Re: [Xen-users] Domain replication

[Michael Vrable <mvrable@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Oct 18, 2005 at 04:30:56PM +0200, Sylvain Coutant wrote:
> > I need to make a clone of this domain
> 
> Roughly :
> - pause & save
> - copy memory file & disks partitions/files
> - restart domain 1
> - create a new configuration file for domain 2 (beware of MAC address
>   duplication)
> - start domain 2
> 
> What I don't know is how you can handle MAC & IP address duplication.
> Domain 2 will continue where domain 1 left, that is with exactly the
> same network hard & soft configuration. That will cause unsolvable
> conflicts. You'll have either to reboot with a different network
> configuration or change it on the fly manually...

We're doing something similar in our Potemkin honeyfarm work (mentioned
earlier in this thread).  In our initial implementation, we did
basically exactly what you described, taking advantage of save & restore
to implement cloning.  Now, we're using a customized version of Xen to
do the cloning for us, and to share memory in copy-on-write fashion
between the domains.  I'm still updating it for the latest xen-unstable,
though...

Earlier, we discovered that it's possible to specify a different MAC
address when the domain is restored than what it was using when it shut
down, and things seem to work without trouble.  At the moment, though,
we're using a purely routed setup (each VM on a separate LAN segment),
and so MAC address duplication isn't a problem.

For IP address duplication, we're currently running a small daemon in
the pre-cloned image that responds to requests (sent over the network)
to switch IP addresses, then exits.  We'd like to investigate other
methods for switching the IP addresses on the fly.

--Michael Vrable

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