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 provides Xen 3.1. This no longer receives security patches
85: and should not be used. It supports PCI passthrough, which is why
86: people use it anyway. Xen 3.1 supports non-PAE on i386.
87:
88: xenkernel33 provides Xen 3.3. This no longer receives security
89: patches and should not be used. Xen 3.3 supports non-PAE on i386.
90:
91: xenkernel41 provides Xen 4.1. This is no longer maintained by Xen,
92: but as of 2014-12 receives backported security patches. There are no
93: good reasons to run this version. reasonable although trailing-edge
94: choice.
95:
96: xenkernel42 provides Xen 4.2. This is no longer maintained by Xen, but
97: as of 2014-12 receives backported security patches. The only reason
98: to run this is if you need to use xm instead of xl.
99:
100: xenkernel45 provides Xen 4.5. This is new to pkgsrc as of 2015-01 and
101: recommended for use as a conservative choice.
102:
103: xenkernel46 provides Xen 4.6. TODO: Probably this is the recommended
104: version.
105:
106: See also the [Xen Security Advisory page](http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/).
107:
108: Ideally newer versions of Xen will be added to pkgsrc.
109:
110: Note that NetBSD support is called XEN3. It works with Xen 3 and Xen
111: 4 because the hypercall interface has been stable.
112:
113: Xen command program
114: -------------------
115:
116: Early Xen used a program called xm to manipulate the system from the
117: dom0. Starting in 4.1, a replacement program with similar behavior
118: called xl is provided, but it does not work well in 4.1. In 4.2, both
119: xm and xl work fine. 4.4 is the last version that has xm. You must
120: choose one or the other, because it affects which daemons you run.
121:
122: NetBSD
123: ------
124:
125: The netbsd-5, netbsd-6, netbsd-7, and -current branches are all
126: reasonable choices, with more or less the same considerations for
127: non-Xen use. Therefore, netbsd-6 is recommended as the stable version
128: of the most recent release for production use. For those wanting to
129: learn Xen or without production stability concerns, netbsd-7 is likely
130: most appropriate.
131:
132: As of NetBSD 6, a NetBSD domU will support multiple vcpus. There is
133: no SMP support for NetBSD as dom0. (The dom0 itself doesn't really
134: need SMP; the lack of support is really a problem when using a dom0 as
135: a normal computer.)
136:
137: Architecture
138: ------------
139:
140: Xen itself can run on i386 or amd64 machines. (Practically, almost
141: any computer where one would want to run Xen today supports amd64.)
142:
143: Xen, the dom0 kernel, and each domU kernel can be either i386 or
144: amd64. When building a xenkernel package, one obtains i386 on an i386
145: host, and amd64 on an amd64 host. If the xen kernel is i386, then the
146: dom0 kernel and all domU kernels must be i386. With an amd64 xen
147: kernel, an amd64 dom0 kernel is known to work, and an i386 dom0 kernel
148: should in theory work. An amd64 xen/dom0 is known to support both
149: i386 and amd64 domUs.
150:
151: i386 dom0 and domU kernels must be PAE (except for Xen 3.1); these are
152: built by default. (Note that emacs (at least) fails if run on i386
153: with PAE when built without, and vice versa, presumably due to bugs in
154: the undump code.)
155:
156: Because of the above, the standard approach is to use amd64 for the
157: dom0.
158:
159: Xen 4.2 is the last version to support i386 as a host. TODO: Clarify
160: if this is about the CPU, the xen kernel, or the dom0 kernel having to
161: be amd64.
162:
163:
164: Stability
165: ---------
166:
167: Mostly, NetBSD as a dom0 or domU is quite stable.
168: However, there are some open PRs indicating problems.
169:
170: - [PR 48125](http://gnats.netbsd.org/48125)
171: - [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720)
172:
173: Note also that there are issues with sparse vnd(4) instances, but
174: these are not about Xen.
175:
176: Recommendation
177: --------------
178:
179: Therefore, this HOWTO recommends running xenkernel42 (and xentools42),
180: xl, the NetBSD 6 stable branch, and to use an amd64 kernel as the
181: dom0. Either the i386 or amd64 of NetBSD may be used as domUs.
182:
183: Build problems
184: --------------
185:
186: Ideally, all versions of Xen in pkgsrc would build on all versions of
187: NetBSD on both i386 and amd64. However, that isn't the case. Besides
188: aging code and aging compilers, qemu (included in xentools for HVM
189: support) is difficult to build. The following are known to work or FAIL:
190:
191: xenkernel3 netbsd-5 amd64
192: xentools3 netbsd-5 amd64
193: xentools3=hvm netbsd-5 amd64 ????
194: xenkernel33 netbsd-5 amd64
195: xentools33 netbsd-5 amd64
196: xenkernel41 netbsd-5 amd64
197: xentools41 netbsd-5 amd64
198: xenkernel42 netbsd-5 amd64
199: xentools42 netbsd-5 amd64
200:
201: xenkernel3 netbsd-6 i386 FAIL
202: xentools3 netbsd-6 i386
203: xentools3-hvm netbsd-6 i386 FAIL (dependencies fail)
204: xenkernel33 netbsd-6 i386
205: xentools33 netbsd-6 i386
206: xenkernel41 netbsd-6 i386
207: xentools41 netbsd-6 i386
208: xenkernel42 netbsd-6 i386
209: xentools42 netbsd-6 i386 *MIXED
210:
211: (all 3 and 33 seem to FAIL)
212: xenkernel41 netbsd-7 i386
213: xentools41 netbsd-7 i386
214: xenkernel42 netbsd-7 i386
215: xentools42 netbsd-7 i386 ??FAIL
216:
217: (*On netbsd-6 i386, there is a xentools42 in the 2014Q3 official builds,
218: but it does not build for gdt.)
