[xenpreview-dev] Using SLES10 tools and Virtual Disks

[John Summerfield]

Why is everyone sending everything to everyone? I'm on the list, the 
_only_ response I want is the one that goes to the list. Duplicates suck.


Charles Coffing wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 12, 2006 at 10:33 AM, "Puthiyaparambil, Aravindh" <aravindh.puthiyaparambil at unisys.com> wrote: 
> 
>>I am using the SLES10 tools to create paravirtualized SLES10 VMs. My
>>method for installing the OS is "Run an OS installation program". For
>>virtual disks, I am using a block device which is basically a LUN on a
>>SAN which shows up as /dev/sdc. I have made a primary partition
>>/dev/sdc1. The block device screen asks me assign a virtual disk (hda)
>>to a block device (/dev/sdc1). Should I not be creating /dev/sdc1 but
>>pointing hda to /dev/sdc? 
> 
> 
> Using /dev/sdc1 as a container for your VM's disk is fine.  From Xen's point of view, whether you put the VM's disk on /dev/sdc, or /dev/sdc1, or within a file somewhere doesn't matter; each are simply a place to store "virtual hda's" blocks.

This is not entirely true:-)

I have a Dell (Pentium VI HT) on whcih I've installed, separately and 
each into its own partition:
SLES10
SUSE10.1
RHEL5 Client beta
RHEL5 Server beta.

Each can be a guest, and each a host.

I've just booted SUSE 10.1 under RHEL5 Server beta, directly from its 
partition, and the only drive it sees is hda5.




> 
> 
>>Further more the installation program partitions the virtual disk hda
>>into /dev/hda1 (root) and /dev/hda2 (swap). I wondering about the
>>mechanics of this partitioning because when I try to look at /dev/sdc or
>>/dev/sdc1, I don't see it reflected there. So I am a little confused and
>>am not sure if I configuring things correctly. Please help me out.
> 
> 
> Since you used /dev/sdc1 to store your disk, then there should be a partition table written _within_ /dev/sdc1.
> 
> This should show it:
> fdisk -l /dev/sdc1
> 
> Of course, it's a little harder to work with (mount, etc.) these partitions-within-a-partition from domain 0.  If you want to do that, use kpartx from the multipath-tools package (similar to what /usr/lib/xen/boot/domUloader.py does to bootstrap the VM.)
> 
> 
> 
>>BTW, the VMs boot without any issues.
> 
> 
> Yep.  Your setup seems sane.
> 
> Hth,
> Chuck
> 
> 
> 
>>Thanks,
>>Aravindh Puthiyaparambil 
>>Xen Development Team
>>Unisys, Tredyffrin PA
>>E- Mail:  aravindh.puthiyaparambil at unisys.com
>>
>>disk = [ 'phy:/dev/sdc1,hda,w', 'phy:/dev/hda,hdb,r' ]
>>memory = 4096
>>vcpus = 2
>>builder = 'linux'
>>name = 'vm2'
>>vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:c2:34:1e' ]
>>localtime = 0
>>on_poweroff = 'destroy'
>>on_reboot = 'restart'
>>on_crash = 'restart'
>>extra = ' TERM=xterm' 
>>bootloader = '/usr/lib/xen/boot/domUloader.py'
>>bootentry = 'hda1:/boot/vmlinuz- xen,/boot/initrd- xen'
> 
> 
> 
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> 


-- 

Cheers
John

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