373:
1.31 gdt 374: TODO: Give 3.1 advice (or remove it from pkgsrc).
375:
376: For 3.3 (and thus xm), add to rc.conf (but note that you should have
377: installed 4.1 or 4.2):
378:
1.32 gdt 379: xend=YES
380: xenbackendd=YES
1.31 gdt 381:
1.33 gdt 382: For 4.1 (and thus xm; xl is believed not to work well), add to rc.conf:
1.31 gdt 383:
1.53 gdt 384: xencommons=YES
1.31 gdt 385: xend=YES
386:
1.56 gdt 387: (If you are using xentools41 from before 2014-12-26, change
388: rc.d/xendomains to use xm rather than xl.)
1.31 gdt 389:
1.33 gdt 390: For 4.2 with xm, add to rc.conf
391:
1.53 gdt 392: xencommons=YES
1.33 gdt 393: xend=YES
394:
1.79 gdt 395: For 4.2 with xl, add to rc.conf:
1.31 gdt 396:
1.53 gdt 397: xencommons=YES
1.31 gdt 398: TODO: explain if there is a xend replacement
399:
1.86 gdt 400: For 4.5 (and thus with xl), add to rc.conf:
401:
402: xencommons=YES
403: TODO: explain if there is a xend replacement
404:
1.31 gdt 405: TODO: Recommend for/against xen-watchdog.
1.27 jnemeth 406:
1.53 gdt 407: After you have configured the daemons and either started them (in the
1.79 gdt 408: order given) or rebooted, use xm or xl to inspect Xen's boot messages,
409: available resources, and running domains. An example with xm follows:
1.34 gdt 410:
1.43 gdt 411: # xm dmesg
412: [xen's boot info]
413: # xm info
414: [available memory, etc.]
415: # xm list
416: Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console
417: Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1
1.33 gdt 418:
1.79 gdt 419: With xl, the commands are the same, and the output may be slightly
1.83 gdt 420: different. TODO: add example output for xl before the xm example,
421: after confirming on 4.2 and resolving the TODO about rc.conf.
1.79 gdt 422:
1.88 gdt 423: ### Issues with xencommons
424:
425: xencommons starts xenstored, which stores data on behalf of dom0 and
426: domUs. It does not currently work to stop and start xenstored.
427: Certainly all domUs should be shutdown first, following the sort order
428: of the rc.d scripts. However, the dom0 sets up state with xenstored,
429: and is not notified when xenstored exits, leading to not recreating
430: the state when the new xenstored starts. Until there's a mechanism to
431: make this work, one should not expect to be able to restart xenstored
432: (and thus xencommons). There is currently no reason to expect that
433: this will get fixed any time soon.
434:
1.41 gdt 435: anita (for testing NetBSD)
436: --------------------------
437:
1.82 gdt 438: With the setup so far (assuming 4.2/xl), one should be able to run
439: anita (see pkgsrc/misc/py-anita) to test NetBSD releases, by doing (as
440: root, because anita must create a domU):
441:
442: anita --vmm=xl test file:///usr/obj/i386/
443:
444: Alternatively, one can use --vmm=xm to use xm-based domU creation
445: instead (and must, on Xen <= 4.1). TODO: confirm that anita xl really works.
446:
1.40 gdt 447: Xen-specific NetBSD issues
448: --------------------------
449:
450: There are (at least) two additional things different about NetBSD as a
451: dom0 kernel compared to hardware.
452:
453: One is that modules are not usable in DOM0 kernels, so one must
454: compile in what's needed. It's not really that modules cannot work,
455: but that modules must be built for XEN3_DOM0 because some of the
456: defines change and the normal module builds don't do this. Basically,
457: enabling Xen changes the kernel ABI, and the module build system
458: doesn't cope with this.
459:
460: The other difference is that XEN3_DOM0 does not have exactly the same
461: options as GENERIC. While it is debatable whether or not this is a
462: bug, users should be aware of this and can simply add missing config
463: items if desired.
464:
1.15 gdt 465: Updating NetBSD in a dom0
466: -------------------------
467:
468: This is just like updating NetBSD on bare hardware, assuming the new
469: version supports the version of Xen you are running. Generally, one
470: replaces the kernel and reboots, and then overlays userland binaries
471: and adjusts /etc.
