Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Adam Wendt]

None of these suggestions are sure fixes, but give these a try, one might work.

vcpus=1 (i don't think vmx supports more than 1 cpu yet)

try different combinations of acpi and apic 0:0, 1:0, 0:1, 1:1

are you sure /dev/sr0 is mountable and has the win2k install cd? I haven't
actually tried windows 2000, only windows xp and windows 2003

Adam Wendt
IPCoast, Inc.

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 23:11 , Thorolf Godawa <nospam@godawa.de> sent:

>Hi,
>
>first thanks a lot for your answers!
>
>
>That's what I have in my config now, based on the xmexample.vmx:
>-------------------------
>kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/vmxloader"
>builder='vmx'
>memory = 512
>name = "win2k.vmx"
>vcpus=2
>acpi=0
>apic=0
>vif = [ 'type=ioemu, bridge=xenbr0' ]
>disk = [ 'file:/data/xen/images/win2k/win_boot.img,ioemu:hda,w' ]
>cdrom='/dev/sr0'
>boot='d'
>sdl=0
>stdvga=0
>vnc=1
>vncviewer=1
>-------------------------
>
>That's what I get if I start the VM:
>-------------------------
># xm create win2k.vmx
>   -> Using config file "win2k.vmx".
>      VNC= 1
>      vncviewer -listen: Listening on port 11001 (flash port 10901)
>      vncviewer -listen: Command line errors are not reported until a 
>connection comes in.
>Started domain win2k.vmx
>-------------------------
>
>So I'm not able to get a window on my xenU-domain :-(
>
>I also tried it with stdvga=1 and vnc=0, then a black window opens, 
>shows me some BIOS-information, s.th. about drives but then it stops 
>with a blinking cursor.
>
>
>Any help would be nice, thanks a lot!
>
>
>BTW: I'm using SuSE Linux 10.1 Beta2 x86-64 on Xeon/VT with Kernel 
>2.6.16_rc1_git3-4 and XEN 3.0_8628-2. Using SLES 10 Beta or SuSE Linux 
>10.0 results in not working onboard ethernet-interfaces.
>-- 
>
>Chau y hasta luego,
>
>Thorolf
>
>_______________________________________________
>Xen-devel mailing list
>Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
>http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
>

Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Thorolf Godawa]

Hi,

again, thanks a lot for your answers!

 >vcpus=1 (i don't think vmx supports more than 1 cpu yet)
I think it does, but I set it to 1.

 >try different combinations of acpi and apic 0:0, 1:0, 0:1, 1:1
I'll try it, but first I should be able to get an VNC-connection to the 
screen!

 >are you sure /dev/sr0 is mountable and has the win2k install cd?
Yes it is, now I'm trying it with WXP Pro, same result!

 >Have you tried using qemu to test if the install CD works?
I installed Qemu 0.80 and checked the CD with:
qemu -hda /data/xen/images/win2k/win_boot.img -cdrom /dev/cdrom -m 512 
-boot d
With this WXP ist booting into the install-screen!

 >device_model = '/usr/' + arch_libdir + '/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
It is there, I just didn't listed it because it's default!


So some more info:

I started some xenU-Domains, sl101b2-64 is my working SuSE, w2k3 should 
be a working Windows-Image but I don't know how to connect so I can't 
verify it and win2k.vmx is the new VM I want to create!

What I see is that both Windows-VMs don't have network running, for my 
one it's OK because it's not yet installed, but the other one should hav 
had network, or?

What else could be usefull to know to find a solution?

