Re: [Xen-users] X server in a domU, with pci access and no X in dom0

[Nawal Husnoo <galileon@xxxxxxxxx>]

hello all,

(sorry for the first blank fwd:..., i clicked on send by accident before 
typing the message - good thing it was not the global thermonuclear war 
button from wargame)
I just got NVIDIA drivers to work under Dom-0 in ubuntu linux yesterday, 
and as i havent yet produced a tutorial for it and you only need the 
nvidia anyway, ill explain only this

1) configure and install your xen kernel, if its dom-0 boot into it, 
(yours is domU, so you boot that virtual machine)
2) download the patch from halfway down the screen in this link 
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=68648
3) copy-paste the script from further down the page, then you need to 
adjust the script, only the first two lines need to change to reflect:
your nvidia-binary-you-got-from-nvidia.com,
your kernel version, ie uname -r

you dont need to change anything in the patch itself, just leave 
everything as it is, even the bits about 1.0-8756 (remember we're 
probably dealing with the latest driver, ie 8762)
eg, my first three lines:

NVIDIA=NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8762-pkg1.run
KERNEL=2.6.16.13-xen
PATCH=patch-nv-1.0-8756-xen-3.0.2-2.txt



now copy the NVIDIA-binary, patch, and script to /usr/src
and make sure you have a link in /usr/src/linux which points to your 
linux kernel source tree (not your xen source) eg for me its 
/homes/ubuntu/xen/xen-3.0-testing/linux-2.6.16.13-xen/

just execute the script, and it should produce the kernel module...

at this point, my notes are a bit dark, and i had to 
clean-install-recompile-xen three times to think of trying this:
apt-get install nvidia-glx
apt-get install nvidia-glx-dev

then you do a dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

note the last three lines are for ubuntu/debian, and under another 
distro that would simply be install the packages nvidia-glx and 
nvidia-glx-dev, and modify
Section "Device"
       Identifier      "NVIDIA Corporation NV40 [GeForce 6200?]"
       Driver          "nvidia"
       BusID           "PCI:1:0:0"
       Option          "RenderAccel"           "true"
EndSection


to include Driver "nvidia" instead of "nv"


i'm not sure if i needed those 2 packages, and  if yours works without 
them, could you let me know please? i'm too tired of messing with xen to 
reinstall just for that - its all working so perfectly now that i need 
to get some holiday homework done!!
and could you also let me know if the domU xserver likes the driver as 
well, coz i think its a jolly good idea to run the xserver as well in 
domU - though you might struggle with your mouse and keyboard as Adam 
said...
is your card PCI-Express? mine is, and hopefully the pci bit will allow 
xen to pass it through...
good luck,

galileon.



Adam Seering wrote:
> Hi,
>     Right now, in order for graphics cards to work properly, their X 
> drivers have to be modified to recognize Xen.  I don't think this has 
> been done for any open-source graphics card drivers; there is a way to 
> get the NVidia binary module to work, but it requires a fair bit of 
> Googling and kernel and module patching, and things like that.  I was 
> able to follow the instructions at 
> <http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=68703>, and with 
> some tweaking I did get a graphics card to work.
>     Note that the domU doesn't have physical access to your hardware.  
> This means, No keyboard and mouse, unless you have a PCI USB card and 
> you export that card to your domU as well, and configure X to use them.
> Adam
>
>
> On Aug 22, 2006, at 11:02 AM, nicko.koinkoin@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
> > Hi everybody
> >
> > I try to have a running X server in a domU.
> >
> > What I want is not to have an X server in dom0, for security 
> > purposes. I know
> > that it is not an easy thing, but I need it. First I hide the video 
> > card from
> > dom0, what is working fine. Indeed, lspci in dom0 doesn't show the 
> > video card.
> > I give direct access to the video card to my domU, thanks to its 
> > configuration
> > file. But in fact I can't launch my X server. Indeed, during the boot 
> > of my
> > domU, I got the following error message :
> >
> >  * Loading key mappings ...assuming iso-8859-1 cedilla
> > assuming iso-8859-1 acute
> > assuming iso-8859-1 diaeresis
> > assuming iso-8859-1 brokenbar
> > assuming iso-8859-1 threequarters
> > assuming iso-8859-1 currency
> > assuming iso-8859-1 onehalf
> > assuming iso-8859-1 onequarter
> > assuming iso-8859-1 currency
> > Couldnt get a file descriptor referring to the console
> >
> >  * Error loading key mappings
> >                                                                       
> >     [ !! ]
> >  * Setting terminal encoding to ASCII 
> > ...                                 [ ok ]
> >  * Setting user font ...Couldnt open //dev/vc/1
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/2
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/3
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/4
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/5
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/6
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/7
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/8
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/9
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/10
> > Couldnt open //dev/vc/11
> >
> >  * Failed to set user font
> >                                                                       
> >     [ !! ]
> > So of course when typing startx, I got :
> >
> > Fatal server error:
> > xf86OpenConsole: Cannot open /dev/tty0 (No such device)
> >
> > I use Gentoo Linux with kernel 2.4.30 as my domU (the same for dom0, 
> > but there
> > is no error messages during dom0 boot), the configuration file of my 
> > domU is:
> > kernel  = "/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.30-xenU-basic"
> >
> > memory  = 128
> >
> > name    = "domU"
> >
> > nics    = 1
> >
> > vif = ['mac=aa:00:00:00:00:d2, bridge=xen-br0']
> >
> > disk = ['phy:/dev/hda5,hda1,w',
> >         'phy:/dev/hda6,hda2,w']
> >
> > root = "/dev/hda1 ro";
> >
> > #extra="xencons=ttyS console=tty0"
> > extra="console=tty0"
> >
> > pci=['02,00,0']
> >
> > I also try to append the same options to my domU kernel as the ones 
> > of dom0, but
> > thus no console is available during boot, so no display at all.
> > Please let's me know if what I try is a crazy thing, or if someone 
> > has already
> > suceeded in having a running and usable X server in a domU with no X 
> > in dom0,
> > or if it can be a Gentoo specific error due to devfs.
> >
> > Thanks a lot.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Xen-users mailing list
> > Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>
> _______________________________________________
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