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I thought I'd kick off my Citrix blog with a question I get pretty often from Linux enthusiasts: how to install unsupported Linux distributions on XenServer 4.1.
The most common solution people find is to use the "Other Install Media" template, insert the distribution installation CD, and find that the mouse cursor doesn't work when they boot into X11. The reason for this is that they are using the hardware-assisted emulation mode of installing Linux. In this mode (dubbed "HVM"), all input and output is emulated, and in particular the mouse interface uses the USB tablet interface. If the distribution doesn't include a driver for USB tablets, then no mouse will appear.
Windows guests run at high-speed in HVM mode due to the installation of the XenServer tools which install high-speed drivers, but these are not necessary for Linux distributions since they can be run in para-virtualized mode (dubbed "PV"). This involves obtaining a Xen-enabled PV kernel from the distribution, and modifying the VM record in XenServer to boot into this kernel instead of HVM mode. The XenServer built-in templates for popular distributions such as RHEL, CentOS or SUSE Linux already automate all this and are in PV mode from the installer onwards.
In the remainder of this post, I'll explain how to take a distribution without direct support (Ubuntu 8.04), get it installed in HVM mode on XenServer 4.1, and convert it to PV mode with a XenCenter graphical console.
- Download the "Alternative Installation CD". The main installation CD uses graphical mode, which won't install as well in HVM mode due to the use of esoteric 16-bit mode instructions for the graphics operations. The 16-bit emulation mechanisms vary between processors (with better support on AMD chips, and a software instruction emulator required on Intel VT chips). However, the Ubuntu alternate CD uses a text-based installer which works fine.
- Create a new VM on the XenServer 4.1 host using the "Windows Server 2003" template. This template is set up with a sensible set of hardware emulation flags and default disks, and so is a good base for the HVM installation of Ubuntu as well. Attach the Ubuntu ISO you just downloaded to the VM, and proceed to install Ubuntu as normal. You should install it onto the first disk, to make the subsequent steps in this guide easier.
- When the installation is finished, reboot the VM (don't forget to detach the installation ISO first). It should boot up in HVM mode into the graphical login screen. The XenCenter display will show it as not being optimized, which is fine. At this stage, I prefer to work via a remote command-line using SSH. Open up a Terminal from Ubuntu, and run "sudo apt-get install openssh-server". Then find out the VM's IP address with "ifconfig eth0", and then connect to it remotely. Alternatively, you can continue to type in the commands directly into the terminal as well.
- On the Ubuntu guest, you now need to install the latest Xen version of the Ubuntu kernel:
- Install the Linux kernel virtual package with "sudo apt-get install linux-image-xen". This is a virtual package which pulls in the latest Xen kernel and modules, in my case 2.6.24.19.21.
- You now need to workaround a bug in grub. Due to the switch in recent versions of Linux to work with the hypervisor-independent paravirt_ops interface, update-grub doesn't update the grub configuration with your newly installed Xen kernel. To fix this:
- Open /boot/grub/menu.lst in your favourite editor.
- Scroll to the bottom to the kernel list, and find the entry which looks like:
title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=<uuid> ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic quiet
- Add a new entry which is similar to this, but change all references to the 2.6.24-16-generic to the Xen kernel. In /boot I have vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-xen, so my new entry looks like:
title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-19-xen root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-xen root=UUID=<uuid> ro quiet splash initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-xen quiet
- Also edit the default entry in the menu.lst to match the number of the kernel you just added. I set mine to 3, since it is the fourth entry in the list and the indexing starts from 0.
- When this is done, shut down the guest but do not reboot it just yet. You first need to edit the VM record for your Ubuntu VM to convert it to PV boot mode. From the control domain console of your XenServer:
- Determine the UUID of the Ubuntu VM by using the xe CLI:
- xe vm-list name-label=Ubuntu params=uuid --minimal : this will print out the UUID of the VM named "Ubuntu". If you are logged into the control domain, pressing the <tab> key will perform auto-completion of UUIDs in subsequent XE commands, so you don't need to keep typing it in every time!
- xe vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> HVM-boot-policy= : this will clear the HVM boot mode from the VM.
- xe vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> PV-bootloader=pygrub : this will switch the VM to using to the pygrub bootloader which starts the guest in PV mode by examining its filesystem for kernel.
- vm vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> PV-args="console=tty0 xencons=tty" : this configures the kernel boot arguments to display the login console on the correct TTY, so that it shows up in the XenCenter console.
- Next, you need to flag the root disk of the VM as bootable so that pygrub knows where to look for the PV kernel:
- xe vm-disk-list uuid=<uuid> and look for the UUID of the VBD for the disk. VBD stands for "Virtual Block Device" and represents how to map the virtual disk into the virtual machine.
- xe vbd-param-set uuid=<vbd uuid> bootable=true will set the root disk VBD to be bootable.
- Determine the UUID of the Ubuntu VM by using the xe CLI:
- You should be all set now! If you boot up the Ubuntu VM, it should start up in text-mode with the high-speed PV kernel. If it doesn't work due to an incorrect grub configuration, you can use the xe-edit-bootloader script in the XenServer control domain to edit the grub.conf until it works.
