Switched On Tech Design

Tag: XenServer

  • How to install additional CentOS packages on XenServer 6.2

     

    While it is unsupported, it can sometimes be quite handy to install additional packages on your XenServer 6.2 system – things like vim, iptraf, perhaps even denyhosts. By default extra packages you wish to install are likely disabled, but using yum we can temporarily allow access to the CentOS packages. Logging in as root and using yum we can:

     

    yum –enablerepo=base –disablerepo=citrix install [packagename]
    As an example, using denyhosts:
    yum –enablerepo=base –disablerepo=citrix install denyhosts
    Doing this is totally unsupported and, depending on the package(s) installed may break the entire XenServer install – so experiment at your own risk!

  • XenServer 6.2: Passing through multiple PCI or PCI Express devices to a Virtual Machine (VM)

     

    Following the previous article on passing through a PCI or PCI Express card to a virtual machine someone asked what the syntax was to pass through multiple devices to a VM. Using our previous system as an example, we run lspci to find each item we want to pass through. Using the same system as last time, we will pass through these two devices:

     

    03:00.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7164 (rev 81)

    01:03.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CMI8788 [Oxygen HD Audio]

     

    The /boot/extlinux.conf file should be edited the same as before, except that we separate each device’s number with a space, e.g.:

     

    pciback.hide=(03:00.0) (01:03.0)

     

    You can keep on adding more devices if you have more to pass through in the same fashion. Follow the rest of the instructions, and when it comes to adding them to the VM configuration you can do it like so:

     

    xe vm-param-set other-config:pci=0/0000:03:00.0,0/0000:01:03.0 uuid=[uuid]

     

    Note that there is only a comma, no space between the PCI addresses. That’s it!

  • XenServer 6.2: How to set up passthrough of a PCI or PCI-Express device

     

    This is done by logging in as the root user to your XenServer system via SSH. To see the PCI devices available to your system, enter the following command:

     

    lspci

     

    Here is an example result:

     

    00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 Northbridge only dual slot (2×16) PCI-e GFX Hydra part (rev 02)
    00:00.2 IOMMU: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD990 I/O Memory Management Unit (IOMMU)
    00:02.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port B)
    00:09.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port H)
    00:0a.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (external gfx1 port A)
    00:0b.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (NB-SB link)
    00:0c.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RD890S PCI Express bridge for GPP2 port 1
    00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
    00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
    00:12.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
    00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
    00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
    00:13.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
    00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
    00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3d)
    00:14.1 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller
    00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
    00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
    00:14.5 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
    00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 0
    00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 1
    00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 2
    00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 3
    00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 4
    00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 5
    00:19.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 0
    00:19.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 1
    00:19.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 2
    00:19.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 3
    00:19.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 4
    00:19.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 5
    00:1a.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 0
    00:1a.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 1
    00:1a.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 2
    00:1a.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 3
    00:1a.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 4
    00:1a.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 5
    00:1b.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 0
    00:1b.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 1
    00:1b.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 2
    00:1b.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 3
    00:1b.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 4
    00:1b.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h Processor Function 5
    01:01.0 VGA compatible controller: ASPEED Technology, Inc. ASPEED Graphics Family (rev 10)
    01:03.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CMI8788 [Oxygen HD Audio]
    02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
    03:00.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7164 (rev 81)
    04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
    05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
    06:00.0 InfiniBand: Mellanox Technologies MT26418 [ConnectX VPI PCIe 2.0 5GT/s – IB DDR / 10GigE] (rev b0)

    As you might guess from some of the lines, it’s an AMD server. You’ll notice some USB controllers, likely a SATA controller and any PCI or PCI Express add-in cards (usually at the bottom). In this example we will pass through a digital TV card to a VM so we can record free-to-air TV. The controller here is the fourth-last entry:

     

    03:00.0 Multimedia controller: Philips Semiconductors SAA7164 (rev 81)

     

    It’s a Digital Now PCI-E card – as you can see there’s no mention of the brand in the chipset that the system can see, so you may have to make an educated guess (or do some research as to what’s actually used in the card) to determine which one you want. Making note of the above line, we now edit /boot/extlinux.conf:

     

    vi /boot/extlinux.conf

     

    In our example system it looks like this:

     

    # location mbr
    serial 0 115200
    default xe
    prompt 1
    timeout 50

    label xe
    # XenServer
    kernel mboot.c32
    append /boot/xen.gz mem=1024G dom0_max_vcpus=4 dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M watchdog_timeout=300 lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M@32M cpuid_mask_xsave_eax=0 console=vga vga=mode-0x0311 — /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=LABEL=root-ckwntldj ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 quiet vga=785 splashi  — /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

    label xe-serial
    # XenServer (Serial)
    kernel mboot.c32
    append /boot/xen.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga mem=1024G dom0_max_vcpus=4 dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M watchdog_timeout=300 lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M@32M cpuid_mask_xsave_eax=0 — /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=LABEL=root-ckwntldj ro console=tty0 xencons=hvc console=hvc0 — /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

    label safe
    # XenServer in Safe Mode
    kernel mboot.c32
    append /boot/xen.gz nosmp noreboot noirqbalance acpi=off noapic mem=1024G dom0_max_vcpus=4 dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga — /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen nousb root=LABEL=root-ckwntldj ro console=tty0 xencons=hvc console=hvc0 — /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

