[Xen-devel] New console I/O infrastructure in Xen 1.3

[Keir Fraser <Keir.Fraser@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I thought I'd write a quick note about using the new console I/O
infrastructure in Xen 1.3. Significant new features compared with 1.2,
and with older revisions of 1.3, include:
 - bi-directional console access
 - log in to a Xenolinux guest OS via its virtual console
 - a new terminal client (replaces the use of telnet in character mode)
 - proper handling of terminal emulation

Anyway, I hope the following helps!
 -- Keir

 ----------------------------------------------------------------

Domain 0 virtual console
------------------------
 The virtual console for domain 0 is shared with Xen's console. For
 example, if you specify 'console=com1' as a boot parameter to Xen,
 then domain 0 will have bi-directional access to the primary serial
 line. Boot-time messages can be directed to the virtual console by
 specifying 'console=xencons0' as a boot parameter to Xenolinux.

Connecting to the virtual console
---------------------------------
 Domain 0 console may be accessed using the supplied 'miniterm' program
 if raw serial access is desired. If the Xen machine is connected to a
 serial-port server, then the supplied 'xencons' program may be used to
 connect to the appropriate TCP port on the server:
  # xencons <server host> <server port>

Logging in via virtual console
------------------------------
 It is possible to log in to a guest OS via its virtual console if a
 'getty' is running. To achieve this, a suitable device node must be
 created, and a new line added to inittab:
  # mkdir -p /dev/xen
  # mknod /dev/xen/cons c 4 123
  # echo "c:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty --noclear xen/cons" >>/etc/inittab

 [NOTE to users in the lab -- existing Xen installations may be running
 mingetty on /dev/console. This is incorrect behaviour! Please modify
 such setups to run mingetty on /dev/xen/cons.]

 Additionally, if you wish to allow root logins via the virtual
 console, then 'xen/cons' must be added to the trusted tty list in
 /etc/securettys.

Virtual console for other domains
---------------------------------
 Every guest OS has a virtual console that is accessible via
 'console=xencons0' at boot time, or mingetty running on
 /dev/xen/cons. However, domains other than domain 0 do not have access
 to the physical serial line. Instead, their console data is sent to
 and from a control daemon running in domain 0. When properly
 installed, this daemon can be started from the init scripts (e.g.,
 rc.local):
  # /usr/sbin/xend start

 Note that, when a domain is created using xc_dom_create.py, xend MUST
 be running. If everything is set up correctly then xc_dom_create will
 print the local TCP port to which you should connect to perform
 console I/O. A suitable console client is provided by the Python
 module xenctl.console_client: running this module from the command
 line with <host> and <port> parameters will start a terminal
 session. This module is also installed as /usr/bin/xencons, from a
 copy in tools/misc/xencons. For example:
  # xencons localhost 9600

 An alternative to manually running a terminal client is to specify
 '-c' to xc_dom_create.py, or add 'auto_console=True' to the defaults
 file. This will cause xc_dom_create.py to automatically become the
 console terminal after starting the domain.


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