- The next step is to install the XenServer tools within the guest, so that metrics such as the network interface IP addresses are recorded and reported from XenCenter. To do this:
- Due to a portability issues with the default shell in Ubuntu (dash), you will need to replace it by: sudo apt-get -y install bash && sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash. We've actually fixed this issue in future releases of XenServer, but for XenServer 4.1 you will need to use bash.
- Attach the XenServer Tools ISO into the VM, and mount it into the guest with sudo mount /dev/xvdd /mnt
- Install the tools with sudo dpkg -i /mnt/Linux/xe-guest-utilities_4.1.0-257_i386.deb.
- The warnings about the VM being unoptimized should disappear, and additional information such as the IP address of the guest should appear in XenCenter.
- In order to access the Ubuntu installation via the graphical console, you need to configure it to run VNC on the external network interface. XenCenter polls the guest to see if it is listening on the VNC port 5900, and offers the option to switch to the graphical console if it finds it. I followed the excellent instructions on this forum post. To summarise them:
- sudo apt-get install vnc4server xinetd : to install the required packages
- Edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf and uncomment the RemoteGreeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmlogin line, set the key Enable=true in the [xdcmp] section.
- Install a new service file for xinetd into /etc/xinetd.d/Xvnc with the following contents:
service Xvnc { type = UNLISTED disable = no socket_type = stream protocol = tcp wait = no user = nobody server = /usr/bin/Xvnc server_args = -inetd -query localhost -geometry 1024x768 -depth 16 -cc 3 -once -SecurityTypes=none -extension XFIXES port = 5900 } - The major difference from the forum poster is to run it on port 5900, and not to restrict it to just localhost (since XenCenter also needs to connect to it).
- Finally, restart the xinetd service by running sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart.
Once you're done with this installation, you can shut down the VM and convert it to a template. Any exports or clones will continue to run in PV mode, since the XenServer XVA export format records all of the metadata required to re-create the VM records.
Enjoy the Ubuntu on XenServer experience! Remember to report any issues you have with the in-guest packages on the Ubuntu support forums, or just give them positive feedback.
PS: many thanks to Andrew Peace and Ian Campbell for assistance. May their Linux beards remain long and uncut.
Comments (77)
Jul 03, 2008
Anonymous says:
This is really useful, Anil - thanks for posting.This is really useful, Anil - thanks for posting.
Jul 03, 2008
Vishal Ganeriwala says:
Awesome post Anil...Very helpful VishalAwesome post Anil...Very helpful
Vishal
Jul 10, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
Thanks for the positive comments. Would love to hear about any other PV distrib...Thanks for the positive comments. Would love to hear about any other PV distributions folks play with and get working... drop me a line or comment here.
Jul 10, 2008
Anonymous says:
I tryed to install Ubuntu 8.04 server amd64 in a Xen Server 4.1, but the co...I tryed to install Ubuntu 8.04 server amd64 in a Xen Server 4.1, but the console say :
Kernel alive
kernel direct mapping tables up to 20000000 @ 8000-a000
I tryed also with the w2003 template but it was the same
Fabio
Jul 14, 2008
Anonymous says:
So x64 HVM installs of Ubuntu appear to be problematic for other reasons (and va...So x64 HVM installs of Ubuntu appear to be problematic for other reasons (and varies in behaviour depending on Intel or AMD hardware). I've not had a chance to look into why yet, but sticking to 32-bit installs for now will definitely work (Fabio confirmed this in e-mail)
-anil
Jul 11, 2008
Anonymous says:
I hear that it's easier to use vmware? --ripI hear that it's easier to use vmware?
--rip
Jul 14, 2008
Anonymous says:
You need to stop drinking from that Google water tap Rip -anilYou need to stop drinking from that Google water tap Rip
-anil
Jul 15, 2008
Anonymous says:
I'd like to install Fedora 9 in similar fashion, any advice?I'd like to install Fedora 9 in similar fashion, any advice?
Jul 15, 2008
Anonymous says:
Never tried it myself...a quick glance at our guest agent script shows that it s...Never tried it myself...a quick glance at our guest agent script shows that it should be able to resolve the distribution tag. Post here and let me know how it goes.
-anil
Jul 15, 2008
Anonymous says:
I was able to follow your advice, though with "yum install kernel-xen" and every...I was able to follow your advice, though with "yum install kernel-xen" and everything seemed ok, but now when I boot up I get "The bootloader for this VM returned an error -- did the VM installation succeed? Error from bootloader: Failed to parse the output of bootloader: ()" on the XenCenter logs tab.
Suggestions?
Jul 16, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
The reason for this is that 'pygrub' is the bootloader for PV VMs, and it block ...The reason for this is that 'pygrub' is the bootloader for PV VMs, and it block attaches the bootable VDI of the VM in order to find the correct kernel to boot. It looks for a grub config file in /boot and then selects the default kernel to boot.
What's happening to your install is that the grub configuration is incorrect for some reason. You can get more details (including the pygrub command line) by examining /var/log/xensource.log just after you do the vm-start. Sorry I can't provide more details; I'm sitting in an airport lounge at the moment quite far away from my test machines.
Jul 16, 2008
Eric Floehr says:
Hope your flight went well! There is no /var/log/xensource.log, nor a...Hope your flight went well!
There is no /var/log/xensource.log, nor any log by that name anywhere that I can see via the control domain console. I'm running the embedded version (Dell Express Edition).