219:
220: NetBSD as a dom0
221: ================
222:
223: NetBSD can be used as a dom0 and works very well. The following
224: sections address installation, updating NetBSD, and updating Xen.
225: Note that it doesn't make sense to talk about installing a dom0 OS
226: without also installing Xen itself. We first address installing
227: NetBSD, which is not yet a dom0, and then adding Xen, pivoting the
228: NetBSD install to a dom0 install by just changing the kernel and boot
229: configuration.
230:
231: For experimenting with Xen, a machine with as little as 1G of RAM and
232: 100G of disk can work. For running many domUs in productions, far
233: more will be needed.
234:
235: Styles of dom0 operation
236: ------------------------
237:
238: There are two basic ways to use Xen. The traditional method is for
239: the dom0 to do absolutely nothing other than providing support to some
240: number of domUs. Such a system was probably installed for the sole
241: purpose of hosting domUs, and sits in a server room on a UPS.
242:
243: The other way is to put Xen under a normal-usage computer, so that the
244: dom0 is what the computer would have been without Xen, perhaps a
245: desktop or laptop. Then, one can run domUs at will. Purists will
246: deride this as less secure than the previous approach, and for a
247: computer whose purpose is to run domUs, they are right. But Xen and a
248: dom0 (without domUs) is not meaningfully less secure than the same
249: things running without Xen. One can boot Xen or boot regular NetBSD
250: alternately with little problems, simply refraining from starting the
251: Xen daemons when not running Xen.
252:
253: Note that NetBSD as dom0 does not support multiple CPUs. This will
254: limit the performance of the Xen/dom0 workstation approach. In theory
255: the only issue is that the "backend drivers" are not yet MPSAFE:
256: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/08/29/msg015195.html
257:
258: Installation of NetBSD
259: ----------------------
260:
261: First,
262: [install NetBSD/amd64](/guide/inst/)
263: just as you would if you were not using Xen.
264: However, the partitioning approach is very important.
265:
266: If you want to use RAIDframe for the dom0, there are no special issues
267: for Xen. Typically one provides RAID storage for the dom0, and the
268: domU systems are unaware of RAID. The 2nd-stage loader bootxx_* skips
269: over a RAID1 header to find /boot from a filesystem within a RAID
270: partition; this is no different when booting Xen.
271:
272: There are 4 styles of providing backing storage for the virtual disks
273: used by domUs: raw partitions, LVM, file-backed vnd(4), and SAN.
274:
275: With raw partitions, one has a disklabel (or gpt) partition sized for
276: each virtual disk to be used by the domU. (If you are able to predict
277: how domU usage will evolve, please add an explanation to the HOWTO.
278: Seriously, needs tend to change over time.)
279:
280: One can use [lvm(8)](/guide/lvm/) to create logical devices to use
281: for domU disks. This is almost as efficient as raw disk partitions
282: and more flexible. Hence raw disk partitions should typically not
283: be used.
284:
285: One can use files in the dom0 filesystem, typically created by dd'ing
286: /dev/zero to create a specific size. This is somewhat less efficient,
287: but very convenient, as one can cp the files for backup, or move them
288: between dom0 hosts.
289:
290: Finally, in theory one can place the files backing the domU disks in a
291: SAN. (This is an invitation for someone who has done this to add a
292: HOWTO page.)
293:
294: Installation of Xen
295: -------------------
296:
297: In the dom0, install sysutils/xenkernel42 and sysutils/xentools42 from
298: pkgsrc (or another matching pair).
299: See [the pkgsrc
300: documentation](http://www.NetBSD.org/docs/pkgsrc/) for help with pkgsrc.
301:
302: For Xen 3.1, support for HVM guests is in sysutils/xentool3-hvm. More
303: recent versions have HVM support integrated in the main xentools
304: package. It is entirely reasonable to run only PV guests.
305:
306: Next you need to install the selected Xen kernel itself, which is
307: installed by pkgsrc as "/usr/pkg/xen*-kernel/xen.gz". Copy it to /.
308: For debugging, one may copy xen-debug.gz; this is conceptually similar
309: to DIAGNOSTIC and DEBUG in NetBSD. xen-debug.gz is basically only
310: useful with a serial console. Then, place a NetBSD XEN3_DOM0 kernel
311: in /, copied from releasedir/amd64/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz
312: of a NetBSD build. If using i386, use
313: releasedir/i386/binary/kernel/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz. (If using Xen
314: 3.1 and i386, you may use XEN3_DOM0 with the non-PAE Xen. But you
315: should not use Xen 3.1.) Both xen and the NetBSD kernel may be (and
316: typically are) left compressed.
317:
318: In a dom0 kernel, kernfs is mandatory for xend to comunicate with the
319: kernel, so ensure that /kern is in fstab. TODO: Say this is default,
320: or file a PR and give a reference.
321:
322: Because you already installed NetBSD, you have a working boot setup
323: with an MBR bootblock, either bootxx_ffsv1 or bootxx_ffsv2 at the
324: beginning of your root filesystem, /boot present, and likely
325: /boot.cfg. (If not, fix before continuing!)