472:
473: Note that one must update both the non-Xen kernel typically used for
474: rescue purposes and the DOM0 kernel used with Xen.
475:
1.55 gdt 476: Converting from grub to /boot
477: -----------------------------
478:
479: These instructions were [TODO: will be] used to convert a system from
480: grub to /boot. The system was originally installed in February of
481: 2006 with a RAID1 setup and grub to boot Xen 2, and has been updated
482: over time. Before these commands, it was running NetBSD 6 i386, Xen
483: 4.1 and grub, much like the message linked earlier in the grub
484: section.
485:
486: # Install mbr bootblocks on both disks.
487: fdisk -i /dev/rwd0d
488: fdisk -i /dev/rwd1d
489: # Install NetBSD primary boot loader (/ is FFSv1) into RAID1 components.
490: installboot -v /dev/rwd0d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
491: installboot -v /dev/rwd1d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
492: # Install secondary boot loader
493: cp -p /usr/mdec/boot /
494: # Create boog.cfg following earlier guidance:
495: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
496: menu=Xen.ok:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.ok.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.ok.gz dom0_mem=256M
497: menu=GENERIC:boot
498: menu=GENERIC single-user:boot -s
499: menu=GENERIC.ok:boot netbsd.ok
500: menu=GENERIC.ok single-user:boot netbsd.ok -s
501: menu=Drop to boot prompt:prompt
502: default=1
503: timeout=30
504:
505: TODO: actually do this and fix it if necessary.
1.22 gdt 506:
1.15 gdt 507: Updating Xen versions
508: ---------------------
509:
1.21 gdt 510: Updating Xen is conceptually not difficult, but can run into all the
511: issues found when installing Xen. Assuming migration from 4.1 to 4.2,
512: remove the xenkernel41 and xentools41 packages and install the
513: xenkernel42 and xentools42 packages. Copy the 4.2 xen.gz to /.
514:
515: Ensure that the contents of /etc/rc.d/xen* are correct. Enable the
516: correct set of daemons. Ensure that the domU config files are valid
517: for the new version.
1.15 gdt 518:
1.97 gdt 519: Hardware known to work
520: ----------------------
521:
522: Arguably, this section is misplaced, and there should be a page of
523: hardware that runs NetBSD/amd64 well, with the mostly-well-founded
524: assumption that NetBSD/xen runs fine on any modern hardware that
525: NetBSD/amd64 runs well on. Until then, we give motherboard/CPU/RAM
526: triples to aid those choosing a motherboard. Note that Xen systems
527: usually do not run X, so a listing here does not imply that X works at
528: all.
529:
530: Supermicro X9SRL-F, Xeon E5-1650 v2, 96 GiB ECC
531: Supermicro ??, Atom C2758 (8 core), 32 GiB ECC
532: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ microATX, AMD Piledriver X8 4000MHz, 16 GiB ECC
533:
534: Older hardware:
535:
1.98 ! gdt 536: Intel D915GEV, Pentium4 CPU 3.40GHz, 4GB 533MHz Synchronous DDR2
1.28 gdt 537:
1.82 gdt 538: Running Xen under qemu
539: ----------------------
540:
541: The astute reader will note that this section is somewhat twisted.
542: However, it can be useful to run Xen under qemu either because the
543: version of NetBSD as a dom0 does not run on the hardware in use, or to
544: generate automated test cases involving Xen.
545:
1.84 gdt 546: In 2015-01, the following combination was reported to mostly work:
1.82 gdt 547:
548: host OS: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.4
549: qemu: 2.2.0 from pkgsrc
550: Xen kernel: xenkernel42-4.2.5nb1 from pkgsrc
551: dom0 kernel: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.5
552: Xen tools: xentools42-4.2.5 from pkgsrc
553:
1.91 gdt 554: See [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720) for a problem with dom0
555: shutdown.
1.84 gdt 556:
1.28 gdt 557: Unprivileged domains (domU)
558: ===========================
559:
560: This section describes general concepts about domUs. It does not
1.33 gdt 561: address specific domU operating systems or how to install them. The
562: config files for domUs are typically in /usr/pkg/etc/xen, and are
1.60 wiki 563: typically named so that the file name, domU name and the domU's host
1.33 gdt 564: name match.
