OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Hu, Robert]

Hi,

During the hvm guest auto installation, how can I inspect its progress?
Currently I encountered some problems during hvm auto-installation; 
after waited long time, several minutes, I vnc to it, it is black screen.

I'm using debian 7.2 for guest installation. And I saw Ian C. 's patch
commit c60b6d20b0fd29836a224fdaf9f0d06272144b46
Author: Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@citrix.com>
Date:   Mon Jul 6 14:45:12 2015 +0100

    ts-debian-hvm-install: Arrange for installed guest to use a serial console
    
    So that the guest boot will be logged somewhere useful (the qemu-dm
    log).
    
    It still seems to pickup a "quiet" from somewhere, so it's not as
    useful as it might be, but it is an improvement.

debian 7.2 shall using kernel < 3.15, not sure if this commit causes the problem
I'm meeting.

Anyway, I need to look into its auto-installation process.

Best Regards,
Robert Ho

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Wei Liu]

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 07:20:46AM +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> During the hvm guest auto installation, how can I inspect its progress?
> Currently I encountered some problems during hvm auto-installation; 
> after waited long time, several minutes, I vnc to it, it is black screen.
> 
> I'm using debian 7.2 for guest installation. And I saw Ian C. 's patch
> commit c60b6d20b0fd29836a224fdaf9f0d06272144b46
> Author: Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@citrix.com>
> Date:   Mon Jul 6 14:45:12 2015 +0100
> 
>     ts-debian-hvm-install: Arrange for installed guest to use a serial console
>     
>     So that the guest boot will be logged somewhere useful (the qemu-dm
>     log).
>     
>     It still seems to pickup a "quiet" from somewhere, so it's not as
>     useful as it might be, but it is an improvement.
> 
> debian 7.2 shall using kernel < 3.15, not sure if this commit causes the problem
> I'm meeting.
> 
> Anyway, I need to look into its auto-installation process.
> 

/var/log/xen/qemu-blah logs?

Wei.

> Best Regards,
> Robert Ho

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Hu, Robert]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wei Liu [mailto:wei.liu2@citrix.com]
> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 3:51 PM
> To: Hu, Robert
> Cc: Ian Campbell; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com;
> xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest
> auto installation
> 
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 07:20:46AM +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > During the hvm guest auto installation, how can I inspect its progress?
> > Currently I encountered some problems during hvm auto-installation;
> > after waited long time, several minutes, I vnc to it, it is black screen.
> >
> > I'm using debian 7.2 for guest installation. And I saw Ian C. 's patch
> > commit c60b6d20b0fd29836a224fdaf9f0d06272144b46
> > Author: Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@citrix.com>
> > Date:   Mon Jul 6 14:45:12 2015 +0100
> >
> >     ts-debian-hvm-install: Arrange for installed guest to use a serial
> console
> >
> >     So that the guest boot will be logged somewhere useful (the
> qemu-dm
> >     log).
> >
> >     It still seems to pickup a "quiet" from somewhere, so it's not as
> >     useful as it might be, but it is an improvement.
> >
> > debian 7.2 shall using kernel < 3.15, not sure if this commit causes the
> problem
> > I'm meeting.
> >
> > Anyway, I need to look into its auto-installation process.
> >
> 
> /var/log/xen/qemu-blah logs?
Seems it works for me. Thanks Wei.
> 
> Wei.
> 
> > Best Regards,
> > Robert Ho

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Ian Campbell]

On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 07:20 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> During the hvm guest auto installation, how can I inspect its progress?

It's serial console is logged to the qemu-dm log, something like
/var/log/xen/qemu-dm-$guestname.log I think.

> Currently I encountered some problems during hvm auto-installation; 
> after waited long time, several minutes, I vnc to it, it is black screen.

Right, I think that's expected because the installer is running on the
serial console now.

Currently the qemu-dm log is a mess of ANSI escape codes. If you "cat
/var/log/..." then your terminal will decode it and show the last thing on
the screen (hopefully an error dialog).

My series "fixes to ts-debian-hvm-install" posted to xen-devel on Monday
incorporates a switch to using DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text which produces a more
useful text log from the installer (the same as is used for host kernel
today).

> 
> I'm using debian 7.2 for guest installation. And I saw Ian C. 's patch
> commit c60b6d20b0fd29836a224fdaf9f0d06272144b46
> Author: Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@citrix.com>
> Date:   Mon Jul 6 14:45:12 2015 +0100
> 
>     ts-debian-hvm-install: Arrange for installed guest to use a serial 
> console
>     
>     So that the guest boot will be logged somewhere useful (the qemu-dm
>     log).
>     
>     It still seems to pickup a "quiet" from somewhere, so it's not as
>     useful as it might be, but it is an improvement.
> 
> debian 7.2 shall using kernel < 3.15,

Debian 7 (and all point releases) is using a 3.2 kernel.