326:
327: Add a line to to /boot.cfg to boot Xen. See boot.cfg(5) for an
328: example. The basic line is
329:
330: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
331:
332: which specifies that the dom0 should have 256M, leaving the rest to be
333: allocated for domUs. To use a serial console, use
334:
335: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3_DOM0.gz console=com0;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M console=com1 com1=9600,8n1
336:
337: which will use the first serial port for Xen (which counts starting
338: from 1), forcing speed/parity, and also for NetBSD (which counts
339: starting at 0). In an attempt to add performance, one can also add
340:
341: dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin
342:
343: to force only one vcpu to be provided (since NetBSD dom0 can't use
344: more) and to pin that vcpu to a physical cpu. TODO: benchmark this.
345:
346: Xen has [many boot
347: options](http://xenbits.xenproject.org/docs/4.5-testing/misc/xen-command-line.html),
348: and other tham dom0 memory and max_vcpus, they are generally not
349: necessary.
350:
351: As with non-Xen systems, you should have a line to boot /netbsd (a
352: kernel that works without Xen) and fallback versions of the non-Xen
353: kernel, Xen, and the dom0 kernel.
354:
355: Now, reboot so that you are running a DOM0 kernel under Xen, rather
356: than GENERIC without Xen.
357:
358: Using grub (historic)
359: ---------------------
360:
361: Before NetBSD's native bootloader could support Xen, the use of
362: grub was recommended. If necessary, see the
363: [old grub information](/ports/xen/howto-grub/).
364:
365: The [HowTo on Installing into
366: RAID-1](http://mail-index.NetBSD.org/port-xen/2006/03/01/0010.html)
367: explains how to set up booting a dom0 with Xen using grub with
368: NetBSD's RAIDframe. (This is obsolete with the use of NetBSD's native
369: boot.)
370:
371: Configuring Xen
372: ---------------
373:
374: Xen logs will be in /var/log/xen.
375:
376: Now, you have a system that will boot Xen and the dom0 kernel, but not
377: do anything else special. Make sure that you have rebooted into Xen.
378: There will be no domUs, and none can be started because you still have
379: to configure the dom0 daemons.
380:
381: The daemons which should be run vary with Xen version and with whether
382: one is using xm or xl. The Xen 3.1 and 3.3 packages use xm. Xen 4.1
383: and higher packages use xl. While is is possible to use xm with some
384: 4.x versions (TODO: 4.1 and 4.2?), the pkgsrc-provided rc.d scripts do
385: not support this as of 2014-12-26, and thus the HOWTO does not support
386: it either. (Make sure your packages are reasonably recent.)
387:
388: For "xm" (3.1 and 3.3), you should enable xend and xenbackendd (but
389: note that you should be using 4.x):
390:
391: xend=YES
392: xenbackendd=YES
393:
394: For "xl" (4.x), you should enabled xend and xencommons (xenstored).
395: Trying to boot 4.x without xencommons=YES will result in a hang; it is
396: necessary to hig ^C on the console to let the machine finish booting.
397: TODO: explain why xend is installed by the package.
398:
399: xencommons=YES
400:
401: The installation of NetBSD should already have created devices for xen
402: (xencons, xenevt), but if they are not present, create them:
403:
404: cd /dev && sh MAKEDEV xen
405:
406: TODO: Recommend for/against xen-watchdog.
407:
408: After you have configured the daemons and either started them (in the
409: order given) or rebooted, use xm or xl to inspect Xen's boot messages,
410: available resources, and running domains. An example with xl follows:
411:
412: # xl dmesg
413: [xen's boot info]
414: # xl info
415: [available memory, etc.]
416: # xl list
417: Name Id Mem(MB) CPU State Time(s) Console
418: Domain-0 0 64 0 r---- 58.1
419:
420: ### Issues with xencommons
421:
422: xencommons starts xenstored, which stores data on behalf of dom0 and
423: domUs. It does not currently work to stop and start xenstored.
424: Certainly all domUs should be shutdown first, following the sort order
425: of the rc.d scripts. However, the dom0 sets up state with xenstored,
426: and is not notified when xenstored exits, leading to not recreating
427: the state when the new xenstored starts. Until there's a mechanism to
428: make this work, one should not expect to be able to restart xenstored
429: (and thus xencommons). There is currently no reason to expect that
430: this will get fixed any time soon.
431:
432: anita (for testing NetBSD)
433: --------------------------
434:
435: With the setup so far (assuming 4.2/xl), one should be able to run
436: anita (see pkgsrc/misc/py-anita) to test NetBSD releases, by doing (as
437: root, because anita must create a domU):
438:
439: anita --vmm=xl test file:///usr/obj/i386/
440:
441: Alternatively, one can use --vmm=xm to use xm-based domU creation
442: instead (and must, on Xen <= 4.1). TODO: confirm that anita xl really works.
443:
444: Xen-specific NetBSD issues
445: --------------------------
446:
447: There are (at least) two additional things different about NetBSD as a
448: dom0 kernel compared to hardware.
449:
450: One is that modules are not usable in DOM0 kernels, so one must
451: compile in what's needed. It's not really that modules cannot work,
452: but that modules must be built for XEN3_DOM0 because some of the
453: defines change and the normal module builds don't do this. Basically,
454: enabling Xen changes the kernel ABI, and the module build system
455: doesn't cope with this.