565:
566: The domU is provided with cpu and memory by Xen, configured by the
567: dom0. The domU is provided with disk and network by the dom0,
568: mediated by Xen, and configured in the dom0.
569:
570: Entropy in domUs can be an issue; physical disks and network are on
571: the dom0. NetBSD's /dev/random system works, but is often challenged.
572:
1.48 gdt 573: Config files
574: ------------
575:
576: There is no good order to present config files and the concepts
577: surrounding what is being configured. We first show an example config
578: file, and then in the various sections give details.
579:
580: See (at least in xentools41) /usr/pkg/share/examples/xen/xmexample*,
581: for a large number of well-commented examples, mostly for running
582: GNU/Linux.
583:
584: The following is an example minimal domain configuration file
585: "/usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo". It is (with only a name change) an actual
586: known working config file on Xen 4.1 (NetBSD 5 amd64 dom0 and NetBSD 5
587: i386 domU). The domU serves as a network file server.
588:
589: # -*- mode: python; -*-
590:
591: kernel = "/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOMU-i386-foo.gz"
592: memory = 1024
593: vif = [ 'mac=aa:00:00:d1:00:09,bridge=bridge0' ]
594: disk = [ 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd0,0x0,w',
595: 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd1,0x1,w' ]
596:
597: The domain will have the same name as the file. The kernel has the
598: host/domU name in it, so that on the dom0 one can update the various
599: domUs independently. The vif line causes an interface to be provided,
600: with a specific mac address (do not reuse MAC addresses!), in bridge
601: mode. Two disks are provided, and they are both writable; the bits
602: are stored in files and Xen attaches them to a vnd(4) device in the
603: dom0 on domain creation. The system treates xbd0 as the boot device
604: without needing explicit configuration.
605:
606: By default xm looks for domain config files in /usr/pkg/etc/xen. Note
607: that "xm create" takes the name of a config file, while other commands
608: take the name of a domain. To create the domain, connect to the
609: console, create the domain while attaching the console, shutdown the
610: domain, and see if it has finished stopping, do (or xl with Xen >=
611: 4.2):
612:
613: xm create foo
614: xm console foo
615: xm create -c foo
616: xm shutdown foo
1.90 gdt 617: xm list
1.48 gdt 618:
619: Typing ^] will exit the console session. Shutting down a domain is
620: equivalent to pushing the power button; a NetBSD domU will receive a
621: power-press event and do a clean shutdown. Shutting down the dom0
622: will trigger controlled shutdowns of all configured domUs.
623:
624: domU kernels
625: ------------
626:
627: On a physical computer, the BIOS reads sector 0, and a chain of boot
628: loaders finds and loads a kernel. Normally this comes from the root
629: filesystem. With Xen domUs, the process is totally different. The
630: normal path is for the domU kernel to be a file in the dom0's
631: filesystem. At the request of the dom0, Xen loads that kernel into a
632: new domU instance and starts execution. While domU kernels can be
633: anyplace, reasonable places to store domU kernels on the dom0 are in /
634: (so they are near the dom0 kernel), in /usr/pkg/etc/xen (near the
635: config files), or in /u0/xen (where the vdisks are).
636:
1.59 gdt 637: Note that loading the domU kernel from the dom0 implies that boot
638: blocks, /boot, /boot.cfg, and so on are all ignored in the domU.
1.48 gdt 639: See the VPS section near the end for discussion of alternate ways to
640: obtain domU kernels.
641:
1.33 gdt 642: CPU and memory
643: --------------
644:
1.48 gdt 645: A domain is provided with some number of vcpus, less than the number
646: of cpus seen by the hypervisor. (For a dom0, this is controlled by
647: the boot argument "dom0_max_vcpus=1".) For a domU, it is controlled
648: from the config file by the "vcpus = N" directive.
649:
650: A domain is provided with memory; this is controlled in the config
651: file by "memory = N" (in megabytes). In the straightforward case, the
652: sum of the the memory allocated to the dom0 and all domUs must be less
1.33 gdt 653: than the available memory.
654:
655: Xen also provides a "balloon" driver, which can be used to let domains
656: use more memory temporarily. TODO: Explain better, and explain how
657: well it works with NetBSD.
