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Achieving Server Xen
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A summary of my experiences installing Xen 3 on Debian Etch.
Recently I had to setup Xen 3 for a client, and the following are the steps I undertook to install it (N.B. As a guide for the installation, I followed the instructions listed here).
The most pertinent hardware specifications for the server we installed Xen 3 on are as follows:
The most pertinent hardware specifications for the server we installed Xen 3 on are as follows:
- 2x Intel Xeon 1.6 Ghz CPUs
- 4GB DDR2-667 RAM
- 3ware 9550SX-4LP PCI-X-to-SATA II RAID controller
- 4x Seagate Barracuda ES SATA 3.0GB/s 250GB hard drives (configured as RAID 5)
- Firstly, I downloaded and burned the Debian testing (etch) netinst CD image to CD.
- Following this, I began installing Debian etch on the server using the netinst CD.
At the disk partitioning screen, I setup the hard drive as follows:Disk /dev/sda: 749.9 GB, 749966721024 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91178 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 365 2931831 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 366 1581 9767520 8e Linux LVM
/dev/sda3 1582 4013 19535040 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda4 4014 91178 700152862+ 8e Linux LVM
N.B. The /dev/sda4 LVM partition is where the logical volumes for the Xen guest domains (virtual servers) are to be stored.
I left the rest of the installation steps at their setup defaults. - I then installed Xen 3 on the server by entering the following command:
apt-get install xen-linux-system-2.6.18-3-xen-686 xen-tools \\
xen-docs-3.0 libc6-xen file xen-hypervisor-3.0.3-1-i386-pae \\
xen-linux-system-2.6.18-3-xen-vserver-686 bridge-utils - Following this, I made the following change in the /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp file and rebooted the server:
replace(network-script network-dummy)
with(network-script 'network-bridge netdev=eth0') - I now made the following changes to the /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf file:
lvm = vservers
debootstrap = 1
size = 10Gb
memory = 512Mb
swap = 1Gb
fs = reiserfs
dist = etch
image = sparse
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-3-xen-vserver-686
initrd = /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-3-xen-vserver-686
mirror = http://debian.orcon.net.nz/debian - Following this, I created a new guest domain (or virtual server) on the server by entering the following command:
xen-create-image --hostname myservername.mydomain.co.nz --dhcp - I then booted the guest domain by entering the following:
xm create /etc/xen/myservername.mydomain.co.nz.cfg - I now connected a virtual console to my newly created guest domain by entering the following and then logged on as root:
xm console myservername.mydomain.co.nz - Finally, I set the root password and then logged off the
virtual console by typing CTRL+] and then made a ssh connection to the guest domain and started setting up the services on it.
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