456:
457: The other difference is that XEN3_DOM0 does not have exactly the same
458: options as GENERIC. While it is debatable whether or not this is a
459: bug, users should be aware of this and can simply add missing config
460: items if desired.
461:
462: Updating NetBSD in a dom0
463: -------------------------
464:
465: This is just like updating NetBSD on bare hardware, assuming the new
466: version supports the version of Xen you are running. Generally, one
467: replaces the kernel and reboots, and then overlays userland binaries
468: and adjusts /etc.
469:
470: Note that one must update both the non-Xen kernel typically used for
471: rescue purposes and the DOM0 kernel used with Xen.
472:
473: Converting from grub to /boot
474: -----------------------------
475:
476: These instructions were [TODO: will be] used to convert a system from
477: grub to /boot. The system was originally installed in February of
478: 2006 with a RAID1 setup and grub to boot Xen 2, and has been updated
479: over time. Before these commands, it was running NetBSD 6 i386, Xen
480: 4.1 and grub, much like the message linked earlier in the grub
481: section.
482:
483: # Install mbr bootblocks on both disks.
484: fdisk -i /dev/rwd0d
485: fdisk -i /dev/rwd1d
486: # Install NetBSD primary boot loader (/ is FFSv1) into RAID1 components.
487: installboot -v /dev/rwd0d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
488: installboot -v /dev/rwd1d /usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
489: # Install secondary boot loader
490: cp -p /usr/mdec/boot /
491: # Create boog.cfg following earlier guidance:
492: menu=Xen:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.gz dom0_mem=256M
493: menu=Xen.ok:load /netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOM0.ok.gz console=pc;multiboot /xen.ok.gz dom0_mem=256M
494: menu=GENERIC:boot
495: menu=GENERIC single-user:boot -s
496: menu=GENERIC.ok:boot netbsd.ok
497: menu=GENERIC.ok single-user:boot netbsd.ok -s
498: menu=Drop to boot prompt:prompt
499: default=1
500: timeout=30
501:
502: TODO: actually do this and fix it if necessary.
503:
504: Upgrading Xen versions
505: ---------------------
506:
507: Updating Xen is conceptually not difficult, but can run into all the
508: issues found when installing Xen. Assuming migration from 4.1 to 4.2,
509: remove the xenkernel41 and xentools41 packages and install the
510: xenkernel42 and xentools42 packages. Copy the 4.2 xen.gz to /.
511:
512: Ensure that the contents of /etc/rc.d/xen* are correct. Specifically,
513: they must match the package you just installed and not be left over
514: from some previous installation.
515:
516: Enable the correct set of daemons; see the configuring section above.
517: (Upgrading from 3.x to 4.x without doing this will result in a hang.)
518:
519: Ensure that the domU config files are valid for the new version.
520: Specifically: remove autorestart=True, and ensure that disks are
521: specified with numbers as the second argument, as the examples above
522: show, and not NetBSD device names.
523:
524: Hardware known to work
525: ----------------------
526:
527: Arguably, this section is misplaced, and there should be a page of
528: hardware that runs NetBSD/amd64 well, with the mostly-well-founded
529: assumption that NetBSD/xen runs fine on any modern hardware that
530: NetBSD/amd64 runs well on. Until then, we give motherboard/CPU/RAM
531: triples to aid those choosing a motherboard. Note that Xen systems
532: usually do not run X, so a listing here does not imply that X works at
533: all.
534:
535: Supermicro X9SRL-F, Xeon E5-1650 v2, 96 GiB ECC
536: Supermicro ??, Atom C2758 (8 core), 32 GiB ECC
537: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AM3+ microATX, AMD Piledriver X8 4000MHz, 16 GiB ECC
538:
539: Older hardware:
540:
541: Intel D915GEV, Pentium4 CPU 3.40GHz, 4GB 533MHz Synchronous DDR2
542:
543: Running Xen under qemu
544: ----------------------
545:
546: The astute reader will note that this section is somewhat twisted.
547: However, it can be useful to run Xen under qemu either because the
548: version of NetBSD as a dom0 does not run on the hardware in use, or to
549: generate automated test cases involving Xen.
550:
551: In 2015-01, the following combination was reported to mostly work:
552:
553: host OS: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.4
554: qemu: 2.2.0 from pkgsrc
555: Xen kernel: xenkernel42-4.2.5nb1 from pkgsrc
556: dom0 kernel: NetBSD/amd64 6.1.5
557: Xen tools: xentools42-4.2.5 from pkgsrc
558:
559: See [PR 47720](http://gnats.netbsd.org/47720) for a problem with dom0
560: shutdown.
561:
562: Unprivileged domains (domU)
563: ===========================
564:
565: This section describes general concepts about domUs. It does not
566: address specific domU operating systems or how to install them. The
567: config files for domUs are typically in /usr/pkg/etc/xen, and are
568: typically named so that the file name, domU name and the domU's host
569: name match.
570:
571: The domU is provided with cpu and memory by Xen, configured by the
572: dom0. The domU is provided with disk and network by the dom0,
573: mediated by Xen, and configured in the dom0.
574:
575: Entropy in domUs can be an issue; physical disks and network are on
576: the dom0. NetBSD's /dev/random system works, but is often challenged.
577:
578: Config files
579: ------------
580:
581: There is no good order to present config files and the concepts
582: surrounding what is being configured. We first show an example config
583: file, and then in the various sections give details.
584:
585: See (at least in xentools41) /usr/pkg/share/examples/xen/xmexample*,
586: for a large number of well-commented examples, mostly for running
587: GNU/Linux.