1.28 gdt 658:
659: Virtual disks
660: -------------
661:
1.33 gdt 662: With the file/vnd style, typically one creates a directory,
663: e.g. /u0/xen, on a disk large enough to hold virtual disks for all
664: domUs. Then, for each domU disk, one writes zeros to a file that then
665: serves to hold the virtual disk's bits; a suggested name is foo-xbd0
666: for the first virtual disk for the domU called foo. Writing zeros to
667: the file serves two purposes. One is that preallocating the contents
668: improves performance. The other is that vnd on sparse files has
669: failed to work. TODO: give working/notworking NetBSD versions for
670: sparse vnd. Note that the use of file/vnd for Xen is not really
671: different than creating a file-backed virtual disk for some other
1.39 gdt 672: purpose, except that xentools handles the vnconfig commands. To
673: create an empty 4G virtual disk, simply do
674:
675: dd if=/dev/zero of=foo-xbd0 bs=1m count=4096
1.33 gdt 676:
1.89 gdt 677: Do not use qemu-img-xen, because this will create sparse file. There
678: have been recent (2015) reports of sparse vnd(4) devices causing
679: lockups, but there is apparently no PR.
680:
1.33 gdt 681: With the lvm style, one creates logical devices. They are then used
1.48 gdt 682: similarly to vnds. TODO: Add an example with lvm.
683:
684: In domU config files, the disks are defined as a sequence of 3-tuples.
685: The first element is "method:/path/to/disk". Common methods are
686: "file:" for file-backed vnd. and "phy:" for something that is already
687: a (TODO: character or block) device.
688:
689: The second element is an artifact of how virtual disks are passed to
690: Linux, and a source of confusion with NetBSD Xen usage. Linux domUs
691: are given a device name to associate with the disk, and values like
692: "hda1" or "sda1" are common. In a NetBSD domU, the first disk appears
693: as xbd0, the second as xbd1, and so on. However, xm/xl demand a
694: second argument. The name given is converted to a major/minor by
1.49 gdt 695: calling stat(2) on the name in /dev and this is passed to the domU.
696: In the general case, the dom0 and domU can be different operating
1.48 gdt 697: systems, and it is an unwarranted assumption that they have consistent
698: numbering in /dev, or even that the dom0 OS has a /dev. With NetBSD
699: as both dom0 and domU, using values of 0x0 for the first disk and 0x1
1.49 gdt 700: for the second works fine and avoids this issue. For a GNU/Linux
701: guest, one can create /dev/hda1 in /dev, or to pass 0x301 for
702: /dev/hda1.
1.48 gdt 703:
704: The third element is "w" for writable disks, and "r" for read-only
705: disks.
1.28 gdt 706:
707: Virtual Networking
708: ------------------
709:
1.46 gdt 710: Xen provides virtual ethernets, each of which connects the dom0 and a
711: domU. For each virtual network, there is an interface "xvifN.M" in
712: the dom0, and in domU index N, a matching interface xennetM (NetBSD
713: name). The interfaces behave as if there is an Ethernet with two
714: adaptors connected. From this primitive, one can construct various
715: configurations. We focus on two common and useful cases for which
716: there are existing scripts: bridging and NAT.
1.28 gdt 717:
1.48 gdt 718: With bridging (in the example above), the domU perceives itself to be
719: on the same network as the dom0. For server virtualization, this is
720: usually best. Bridging is accomplished by creating a bridge(4) device
721: and adding the dom0's physical interface and the various xvifN.0
722: interfaces to the bridge. One specifies "bridge=bridge0" in the domU
723: config file. The bridge must be set up already in the dom0; an
724: example /etc/ifconfig.bridge0 is:
1.46 gdt 725:
726: create
727: up
728: !brconfig bridge0 add wm0
1.28 gdt 729:
730: With NAT, the domU perceives itself to be behind a NAT running on the
731: dom0. This is often appropriate when running Xen on a workstation.
1.48 gdt 732: TODO: NAT appears to be configured by "vif = [ '' ]".
1.28 gdt 733:
1.49 gdt 734: The MAC address specified is the one used for the interface in the new
1.53 gdt 735: domain. The interface in dom0 will use this address XOR'd with
1.49 gdt 736: 00:00:00:01:00:00. Random MAC addresses are assigned if not given.