>  not sure if this commit causes the problem I'm meeting.

This commit will have changed where the guest console log will go but I
don't expect it to have caused whatever the underlying problem you are
seeing is.

Ian.

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Hu, Robert]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 3:53 PM
> To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest
> auto installation
> 
> On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 07:20 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > During the hvm guest auto installation, how can I inspect its progress?
> 
> It's serial console is logged to the qemu-dm log, something like
> /var/log/xen/qemu-dm-$guestname.log I think.
> 
> > Currently I encountered some problems during hvm auto-installation;
> > after waited long time, several minutes, I vnc to it, it is black screen.
> 
> Right, I think that's expected because the installer is running on the
> serial console now.
> 
> Currently the qemu-dm log is a mess of ANSI escape codes. If you "cat
> /var/log/..." then your terminal will decode it and show the last thing on
> the screen (hopefully an error dialog).
Aha, fortunately, just found 'tail -f ...' output formatted ANSI chart; I can
see its progress now.
> 
> My series "fixes to ts-debian-hvm-install" posted to xen-devel on Monday
> incorporates a switch to using DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text which produces a
> more
> useful text log from the installer (the same as is used for host kernel
> today).
> 
> >
> > I'm using debian 7.2 for guest installation. And I saw Ian C. 's patch
> > commit c60b6d20b0fd29836a224fdaf9f0d06272144b46
> > Author: Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@citrix.com>
> > Date:   Mon Jul 6 14:45:12 2015 +0100
> >
> >     ts-debian-hvm-install: Arrange for installed guest to use a serial
> > console
> >
> >     So that the guest boot will be logged somewhere useful (the
> qemu-dm
> >     log).
> >
> >     It still seems to pickup a "quiet" from somewhere, so it's not as
> >     useful as it might be, but it is an improvement.
> >
> > debian 7.2 shall using kernel < 3.15,
> 
> Debian 7 (and all point releases) is using a 3.2 kernel.
> 
> >  not sure if this commit causes the problem I'm meeting.
> 
> This commit will have changed where the guest console log will go but I
> don't expect it to have caused whatever the underlying problem you are
> seeing is.
> 
> Ian.

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Hu, Robert]

Further more, now I see debian-hvm guest boots up. But it hangs at 'Starting MTA'.
Is MTA necessary?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hu, Robert
> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:02 PM
> To: 'Ian Campbell'; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Subject: RE: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest
> auto installation
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 3:53 PM
> > To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> > Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> > Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of
> guest
> > auto installation
> >
> > On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 07:20 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > During the hvm guest auto installation, how can I inspect its progress?
> >
> > It's serial console is logged to the qemu-dm log, something like
> > /var/log/xen/qemu-dm-$guestname.log I think.
> >
> > > Currently I encountered some problems during hvm auto-installation;
> > > after waited long time, several minutes, I vnc to it, it is black screen.
> >
> > Right, I think that's expected because the installer is running on the
> > serial console now.
> >
> > Currently the qemu-dm log is a mess of ANSI escape codes. If you "cat
> > /var/log/..." then your terminal will decode it and show the last thing on
> > the screen (hopefully an error dialog).
> Aha, fortunately, just found 'tail -f ...' output formatted ANSI chart; I can
> see its progress now.
> >
> > My series "fixes to ts-debian-hvm-install" posted to xen-devel on Monday
> > incorporates a switch to using DEBIAN_FRONTEND=text which produces a
> > more
> > useful text log from the installer (the same as is used for host kernel
> > today).
> >
> > >
> > > I'm using debian 7.2 for guest installation. And I saw Ian C. 's patch
> > > commit c60b6d20b0fd29836a224fdaf9f0d06272144b46
> > > Author: Ian Campbell <ian.campbell@citrix.com>
> > > Date:   Mon Jul 6 14:45:12 2015 +0100
> > >
> > >     ts-debian-hvm-install: Arrange for installed guest to use a serial
> > > console
> > >
> > >     So that the guest boot will be logged somewhere useful (the
> > qemu-dm
> > >     log).
> > >
> > >     It still seems to pickup a "quiet" from somewhere, so it's not as
> > >     useful as it might be, but it is an improvement.
> > >
> > > debian 7.2 shall using kernel < 3.15,
> >
> > Debian 7 (and all point releases) is using a 3.2 kernel.
> >
> > >  not sure if this commit causes the problem I'm meeting.
> >
> > This commit will have changed where the guest console log will go but I
> > don't expect it to have caused whatever the underlying problem you are
> > seeing is.
> >
> > Ian.

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Ian Campbell]

On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:29 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:

Please can you not top post.

> Further more, now I see debian-hvm guest boots up. But it hangs at 
> 'Starting MTA'.
> Is MTA necessary?

