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