737:
1.33 gdt 738: Sizing domains
739: --------------
740:
741: Modern x86 hardware has vast amounts of resources. However, many
742: virtual servers can function just fine on far less. A system with
743: 256M of RAM and a 4G disk can be a reasonable choice. Note that it is
744: far easier to adjust virtual resources than physical ones. For
745: memory, it's just a config file edit and a reboot. For disk, one can
746: create a new file and vnconfig it (or lvm), and then dump/restore,
747: just like updating physical disks, but without having to be there and
748: without those pesky connectors.
749:
1.48 gdt 750: Starting domains automatically
751: ------------------------------
1.28 gdt 752:
1.48 gdt 753: To start domains foo at bar at boot and shut them down cleanly on dom0
754: shutdown, in rc.conf add:
1.28 gdt 755:
1.48 gdt 756: xendomains="foo bar"
1.28 gdt 757:
1.86 gdt 758: Note that earlier versions of the xentools41 xendomains rc.d scripth
759: usd xl, when one should use xm with 4.1.
1.28 gdt 760:
761: Creating specific unprivileged domains (domU)
762: =============================================
1.14 gdt 763:
764: Creating domUs is almost entirely independent of operating system. We
1.49 gdt 765: have already presented the basics of config files. Note that you must
766: have already completed the dom0 setup so that "xl list" (or "xm list")
767: works.
1.14 gdt 768:
769: Creating an unprivileged NetBSD domain (domU)
770: ---------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 771:
1.49 gdt 772: See the earlier config file, and adjust memory. Decide on how much
773: storage you will provide, and prepare it (file or lvm).
774:
775: While the kernel will be obtained from the dom0 filesystem, the same
776: file should be present in the domU as /netbsd so that tools like
777: savecore(8) can work. (This is helpful but not necessary.)
778:
779: The kernel must be specifically for Xen and for use as a domU. The
780: i386 and amd64 provide the following kernels:
781:
782: i386 XEN3_DOMU
783: i386 XEN3PAE_DOMU
1.95 gdt 784: amd64 XEN3_DOMU
1.5 mspo 785:
1.49 gdt 786: Unless using Xen 3.1 (and you shouldn't) with i386-mode Xen, you must
787: use the PAE version of the i386 kernel.
788:
789: This will boot NetBSD, but this is not that useful if the disk is
790: empty. One approach is to unpack sets onto the disk outside of xen
791: (by mounting it, just as you would prepare a physical disk for a
792: system you can't run the installer on).
793:
794: A second approach is to run an INSTALL kernel, which has a miniroot
795: and can load sets from the network. To do this, copy the INSTALL
796: kernel to / and change the kernel line in the config file to:
1.5 mspo 797:
1.49 gdt 798: kernel = "/home/bouyer/netbsd-INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU"
1.5 mspo 799:
1.49 gdt 800: Then, start the domain as "xl create -c configname".
1.1 mspo 801:
1.49 gdt 802: Alternatively, if you want to install NetBSD/Xen with a CDROM image, the following
803: line should be used in the config file.
1.1 mspo 804:
1.3 mspo 805: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w', 'phy:/dev/cd0a,0x2,r' ]
1.1 mspo 806:
807: After booting the domain, the option to install via CDROM may be
1.49 gdt 808: selected. The CDROM device should be changed to `xbd1d`.
1.1 mspo 809:
1.49 gdt 810: Once done installing, "halt -p" the new domain (don't reboot or halt,
811: it would reload the INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU kernel even if you changed the
812: config file), switch the config file back to the XEN3_DOMU kernel,
813: and start the new domain again. Now it should be able to use "root on
814: xbd0a" and you should have a, functional NetBSD domU.
1.1 mspo 815:
1.49 gdt 816: TODO: check if this is still accurate.
1.1 mspo 817: When the new domain is booting you'll see some warnings about *wscons*
818: and the pseudo-terminals. These can be fixed by editing the files
1.5 mspo 819: `/etc/ttys` and `/etc/wscons.conf`. You must disable all terminals in
820: `/etc/ttys`, except *console*, like this:
1.1 mspo 821:
1.3 mspo 822: console "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt100 on secure
823: ttyE0 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
824: ttyE1 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
825: ttyE2 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
826: ttyE3 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
1.1 mspo 827:
1.5 mspo 828: Finally, all screens must be commented out from `/etc/wscons.conf`.