588:
589: The following is an example minimal domain configuration file
590: "/usr/pkg/etc/xen/foo". It is (with only a name change) an actual
591: known working config file on Xen 4.1 (NetBSD 5 amd64 dom0 and NetBSD 5
592: i386 domU). The domU serves as a network file server.
593:
594: # -*- mode: python; -*-
595:
596: kernel = "/netbsd-XEN3PAE_DOMU-i386-foo.gz"
597: memory = 1024
598: vif = [ 'mac=aa:00:00:d1:00:09,bridge=bridge0' ]
599: disk = [ 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd0,0x0,w',
600: 'file:/n0/xen/foo-wd1,0x1,w' ]
601:
602: The domain will have the same name as the file. The kernel has the
603: host/domU name in it, so that on the dom0 one can update the various
604: domUs independently. The vif line causes an interface to be provided,
605: with a specific mac address (do not reuse MAC addresses!), in bridge
606: mode. Two disks are provided, and they are both writable; the bits
607: are stored in files and Xen attaches them to a vnd(4) device in the
608: dom0 on domain creation. The system treates xbd0 as the boot device
609: without needing explicit configuration.
610:
611: By default xm looks for domain config files in /usr/pkg/etc/xen. Note
612: that "xm create" takes the name of a config file, while other commands
613: take the name of a domain. To create the domain, connect to the
614: console, create the domain while attaching the console, shutdown the
615: domain, and see if it has finished stopping, do (or xl with Xen >=
616: 4.2):
617:
618: xm create foo
619: xm console foo
620: xm create -c foo
621: xm shutdown foo
622: xm list
623:
624: Typing ^] will exit the console session. Shutting down a domain is
625: equivalent to pushing the power button; a NetBSD domU will receive a
626: power-press event and do a clean shutdown. Shutting down the dom0
627: will trigger controlled shutdowns of all configured domUs.
628:
629: domU kernels
630: ------------
631:
632: On a physical computer, the BIOS reads sector 0, and a chain of boot
633: loaders finds and loads a kernel. Normally this comes from the root
634: filesystem. With Xen domUs, the process is totally different. The
635: normal path is for the domU kernel to be a file in the dom0's
636: filesystem. At the request of the dom0, Xen loads that kernel into a
637: new domU instance and starts execution. While domU kernels can be
638: anyplace, reasonable places to store domU kernels on the dom0 are in /
639: (so they are near the dom0 kernel), in /usr/pkg/etc/xen (near the
640: config files), or in /u0/xen (where the vdisks are).
641:
642: Note that loading the domU kernel from the dom0 implies that boot
643: blocks, /boot, /boot.cfg, and so on are all ignored in the domU.
644: See the VPS section near the end for discussion of alternate ways to
645: obtain domU kernels.
646:
647: CPU and memory
648: --------------
649:
650: A domain is provided with some number of vcpus, less than the number
651: of cpus seen by the hypervisor. (For a dom0, this is controlled by
652: the boot argument "dom0_max_vcpus=1".) For a domU, it is controlled
653: from the config file by the "vcpus = N" directive.
654:
655: A domain is provided with memory; this is controlled in the config
656: file by "memory = N" (in megabytes). In the straightforward case, the
657: sum of the the memory allocated to the dom0 and all domUs must be less
658: than the available memory.
659:
660: Xen also provides a "balloon" driver, which can be used to let domains
661: use more memory temporarily. TODO: Explain better, and explain how
662: well it works with NetBSD.
663:
664: Virtual disks
665: -------------
666:
667: With the file/vnd style, typically one creates a directory,
668: e.g. /u0/xen, on a disk large enough to hold virtual disks for all
669: domUs. Then, for each domU disk, one writes zeros to a file that then
670: serves to hold the virtual disk's bits; a suggested name is foo-xbd0
671: for the first virtual disk for the domU called foo. Writing zeros to
672: the file serves two purposes. One is that preallocating the contents
673: improves performance. The other is that vnd on sparse files has
674: failed to work. TODO: give working/notworking NetBSD versions for
675: sparse vnd. Note that the use of file/vnd for Xen is not really
676: different than creating a file-backed virtual disk for some other
677: purpose, except that xentools handles the vnconfig commands. To
678: create an empty 4G virtual disk, simply do
679:
680: dd if=/dev/zero of=foo-xbd0 bs=1m count=4096
681:
682: Do not use qemu-img-xen, because this will create sparse file. There
683: have been recent (2015) reports of sparse vnd(4) devices causing
684: lockups, but there is apparently no PR.
685:
686: With the lvm style, one creates logical devices. They are then used
687: similarly to vnds. TODO: Add an example with lvm.
688:
689: In domU config files, the disks are defined as a sequence of 3-tuples.
690: The first element is "method:/path/to/disk". Common methods are
691: "file:" for file-backed vnd. and "phy:" for something that is already
692: a (TODO: character or block) device.
693:
694: The second element is an artifact of how virtual disks are passed to
695: Linux, and a source of confusion with NetBSD Xen usage. Linux domUs
696: are given a device name to associate with the disk, and values like
697: "hda1" or "sda1" are common. In a NetBSD domU, the first disk appears
698: as xbd0, the second as xbd1, and so on. However, xm/xl demand a
699: second argument. The name given is converted to a major/minor by
700: calling stat(2) on the name in /dev and this is passed to the domU.
