xenserver
jr4412
I've been asked to look into replacing an existing vmserver2 on
slackware 12.0 with an open source xenserver on the same machine
(HPxw4400).
do any of you have first hand experience? could you please pass on any
hints/tips/gotcha's?
I've tried the Citrix version (5.5.0) which uses Debian on a spare
drive, but there's the licensing, etc.
Hans
> hi all.
>
> I've been asked to look into replacing an existing vmserver2 on
> slackware 12.0 with an open source xenserver on the same machine
> (HPxw4400).
>
> do any of you have first hand experience? could you please pass on any
> hints/tips/gotcha's?
Yes, also look into qemu-kvm. Both kvm an qemu are developing much
faster then xen. Xen uses a older kernel. Like xen kvm has windows guest
drivers. And kvm should supports ksm. 'kernel shared memory' merges
pages with the same content. Extreem bleeding edge and I sill heave not
seen any shared page :(. qemu kvm has a git tree at kernel.org
--
Hans
Lew Pitcher
(ha...@nl.invalid) wrote:
Doesn't QEMU/KVM require the kernel to have the KVM kernel module? The
kernels and modules supplied with Slackware 12.0 don't include the kvm
module, so the OP would likely have to compile his own kernel.
OTOH, QEMU (not using the KVM) works great on Slackware 12.0. The OP should
install both the userland qemu application code, and the kernel kqemu
module (both available from the qemu sourceforge repository).
FWIW, I run Windows XP in a captive qemu/kqemu environment on my Slackware
12 machine. I also run several parallel slackware images in qemu/kqemu, for
development purposes.
--
Lew Pitcher
Master Codewright & JOAT-in-training | Registered Linux User #112576
Me: http://pitcher.digitalfreehold.ca/ | Just Linux: http://justlinux.ca/
---------- Slackware - Because I know what I'm doing. ------
jr4412
> Yes, also look into qemu-kvm. Both kvm an qemu are developing much
> faster then xen. Xen uses a older kernel. Like xen kvm has windows guest
> drivers. And kvm should supports ksm. 'kernel shared memory' merges
> pages with the same content. Extreem bleeding edge and I sill heave not
> seen any shared page :(. qemu kvm has a git tree at kernel.org
no bleeding edge, need stability for 2 or 3 loaded Win 2k3 servers,
will need to 'do my homework' on qemu/kvm.
thanks.
Peter Chant
>
> Doesn't QEMU/KVM require the kernel to have the KVM kernel module? The
> kernels and modules supplied with Slackware 12.0 don't include the kvm
> module, so the OP would likely have to compile his own kernel.
Not difficult for a slacker - IIRC though it is not part of the kernel
itself so would be hard to include as standard?
> FWIW, I run Windows XP in a captive qemu/kqemu environment on my Slackware
> 12 machine. I also run several parallel slackware images in qemu/kqemu,
> for development purposes.
>
Any reason why you prefer this to virtualbox? Just curious.
Lew Pitcher
(pet...@MpeteOzilla.Vco.ukE) wrote:
> Lew Pitcher wrote:
[snip]
>> FWIW, I run Windows XP in a captive qemu/kqemu environment on my
>> Slackware 12 machine. I also run several parallel slackware images in
>> qemu/kqemu, for development purposes.
>>
>
> Any reason why you prefer this to virtualbox? Just curious.
I've never tried virtualbox. OTOH, I played around with Qemu for a while,
just because I ran into it first. Used it at work to host a small Linux
server on a Windows XP system, so that I could run Perl scripts. I know
that there's a Perl for Windows, but the data was on our AIX server, and I
wanted to keep my analysis environment as similar to AIX as I could.
Henrik Carlqvist
> Lew Pitcher wrote:
>> Doesn't QEMU/KVM require the kernel to have the KVM kernel module? The
>> kernels and modules supplied with Slackware 12.0 don't include the kvm
>> module, so the OP would likely have to compile his own kernel.
> Not difficult for a slacker - IIRC though it is not part of the kernel
> itself so would be hard to include as standard?
