WARNING - OLD ARCHIVES

This is an archived copy of the Xen.org mailing list, which we have preserved to ensure that existing links to archives are not broken. The live archive, which contains the latest emails, can be found at http://lists.xen.org/
   
 
 
Xen 
 
Home Products Support Community News
 
   
 

xen-users

Re: [Xen-users] Basic Xen Questions

To: Ritesh Raj Sarraf <rrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Basic Xen Questions
From: Randy Thelen <rthelen@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2006 23:15:03 -0800
Cc: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Delivery-date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 07:16:30 +0000
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In-reply-to: <dvf6g4$83h$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
List-help: <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-id: Xen user discussion <xen-users.lists.xensource.com>
List-post: <mailto:xen-users@lists.xensource.com>
List-subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
References: <dvf6g4$83h$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sender: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Ritesh Raj Sarraf wrote:

1) If I patch my kernel with Xen, will I be compromising on any of the other
features that I've patched ? (Namely UML and swsusp. I use UML a lot)

swsusp:  Software Suspend
http://sourceforge.net/projects/swsusp

It's unlikely this will work with Xen. This would undoubtedly require a patch into the Xen hypervisor to save & restore the other domains. Even if you were only running dom0, this might still not work.

UML: User Mode Linux
Interesting. UML is a technology which accomplishes some of the same goals as Xen. Xen can run multiple instances of Linux, like UML. So from that stand point, you'll get many of the same features as UML. However, Xen can also run other operating systems: FreeBSD, NetBSD, Minix (in theory), Windows XP (with the right processor), etc.

It's my opinion that Xen is a superset of the functionality one can get with UML. If UML is important to you, I encourage you to continue learning about the virtues of Xen.

The answer to the question: "will I be compromising on any of the other features?" is yes.

2) So when I boot with a Xen kernel, the OS it boots into is dom0 which
simply is my normal OS. Right ?

More or less. However, the Linux running as dom0 will likely not be the same -kernel- image that you are currently running. But, it will be Linux and it will see your current file systems, devices (assuming your configuration files are suitably identical), etc.

3) If I'm correct about Question 2 then, "when only using dom0, does it add any virtualization overhead to the host OS i.e. dom0 ? Or does it simply function as a normal Linux Kernel with Xen features not being in use ? "

It does add overhead to use Xen even with only dom0 present, but they're minimal. It's likely you won't notice them. Various presentations indicate the performance impact is as low as 3%.

-- Randy

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>