--------------------------------------
xentop - 03:01:02   Xen 3.0_8628-2
4 domains: 1 running, 3 blocked, 0 paused, 0 crashed, 0 dying, 0 shutdown
Mem: 4186120k total, 4186120k used, 0k free    CPUs: 8 @ 3192MHz
       NAME  STATE   CPU(sec) CPU(%)     MEM(k) MEM(%)  MAXMEM(k) 
MAXMEM(%) VCPUS
  NETS NETTX(k) NETRX(k) SSID
   Domain-0 -----r        200    0.7    2801664   66.9   no limit 
n/a     8
     8        0        0    0
sl101b2-64 --b---         14    0.0     256992    6.1     262144 
6.3     1
     1        0        0    0
       w2k3 --b---          0    0.0     527688   12.6     529444 
12.6     2
     0        0        0    0
  win2k.vmx --b---          0    0.0     527348   12.6     529444 
12.6     1
     0        0        0    0
--------------------------------------
(domain
     (domid 0)
     (uuid 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000)
     (ssidref 0)
     (vcpus 8)
     (vcpu_avail 255)
     (cpu_weight 1.0)
     (memory 2736)
     (maxmem 3885)
     (name Domain-0)
     (on_poweroff destroy)
     (on_reboot restart)
     (on_crash restart)
     (state r-----)
     (shutdown_reason poweroff)
     (cpu_time 205.661815221)
     (online_vcpus 8)
)
(domain
     (domid 1)
     (uuid 505de5b1-d822-f5e2-7d1f-05d9ac15faeb)
     (ssidref 0)
     (vcpus 1)
     (vcpu_avail 1)
     (cpu_weight 1.0)
     (memory 256)
     (maxmem 256)
     (root /dev/sda1)
     (name sl101b2-64)
     (on_poweroff destroy)
     (on_reboot restart)
     (on_crash restart)
     (image
         (linux
             (kernel 
/data/xen/images/sl101b2-64/vmlinuz-2.6.16-rc1-git3-4-xen)
             (root /dev/sda1)
         )
     )
     (device
         (vif
             (backend 0)
             (script vif-bridge)
             (bridge xenbr0)
             (mac 00:65:19:30:00:43)
         )
     )
     (device
         (vbd
             (backend 0)
             (dev sda1)
             (uname file:/data/xen/images/sl101b2-64/lx_root.img)
             (mode w)
         )
     )
     (device
         (vbd
             (backend 0)
             (dev sda2)
             (uname file:/data/xen/images/sl101b2-64/lx_swap.img)
             (mode w)
         )
     )
     (state -b----)
     (shutdown_reason poweroff)
     (cpu_time 14.532502553)
     (online_vcpus 1)
     (up_time 4472.77982211)
     (start_time 1138668998.05)
     (store_mfn 895972)
     (console_mfn 895971)
)
(domain
     (domid 4)
     (uuid f9b04417-a491-0a6e-c674-7ab0e978f9b9)
     (ssidref 0)
     (vcpus 2)
     (vcpu_avail 3)
     (cpu_weight 1.0)
     (memory 512)
     (maxmem 512)
     (name w2k3)
     (on_poweroff destroy)
     (on_reboot restart)
     (on_crash restart)
     (image
         (vmx
             (kernel /usr/lib/xen/boot/vmxloader)
             (device_model /usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm)
             (vcpus 2)
             (boot c)
             (vnc 1)
             (display :0.0)
             (xauthority /root/.Xauthority)
         )
     )
     (state -b----)
     (shutdown_reason poweroff)
     (cpu_time 2.7678e-05)
     (online_vcpus 1)
     (up_time 2064.241009)
     (start_time 1138671406.6)
     (store_mfn 99161)
)
(domain
     (domid 5)
     (uuid f6250d95-ec08-b6c3-1b19-0cb3d7ed2dd1)
     (ssidref 0)
     (vcpus 1)
     (vcpu_avail 1)
     (cpu_weight 1.0)
     (memory 512)
     (maxmem 512)
     (name win2k.vmx)
     (on_poweroff destroy)
     (on_reboot restart)
     (on_crash restart)
     (image
         (vmx
             (kernel /usr/lib/xen/boot/vmxloader)
             (device_model /usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm)
             (vcpus 1)
             (cdrom /dev/cdrom)
             (boot d)
             (stdvga 1)
             (vncviewer 1)
             (sdl 1)
             (display :0.0)
             (xauthority /root/.Xauthority)
         )
     )
     (state -b----)
     (shutdown_reason poweroff)
     (cpu_time 3.1656e-05)
     (online_vcpus 1)
     (up_time 1468.59942698)
     (start_time 1138672002.25)
     (store_mfn 58113)
)
--------------------------------------



-- 

Chau y hasta luego,

Thorolf

RE: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Puthiyaparambil, Aravindh]

Have you tried using qemu to test if the install CD works?

qemu -hda /data/xen/images/win2k/win_boot.img -cdrom /dev/cdrom -m 512
-boot d -d

I also don't see the "device_model" line in your config
device_model = '/usr/' + arch_libdir + '/xen/bin/qemu-dm'

