Arch Linux

mellofone

Member

Registered: 2009-03-13

Posts: 37

Xenserver and new LTS sources

Thank GOD for test servers. I have a few Arch servers running virtually on Xenserver. It's been working fine for ages, and then saw that a new LTS kernel (2.6.32.15-1) made its way into stable. I had problems with various kernels actually working inside Xen, that's why I chose LTS. I upgraded to the new LTS (from 2.6.27-lts) and now the server no longer boots. Is there a way to verify if the new LTS branch includes the necessary Xen stuff, like it used to?

If not, is there a way to pin the LTS kernel to the working 2.6.27-lts? Thanks!

mellofone

Member

Registered: 2009-03-13

Posts: 37

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

I forgot the error message while the VM starts:

6/11/2010 3:57:05 PM Error: Starting VM 'mason' - Internal error: Failure("Error from xenguesthelper: caught exception: Failure(\\\"Subprocess failure: Failure(\\\\\\\"xc_dom_linux_build: [2] xc_dom_find_loader: no loader found\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\")\\\")")

That USUALLY means (via google) that the necessary Xen stuff isn't in the kernel.

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

[stijn@hermes ~]$ grep -i xen /var/abs/core/kernel26-lts/config
CONFIG_XEN_SAVE_RESTORE=y
CONFIG_NETXEN_NIC=m
[stijn@hermes ~]$ grep -i xen /var/abs/testing/kernel26-lts/config
CONFIG_NETXEN_NIC=m

First is the old 2.6.27 kernel, second one the new 2.6.32 one. I don't know what else to look for besides that though to see if what you need is enabled.

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Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

JGC

Developer

Registered: 2003-12-03

Posts: 1,664

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

Virtualisation has only been enabled on the x86_64 kernel. The i686 kernel would need PAE for that, which we don't like to enable.

mellofone

Member

Registered: 2009-03-13

Posts: 37

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

Yup. that's what I am running. Booting with another working VM, attaching the disk, chrooting, and manually downgrading to an older 2.6.27-lts kernel boots just fine:

$ uname -a
Linux mason 2.6.27-lts #1 SMP Sat Jan 30 13:40:07 UTC 2010 x86_64 Quad-Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 2378 AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

mellofone

Member

Registered: 2009-03-13

Posts: 37

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

According to the Xen Kernel Wiki, everything should be included in the mainstream "kernel.org Linus vanilla/mainline Linux 2.6.32.x" kernel. Maybe they renamed it to something else? I grepped the config for something called "pvops" but I don't see anything...

mellofone

Member

Registered: 2009-03-13

Posts: 37

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

From the Xen paravirt_ops Wiki:

# Enable these core options:

   1. CONFIG_PARAVIRT_GUEST
   2. CONFIG_XEN

# And Xen pv device support

   1. CONFIG_HVC_DRIVER and CONFIG_HVC_XEN
   2. CONFIG_XEN_BLKDEV_FRONTEND
   3. CONFIG_XEN_NETDEV_FRONTEND

Everything looks fine except for CONFIG_XEN_BLKDEV_FRONTEND and CONFIG_XEN_NETDEV_FRONTEND, they are modules, not compiled in. Can I easily try to change to those to Y instead of modules using the same LTS sources? I've never built my own Arch kernel, only Gentoo.

.:B:.

Forum Fellow

Registered: 2006-11-26

Posts: 5,819

Website

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

Except for the automation the process is basically the same, you should change that through the proper interface though (make gconfig/xconfig/menuconfig), editing the configuration file manually is not recommended unless you really know what you're doing.

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Got Leenucks? :: Arch: Power in simplicity :: Get Counted! Registered Linux User #392717 :: Blog thingy

JGC

Developer

Registered: 2003-12-03

Posts: 1,664

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

Those modules don't have to be built-in, as they can be included in the initcpio module. Those are just drivers for blockdevices and network devices.

mellofone

Member

Registered: 2009-03-13

Posts: 37

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

Well, then I am completely stumped

mellofone

Member

Registered: 2009-03-13

Posts: 37

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

Well it looks like the kernel26-xen package in AUR seems to work just fine, even if it takes forever to compile

Is there a way to reuse that package, or should I just compile it on every machine?

eldalion

Member

From: Chapel Hill, NC

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 35

Re: Xenserver and new LTS sources

Build it on one machine, copy to all the others, pacman -U blabla.pkg.tar.xz on each machine.