701: In the general case, the dom0 and domU can be different operating
702: systems, and it is an unwarranted assumption that they have consistent
703: numbering in /dev, or even that the dom0 OS has a /dev. With NetBSD
704: as both dom0 and domU, using values of 0x0 for the first disk and 0x1
705: for the second works fine and avoids this issue. For a GNU/Linux
706: guest, one can create /dev/hda1 in /dev, or to pass 0x301 for
707: /dev/hda1.
708:
709: The third element is "w" for writable disks, and "r" for read-only
710: disks.
711:
712: Virtual Networking
713: ------------------
714:
715: Xen provides virtual ethernets, each of which connects the dom0 and a
716: domU. For each virtual network, there is an interface "xvifN.M" in
717: the dom0, and in domU index N, a matching interface xennetM (NetBSD
718: name). The interfaces behave as if there is an Ethernet with two
719: adaptors connected. From this primitive, one can construct various
720: configurations. We focus on two common and useful cases for which
721: there are existing scripts: bridging and NAT.
722:
723: With bridging (in the example above), the domU perceives itself to be
724: on the same network as the dom0. For server virtualization, this is
725: usually best. Bridging is accomplished by creating a bridge(4) device
726: and adding the dom0's physical interface and the various xvifN.0
727: interfaces to the bridge. One specifies "bridge=bridge0" in the domU
728: config file. The bridge must be set up already in the dom0; an
729: example /etc/ifconfig.bridge0 is:
730:
731: create
732: up
733: !brconfig bridge0 add wm0
734:
735: With NAT, the domU perceives itself to be behind a NAT running on the
736: dom0. This is often appropriate when running Xen on a workstation.
737: TODO: NAT appears to be configured by "vif = [ '' ]".
738:
739: The MAC address specified is the one used for the interface in the new
740: domain. The interface in dom0 will use this address XOR'd with
741: 00:00:00:01:00:00. Random MAC addresses are assigned if not given.
742:
743: Sizing domains
744: --------------
745:
746: Modern x86 hardware has vast amounts of resources. However, many
747: virtual servers can function just fine on far less. A system with
748: 256M of RAM and a 4G disk can be a reasonable choice. Note that it is
749: far easier to adjust virtual resources than physical ones. For
750: memory, it's just a config file edit and a reboot. For disk, one can
751: create a new file and vnconfig it (or lvm), and then dump/restore,
752: just like updating physical disks, but without having to be there and
753: without those pesky connectors.
754:
755: Starting domains automatically
756: ------------------------------
757:
758: To start domains foo at bar at boot and shut them down cleanly on dom0
759: shutdown, in rc.conf add:
760:
761: xendomains="foo bar"
762:
763: Note that earlier versions of the xentools41 xendomains rc.d scripth
764: usd xl, when one should use xm with 4.1.
765:
766: Creating specific unprivileged domains (domU)
767: =============================================
768:
769: Creating domUs is almost entirely independent of operating system. We
770: have already presented the basics of config files. Note that you must
771: have already completed the dom0 setup so that "xl list" (or "xm list")
772: works.
773:
774: Creating an unprivileged NetBSD domain (domU)
775: ---------------------------------------------
776:
777: See the earlier config file, and adjust memory. Decide on how much
778: storage you will provide, and prepare it (file or lvm).
779:
780: While the kernel will be obtained from the dom0 filesystem, the same
781: file should be present in the domU as /netbsd so that tools like
782: savecore(8) can work. (This is helpful but not necessary.)
783:
784: The kernel must be specifically for Xen and for use as a domU. The
785: i386 and amd64 provide the following kernels:
786:
787: i386 XEN3_DOMU
788: i386 XEN3PAE_DOMU
789: amd64 XEN3_DOMU
790:
791: Unless using Xen 3.1 (and you shouldn't) with i386-mode Xen, you must
792: use the PAE version of the i386 kernel.
793:
794: This will boot NetBSD, but this is not that useful if the disk is
795: empty. One approach is to unpack sets onto the disk outside of xen
796: (by mounting it, just as you would prepare a physical disk for a
797: system you can't run the installer on).
798:
799: A second approach is to run an INSTALL kernel, which has a miniroot
800: and can load sets from the network. To do this, copy the INSTALL
801: kernel to / and change the kernel line in the config file to:
802:
803: kernel = "/home/bouyer/netbsd-INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU"
804:
805: Then, start the domain as "xl create -c configname".
806:
807: Alternatively, if you want to install NetBSD/Xen with a CDROM image, the following
808: line should be used in the config file.
809:
810: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w', 'phy:/dev/cd0a,0x2,r' ]
811:
812: After booting the domain, the option to install via CDROM may be
813: selected. The CDROM device should be changed to `xbd1d`.
814:
815: Once done installing, "halt -p" the new domain (don't reboot or halt,
816: it would reload the INSTALL_XEN3_DOMU kernel even if you changed the
817: config file), switch the config file back to the XEN3_DOMU kernel,
818: and start the new domain again. Now it should be able to use "root on
819: xbd0a" and you should have a, functional NetBSD domU.
820:
821: TODO: check if this is still accurate.
822: When the new domain is booting you'll see some warnings about *wscons*
823: and the pseudo-terminals. These can be fixed by editing the files
824: `/etc/ttys` and `/etc/wscons.conf`. You must disable all terminals in
825: `/etc/ttys`, except *console*, like this:
826:
827: console "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt100 on secure
828: ttyE0 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
829: ttyE1 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
830: ttyE2 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
831: ttyE3 "/usr/libexec/getty Pc" vt220 off secure
832:
833: Finally, all screens must be commented out from `/etc/wscons.conf`.
