Arch Linux

josephg

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2009-09-28

Posts: 106

problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

Hello there.

I would like to have xen in my system, but I'm having issues when booting with the xen kernel. My guest is that the problem is that my root partition is ext4, but I was not able to confirm, so far, that XEN do not support ext4. Does anyone know?

Thanks in advance

$ mount | grep sdb
/dev/sdb2 on / type ext4 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 on /boot type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sdb4 on /var type ext4 (rw)

$ pacman -Q xen kernel26
xen 3.4.1-1.1
kernel26 2.6.30.6-1

This is my /boot/grub/menu.lst. Please notice that the UUID "root" options is equal to /dev/sdb2 - XEN seems to not recognize UUID devices, I don't know why.

title Arch Linux
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/disk/by-uuid/8edd818e-ae4f-4a97-99f3-fcf7175918ef vga=794 ro
initrd /kernel26.img

title Arch Linux XEN
root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz dom0_mem=3145728
module /vmlinuz-2.6.18.8-xen0 root=/dev/sdb2 vga=794 ro

The message below is the last thing displayed in the screen when I try to boot the "Arch Linux XEN" option

EXT3-fs: sdb2: couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (240).
EXT2-fs: sdb2: couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (240).
No filesystem could mount root, tried: reiserfs ext3 ext2 cramfs iso9660
Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,18)

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My AUR packages

druk

Member

Registered: 2009-10-17

Posts: 24

Re: problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

Did you manage to find a solution? I'm having the same issue.

josephg

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2009-09-28

Posts: 106

Re: problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

Did you manage to find a solution? I'm having the same issue.

Actually no. I totally failed in terms of virtualization in Arch linux (vmware-server2, virtualbox_bin network, Xen). I believe the issue with XEN and ext4 filesystem is that Xen's kernel is 2.6.18 and ext4 was not supported until later versions. I'm not sure, but I think that's it. But if you find a workaround or another virutalization solution, druk, please let me know!

Cheers!

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My AUR packages

tavianator

Member

From: Waterloo, ON, Canada

Registered: 2007-08-21

Posts: 858

Website

Re: problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

If you need a newer kernel, it seem that the AUR has up to date ones.  See here and here.

Other virtualization solutions: QEMU, VirtualBox, etc.

m3thodic

Member

Registered: 2004-08-24

Posts: 67

Re: problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

Have you tried adding "ext4" to MODULES in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf?

m3thodic

Member

Registered: 2004-08-24

Posts: 67

Re: problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

Also, yes by default I think the Xen packages ship with kernel 2.6.18 -- which IIRC does not have native ext4 support. Use one of the other Xen kernels in the AUR.

m3thodic

Member

Registered: 2004-08-24

Posts: 67

Re: problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

BTW if you are going to go with a AUR kernel, this grub entry may prove useful:

title  Arch Linux (Xen)
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz dom0_mem=524288
module /vmlinuz26-xen-dom0 root=/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-root ro
module /kernel26-xen-dom0.img

Obviously change what you need to based on your system/configuration.

josephg

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2009-09-28

Posts: 106

Re: problem with XEN and ext4 root partition

If you need a newer kernel, it seem that the AUR has up to date ones.  See here and here.

Other virtualization solutions: QEMU, VirtualBox, etc.

What is the difference of kernel26-xen and kernel26-xen-dom0 packages in AUR, in the links you sent?

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My AUR packages