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Re: [Xen-users] Can't install Windows 2003 on SLES10SP1

To: Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Can't install Windows 2003 on SLES10SP1
From: Alexander Hoßdorf <xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:51:54 +0200
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Hi Mark,

yes you're right.
I meant sparse files formatted with ntfs. Thats no problem of course.
And no problem when used in a para domU or in dom0 directly.

But I'm not able to create a sparse file(no matter if sparse or not),
partitioned and formatted with ntfs for hvm domU.
Of course this ntfs formatted sparse file is mountable and readable for dom0.
But when used as qemu device for hvm domU,
the partiotion table and ntfs isn't usable for the domU.

I think this is normal, isn't it?


Cheers,
Alex


Mark Williamson schrieb:
I believe the tools shouldn't be able to tell the difference between a sparse and non-sparse file on disk, if we're talking about OS-level sparse files.

The virtual machine certainly shouldn't be able to tell whether it's running out of a sparse file or not since that's handle by dom0, not by the guest filesystem.

I've not heard of an instance where creating a sparse file in dom0 doesn't work (although it has some disadvantages), so maybe I'm missing something here?

Cheers,
Mark

On Tuesday 15 July 2008, Dustin Henning wrote:
        I really don't know.  I don't use file-based disks at all, so it was
just a thought.  Additionally, I am not familiar with cfdisk.  However, I
don't understand how cfdisk or kpartx (another tool I am unfamiliar with)
could differentiate between sparse and solid files, as I would expect the
underlying file system to deal with that.
        Dustin

-----Original Message-----
From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alexander
Hoßdorf
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 16:05
To: Dustin.Henning@xxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Can't install Windows 2003 on SLES10SP1

Hi Dustin,

I don't think this is possible.
You can't even read a hvm guests sparse disk file using tap:aio, with
cfdisk when it's ext3 formatted.
Or am I wrong?

Cheers,

Alex

Dustin Henning schrieb:
        Even if you couldn't create a sparse file formatted with ntfs
directly from dd (which doesn't sound plausible), couldn't you create the
sparse file, partition it, and then format the appropriate partition with
mkfs.ntfs (after making the file accessible in /dev with whatever tools
are

necessary on a given distro)?  This still might not cut it, though,
because

Server2003 might be as picky about the formatting as XP SP1+ (prior to XP
SP1 or SP2, I always used 8-64K clusters on my Windows partition, after
that, I had to use the default ntfs format [512 byte clusters?] or
Windows couldn't boot).
        Dustin

-----Original Message-----
From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alexander
Hoßdorf
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 07:26
To: James Pifer; xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Can't install Windows 2003 on SLES10SP1

James Pifer schrieb:
        By the way, don't use sparse files if you don't have to.
Why not use sparse files?

Looked like SLES 10 SP1 as the dom0 OS, and the version of Xen there
would be 3.1 I believe (or maybe a 3.0.x variant). SLES 10 SP2 has Xen
3.2.
Yes, SLES 10 SP1. xen version is actually 3.0.4.

The format should complete and then the initial file copy for Windows
begin (enough to set up the actual graphical part of the Windows
installation). Are you saying you consistently don't get this initial
file copy to occur? Is it an unexpected reboot of domU, or are you
prompted to do it?
Correct, at the point it should start copying files the domU reboots, by
itself.

In addition to not using sparse files (again shouldn't really affect
things too much) I'd also suggest setting dom0 memory to a low value.
What's the overall RAM in the system? setting dom0 down to 512M should
be fine: xm mem-set domain0 512 for example...
I do have memory restricted for dom0 on my production servers, which
have anywhere from 8 to 16 gig of RAM. I have not limited on this
machine yet, which has 4 gig of ram.

I have also tried using an ISO for the install instead of the CD and it
does the exact same thing.

I could install SP2 and see if that makes a difference. Anyone know the
commands to create a sparse file pre-formatted to ntfs using dd? Time to
google I guess.

Thanks,
James


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#I could install SP2 and see if that makes a difference. Anyone know the
#commands to create a sparse file pre-formatted to ntfs using dd? Time to
#google I guess.


Hi James,

I don't think it's possible to format a sparse file natively with ntfs
under linux.
But maybe I'm wrong.

But if you think this helps,
I can send you a ntfs fomatted sparse file.
Just let me know the size.



Regards,

Alex


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