1.1 mspo 829:
830: It is also desirable to add
831:
1.49 gdt 832: powerd=YES
1.1 mspo 833:
1.5 mspo 834: in rc.conf. This way, the domain will be properly shut down if
1.53 gdt 835: `xm shutdown -R` or `xm shutdown -H` is used on the dom0.
1.1 mspo 836:
1.92 gdt 837: It is not strictly necessary to have a kernel (as /netbsd) in the domU
838: filesystem. However, various programs (e.g. netstat) will use that
839: kernel to look up symbols to read from kernel virtual memory. If
840: /netbsd is not the running kernel, those lookups will fail. (This is
841: not really a Xen-specific issue, but because the domU kernel is
842: obtained from the dom0, it is far more likely to be out of sync or
843: missing with Xen.)
844:
1.14 gdt 845: Creating an unprivileged Linux domain (domU)
1.5 mspo 846: --------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 847:
848: Creating unprivileged Linux domains isn't much different from
849: unprivileged NetBSD domains, but there are some details to know.
850:
851: First, the second parameter passed to the disk declaration (the '0x1' in
852: the example below)
853:
1.3 mspo 854: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w' ]
1.1 mspo 855:
856: does matter to Linux. It wants a Linux device number here (e.g. 0x300
1.49 gdt 857: for hda). Linux builds device numbers as: (major \<\< 8 + minor).
858: So, hda1 which has major 3 and minor 1 on a Linux system will have
859: device number 0x301. Alternatively, devices names can be used (hda,
860: hdb, ...) as xentools has a table to map these names to devices
861: numbers. To export a partition to a Linux guest we can use:
1.1 mspo 862:
1.49 gdt 863: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x300,w' ]
864: root = "/dev/hda1 ro"
1.1 mspo 865:
866: and it will appear as /dev/hda on the Linux system, and be used as root
867: partition.
868:
1.49 gdt 869: To install the Linux system on the partition to be exported to the
870: guest domain, the following method can be used: install
871: sysutils/e2fsprogs from pkgsrc. Use mke2fs to format the partition
872: that will be the root partition of your Linux domain, and mount it.
873: Then copy the files from a working Linux system, make adjustments in
874: `/etc` (fstab, network config). It should also be possible to extract
875: binary packages such as .rpm or .deb directly to the mounted partition
876: using the appropriate tool, possibly running under NetBSD's Linux
877: emulation. Once the filesystem has been populated, umount it. If
878: desirable, the filesystem can be converted to ext3 using tune2fs -j.
879: It should now be possible to boot the Linux guest domain, using one of
880: the vmlinuz-\*-xenU kernels available in the Xen binary distribution.
1.1 mspo 881:
882: To get the linux console right, you need to add:
883:
1.3 mspo 884: extra = "xencons=tty1"
1.1 mspo 885:
886: to your configuration since not all linux distributions auto-attach a
887: tty to the xen console.
888:
1.14 gdt 889: Creating an unprivileged Solaris domain (domU)
1.5 mspo 890: ----------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 891:
1.50 gdt 892: See possibly outdated
893: [Solaris domU instructions](/ports/xen/howto-solaris/).
1.5 mspo 894:
1.1 mspo 895:
1.52 gdt 896: PCI passthrough: Using PCI devices in guest domains
897: ---------------------------------------------------
1.1 mspo 898:
1.53 gdt 899: The dom0 can give other domains access to selected PCI
1.52 gdt 900: devices. This can allow, for example, a non-privileged domain to have
901: access to a physical network interface or disk controller. However,
902: keep in mind that giving a domain access to a PCI device most likely
903: will give the domain read/write access to the whole physical memory,
904: as PCs don't have an IOMMU to restrict memory access to DMA-capable
1.53 gdt 905: device. Also, it's not possible to export ISA devices to non-dom0
1.52 gdt 906: domains, which means that the primary VGA adapter can't be exported.
907: A guest domain trying to access the VGA registers will panic.
908:
1.53 gdt 909: If the dom0 is NetBSD, it has to be running Xen 3.1, as support has
1.52 gdt 910: not been ported to later versions at this time.
