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 (opens new window)).

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 (opens new window) PCI-X-to-SATA II RAID controller
• 4x Seagate Barracuda ES (opens new window) SATA 3.0GB/s 250GB hard drives (configured as RAID 5)

1. Firstly, I downloaded and burned the Debian testing (opens new window) (etch) netinst CD image (opens new window) to CD.
2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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') 

5. 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 (opens new window)

6. 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

7. I then booted the guest domain by entering the following:

xm create /etc/xen/myservername.mydomain.co.nz.cfg

8. 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

9. 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.