834:
835: It is also desirable to add
836:
837: powerd=YES
838:
839: in rc.conf. This way, the domain will be properly shut down if
840: `xm shutdown -R` or `xm shutdown -H` is used on the dom0.
841:
842: It is not strictly necessary to have a kernel (as /netbsd) in the domU
843: filesystem. However, various programs (e.g. netstat) will use that
844: kernel to look up symbols to read from kernel virtual memory. If
845: /netbsd is not the running kernel, those lookups will fail. (This is
846: not really a Xen-specific issue, but because the domU kernel is
847: obtained from the dom0, it is far more likely to be out of sync or
848: missing with Xen.)
849:
850: Creating an unprivileged Linux domain (domU)
851: --------------------------------------------
852:
853: Creating unprivileged Linux domains isn't much different from
854: unprivileged NetBSD domains, but there are some details to know.
855:
856: First, the second parameter passed to the disk declaration (the '0x1' in
857: the example below)
858:
859: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x1,w' ]
860:
861: does matter to Linux. It wants a Linux device number here (e.g. 0x300
862: for hda). Linux builds device numbers as: (major \<\< 8 + minor).
863: So, hda1 which has major 3 and minor 1 on a Linux system will have
864: device number 0x301. Alternatively, devices names can be used (hda,
865: hdb, ...) as xentools has a table to map these names to devices
866: numbers. To export a partition to a Linux guest we can use:
867:
868: disk = [ 'phy:/dev/wd0e,0x300,w' ]
869: root = "/dev/hda1 ro"
870:
871: and it will appear as /dev/hda on the Linux system, and be used as root
872: partition.
873:
874: To install the Linux system on the partition to be exported to the
875: guest domain, the following method can be used: install
876: sysutils/e2fsprogs from pkgsrc. Use mke2fs to format the partition
877: that will be the root partition of your Linux domain, and mount it.
878: Then copy the files from a working Linux system, make adjustments in
879: `/etc` (fstab, network config). It should also be possible to extract
880: binary packages such as .rpm or .deb directly to the mounted partition
881: using the appropriate tool, possibly running under NetBSD's Linux
882: emulation. Once the filesystem has been populated, umount it. If
883: desirable, the filesystem can be converted to ext3 using tune2fs -j.
884: It should now be possible to boot the Linux guest domain, using one of
885: the vmlinuz-\*-xenU kernels available in the Xen binary distribution.
886:
887: To get the linux console right, you need to add:
888:
889: extra = "xencons=tty1"
890:
891: to your configuration since not all linux distributions auto-attach a
892: tty to the xen console.
893:
894: Creating an unprivileged Solaris domain (domU)
895: ----------------------------------------------
896:
897: See possibly outdated
898: [Solaris domU instructions](/ports/xen/howto-solaris/).
899:
900:
901: PCI passthrough: Using PCI devices in guest domains
902: ---------------------------------------------------
903:
904: The dom0 can give other domains access to selected PCI
905: devices. This can allow, for example, a non-privileged domain to have
906: access to a physical network interface or disk controller. However,
907: keep in mind that giving a domain access to a PCI device most likely
908: will give the domain read/write access to the whole physical memory,
909: as PCs don't have an IOMMU to restrict memory access to DMA-capable
910: device. Also, it's not possible to export ISA devices to non-dom0
911: domains, which means that the primary VGA adapter can't be exported.
912: A guest domain trying to access the VGA registers will panic.
913:
914: If the dom0 is NetBSD, it has to be running Xen 3.1, as support has
915: not been ported to later versions at this time.
916:
917: For a PCI device to be exported to a domU, is has to be attached to
918: the "pciback" driver in dom0. Devices passed to the dom0 via the
919: pciback.hide boot parameter will attach to "pciback" instead of the
920: usual driver. The list of devices is specified as "(bus:dev.func)",
921: where bus and dev are 2-digit hexadecimal numbers, and func a
922: single-digit number:
923:
924: pciback.hide=(00:0a.0)(00:06.0)
925:
926: pciback devices should show up in the dom0's boot messages, and the
927: devices should be listed in the `/kern/xen/pci` directory.
928:
929: PCI devices to be exported to a domU are listed in the "pci" array of
930: the domU's config file, with the format "0000:bus:dev.func".
931:
932: pci = [ '0000:00:06.0', '0000:00:0a.0' ]
933:
934: In the domU an "xpci" device will show up, to which one or more pci
935: busses will attach. Then the PCI drivers will attach to PCI busses as
936: usual. Note that the default NetBSD DOMU kernels do not have "xpci"
937: or any PCI drivers built in by default; you have to build your own
938: kernel to use PCI devices in a domU. Here's a kernel config example;
939: note that only the "xpci" lines are unusual.
940:
941: include "arch/i386/conf/XEN3_DOMU"
942:
943: # Add support for PCI busses to the XEN3_DOMU kernel
944: xpci* at xenbus ?
945: pci* at xpci ?
946:
947: # PCI USB controllers
948: uhci* at pci? dev ? function ? # Universal Host Controller (Intel)
949:
950: # USB bus support
951: usb* at uhci?
952:
953: # USB Hubs
954: uhub* at usb?
955: uhub* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
956:
957: # USB Mass Storage
958: umass* at uhub? port ? configuration ? interface ?