I noticed that in the grub menu file, it doesn't list /boot in front of the kernel because I have a boot partition. If I add /boot, I get:
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
On line 669 of pygrub. And when I edit the menu file, I have to add -p 1 to the xe-edit-bootloader command.
If it's helpful to converse via email, you can reach me at eric at intellovations, with a dot com at the end.
Jul 15, 2008
Anonymous says:
BTW, do you know the group within Citrix that is responsible for XenServer Embed...BTW, do you know the group within Citrix that is responsible for XenServer Embedded (specifically the Dell Express Edition). That's what I'm playing with and one suggestion for them (I also opened a case with Dell), is that default xe-edit-bootloader errors with:
/opt/xensource/bin/xe-edit-bootloader: line 244: nano: command not found
Nano isn't installed on the CentOS host. The other option (which I did) is edit .bash_profile and add EDITOR=vi, export EDITOR lines, which allows it to work.
-ace
Jul 16, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
You've done the right thing... opening up a Dell support case will be propagated...You've done the right thing... opening up a Dell support case will be propagated through to our issue tracking systems by Dell. I've got an engineering ticket open about the EDITOR issue anyway.
It's pretty cosmetic since only low-level "get out of jail" scripts like xe-edit-bootloader depend on the EDITOR variable, and your workaround is good. You can also just run it with env EDITOR=vi xe=edit-bootloader if you dont want to edit the bash profile for whatever reason
Jul 19, 2008
Anonymous says:
So I'm not having much luck with paravirtualizing unsupported OSes (when will mo...So I'm not having much luck with paravirtualizing unsupported OSes (when will more "modern" linux OSes be supported?)...
I'm the one trying to get Fedora 9 to work. I gave up on that for now, and am trying my luck with Ubuntu 8.04 to see if I can at least get it to work. No luck.
Install goes fine, appears that everything is installed ok, ran the xe commands, but on reboot get errors like:
Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console
and
/dev/mem: mmap: Bad address
among others. The XenCenter console also won't take any input.
Thoughts?
-Ace
Jul 19, 2008
Anonymous says:
I still get the "Couldnt get a file descriptor" but can type into the console by...I still get the "Couldnt get a file descriptor" but can type into the console by removing console=tty0 from the PV-args property.
-Ace
Aug 04, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
Yeah FC9 has its console setup differently from Ubuntu. The file descriptor err...Yeah FC9 has its console setup differently from Ubuntu. The file descriptor error is harmless; sounds like you have it all working fine now!
Aug 06, 2008
Anonymous says:
I had this same problem with the keyboard input when installing Debian Lenny AMD...I had this same problem with the keyboard input when installing Debian Lenny AMD64 based loosely on the instructions above. Restarting XenCenter solved the issue for me.
Aug 01, 2008
Anonymous says:
yes, a great post Anil - thanks heaps. I did encounter one issue when implement...yes, a great post Anil - thanks heaps.
I did encounter one issue when implementing this... upon reboot I can see the console output in XenCenter however no keyboard input is recognised so you cannot login via the console itself. Login via SSH terminal is fine however.
This is displayed in XenCenter..
Ubuntu 8.04.1 xen1 tty1
xen1 login:
From dmesg
[110362.401236] Kernel command line: root=UUID=e4ea27ec-2292-4fea-97e8-c94174398050 ro quiet splash console=tty0 xencons=tty
[ 0.213521] console [tty0] enabled
...
[ 0.213536] Console: colour dummy device 80x25
[ 0.213538] console [tty0] enabled
[ 0.091141] Xen virtual console successfully installed as tty1
Any ideas?
Cheers
Darren
Aug 04, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
Seeing the console and then not being able to type into it is pretty odd. Are y...Seeing the console and then not being able to type into it is pretty odd. Are you sure you have focus in XenCenter (click on the console window itself and then start typing).
If not, you could run vncclient directly to the VNC port and see if that helps. Best way is to determine which VNC port it's using. You can log onto dom0 and do "xenstore-read /local/domain/$(xe vm-list name-label="thenameofthevm" params=dom-id --minimal)/serial/0/vnc-port" to retrieve the localhost VNC port, and then SSH tunnel that to your local machine (e.g. ssh -L5901:localhost:5901 thexenserver.host) and then "vncclient localhost:1".
Sep 07, 2008
Robert Sheets says:
I'm also able to see the console through XenCenter, but I can't type into it fro...I'm also able to see the console through XenCenter, but I can't type into it from XenCenter. I'm experiencing this with the Ubuntu 8.04.1 Server Edition, following the instructions you posted. Console I/O works fine when I use VNC, and the console continues to update (including things I type that are echoed back to the console) both in the VNC window and in the XenCenter window.
Sep 15, 2008
Simone Lazzaris says:
I have the very same situation: I have created a virtual machine without u...I have the very same situation: I have created a virtual machine without using this guide, but performing the same steps. I can see the console from XenCenter, but I cannot type in the console. If I access directly via VNC, the console is working.
I'm using XenServer 4.1.0 and ubuntu 8.04.1, with the xen kernel provided by the ubuntu repositories. Any ideaa ? Something I can try ?