911:
912: For a PCI device to be exported to a domU, is has to be attached to
913: the "pciback" driver in dom0. Devices passed to the dom0 via the
914: pciback.hide boot parameter will attach to "pciback" instead of the
915: usual driver. The list of devices is specified as "(bus:dev.func)",
1.5 mspo 916: where bus and dev are 2-digit hexadecimal numbers, and func a
917: single-digit number:
1.1 mspo 918:
1.52 gdt 919: pciback.hide=(00:0a.0)(00:06.0)
1.1 mspo 920:
1.52 gdt 921: pciback devices should show up in the dom0's boot messages, and the
1.5 mspo 922: devices should be listed in the `/kern/xen/pci` directory.
1.1 mspo 923:
1.52 gdt 924: PCI devices to be exported to a domU are listed in the "pci" array of
925: the domU's config file, with the format "0000:bus:dev.func".
1.1 mspo 926:
1.52 gdt 927: pci = [ '0000:00:06.0', '0000:00:0a.0' ]
1.1 mspo 928:
1.52 gdt 929: In the domU an "xpci" device will show up, to which one or more pci
930: busses will attach. Then the PCI drivers will attach to PCI busses as
931: usual. Note that the default NetBSD DOMU kernels do not have "xpci"
932: or any PCI drivers built in by default; you have to build your own
933: kernel to use PCI devices in a domU. Here's a kernel config example;
934: note that only the "xpci" lines are unusual.
935:
936: include "arch/i386/conf/XEN3_DOMU"
937:
938: # Add support for PCI busses to the XEN3_DOMU kernel
939: xpci* at xenbus ?
940: pci* at xpci ?
941:
942: # PCI USB controllers
943: uhci* at pci? dev ? function ? # Universal Host Controller (Intel)
944:
945: # USB bus support
946: usb* at uhci?
947:
948: # USB Hubs
949: uhub* at usb?
950: uhub* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
951:
952: # USB Mass Storage
953: umass* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
954: wd* at umass?
955: # SCSI controllers
956: ahc* at pci? dev ? function ? # Adaptec [23]94x, aic78x0 SCSI
957:
958: # SCSI bus support (for both ahc and umass)
959: scsibus* at scsi?
960:
961: # SCSI devices
962: sd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI disk drives
963: cd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI CD-ROM drives
1.1 mspo 964:
965:
1.28 gdt 966: NetBSD as a domU in a VPS
967: =========================
968:
969: The bulk of the HOWTO is about using NetBSD as a dom0 on your own
970: hardware. This section explains how to deal with Xen in a domU as a
971: virtual private server where you do not control or have access to the
1.70 gdt 972: dom0. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of VPS providers;
973: only a few are mentioned that specifically support NetBSD.
1.28 gdt 974:
1.52 gdt 975: VPS operators provide varying degrees of access and mechanisms for
976: configuration. The big issue is usually how one controls which kernel
977: is booted, because the kernel is nominally in the dom0 filesystem (to
1.70 gdt 978: which VPS users do not normally have acesss). A second issue is how
979: to install NetBSD.
1.52 gdt 980: A VPS user may want to compile a kernel for security updates, to run
981: npf, run IPsec, or any other reason why someone would want to change
982: their kernel.
983:
984: One approach is to have an adminstrative interface to upload a kernel,
1.68 gdt 985: or to select from a prepopulated list. Other approaches are pygrub
1.59 gdt 986: (deprecated) and pvgrub, which are ways to have a bootloader obtain a
987: kernel from the domU filesystem. This is closer to a regular physical
988: computer, where someone who controls a machine can replace the kernel.
1.52 gdt 989:
1.74 gdt 990: A second issue is multiple CPUs. With NetBSD 6, domUs support
991: multiple vcpus, and it is typical for VPS providers to enable multiple
992: CPUs for NetBSD domUs.
993:
1.68 gdt 994: pygrub
1.59 gdt 995: -------
1.52 gdt 996:
1.68 gdt 997: pygrub runs in the dom0 and looks into the domU filesystem. This
1.59 gdt 998: implies that the domU must have a kernel in a filesystem in a format
1.68 gdt 999: known to pygrub. As of 2014, pygrub seems to be of mostly historical
1000: interest.