Aravindh
PS: I too have never been able to get VNC to work. Is any special
incantation needed? :-)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-devel-
> bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Thorolf Godawa
> Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 5:11 PM
> To: xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
> Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with
Intel/VT
> or AMD/Pacifica
> 
> Hi,
> 
> first thanks a lot for your answers!
> 
> 
> That's what I have in my config now, based on the xmexample.vmx:
> -------------------------
> kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/vmxloader"
> builder='vmx'
> memory = 512
> name = "win2k.vmx"
> vcpus=2
> acpi=0
> apic=0
> vif = [ 'type=ioemu, bridge=xenbr0' ]
> disk = [ 'file:/data/xen/images/win2k/win_boot.img,ioemu:hda,w' ]
> cdrom='/dev/sr0'
> boot='d'
> sdl=0
> stdvga=0
> vnc=1
> vncviewer=1
> -------------------------
> 
> That's what I get if I start the VM:
> -------------------------
> # xm create win2k.vmx
>    -> Using config file "win2k.vmx".
>       VNC= 1
>       vncviewer -listen: Listening on port 11001 (flash port 10901)
>       vncviewer -listen: Command line errors are not reported until a
> connection comes in.
> Started domain win2k.vmx
> -------------------------
> 
> So I'm not able to get a window on my xenU-domain :-(
> 
> I also tried it with stdvga=1 and vnc=0, then a black window opens,
> shows me some BIOS-information, s.th. about drives but then it stops
> with a blinking cursor.
> 
> 
> Any help would be nice, thanks a lot!
> 
> 
> BTW: I'm using SuSE Linux 10.1 Beta2 x86-64 on Xeon/VT with Kernel
> 2.6.16_rc1_git3-4 and XEN 3.0_8628-2. Using SLES 10 Beta or SuSE Linux
> 10.0 results in not working onboard ethernet-interfaces.
> --
> 
> Chau y hasta luego,
> 
> Thorolf
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel

Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Thorolf Godawa]

Hi,

is it possible to make a W2k-installation with Qemu, configure the 
network (ne2000) and vnc and using this image with XEN?

In my xen-config I possibly have to set "ne2000=1", what else I have to 
do to get it running?

Unfortunately Windows has to run tomorrow on this machine so I need a 
solution pretty fast (and it's 04:00 in the morning) :-(

Thanks a lot for your help again!
-- 

Chau y hasta luego,

Thorolf

RE: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Petersson, Mats]

 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com 
> [mailto:xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of 
> Mark Williamson
> Sent: 30 January 2006 02:04
> To: xen-devel@lists.xensource.com; adam@ipcoast.com
> Cc: Thorolf Godawa
> Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 
> with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica
> 
> > You write an xen configuration file that has a 'cdrom' entry which 
> > points to your cd device, or an iso image. Then you tell 
> xen to boot 
> > from the cdrom. Would look something like this:
> >
> > cdrom = "/path/to/isofile" (or /dev/hdc if that is your 
> cdrom device) 
> > boot  = "d"
> >
> > also you'd want:
> > vnc = 1
> 
> Or you can enable a local X Window, if that suits your setup.
> 
> > You would either use the vnc connection, but I wouldn't 
> suggest that 
> > as its very slow and for me has mouse problems.
> 
> I'm not sure to what extent VNC is to blame, and to what 
> extent it's the display device model.  Using the normal X 
> Window might improve this a bit, but the current display 
> emulator will never win any speed awards.
> 
> > >- If I use a Processor with x86-64-support, should I install the 
> > >x86-64-version of Linux or just the i386 if most xenU-domains just 
> > >will be x86? The advantage with x86-64 is that it uses 
> memory above 
> > >4GB better but is there a disadvantage with x86-only-guests?
> >
> > I don't really have enough knowledge to comment on this.
> 
> I'm not entirely sure I understand the question...
> 
> If you're running on a host with > 4Gig memory, you *either* 
> need to run a PAE dom0 on PAE Xen (not sure if you can use VT 
> on PAE Xen at the moment...) or run a 64-bit dom0 on 64-bit 
> Xen.  Dom0 and Xen have to be matched.
> 
> Therefore, if you want to use > 4Gig memory in the whole 
> system *or* you want to run *any* 64-bit guests, you need a 
> 64-bit dom0 on a 64-bit Xen.  Does that answer your question?