Sep 17, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
It's all a bit of a mystery... I managed to reproduce this once on 4.1, but as s...It's all a bit of a mystery... I managed to reproduce this once on 4.1, but as soon as I switched back to XenCenter I could type again. Noone's seen this on XS5.0 at all, and we fixed a few bugs in vncterm which would cause it to freeze up when confronted with weird control characters between 4.1 and 5.0.
Best suggestion I have is to upgrade to 5.0 and shout if you see it again. Things do point to a bug in the XenCenter VNC implementation if you can see it in 5.0, but it's a very rare bug indeed since we never see it in normal use of other OSes.
Oct 13, 2008
Simone Lazzaris says:
Thanks for the attention; I've fixed this simply by closing and restarting XenCe...Thanks for the attention; I've fixed this simply by closing and restarting XenCenter. Don't know what caused the issue,but now all is working.
Aug 26, 2008
Anonymous says:
Hi Anil, I'm really interested in any information on enabling vnc access ...Hi Anil,
I'm really interested in any information on enabling vnc access to the vm guests on the XenServer host itself.
E.g. if you open a shell session as root and run 'xenstore-ls' you'll see output that includes the vnc port for each vm. In theory then it should be possible to connect to these VMs using a VNC viewer.
The /opt/xensource/libexec/vncterm-wrapper and /opt/xensource/libexec/qemu-dm-wrapper scripts only let vnc listen on 127.0.0.1. So again throetically I should be able to ssh to the XenServer host and then access the VM guest consoles from a remote vnc viewer. I can't. I imagine this is becuase vnc is not enabled - I know this because if I go 'ps aux | grep qemu' I find that any instance of qemu that is running has the option -vncunused
I'd really love some assistance on where to look for this, or a definitive 'no it's not possible' and an explanation as to why.
Thanks,
Nathan.
Aug 27, 2008
Anonymous says:
Ignore me. It does work. And how ironic, the captcha for this post i...Ignore me. It does work. And how ironic, the captcha for this post is 'thickest'
Thanks,
Nathan.
Aug 26, 2008
Anonymous says:
Anyone find how to resolve the "The bootloader for this VM returned an error ...Anyone find how to resolve the "The bootloader for this VM returned an error -- did the VM installation succeed? Error from bootloader: Failed to parse the output of bootloader: ()" issue? I've ran through the installation using the XenServer beta, and Ubuntu 8.04.1 with no success.
Sep 17, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
You need to use the xe-edit-bootloader script to edit the grub.conf in the guest...You need to use the xe-edit-bootloader script to edit the grub.conf in the guest to fix it... for some reason, the bootloader (pygrub) cannot find a default kernel. Could be a parse error in the grub.conf causing this.
Sep 19, 2008
Anonymous says:
I miss a rollback plan/howto. I tried to convert my Ubuntu 8.04.1 x64 and I get ...I miss a rollback plan/howto. I tried to convert my Ubuntu 8.04.1 x64 and I get this error:
<pre>
Error: Starting VM 'ubuntu64' - Internal error: Failure("Error from xenguesthelper: caught exception: Failure(\\\"Subprocess failure: Failure(\\\\\\\"xc_dom_linux_build: [2] xc_dom_find_loader: no loader found\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\")\\\")")
</pre>
BTW, this is a script to do the conversion described in the article:
NAME=ubuntu64
DUUID=$(xe vm-list name-label=$NAME params=uuid --minimal)
xe vm-param-set uuid=$DUUID HVM-boot-policy=
xe vm-param-set uuid=$DUUID PV-bootloader=pygrub
xe vm-param-set uuid=$DUUID PV-args="console=tty0 xencons=tty"
VBDUUID=$(xe vm-disk-list uuid=$DUUID --minimal | sed -e 's/^.*,//')
xe vbd-param-set uuid=$VBDUUID bootable=true
Sep 22, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
If you get it wrong, you can always try booting in "recovery mode" from XenCente...If you get it wrong, you can always try booting in "recovery mode" from XenCenter, which forces it back to HVM. The above issue could well be because the Xen kernel image is bzipped, which would be an upstream change since I installed.
Am travelling to ICFP 2008 this week, but can give it a shot when I'm back the week after. If someone else can try 32-bit Ubuntu to see if it still works that would be great!
Sep 24, 2008
Anonymous says:
Instrcutions worked like a charm for Ubuntu-server-8.04 32-bit ! Only...Instrcutions worked like a charm for Ubuntu-server-8.04 32-bit !
Only you have to restart XenCenter after the changes, because the console doesn't take keyboard input. If you close and restart XenCenter keyboard input is fine. Probably something to do with the changing from HVM to PV and XenCenter not yet up-to-date on these changes.
Sep 26, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
Do you see the console restart problem on the 5.0 XenCenter as well? Say it ain...Do you see the console restart problem on the 5.0 XenCenter as well? Say it aint so!
Feb 13, 2009
Anonymous says:
I tried it on XenCenter 5.0 and I had to reboot for console text input. I ...I tried it on XenCenter 5.0 and I had to reboot for console text input. I had 6 other VMs working fine, so I don't think it was user error.
Dec 02, 2008
Justin Ryan says:
To reverse this, try: xe vm-param-set uuid=$DUUID HVM-boot-policy="BIOS order" ...To reverse this, try:
I figured this out by running, against a VM still configured as HVM:
Looks like only resetting HVM-boot-policy to "BIOS order" is necessary, YMMV.