1.52 gdt 1001:
1.59 gdt 1002: pvgrub
1003: ------
1004:
1005: pvgrub is a version of grub that uses PV operations instead of BIOS
1006: calls. It is booted from the dom0 as the domU kernel, and then reads
1007: /grub/menu.lst and loads a kernel from the domU filesystem.
1008:
1.70 gdt 1009: [Panix](http://www.panix.com/) lets users use pvgrub. Panix reports
1.71 gdt 1010: that pvgrub works with FFsv2 with 16K/2K and 32K/4K block/frag sizes
1011: (and hence with defaults from "newfs -O 2"). See [Panix's pvgrub
1.70 gdt 1012: page](http://www.panix.com/v-colo/grub.html), which describes only
1.74 gdt 1013: Linux but should be updated to cover NetBSD :-).
1.70 gdt 1014:
1015: [prgmr.com](http://prgmr.com/) also lets users with pvgrub to boot
1016: their own kernel. See then [prgmr.com NetBSD
1.74 gdt 1017: HOWTO](http://wiki.prgmr.com/mediawiki/index.php/NetBSD_as_a_DomU)
1018: (which is in need of updating).
1.59 gdt 1019:
1.70 gdt 1020: It appears that [grub's FFS
1021: code](http://xenbits.xensource.com/hg/xen-unstable.hg/file/bca284f67702/tools/libfsimage/ufs/fsys_ufs.c)
1022: does not support all aspects of modern FFS, but there are also reports
1.72 gdt 1023: that FFSv2 works fine. At prgmr, typically one has an ext2 or FAT
1.70 gdt 1024: partition for the kernel with the intent that grub can understand it,
1025: which leads to /netbsd not being the actual kernel. One must remember
1026: to update the special boot partiion.
1.59 gdt 1027:
1028: Amazon
1029: ------
1030:
1.95 gdt 1031: See the [Amazon EC2 page](../amazon_ec2/).
1.44 gdt 1032:
1033: Using npf
1034: ---------
1035:
1.81 gdt 1036: In standard kernels, npf is a module, and thus cannot be loaded in a
1.44 gdt 1037: DOMU kernel.
1038:
1.95 gdt 1039: TODO: Explain how to compile npf into a custom kernel, answering (but
1040: note that the problem was caused by not booting the right kernel)
1041: [this email to
1042: netbsd-users](http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/12/26/msg015576.html).
1.65 gdt 1043:
1044: TODO items for improving NetBSD/xen
1045: ===================================
1046:
1.93 gdt 1047: * Make the NetBSD dom0 kernel work with SMP.
1048: * Test the Xen 4.5 packages adequately to be able to recommend them as
1049: the standard approach.
1050: * Get PCI passthrough working on Xen 4.5
1.65 gdt 1051: * Get pvgrub into pkgsrc, either via xentools or separately.
1052: * grub
1.70 gdt 1053: * Check/add support to pkgsrc grub2 for UFS2 and arbitrary
1.66 gdt 1054: fragsize/blocksize (UFS2 support may be present; the point is to
1055: make it so that with any UFS1/UFS2 filesystem setup that works
1056: with NetBSD grub will also work).
1.70 gdt 1057: See [pkg/40258](http://gnats.netbsd.org/40258).
1.65 gdt 1058: * Push patches upstream.
1059: * Get UFS2 patches into pvgrub.
1060: * Add support for PV ops to a version of /boot, and make it usable as
1061: a kernel in Xen, similar to pvgrub.
1.93 gdt 1062: * Solve somehow the issue with modules for GENERIC not being loadable
1063: in a Xen dom0 or domU kernel.
1064:
1065: Random pointers
1066: ===============
1067:
1068: TODO: This section contains links from elsewhere not yet integrated
1069: into the HOWTO.
1070:
1071: * http://www.lumbercartel.ca/library/xen/
1072: * http://pbraun.nethence.com/doc/sysutils/xen_netbsd_dom0.html
CVSweb for NetBSD wikisrc <wikimaster@NetBSD.org> software: FreeBSD-CVSweb
![[BACK]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to howto.mdwn CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [NetBSD Developer Wiki] / wikisrc / ports / xen