    label fallback
    # XenServer (Xen 4.1.5 / Linux 2.6.32.43-0.4.1.xs1.8.0.835.170778xen)
    kernel mboot.c32
    append /boot/xen-4.1.5.gz mem=1024G dom0_max_vcpus=4 dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M watchdog_timeout=300 lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M@32M cpuid_mask_xsave_eax=0 — /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.43-0.4.1.xs1.8.0.835.170778xen root=LABEL=root-ckwntldj ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 — /boot/initrd-2.6.32.43-0.4.1.xs1.8.0.835.170778xen.img

    label fallback-serial
    # XenServer (Serial, Xen 4.1.5 / Linux 2.6.32.43-0.4.1.xs1.8.0.835.170778xen)
    kernel mboot.c32
    append /boot/xen-4.1.5.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga mem=1024G dom0_max_vcpus=4 dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M watchdog_timeout=300 lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M@32M cpuid_mask_xsave_eax=0 — /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32.43-0.4.1.xs1.8.0.835.170778xen root=LABEL=root-ckwntldj ro console=tty0 xencons=hvc console=hvc0 — /boot/initrd-2.6.32.43-0.4.1.xs1.8.0.835.170778xen.img

    Rather an intimidating-looking file if you’re new to *nix config files. Fortunately, we can ignore most of this and just pay attention to the last line in the “label xe” section at the top. The line we want to edit is:

     

    append /boot/xen.gz mem=1024G dom0_max_vcpus=4 dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M watchdog_timeout=300 lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M@32M cpuid_mask_xsave_eax=0 console=vga vga=mode-0x0311 — /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=LABEL=root-ckwntldj ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 quiet vga=785 splashi  — /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

     

    Looking at the line we wanted from lspci above, we want the number at the front – in this case:

     

    03:00.0

     

    Add the following near the end of the config line – inbetween “splashi” and “—“:

     

    pciback.hide=(03:00.0)

     

    The line should now read:

     

      append /boot/xen.gz mem=1024G dom0_max_vcpus=4 dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M watchdog_timeout=300 lowmem_emergency_pool=1M crashkernel=64M@32M cpuid_mask_xsave_eax=0 console=vga vga=mode-0x0311 — /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen root=LABEL=root-ckwntldj ro xencons=hvc console=hvc0 console=tty0 quiet vga=785 splashi pciback.hide=(03:00.0) — /boot/initrd-2.6-xen.img

    Note the space on either side – one between splashi and the new text and one between the hyphens and the new text. Now run:

     

    extlinux -i /boot

     

    Then shut down any VMs and reboot the server:

     

    reboot

     

    Once it is back up, we need to find the UUID of the virtual machine we want to pass the device through to. Run:

     

    xe vm-list

     

    This will return a result for every VM on the system – it might be quite long! If it is a long list you may wish to pipe it to the less command for easier viewing:

     

    xe vm-list | less

     

    If you aren’t familiar with less you can exit with the “q” key. Sort through the list until you find the VM you want to pass through to. In this example it is:

     

    uuid ( RO)           : 6b664553-6822-b445-5a8c-c10d93c41c4c
    name-label ( RW): bacchus
    power-state ( RO): halted

    Now we can add the PCI device to the config of this VM:

     

    xe vm-param-set other-config:pci=0/0000:03:00.0 uuid=6b664553-6822-b445-5a8c-c10d93c41c4c

     

    Breaking that down:

     

    xe vm-param-set other-config:pci=0/0000:[PCI address for the device] uuid=[UUID of VM]

     

    Starting the VM – in this case a Windows 7 VM – we can check for the device to see that it has appeared (in this case the drivers were already installed so it has been immediately identified):

     

    xenserver-passthrough-to-windows

    Success! In a Linux system you should be able to do:

     

    lspci

     

    to see the newly passed through hardware.

  • XenServer 6.2: Which VM type to use for Fedora 20 Live CD installation?

     

    We were asked this today – we have found that the “Other Media” works fine for installation and use, where other options (Red Hat options, for example) don’t work.

  • XenServer 6.2: How to boot a VM to CD/DVD rather than disk

     

    We had a situation recently where a customer was experimenting with XenServer 6.2 and Ubuntu VMs; he accidentally powered off the VM during a distribution upgrade and the VM would only boot with a read-only filesystem. Loading an ISO into the virtual CD drive didn’t do the trick; there’s no obvious way of booting to another medium during the boot process.

     

    The trick is to boot into recovery mode; when the VM is powered off, select it and follow the menus like so:

     

    VM -> Start/Shutdown -> Start in Recovery Mode

     

    The VM should now boot to your Live CD/Rescue CD/etc.

  • How to install XenServer 6.2 – Step By Step

     

    With the recent public availability of XenServer 6.2 there are an increasing number of people wanting to try it; here is a walk-through of an install so that you know what to expect if you want to try it yourself. In this example we are using a NFS datastore on the network to store VM files. First, burn the ISO installer to a CD and boot to it:

     

    xen-000

     

    (more…)

  • XenServer 6.2: NICs showing as disconnected despite being connected

     

    Sometimes if you connect a network cable to a NIC XenServer doesn’t register it and keeps the status as disconnected; if this happens, try the following via SSH (or from the console, though you will be kicked out of XenCenter once you do it):

     

    xe-toolstack-restart

     

    It may take a little while for the restart to finish but once it does the NIC should be showing the correct status.