This worked for me, while rescue mode did not, for Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex, 8.10, on XenServer5 with the most recent update as of Dec 2, 2008 applied. Before this update, my PV Intrepid VMs would not boot, and I am not sure if Rescue Mode would have worked at that time. In any case, this is a more permanent solution, I have a production VM running which was configured as PV unsuccessfully, and is now running our production databases under HVM.
Thanks, of course, to Anil for these extremely helpful instructions, at least as a starting point. It would rawk if XenServer could grow a "Generic Paravirtualized" template, so that those of us using this product through a Citrix partner will not be treated as using entirely unsupported functionality by doing this. It would also rock to see source for the xe client tools, which as far as I can tell aren't entirely proprietary, but specially crafted for optimal use with XenServer. Imagine PPAs with community-built packages for various distros. VMWare has open-source guest tools, and are open to contributions working on other hypervisors.
Peace,
J
Jul 10
Anonymous says:
Hi!Clear out quiet and splash from grub, so your grub entry should look li...Hi!Clear out quiet and splash from grub, so your grub entry should look like this:
cadeyrn
Sep 26, 2008
Anonymous says:
I just installed with Ubunut 8.04 amd64 in Xen5 and everything went completely s...I just installed with Ubunut 8.04 amd64 in Xen5 and everything went completely smooth up until installing the XenTools. XenTools throws the error :
sudo dpkg -i /mnt/Linux/xe-guest-utilities_5.0.0-361_amd64.deb
(Reading database ... 17486 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace xe-guest-utilities 5.0.0-361 (using .../xe-guest-utilities_5.0.0-361_amd64.deb) ...
[: 5: ==: unexpected operator
Stopping xe daemon: OK
Unpacking replacement xe-guest-utilities ...
Setting up xe-guest-utilities (5.0.0-361) ...
Detecting Linux distribution version: local: 1: 8.04: bad variable name
OK
Starting xe daemon: OK
[: 30: ==: unexpected operator
It is booting great in PV mode and I can access everything from XenCenter, just no stats. Should I just switch to i386 or can I work around this?
Sep 26, 2008
Anonymous says:
I get the same error on i386, so that wont help you. If you do/did find a ...I get the same error on i386, so that wont help you. If you do/did find a resolution, please post it - I will do the same.
Sep 26, 2008
Anil Madhavapeddy says:
Looks to me like you didnt replace dash as the default shell; you need to use ba...Looks to me like you didnt replace dash as the default shell; you need to use bash instead. If that doesnt work, try running the bash -x xe-linux-distribution and see where it goes wrong.
Sep 26, 2008
Anonymous says:
I assumed from what you wrote above that in Xen5 we wouldn't need that tweak: "W...I assumed from what you wrote above that in Xen5 we wouldn't need that tweak: "We've actually fixed this issue in future releases of XenServer, but for XenServer 4.1 you will need to use bash." So I skipped it, but that fixed it and the install works properly. Even with the install error, though, it did seem to be working properly before I switched to bash and reinstalled it.
Sep 26, 2008
Anonymous says:
After a restart the system is able to retrieve all the stats and the IP, so I as...After a restart the system is able to retrieve all the stats and the IP, so I assume the tools actually installed succesfully on Ubuntu-server-amd64 inspite of the error messages.
May 19, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hello, Did you ever resolve this issue? I am getting the same error when ...Hello,
Did you ever resolve this issue? I am getting the same error when trying to install Xentools on Ubuntu 8.04 on Xen5.
Thanks,
Jorge
Sep 26, 2008
Anonymous says:
Thanks Anil, you mentioned in July: "So x64 HVM installs of Ubuntu appear to be...Thanks Anil,
you mentioned in July: "So x64 HVM installs of Ubuntu appear to be problematic for other reasons (and varies in behaviour depending on Intel or AMD hardware). I've not had a chance to look into why yet, but sticking to 32-bit installs for now will definitely work
(Fabio confirmed this in e-mail)"
I am trying to set up Ubuntu x64 on a Dell server with 128GB of RAM, and it crashes after kernel comes alive to start the installer.
I think you'd agree that using 32 bit would not make sense. The only logical question is when will Ubuntu reach the supported OS status? When the majority of people start using Ubuntu (and hasn't that happened already) or when XENServer is able to run Ubuntu correctly - and how is that going to happen unless Citrix says it's a priority and dedicates time to fixing XENServer to run Ubuntu?
Thanks!
Oct 16, 2008
Anonymous says:
I've managed to get the xentools installed and PV mode working. I can vnc ...I've managed to get the xentools installed and PV mode working. I can vnc to the machine but all I see at the xencenter is the console for ubuntu. Is there a way to get the ubuntu gui desktop on the xenserver console rather than just the terminal?
Thanks
Nov 14, 2008
Anonymous says:
Did this on XenServer 5. I did not replace dash as it says the fix is in l...Did this on XenServer 5. I did not replace dash as it says the fix is in later builds. One error in the article
vm vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> PV-args="console=tty0 xencons=tty"
should read
xe vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> PV-args="console=tty0 xencons=tty"
correct? Keyboard came back after restarting XenCenter. I can connect via VNC, but nothing ever comes up. No gui in XenConsole and I would like to get the gui back there.
