Re: [Xen-users] Custom kernel

[jonr@xxxxxxxxxx]

Quoting Stephen Yum <steveyum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Jon,
>
> You only have one kernel because in the Makefile of your Xen source
> directory, you probably have a line that reads:
>
> KERNELS ? = linux-2.6-xen
>
> If you change that to:
>
> KERNELS ? = linux-2.6-xen0 linux-2.6-xenU
>
> You'll have two kernels for a separate dom0 kernel and a domU kernel.
> Then simply type:
>
> # make world
>
> You'll get two kernel source directories, one for 2.6.x-xen0 and
> 2.6.x-xenU (for me x=16)
> At this point, you can type the following to create a dom0 kernel:
>
> # make linux-2.6-xen0-config CONFIGMODE=menuconfig
> # make linux-2.6-xen0-build
> # make linux-2.6-xen0-install
> If you need a ramdisk to load special modules (such as SCSI drivers),
> create an initrd file by typing:
> # mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.16-xen0.img 2.6.16-xen0
>
> To make the domU kernel:
>
> # make linux-2.6-xenU-config CONFIGMODE=menuconfig
> # make linux-2.6-xenU-build
> # make linux-2.6-xenU-install
>
> It seems the updated instructions on the Xensource site encourages
> people to create just one kernel, rather than two kernels, privileged
> and unprivileged, for dom0 and domU respectively.
>
> Me, I don't want to use a privileged kernel for my guests. That's
> ludicrous. The potential security problems far outweighs the
> convenience that method may provide.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> S

Stephen,

Yes that helps tremendously. I was looking at the Makefile and noticed that line
at the beginning. Is there a limit as to how many kernels I could build, could I
build a custom domU kernel for each domU? This isn't a production box, I am just
using it to experiment with VRRP, eth bonding, NATing, Firewalls and VLANs and
for testing service setups/configs, like sendmail, apache, bind etc,etc. So I
would like to be able to build custom kernels with only these features I need
to make it work before I migrate to a production box which doesn't use Xen.

Thanks again for the help,

Jon


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