Re: [Xen-users] Dom0 versus DomU and sata DVD drives

[Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I have couple question about using Xen in the "real" world.
>
> My test box is a Dell Optiplex 745 with a Core 2 processor and 4 G of
> RAM.  I am using 64 bit Centos 5 with Xen 3.03.  Right now I have it
> set up so Dom0 is my working domain and I add other DomU for whatever
> tests i need to do.  From what I've read here, this is not the best
> way to do things.
>
> So my first question is, if I do an install with a minimal Dom0 and
> use a DomU for my working domain, can I set it up so that DomU is what
> I log on to from runlevel 5?  Is that really the best way to setup a
> workstation?

Hrmmm...  Well you'd still need to run X11 in dom0 in any case because it owns 
the graphics card.  You could run a fullscreen domU framebuffer login in 
here, but the GUI will not be as snappy as running it directly on dom0 - and 
you lose the ability to get any OpenGL acceleration.

> Next question.  I have a sata DVD/RW drive.  Is there way to get the
> DomU's to see it?  I tried the obvious
>
> disk = [ 'file:/xen/xp/carthagexp,hda,w', '/dev/cdrom,hdc:cdrom,r' ]
>
> for an XP install with no luck.  I've also tied /dev/sdc0, /dev/dvd,
> and /dev/sdc with no success.  The drive does show up in Dom0.

There's not currently a way to allow domUs to get full CD-ROM functionality 
without passing an entire SATA controller to them using PCI passthrough.  I 
suspect for your desktop-based testing application it's not worth it.  In 
particular, domUs can currently only read data from a CD, they can't write to 
it.  Also, AFAIK they can't treat the CD as an audio disk either.

For servers, run a minimal dom0 and run all your real services in domUs.

HTH,
Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Dave: Just a question. What use is a unicyle with no seat?  And no pedals!
Mark: To answer a question with a question: What use is a skateboard?
Dave: Skateboards have wheels.
Mark: My wheel has a wheel!

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