Dec 17, 2008
Anonymous says:
Can you also give us the info on how to switch from the linux default udev to us...Can you also give us the info on how to switch from the linux default udev to using the xvd format for disk access?
Jan 22, 2009
Cem Koker says:
Hi, just wondering if anyone had succeeded in PV'ing a Ubuntu Intrepid ? I'd be ...Hi, just wondering if anyone had succeeded in PV'ing a Ubuntu Intrepid ? I'd be interested to find a ready appliance for this. It's
strange that Citrix don't have a repository like vmware ...
Oh and by the way; there's no 'linux-image-xen' in Ubuntu 8.10 ... using linux-image-virtual instead ?
thx for your help
Jan 29, 2009
Anonymous says:
I tried to install Ubuntu 8.10 Server 64-bit on XenServer Enterprise 5 using thi...I tried to install Ubuntu 8.10 Server 64-bit on XenServer Enterprise 5 using this guide, but with no success. I was able to boot with the PV kernel, but the XenTools installation had no effect. Thus, I'm unable to live migrate the VM.
Aug 04
Anonymous says:
Does anywone was able to make XenMotion work with Ubuntu 8.04 x86_64 with XenSer...Does anywone was able to make XenMotion work with Ubuntu 8.04 x86_64 with XenServer 5.0.0?
So far, Ubuntu VM hang when using XenMotion.
Jan 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
For a lot of reasons, we'd like to use both the server and desktop versions of u...For a lot of reasons, we'd like to use both the server and desktop versions of ubuntu under XenServer5/XenCenter5, and in reading the above posts, it sounds like some of the 4.1/8.04 concerns have been fixed or are no longer problems. What's still relevant in notes above and better yet, how soon before ubuntu is fully supported
?
Feb 12, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hi everbody! I followed all instructions, step-by-step (two times...Hi everbody!
I followed all instructions, step-by-step (two times!) and cannot get Ubuntu Server 8.04.2 LTS x64 to work in PV mode.
Citrix XenServer Express Edition 5.0.0 11743p
Commands issued:
(A) in VM
apt-get install linux-image-xen
(B) in VM
vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
(C) in control domain console
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-list name-label=Ubuntu params=uuid --minimal
6647accc-3a92-cdc3-c4a8-42c175127cc2
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=6647accc-3a92-cdc3-c4a8-42c175127cc2 HVM-boot-policy=
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=6647accc-3a92-cdc3-c4a8-42c175127cc2 PV-bootloader=pygrub
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-param-set uuid=6647accc-3a92-cdc3-c4a8-42c175127cc2 PV-args="console=tty0 xencons=tty"
(D) in control domain console
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vm-disk-list uuid=6647accc-3a92-cdc3-c4a8-42c175127cc2
[root@xenserver ~]# xe vbd-param-set uuid=1baf76d0-8020-ba68-2017-8f3c3e54001a bootable=true
After, when I try to start the VM:
[ 0.162014] failed to set up cpufreq notifier
[ 0.181447] PCI: Fatal: No config space access function found
[ 0.275344] Successfully initialized TPM backend driver.
[ 0.346170] rtc: IRQ 8 is not free.
[ 0.347657] i8042.c: No controller found.
Any ideas?
Feb 13, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hi everbody! It's me (Anonymous) again! Now I give up on...Hi everbody!
It's me (Anonymous) again!
Now I give up on Ubuntu Server (tried both 8.04 LTS and 8.10 - 32 and 64 bits)...
So I tried with openSUSE 11.1 x64. After do all steps when I try to start the VM I get:
The bootloader for this VM returned an error -- did the VM installation succeed?
Error from bootloader: Return code: 1; Log = Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/pygrub", line 723, in ?
data = fs.open_file(chosencfg["kernel"]).read()
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Bellow is my menu.lst:
default 0
timeout 10
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,1)/boot/message
##YaST - activate
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: xen###
title Xen -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.7-9
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/xen.gz
module /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-xen root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-QEMU_HARDDISK_$
module /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-xen
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.7-9
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-QEMU_HARDD$
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default
###Don't change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: failsafe###
title Failsafe -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.7-9
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-default root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-QEMU_HARDD$
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-default
Again, any ideas?
May 18, 2009
Anonymous says:
edit your first grub entry to: title Xen -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.7-9...edit your first grub entry to:
title Xen -- openSUSE 11.1 - 2.6.27.7-9
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.7-9-xen root=/dev/disk/by-id/ata-QEMU_HARDDISK_$
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.27.7-9-xen
Feb 22, 2009
Anonymous says:
It seems that citrix is looking for xen-EL5 enabled kernel. I did the same for o...It seems that citrix is looking for xen-EL5 enabled kernel. I did the same for opensuse 11.1 and it gave me the not xen-el5 kernel. Even though my opensuse is 11.1 xen 3.3 kernel enabled.
Citrix must seriously look into the non-debian kernel for PV implementation.
Mar 02, 2009
Anonymous says:
I can't seem to mount the cdrom (or any cdrom) after going PVM. I get: [&...I can't seem to mount the cdrom (or any cdrom) after going PVM. I get:
[ 238.782544] blkfront: xvdd: barriers enabled
[ 238.783886] xvdd: unknown partition table
Any ideas?
