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