I would say that if you have more than 4G (actually, over 3.5GB, as PCI
devices usually take up around 0.5GB) of memory, you should use Xen in
64-bit mode, and that in itself forces Dom0 to be x86-64 model as the
Xen and Dom0 need to be the same "bitness". 

As for DomU's, you probably want to run those with Paravirtualization if
possible - at this point in time the full virtualization isn't fully
optimized, and the para-virt solutin should run a bit faster (and
probably a few less bugs too...). 

If you haven't got more than 3.5GB of RAM, I would say that running
32-bit Xen & Dom0 would be the most efficient as the page-table-size
will be smaller than in a 64-bit system (which FORCES the use of PAE ->
64-bit pagetable entries -> double the size of the page-table). 

--
Mats
> 
> HTH,
> Mark
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
> 
> 

Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Thorolf Godawa]

Hi all,

since I need an answer for my problem pretty fast and I think that in 
this group I can find more experienced people I post my questions again.

XEN 3.0 supports starting unmodified xenU-domains with the upcomming 
Intel and AMD-processors and I have some questions according to this.

- How can I install an OS like Windows in such an environement?

With Linux (or even OS/2) it works quite easy, install it in a mounted 
image-directory or unzip it there, edit the config-files start it and 
login with telnet or ssh, Linux also works with the xen-console.

But Windows needs a graphical connection like VNC what is not standard 
on Windows and it is hard to configure Windows from the commandline.

If I have an W2k-image that I can start with XEN and "xm list" tells me 
that it is running, how can I access it?

- How works the network-configuration in Windows or OS/2?

Linux gives me my ethN that I can configure even without physical 
interface and its working, but for Windows or OS/2 I probably need an 
"dummy"-network-interface-card which I can install and configure.

- If I use a Processor with x86-64-support, should I install the 
x86-64-version of Linux or just the i386 if most xenU-domains just will 
be x86? The advantage with x86-64 is that it uses memory above 4GB 
better but is there a disadvantage with x86-only-guests?

Thanks a lot for your answers or where do I find more informations about 
XEN-support for Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica.
-- 

Chau y hasta luego,

Thorolf

Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Adam Wendt]

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 21:04 , Thorolf Godawa <nospam@godawa.de> sent:

>Hi all,
>
>since I need an answer for my problem pretty fast and I think that in 
>this group I can find more experienced people I post my questions again.
>
>XEN 3.0 supports starting unmodified xenU-domains with the upcomming 
>Intel and AMD-processors and I have some questions according to this.
>
>- How can I install an OS like Windows in such an environement?

You write an xen configuration file that has a 'cdrom' entry which points to your
cd device, or an iso image. Then you tell xen to boot from the cdrom. Would look
something like this:

cdrom = "/path/to/isofile" (or /dev/hdc if that is your cdrom device)
boot  = "d"

also you'd want:
vnc = 1

All of this is in the example xmexample.vmx file.

You'll need to do other configuration for disks and such, which is mostly
documented here:

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/readmes/user/user.html#SECTION04300000000000000000

Once you xm create you then run
vncviewer <host ip>:<domid#>

Which will let you control the installation just as if you were booting on the
hardware with a monitor/keyboard attached (just like vmware or virtual pc)

>If I have an W2k-image that I can start with XEN and "xm list" tells me 
>that it is running, how can I access it?

You would either use the vnc connection, but I wouldn't suggest that as its very
slow and for me has mouse problems.

Most likely you would enable windows terminal service and use remote desktop
client to connect which has worked quite well for me. The gotcha is you'd have to
use vnc to enable it with a fresh install or get networking working, or turn off
firewall etc.

>
>- How works the network-configuration in Windows or OS/2?
>
>Linux gives me my ethN that I can configure even without physical 
>interface and its working, but for Windows or OS/2 I probably need an 
>"dummy"-network-interface-card which I can install and configure.

For my windows guest I have in my config file:

vif = [ 'type=ioemu, bridge=xenbr0' ]

Windows automatically installed the driver, the only thing I needed to do via vnc
was enable wts, turn off firewall (or allow wts through) and then connect.

>
>- If I use a Processor with x86-64-support, should I install the 
>x86-64-version of Linux or just the i386 if most xenU-domains just will 
>be x86? The advantage with x86-64 is that it uses memory above 4GB 
>better but is there a disadvantage with x86-only-guests?

I don't really have enough knowledge to comment on this.