Mar 08, 2009
Anonymous says:
I did had problems with the XenCenter console with XenServer 5 running Ubuntu 8....I did had problems with the XenCenter console with XenServer 5 running Ubuntu 8.10 server.
After a bit of investigation you can set:
xm vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> PV-args="console=hvc0 xencons=hvc"Before rebooting your fresh copy of Ubuntu, you need to create /etc/event.d/hvc0 with this content:
grz,
Joachim
www.xenco.be
Mar 10, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hi Joachim, Do you actually have a 'download'able template (xva) of Ubunt...Hi Joachim,
Do you actually have a 'download'able template (xva) of Ubuntu 8.10 server ? I'd be very interested, you can email me at : discomarc (at) gmaill (dot) com
Mar 11, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hi, I also installed Ubuntu 8.10 Server AMD64 on Xenserver 5 following these in...Hi,
I also installed Ubuntu 8.10 Server AMD64 on Xenserver 5 following these instructions. I used the kernel found at https://launchpad.net/~zulcss/+archive/ppa
Built packages
I found I needed to install both the image and modules packages for it to work...I also installed the headers but dont actually know if I needed that.
I also ran into problem where the console spat out errors on boot such as:
Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console
and other errors about PCI etc
Just wondering if those are missing modules from the xen kernel I'm using...any ideas anyone?
Mar 12, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hi...its the same anonymous as above...just to clarify...this is the console out...Hi...its the same anonymous as above...just to clarify...this is the console output on boot, would love some help working out how to fix it and if it needs fixing:
Mar 14, 2009
vincent rabah says:
Hello, I'm a user of vmware server and esxi free edition for several year...Hello,
I'm a user of vmware server and esxi free edition for several years. And trying to step into XenServer 5.0 has it looks professionnal, it's free now ...
First issue setup a Ubuntu or Lenny distro ... In vmware it works out of the box, using Xen make me crazy. It works fine with Templates and windows ... But what about the real life of a IT team who use debian, openbsd and not windows, redhat, ... I think I will stay with my vmware server 1.0.8 and esxi ! Even, perhaps I'm ready to pay to have a full VSphere !
______________________________________
Vincent RABAH
http://rabah.dyndns.org
Mar 19, 2009
Anonymous says:
Well,your comment is in the wrong place. Try adding vmware instead of citrix in...Well,your comment is in the wrong place.
Try adding vmware instead of citrix in the url.
And of course, VMWare is made for noobs like you; professionals prefer using a professional product.
Mar 25, 2009
Anonymous says:
Hi, I tried to install Ubuntu 8.10 in xenserver5, but I can't do it. I ne...Hi,
I tried to install Ubuntu 8.10 in xenserver5, but I can't do it. I need ubuntu 8.10 because i need some packagesin that distro. There is a way to install it?.
Thanks
Apr 06, 2009
Charlie Markwick says:
I'm very much a newbie with both Linux and Xen, I am trying Ubuntu 8.10 and have...I'm very much a newbie with both Linux and Xen, I am trying Ubuntu 8.10 and have Xen 5.0.0. I have followed the instructions as far as:-
Ubuntu loads fine on reboot and is pretty functional except the screen is only 800 x 600 and it shose that Xen tools haven't been installed.
When I try "sudo apt-get install linux-image-xen" I get the message:-
Apr 20, 2009
Anonymous says:
i'm using xenserver 5.0 and tried to install ubuntu 8.04 (32bit and 64bit)with t...i'm using xenserver 5.0 and tried to install ubuntu 8.04 (32bit and 64bit)with the tips of this article, but after I installed the xen kernel and switch over from hvm to pv mode I can't login within the console in the xencenter (ssh is still working).
i guess a problem with the xencons paramter and / or the inittab. Anyone solved this problem?
regards
ole
May 20, 2009
Anonymous says:
"i'm using xenserver 5.0 and tried to install ubuntu 8.04 (32bit and 64bit)with ..."i'm using xenserver 5.0 and tried to install ubuntu 8.04 (32bit and 64bit)with the tips of this article, but after I installed the xen kernel and switch over from hvm to pv mode I can't login within the console in the xencenter (ssh is still working). "
This is a well know xencenter issue, just quit xencenter and restart it : then your new VM console will work as expected.
Jun 27
Anonymous says:
Hi all, Just wondering if anyone has tried this method with XenServer 5.5...Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has tried this method with XenServer 5.5 and the lastest Ubuntu release. If so, how did it go?
thanks
Jul 04
Anonymous says:
This method does not appear to work with Ubuntu 9.04 and Xencenter 5.5This method does not appear to work with Ubuntu 9.04 and Xencenter 5.5
Jul 05
Anonymous says:
This method work with Ubuntu 8.04 Server 64bit and XenCenter 5.5This method work with Ubuntu 8.04 Server 64bit and XenCenter 5.5
Aug 26
Anonymous says:
I just installed ubuntu 9.04 onto Xen 5.5. Used the alt install package and didn...I just installed ubuntu 9.04 onto Xen 5.5. Used the alt install package and didn't have a single issue. Worked first try. Didn't even need to use this tutorial. Just select "other install media" and use your 9.04 .iso
Hope this helps someone out.
