Using distribution kernel in Template VM

[Fred]

I followed the instructions here
https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/managing-vm-kernel/ for using the VM
kernel.

So in short:

in dom0: sudo qubes-dom0-update grub2-xen
in fedora-23 template vm: sudo yum install qubes-kernel-vm-support
grub2-tools
in fedora-23 template vm: installed a distro kernel and matching
kernel-devel from fedora repo.
in fedora-23 template vm: sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg to
create grub config.

I can then set pvgrub2 as kernel for fedora-23 template and start it.

fedora-23 boots without error, booting the VM kernel. Troubleshooting
with sudo xl console fedora-23 shows no obvious problems and it finishes
the boot sequence with a login prompt. The virt manager in dom0 shows
for its status an amber dot. It momentarily goes green, but then changes
back to amber.

Is there any way to debug this further? Have any steps been missed?

I'm just trying to use the pvgrub2 route as an easier way to get my
broadcom wifi card working (have installed akmod-wl in template vm and
that part seemed to work OK).

I feel I'm close, but no cigar! :)

[Marek Marczykowski-Górecki]

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On Mon, Nov 07, 2016 at 08:46:24PM +0000, Fred wrote:
>
> I followed the instructions here
> https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/managing-vm-kernel/ for using the VM kernel.
>
> So in short:
>
> in dom0: sudo qubes-dom0-update grub2-xen
> in fedora-23 template vm: sudo yum install qubes-kernel-vm-support
> grub2-tools
> in fedora-23 template vm: installed a distro kernel and matching
> kernel-devel from fedora repo.
> in fedora-23 template vm: sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg to
> create grub config.
>
> I can then set pvgrub2 as kernel for fedora-23 template and start it.
>
> fedora-23 boots without error, booting the VM kernel. Troubleshooting with
> sudo xl console fedora-23 shows no obvious problems and it finishes the boot
> sequence with a login prompt. The virt manager in dom0 shows for its status
> an amber dot. It momentarily goes green, but then changes back to amber.
>
> Is there any way to debug this further? Have any steps been missed?

Check if u2mfn module was built automatically. Simply login on the
template console and check `modinfo u2mfn`. If it's not there, build it
using `dkms autoinstall` command (see its manual page for exact
parameters).

- --
Best Regards,
Marek Marczykowski-Górecki
Invisible Things Lab
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
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[Fred]

On 16/11/2016 00:31, Marek Marczykowski-Górecki wrote:
>> Is there any way to debug this further? Have any steps been
>> missed?
>
> Check if u2mfn module was built automatically. Simply login on the
> template console and check `modinfo u2mfn`. If it's not there, build
> it using `dkms autoinstall` command (see its manual page for exact
> parameters).

Hi Marek,

Thanks for your reply. I got this fixed in the end by going back to the
Qubes web link and double-checking everything. I saw the dkms
autoinstall comment there and so I tried it and it worked. The strange
thing is, I saw u2mfn in lsmod output so didn't think this step was
necessary. So was this just the wrong version or something?

So booting a fedora kernel is now working but I'm unable to do what I
was trying to achieve with all of this in the first place which is get
my wifi card working in sys-net.

I can now boot using a vanilla upstream Fedora kernel in sys-net and
associated kernel-devel. I built a wifi driver using akmods for my
broadcom device in the template fedora vm. I assigned my wifi pci device
over to sys-net and although I can see the pci device in lspci in
sys-net and the wl module is loaded, no cigar. As a proof of
process/concept I followed the same steps without Qubes/Xen by getting a
fedora-23 ISO and installing it to USB. Booted that, built driver,
modprobed it and bingo. So for some reason this isn't working when done
through Qubes/Xen. But I'm not sure what could be preventing it and what
to look at next. Some kind of PCI issue perhaps?

In the meantime I've just assigned an entire USB controller over to
sys-net and am using a USB wireless which works just fine but isn't
ideal from some other perspectives.