Installing Xen On An Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) Server From The Ubuntu Repositories - Page 2
3 Creating Virtual Machines (domU)
Now let's create our first guest domain, xen1.example.com, running Gutsy Gibbon (gutsy) with the IP address 192.168.0.101:
xen-create-image --hostname=xen1.example.com --size=2Gb --swap=256Mb --ide \
--ip=192.168.0.101 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.0.1 --force \
--dir=/home/xen --memory=64Mb --arch=i386 --kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-xen \
--initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-xen --debootstrap --dist=gutsy \
--mirror=http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ --passwd
A lot of switches are unnecessary here because we specified the same details in /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf but it shows that you can specify the desired settings either on the command line or in /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf. Please make sure that you specify --ide, otherwise your virtual machine might not boot!
(To learn more about the available options, take a look at the xen-create-image man page:
man xen-create-image
)
The xen-create-image command will now create the xen1.example.com virtual machine for us. This can take a few minutes. The output should be similar to this one:
root@server1:~# xen-create-image --hostname=xen1.example.com --size=2Gb --swap=256Mb --ide \
--dir=/home/xen --memory=64Mb --arch=i386 --kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-xen \
--initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-xen --debootstrap --dist=gutsy \
--mirror=http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ --passwd> --ip=192.168.0.101 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.0.1 --force \
> --dir=/home/xen --memory=64Mb --arch=i386 --kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-xen \
> --initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-xen --debootstrap --dist=gutsy \
> --mirror=http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ --passwd
Unknown option: debootstrap
General Information
--------------------
Hostname : xen1.example.com
Distribution : gutsy
Fileystem Type : ext3
Size Information
----------------
Image size : 2Gb
Swap size : 256Mb
Image type : sparse
Memory size : 64Mb
Kernel path : /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-xen
Initrd path : /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-xen
Networking Information
----------------------
IP Address 1 : 192.168.0.101
Netmask : 255.255.255.0
Broadcast : 192.168.0.255
Gateway : 192.168.0.1
Creating swap image: /home/xen/domains/xen1.example.com/swap.img
Done
Creating disk image: /home/xen/domains/xen1.example.com/disk.img
Done
Creating ext3 filesystem on /home/xen/domains/xen1.example.com/disk.img
Done
Installation method: debootstrap
Done
Running hooks
Done
No role script specified. Skipping
Creating Xen configuration file
Done
Setting up root password
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
All done
Logfile produced at:
/var/log/xen-tools/xen1.example.com.log
root@server1:~#
There should now be a xen1.example.com configuration file - /etc/xen/xen1.example.com.cfg. Take a look at it to become familiar with virtual machine configuration files:
cat /etc/xen/xen1.example.com.cfg
# # Configuration file for the Xen instance xen1.example.com, created # by xen-tools 3.5 on Tue Oct 30 14:55:46 2007. # # # Kernel + memory size # kernel = '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-xen' ramdisk = '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-xen' memory = '64' # # Disk device(s). # root = '/dev/hda1 ro' disk = [ 'file:/home/xen/domains/xen1.example.com/disk.img,hda1,w', 'file:/home/xen/domains/xen1.example.com/swap.img,hda2,w' ] # # Hostname # name = 'xen1.example.com' # # Networking # vif = [ 'ip=192.168.0.101' ] # # Behaviour # on_poweroff = 'destroy' on_reboot = 'restart' on_crash = 'restart' |
(Please note: if you have a dual-core CPU and want the virtual machine to use both CPU cores, please add the line vcpus = '2' to the configuration file, like this:
vi /etc/xen/xen1.example.com.cfg
# # Configuration file for the Xen instance xen1.example.com, created # by xen-tools 3.5 on Tue Oct 30 14:55:46 2007. # # # Kernel + memory size # kernel = '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-xen' ramdisk = '/boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-xen' memory = '64' vcpus = '2' # # Disk device(s). # root = '/dev/hda1 ro' disk = [ 'file:/home/xen/domains/xen1.example.com/disk.img,hda1,w', 'file:/home/xen/domains/xen1.example.com/swap.img,hda2,w' ] # # Hostname # name = 'xen1.example.com' # # Networking # vif = [ 'ip=192.168.0.101' ] # # Behaviour # on_poweroff = 'destroy' on_reboot = 'restart' on_crash = 'restart' |
Afterwards, in the virtual machine, you can run the command
cat /proc/cpuinfo
to check that both CPU cores are being used by the virtual machine. The output could look like this if your vm is using both cores:
xen1:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 75
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2210.054
cache size : 512 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr
sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni
cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8legacy ts fid vid ttp tm stc
bogomips : 5526.81
processor : 1
vendor_id : AuthenticAMD
cpu family : 15
model : 75
model name : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
stepping : 2
cpu MHz : 2210.054
cache size : 512 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 1
wp : yes
flags : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr
sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow up pni
cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8legacy ts fid vid ttp tm stc
bogomips : 5526.81
xen1:~#
)
To start the virtual machine, run
xm create /etc/xen/xen1.example.com.cfg
Run
xm console xen1.example.com
to log in on that virtual machine (type CTRL+] if you are at the console, or CTRL+5 if you're using PuTTY to go back to dom0), or use an SSH client to connect to it (192.168.0.101).
To get a list of running virtual machines, type
xm list
The output should look like this:
root@server1:~# xm list
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 327 1 r----- 687.7
xen1.example.com 1 64 1 -b---- 22.4
root@server1:~#
To shut down xen1.example.com, do this:
xm shutdown xen1.example.com
If you want vm01 to start automatically at the next boot of the system, then do this:
ln -s /etc/xen/xen1.example.com.cfg /etc/xen/auto
Here are the most important Xen commands:
xm create -c /path/to/config - Start a virtual machine.
xm shutdown <name> - Stop a virtual machine.
xm destroy <name> - Stop a virtual machine immediately without shutting it down. It's as if you switch off the power button.
xm list - List all running systems.
xm console <name> - Log in on a virtual machine.
xm help - List of all commands.
Let's create a second vm, xen2.example.com with the IP address 192.168.0.102 and Feisty Fawn (feisty) as the operating system:
xen-create-image --hostname=xen2.example.com --size=2Gb --swap=256Mb --ide \
--ip=192.168.0.102 --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.0.1 --force \
--dir=/home/xen --memory=64Mb --arch=i386 --kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-xen \
--initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-xen --debootstrap --dist=feisty \
--mirror=http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ --passwd
Afterwards, you can start xen2.example.com like this:
xm create /etc/xen/xen2.example.com.cfg
... and shut it down like this:
xm shutdown xen2.example.com
A list of all virtual machines that were created with the xen-create-image command is available under
xen-list-images
root@server1:~# xen-list-images
Name: xen1.example.com
Memory: 64
IP: 192.168.0.101
Name: xen2.example.com
Memory: 64
IP: 192.168.0.102
root@server1:~#
To learn more about what you can do with xen-tools, take a look at this tutorial: https://www.howtoforge.com/xen_tools_xen_shell_argo
4 Links
- Xen: http://www.xensource.com/xen/
- xen-tools: http://xen-tools.org/software/xen-tools
- Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/