Not really, but it's part of the standard Debian installation.

If it is hanging then that usually indicates something is wrong with
networking, either connectivity or DNS etc. Removing the MTA would simply
be working around that underlying issue

IOW patches to remove the MTA would likely not be accepted.

Ian.

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Hu, Robert]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:46 PM
> To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest
> auto installation
> 
> On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:29 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> 
> Please can you not top post.
> 
> > Further more, now I see debian-hvm guest boots up. But it hangs at
> > 'Starting MTA'.
> > Is MTA necessary?
> 
> Not really, but it's part of the standard Debian installation.
> 
> If it is hanging then that usually indicates something is wrong with
> networking, either connectivity or DNS etc. Removing the MTA would simply
> be working around that underlying issue
Do you know how to disable it? seems it is not a service?
> 
> IOW patches to remove the MTA would likely not be accepted.
I see. Thanks for remind.
> 
> Ian.

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Ian Campbell]

On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:47 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:46 PM
> > To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> > Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> > Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of 
> > guest
> > auto installation
> > 
> > On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:29 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > 
> > Please can you not top post.
> > 
> > > Further more, now I see debian-hvm guest boots up. But it hangs at
> > > 'Starting MTA'.
> > > Is MTA necessary?
> > 
> > Not really, but it's part of the standard Debian installation.
> > 
> > If it is hanging then that usually indicates something is wrong with
> > networking, either connectivity or DNS etc. Removing the MTA would 
> > simply
> > be working around that underlying issue
> Do you know how to disable it? seems it is not a service?

I don't know how to turn off the MTA during install, and like I said that
is not the approach you should be taking to resolve this issue. Instead you
should fix whatever it is that is broken about the network in your test
case.

> > 
> > IOW patches to remove the MTA would likely not be accepted.
> I see. Thanks for remind.
> > 
> > Ian.

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Hu, Robert]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:59 PM
> To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest
> auto installation
> 
> On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:47 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> > > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:46 PM
> > > To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> > > Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> > > Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of
> > > guest
> > > auto installation
> > >
> > > On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:29 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > >
> > > Please can you not top post.
> > >
> > > > Further more, now I see debian-hvm guest boots up. But it hangs at
> > > > 'Starting MTA'.
> > > > Is MTA necessary?
> > >
> > > Not really, but it's part of the standard Debian installation.
> > >
> > > If it is hanging then that usually indicates something is wrong with
> > > networking, either connectivity or DNS etc. Removing the MTA would
> > > simply
> > > be working around that underlying issue
> > Do you know how to disable it? seems it is not a service?
> 
> I don't know how to turn off the MTA during install, and like I said that
> is not the approach you should be taking to resolve this issue. Instead you
> should fix whatever it is that is broken about the network in your test
> case.
I checked my network environment settings, all common settings are set
correctly (dns, routes, gateway, ntp, etc.). I don't see any network configuration
shall blocking MTA start up, unless it has some special requirements.
> 
> > >
> > > IOW patches to remove the MTA would likely not be accepted.
> > I see. Thanks for remind.
> > >
> > > Ian.

Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of guest auto installation

[Ian Campbell]

On Tue, 2015-08-04 at 10:30 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:59 PM
> > To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> > Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> > Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress of 
> > guest
> > auto installation
> > 
> > On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:47 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Ian Campbell [mailto:ian.campbell@citrix.com]
> > > > Sent: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:46 PM
> > > > To: Hu, Robert; ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com; wei.liu2@citrix.com
> > > > Cc: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> > > > Subject: Re: OSSTest -- debian-hvm-install, how to see the progress 
> > > > of
> > > > guest
> > > > auto installation
> > > > 
> > > > On Fri, 2015-07-31 at 08:29 +0000, Hu, Robert wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Please can you not top post.
> > > > 
> > > > > Further more, now I see debian-hvm guest boots up. But it hangs 
> > > > > at
> > > > > 'Starting MTA'.
> > > > > Is MTA necessary?
> > > > 
> > > > Not really, but it's part of the standard Debian installation.
> > > > 
> > > > If it is hanging then that usually indicates something is wrong 
> > > > with
> > > > networking, either connectivity or DNS etc. Removing the MTA would
> > > > simply
> > > > be working around that underlying issue
> > > Do you know how to disable it? seems it is not a service?
> > 
> > I don't know how to turn off the MTA during install, and like I said 
> > that
> > is not the approach you should be taking to resolve this issue. Instead 
> > you
> > should fix whatever it is that is broken about the network in your test
> > case.
> I checked my network environment settings, all common settings are set
> correctly (dns, routes, gateway, ntp, etc.). I don't see any network 
> configuration
> shall blocking MTA start up, unless it has some special requirements.

Best check the logs in the guest to see why it is blocking then.

Ian.