959: wd* at umass?
960: # SCSI controllers
961: ahc* at pci? dev ? function ? # Adaptec [23]94x, aic78x0 SCSI
962:
963: # SCSI bus support (for both ahc and umass)
964: scsibus* at scsi?
965:
966: # SCSI devices
967: sd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI disk drives
968: cd* at scsibus? target ? lun ? # SCSI CD-ROM drives
969:
970:
971: NetBSD as a domU in a VPS
972: =========================
973:
974: The bulk of the HOWTO is about using NetBSD as a dom0 on your own
975: hardware. This section explains how to deal with Xen in a domU as a
976: virtual private server where you do not control or have access to the
977: dom0. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of VPS providers;
978: only a few are mentioned that specifically support NetBSD.
979:
980: VPS operators provide varying degrees of access and mechanisms for
981: configuration. The big issue is usually how one controls which kernel
982: is booted, because the kernel is nominally in the dom0 filesystem (to
983: which VPS users do not normally have acesss). A second issue is how
984: to install NetBSD.
985: A VPS user may want to compile a kernel for security updates, to run
986: npf, run IPsec, or any other reason why someone would want to change
987: their kernel.
988:
989: One approach is to have an adminstrative interface to upload a kernel,
990: or to select from a prepopulated list. Other approaches are pygrub
991: (deprecated) and pvgrub, which are ways to have a bootloader obtain a
992: kernel from the domU filesystem. This is closer to a regular physical
993: computer, where someone who controls a machine can replace the kernel.
994:
995: A second issue is multiple CPUs. With NetBSD 6, domUs support
996: multiple vcpus, and it is typical for VPS providers to enable multiple
997: CPUs for NetBSD domUs.
998:
999: pygrub
1000: -------
1001:
1002: pygrub runs in the dom0 and looks into the domU filesystem. This
1003: implies that the domU must have a kernel in a filesystem in a format
1004: known to pygrub. As of 2014, pygrub seems to be of mostly historical
1005: interest.
1006:
1007: pvgrub
1008: ------
1009:
1010: pvgrub is a version of grub that uses PV operations instead of BIOS
1011: calls. It is booted from the dom0 as the domU kernel, and then reads
1012: /grub/menu.lst and loads a kernel from the domU filesystem.
1013:
1014: [Panix](http://www.panix.com/) lets users use pvgrub. Panix reports
1015: that pvgrub works with FFsv2 with 16K/2K and 32K/4K block/frag sizes
1016: (and hence with defaults from "newfs -O 2"). See [Panix's pvgrub
1017: page](http://www.panix.com/v-colo/grub.html), which describes only
1018: Linux but should be updated to cover NetBSD :-).
1019:
1020: [prgmr.com](http://prgmr.com/) also lets users with pvgrub to boot
1021: their own kernel. See then [prgmr.com NetBSD
1022: HOWTO](http://wiki.prgmr.com/mediawiki/index.php/NetBSD_as_a_DomU)
1023: (which is in need of updating).
1024:
1025: It appears that [grub's FFS
1026: code](http://xenbits.xensource.com/hg/xen-unstable.hg/file/bca284f67702/tools/libfsimage/ufs/fsys_ufs.c)
1027: does not support all aspects of modern FFS, but there are also reports
1028: that FFSv2 works fine. At prgmr, typically one has an ext2 or FAT
1029: partition for the kernel with the intent that grub can understand it,
1030: which leads to /netbsd not being the actual kernel. One must remember
1031: to update the special boot partiion.
1032:
1033: Amazon
1034: ------
1035:
1036: See the [Amazon EC2 page](../amazon_ec2/).
1037:
1038: Using npf
1039: ---------
1040:
1041: In standard kernels, npf is a module, and thus cannot be loaded in a
1042: DOMU kernel.
1043:
1044: TODO: Explain how to compile npf into a custom kernel, answering (but
1045: note that the problem was caused by not booting the right kernel)
1046: [this email to
1047: netbsd-users](http://mail-index.netbsd.org/netbsd-users/2014/12/26/msg015576.html).
1048:
1049: TODO items for improving NetBSD/xen
1050: ===================================
1051:
1052: * Make the NetBSD dom0 kernel work with SMP.
1053: * Test the Xen 4.5 packages adequately to be able to recommend them as
1054: the standard approach.
1055: * Get PCI passthrough working on Xen 4.5
1056: * Get pvgrub into pkgsrc, either via xentools or separately.
1057: * grub
1058: * Check/add support to pkgsrc grub2 for UFS2 and arbitrary
1059: fragsize/blocksize (UFS2 support may be present; the point is to
1060: make it so that with any UFS1/UFS2 filesystem setup that works
1061: with NetBSD grub will also work).
1062: See [pkg/40258](http://gnats.netbsd.org/40258).
1063: * Push patches upstream.
1064: * Get UFS2 patches into pvgrub.
1065: * Add support for PV ops to a version of /boot, and make it usable as
1066: a kernel in Xen, similar to pvgrub.
1067: * Solve somehow the issue with modules for GENERIC not being loadable
1068: in a Xen dom0 or domU kernel.
1069:
1070: Random pointers
1071: ===============
1072:
1073: TODO: This section contains links from elsewhere not yet integrated
1074: into the HOWTO.
1075:
1076: * http://www.lumbercartel.ca/library/xen/
1077: * http://pbraun.nethence.com/doc/sysutils/xen_netbsd_dom0.html
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