Kvm modules could be a little tricky even for a slacker if they are not
included in the original standard kernel. First of all the kvm kernel
module and the version of qemu needs to match. Then of course the kvm
kernel module needs to match the kernel. Finally the installed kernel also
need to match all the other installed modules.
For the last reason I have never upgraded the kernel version in Slackware
since version 3.x or maybe version 4.x of Slackware. Except for having to
do "make modules_install" to install all modules included with the kernel
you will also have to reinstall any modules that are not part of the
kernel. Those modules might include graphics drivers, audio drivers and
other stuff.
Backporting a driver as a module or built into the kernel into an older
kernel is also many times non trivial to do. The linux kernel is a moving
target and there might be many API changes between different versions of
the kernel. For this reason I stick to the version of KVM that was
included with Slamd64 12.1 and I stick to only kqemu with Slackware 12.0.
This also means that I cannot upgrade qemu to the latest version as I want
to continue using my existing old kvm module.
> Any reason why you prefer this to virtualbox?
As others, I also still use qemu mostly out of old habit. Do you think
there is a good reason to change to virtualbox? Does virtualbox give
better performance than qemu/kvm? Is virtualbox "hardware-compatible" so
it will be able to boot and run my existing qemu disk images?
regards Henrik
--
The address in the header is only to prevent spam. My real address is:
hc3(at)poolhem.se Examples of addresses which go to spammers:
root@localhost postmaster@localhost
jr4412
Peter Chant
Lew Pitcher
compilation would't faze me but Henrik makes good sense when
cautioning re. version number dependencies.
from what I've read so far, Qemu has a memory limit of 2G for vm's and
is still undergoing rapid changes, that makes it unsuitable for my
needs.
virtualbox, like vmware, has licensing 'strings attached'.
so I think I'll 'muddle on' with trying for a open source Xen and
slackware dom0 solution.
thank you all, jr
Lew Pitcher
Could you please stop impersonating us?
We would hate to have to make a complaint..
Lew Pitcher
Lewellyn Pitcher
> Lew Pitcher wrote:
>
>>
>> Doesn't QEMU/KVM require the kernel to have the KVM kernel module? The
>> kernels and modules supplied with Slackware 12.0 don't include the kvm
>> module, so the OP would likely have to compile his own kernel.
>
> Not difficult for a slacker - IIRC though it is not part of the kernel
> itself so would be hard to include as standard?
The poster that you are responding to is not the "real" Lew Pitcher.
We are.
Until the author you are responding to is prepared to post using his
real name, we ask that you killfile her.
Thanks.
LP
Lewellyn Pitcher
Could you please stop impersonating us?
Post under your real name, please.
LP
Lew Pitcher
> Lew Pitcher wrote:
Could you please stop responding to the impersonater? The poster
you are responding to is NOT Lew Pitcher and he is just trying to
cause trouble.
LP
Lewellyn Pitcher
Could you please stop impersonating us?
Thank you.
LP
--
Lew Pitcher's official bio can be seen at http://lewpitcher.ca
See you there!
Dan C
Will you just fade away again, "RM"? Your little 5-minute attention-grab
is passed, and you're simply a boring troll again. Bugger off, whacko.
--
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".
"Bother!" said Pooh, as he garotted another passing Liberal.
Usenet Improvement Project: http://twovoyagers.com/improve-usenet.org/
goarilla
it's a non-interactive command line app by nature and therefore a lot
easier to automate than vmware/virtualbox. Both of those have their own
limited command line tools which you'll have to learn/test/... while with
qemu the way you use it is the way you'll automate it !
Lew Pitcher
> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:50:34 +0000, Lew Pitcher wrote:
>
>> Lew Pitcher <lpit...@teksavvy.com> trolled:
>>
>> Could you please stop impersonating us?
>>
>> We would hate to have to make a complaint..
>>
>> Lew Pitcher
>
> Will you just fade away again, "RM"? Your little 5-minute
> attention-grab is passed, and you're simply a boring troll again.
> Bugger off, whacko.
Danny, you have the wrong Lew. I am the real deal.
But your heart is in the right place so you are forgiven.
Lew Pitcher
--
Read Lew Pitcher's official biography at http://lewpitcher.ca
See you there!