Xen 3.0.3 on Debian Sarge with SATA RAID

[Radukn]

Hy guys!
After spending the whole day yesterday trying to install Sarge on SATA RAID, finaly i completed the instalation using a custom sarge compilation from http://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/ (This way i would like 10x kmuto for the distro)
In the installation steps i was also told to go to second console and write :

chroot /target
echo "libata" >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
echo "ata_piix" >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.19-rc3-1-486
exit

So that GRUB could load the SATA RAID drivers before attempting to load the kernel. And it actualy works!

All was ok, but after installed Xen 3.0.3 from sources and modified menu.lst like this:

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.19-rc3-1-486
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.19-rc3-1-486 root=/dev/md4 ro
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.19-rc3-1-486
savedefault

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.19-rc3-1-486 (single-user mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.19-rc3-1-486 root=/dev/md4 ro single
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.19-rc3-1-486
savedefault

title Xen 3.0.3 / XenLinux 2.6
root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz dom0_mem=64000
module /vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=/dev/md4 ro max_loop=255
module /initrd.img-2.6.16.29-xen

I get an "Kernel panic - not syncing: Out of low memory"

I think the problem is related to the initrd thing, i tried to do the same on
Xen initrd: "update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.16.29-xen" but i get this error:
"/boot/initrd.img-2.6.16.29-xen has been altered. Cannot update."

Please if anyone has any ideeas how can i do make it work? maybe kernel recompilation?

Thank you in advance!
:confused: :confused: :confused:

Hello again!
I made some further research, and i think i forgot to say smth important... the SATA drives i was speaking about are SAS drives...i this could help anybody to tell me how to import drivers from the working debian to the xen kernel. 10x

[falko]

Have you tried to create the ramdisk as shown on http://www.howtoforge.com/debian_sarge_xen_3.0.3_p2 ?

depmod 2.6.16.29-xen
apt-get install libhtml-template-perl libparse-recdescent-perl
wget http://downloads.howtoforge.com/files/yaird_0.0.12-8bpo1_i386.deb
dpkg -i yaird_0.0.12-8bpo1_i386.deb
mkinitrd.yaird -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.16.29-xen 2.6.16.29-xen

[Radukn]

HY Falko!
Yes i tried that but i don't know how to make the ramdisk include the drivers i need :confused: in default debian i used :

echo "libata" >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
echo "ata_piix" >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
update-initramfs -u -k 2.6.19-rc3-1-486

how can i include the drivers with mkinitrd.yaird ? i know that with mkinird there was an "--with" option but it doesn't in mkinitrd.yaird :(

Any ideas?
10x

[falko]

Put the modules into /etc/mkinitrd/modules before you run mkinitrd.yaird.

[Radukn]

:)
Finaly i found the way out of my problem!
10x to Howtoforge forum and Xen Mailing list ppl!

So if someone wants to know the how-to looks smth like that:

1.Get yourself the latest Debian version ( I recommend http://kmuto.jp/debian/d-i/ lots of drivers built-in)

2.Create the partition from the debian installer the way you want of follow the VERY recommend tutorial from http://www.howtoforge.com/debian_sarge_xen_3.0.3

My personal recommandation will be to create separate RAID 1 partition (md devices for ext3) for each guest in part, because fsck tries to recheck the partition from time2time and i longs some time on big partitions...and maybe you want only so partition to be checked every mount and other only once in a life time :)

3.wget http://bits.xensource.com/oss-xen/release/3.0.4-1/src.tgz/xen-3.0.4_1-src.tgz

4.tar zxvf xen-3.0.4_1-src.tgz; cd xen-3.0.4_1-src/

5.!!!! Even if you have a RAM Memory over 4GB DO NOT menuconfig it!
Just change in Config.mk from xen-3.0.4_1-src diectory from "XEN_TARGET_X86_PAE ?= n" to "XEN_TARGET_X86_PAE ?= y"

6. install Xen 3.0.4 from sources with :" make world " than "make install"

4."depmod 2.6.16.33-xen"

5."update-initramfs -c -k 2.6.16.33-xen" This will create the RAM disk u need.
If you have any drivers to be loaded at boot-time (like SATA drivers) just edit the file /etc/initramfs-tools/modules before running "update-initramfs -c -k 2.6.16.33-xen"

6.Some other tips:
If you want to have a complete fail-over system, instal GRUB on both HDD and create 2 menu.lst entries with failsafe option both with the root option set to the /dev/mdX devices on which the system will boot.

This little how-to is working now on a 2 x Dual Core Xeon - 5030 , 4GB RAM, 2 x 250G SAS drives on an Intel S5000PAL MB with ESB2 chipset =>e1000 drivers for Intel ESB2 Ethernet adaptor from http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000/.

PS. I know 5030 it's a 64-bit CPU but from what i read on xen mailing list that 32-bit guest are not yet supported on 64-bit dom0 :(
Cheers!:cool:

[falko]

Looks like a lot of work until you figured this out. Not bad. :)