Adam Wendt
IPCoast, Inc.

Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Mark Williamson]

> You write an xen configuration file that has a 'cdrom' entry which points
> to your cd device, or an iso image. Then you tell xen to boot from the
> cdrom. Would look something like this:
>
> cdrom = "/path/to/isofile" (or /dev/hdc if that is your cdrom device)
> boot  = "d"
>
> also you'd want:
> vnc = 1

Or you can enable a local X Window, if that suits your setup.

> You would either use the vnc connection, but I wouldn't suggest that as its
> very slow and for me has mouse problems.

I'm not sure to what extent VNC is to blame, and to what extent it's the 
display device model.  Using the normal X Window might improve this a bit, 
but the current display emulator will never win any speed awards.

> >- If I use a Processor with x86-64-support, should I install the
> >x86-64-version of Linux or just the i386 if most xenU-domains just will
> >be x86? The advantage with x86-64 is that it uses memory above 4GB
> >better but is there a disadvantage with x86-only-guests?
>
> I don't really have enough knowledge to comment on this.

I'm not entirely sure I understand the question...

If you're running on a host with > 4Gig memory, you *either* need to run a PAE 
dom0 on PAE Xen (not sure if you can use VT on PAE Xen at the moment...) or 
run a 64-bit dom0 on 64-bit Xen.  Dom0 and Xen have to be matched.

Therefore, if you want to use > 4Gig memory in the whole system *or* you want 
to run *any* 64-bit guests, you need a 64-bit dom0 on a 64-bit Xen.  Does 
that answer your question?

HTH,
Mark

Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Anthony Liguori]

Mark Williamson wrote:

>>You would either use the vnc connection, but I wouldn't suggest that as its
>>very slow and for me has mouse problems.
>>    
>>
>
>I'm not sure to what extent VNC is to blame, and to what extent it's the 
>display device model.  Using the normal X Window might improve this a bit, 
>but the current display emulator will never win any speed awards.
>  
>
Xvnc makes use of high-level operations (which is why it's a full-blown 
X server).  QEmu doesn't pass any of that info via it's DisplayState API 
(even though it does emulate those high level operations).  If 
libvncserver was provided that info, it would make a noticable impact on 
VNC performance.

The mouse is going to be a problem.  As long as we emulate the CL, 
there's not much hope here (if you sacrifice some chickens, I'm told you 
can convince X to use the monochromatic hardware cursor but I've not 
been successful myself).  An enterprising chap could implement touch 
screen emulation.  This would make the mouse a bit more sane under VNC 
but it will still appear choppy.

If you use SDL, set the resolution to 1024x768, set the depth to 24 bit, 
and enable full hardware acceleration in Windows performance should be 
pretty good.

Regards,

Anthony Liguori

Re: Unmodified Windows etc on XEN 3.0 with Intel/VT or AMD/Pacifica

[Thorolf Godawa]

Hi,

first thanks a lot for your answers!


That's what I have in my config now, based on the xmexample.vmx:
-------------------------
kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/vmxloader"
builder='vmx'
memory = 512
name = "win2k.vmx"
vcpus=2
acpi=0
apic=0
vif = [ 'type=ioemu, bridge=xenbr0' ]
disk = [ 'file:/data/xen/images/win2k/win_boot.img,ioemu:hda,w' ]
cdrom='/dev/sr0'
boot='d'
sdl=0
stdvga=0
vnc=1
vncviewer=1
-------------------------

That's what I get if I start the VM:
-------------------------
# xm create win2k.vmx
   -> Using config file "win2k.vmx".
      VNC= 1
      vncviewer -listen: Listening on port 11001 (flash port 10901)
      vncviewer -listen: Command line errors are not reported until a 
connection comes in.
Started domain win2k.vmx
-------------------------

So I'm not able to get a window on my xenU-domain :-(

I also tried it with stdvga=1 and vnc=0, then a black window opens, 
shows me some BIOS-information, s.th. about drives but then it stops 
with a blinking cursor.


Any help would be nice, thanks a lot!


BTW: I'm using SuSE Linux 10.1 Beta2 x86-64 on Xeon/VT with Kernel 
2.6.16_rc1_git3-4 and XEN 3.0_8628-2. Using SLES 10 Beta or SuSE Linux 
10.0 results in not working onboard ethernet-interfaces.
-- 

Chau y hasta luego,

Thorolf