Arch Linux

RyanCacophony

Member

From: Malden, MA/Rochester, NY/NYC

Registered: 2009-07-04

Posts: 16

Website

Arch Linux Xen Image

Has anyone tries making a Xen image of Arch (as a guest OS)?  I want to do it so I can run arch on a xen cluster I have access to, but i'm not sure where to start O.o

---

"The human race will begin solving its problems on the day that it ceases taking itself so seriously."
Arch.64 :: Dell XPS M1710 | Core Duo 2.16 GHz | 4gb RAM | 320gb HDD (7200 RPM) | 17" 1920x1200
.:[tw] | [fb]:.

Nexx

Member

Registered: 2007-08-08

Posts: 11

Re: Arch Linux Xen Image

I run Arch on a Linode, not by using their premade image but rather starting from scratch myself.
Linode provide kernels outside the Xen guests, which made the whole thing quite easy.

Here's a rough summary of how I managed it:
1) Install a minimal base Arch system in a virtual machine. I used the FTP iso and Virtualbox.
As Linode provides kernels, I left out the following packages:
kernel26, kernel26-firmware, kernel26-headers, grub and all initcpio and klibc packages.

2) chroot into the new system. Modify fstab to match the Xen disk layout. Configure the network
interfaces and anything essential to boot.

3) Exit the chroot, cd into the directory where it resides and tar the entire filesystem up:
tar -zcpvf filesystem.tar.gz ./

4) Boot the Xen guest with a livecd of some sorts. Linode provide Finnix.

5) Mount the Xen disks and copy the filesystem tar to the Xen machine.

6) Untar the OS:
tar zxpvf filesystem.tar.gz ./

7) Restart your Xen guest into the Arch filesystem and configure away.

I know it's not very detailed, but I did this quite a while back and have just recalled it
all from memory ^u^

Good luck!