Sep 03
Anonymous says:
Question is, did you install the tools? The problem is not installing it, it's i...Question is, did you install the tools? The problem is not installing it, it's installing it in a way where youget all the features, like XenMotion etc etc etc.
Sep 14
Anonymous says:
The problem is you won't be able to run jaunty at full speed since is uncompatib...The problem is you won't be able to run jaunty at full speed since is uncompatible with xen, because ubuntu chooses kvm instead xen. I cannot remember where exactly read this, but you can search on ubuntu forums.
Oct 02
isaac zarb says:
you can download a pv template for ubuntu 9.04 from here http://www.isaaczarb.c...you can download a pv template for ubuntu 9.04 from here
http://www.isaaczarb.com/ubuntu-9-04-xenserver-5-5-template-paravirtualized/
Leave a comment if this post was helpful pls
Oct 04
Anonymous says:
hi isaac, thanks for your template. Unfortunately i was not able to gather enou...hi isaac,
thanks for your template. Unfortunately i was not able to gather enough patience for downloading your files from rapidshare (10-20 kB/s!!!). I was, however, able to find this post:
http://forums.citrix.com/message.jspa?messageID=1384375
in witch there is a ftp with a 5.0 template (easily upgradeable to 5.5) of 9.04 Jaunty and got it with 3 mB/s.
cheers!
P.S. If anyone is interested, i'm willing to bring alive a ftp repository with community templates (like the jaunty 9.04 here). if anyone has such templates or information about other community places, give me a message on yahoo! id: dlbogdan
Oct 11
Anonymous says:
Ubuntu9.10_64_Karmic_Xen title Ubuntu 9.10...Ubuntu9.10_64_Karmic_Xen
title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-300-ec2
uuid 4bd4dd36-dd62-41d1-9c8b-32f8890c4883
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-300-ec2 root=UUID=4bd4dd36-dd62-41d1-9c8b-32f8890c4883 ro apic=off acpi=off apm=on apm=power-off
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-300-ec2
but only grub
not grub-pc
Nov 07
isaac zarb says:
Here are some ready made templates free for download and use for xenserver 5.X ...Here are some ready made templates free for download and use for xenserver 5.X
Ubuntu 9.10 64bit PV for xenserver
http://www.isaaczarb.com/ubuntu-9-10-x64-template-for-xenserver-5-x/
Ubuntu 9.10 32Bit PV for xenserver
http://www.isaaczarb.com/ubuntu-9-10-for-citrix-xenserver-5-x/
I've added an additional source to rapidshare for those who were hacin slow speeds with them,
Both Ubuntu 9.10 32 and 64 bit are running PV kernels and are free to download
cheers
Isaac
Nov 07
Anonymous says:
{{}} I get gray XServer screen too... http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t...{{}}
I get gray XServer screen too...
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=795036&page=5
For me:
"Edit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases and find the line containing
alias net-pf-10 ipv6
and replace ipv6 with off."
Fix it!
}}{{
Nov 07
Anonymous says:
And I've had problem with keyboard not working in console once VM is rebooted. R...And I've had problem with keyboard not working in console once VM is rebooted. Restarting xencenter fixed it (I'm using 5.5).
There's a small typo: [xdcmp] section is [xdmcp]!
Thank You for Your howto, worked for me (Ubuntu 8.04.3 AMD64 LTS + Citrix Xenserver 5.5)
Nov 16
Anonymous says:
Hi there, I made a simple bash script that might be useful for others.......Hi there,
I made a simple bash script that might be useful for others....
cheers,
Jan
#!/bin/bash
confirm() {
echo -n "$1 OK [Y/n]?"
read ANSWER
if [ "$ANSWER" == "y" ] || [ "$ANSWER" == "Y" ] || [ -z "$ANSWER" ]
then
eval $1
echo "...parameter set"
else
echo "...parameter NOT set"
fi
}
if [ -z $1 ]
then
echo -n "Name of VM [l for list]: "
read VM
else
VM=$1
fi
if [ "$VM" == "l" ] || [ "$VM" == "L" ]
then
xe vm-list | grep name-label | grep -v "Control domain"
exit
fi
echo ""
echo "Looking up UUID for VM $VM"
UUID=$(xe vm-list name-label=$VM params=uuid --minimal)
if [ -z $UUID ]
then
echo "No UUID found for $VM."
exit 0
fi
echo "UUID=$UUID"
echo ""
echo "Setting parameters for VM $VM"
confirm "xe vm-param-set uuid=$UUID HVM-boot-policy="
confirm "xe vm-param-set uuid=$UUID PV-bootloader=pygrub"
confirm "xe vm-param-set uuid=$UUID PV-args="console=tty0 xencons=tty""
echo ""
echo "List of discs for VM $VM"
xe vm-disk-list uuid=$UUID
echo ""
echo "Looking up UUID for VBD of VM $VM"
VBD=$(xe vm-disk-list uuid=$UUID | grep -A1 VBD | tail -n 1 | cut -f2 -d: | sed "s/ *//g")
if [ -z $VBD ]
then
echo "No VBD UUID found for $VBD."
exit 0
fi
echo "VBD UUID=$VBD"
echo ""
echo "Setting parameters for VBD $VBD"
confirm "xe vbd-param-set uuid=$VBD bootable=true"
exit 0
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