Re: [Xen-users] Several XEN questions

[Alexander Wilms <alex.wilms@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Am Donnerstag, 9. März 2006 00:10 schrieb Fabiano Sidler:
> I planned to play around a bit with XEN on my P3 machine. Before I go on,
> I still have several questions that involve the planning phasis.
>
> -What about module loading in domU kernels?
> I know that it won't success with hardware related drivers, but is it
> possible to load "pure software drivers" like iptables?
Yes sure, software modules are handled like in normal kernels.
In xen-unstable there are also already patches to pass PCI devices to domU's.
(I'm sending this mail via a domU with a delegated physical NIC ;-) )

>
> Reboot the dom0 system while running domU systems?
> I'm not sure how equal the dom0 system is to the domU ones, but as long as
> the hypervisor isn't stopped, can dom0 be rebooted without interrupt of
> the domU systems? Would it be possible on hardware-supported virtualisation
> versions of the hypervisor, as with Vanderpool of Pacifica?
Not possible, because the hypervisor need's userspace tools like xend to run 
domU's. I guess VT et. al. won't change that. general architecture.
>
> How many virtual eths per one physical one do you recommend? If have a
> 100mbps card PCI built in my box. This should suffice for about 4-5
> systems, shouldn't it?
Depends on your network load, but for testing purpose: sure.

> Furthermore, how is routing approached by default? 
default is bridging.

> I've read some docs about it, but didn't really understand it in it's
> entirety. Is there already some L2-routing so I wouldn't need to connect
> a cable into the physical device or are all packets sent to a router,
> hence L3?
See this documentation about xen and shorewall, it explains the architecture 
very well:
http://www.shorewall.net/XenMyWay.html


>
> Is there a way booting a domU (or more likely an installer for a future
> domU) from CD? If not, it would be necessary to first set all systems up
> "xenlessly" and then adapt all them to run on XEN.
Set up one system and from that system you create the domU's with your distros 
installer tools.

e.g.
SuSE's Yast dirinstall mode


After that you'll xenify them by installing xen in your dom0, creating xenU's 
config files and copying the modules into the partition image or physical 
device/partition or lvm.

Check the xen-wiki for Howtos

HTH,

Alex

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