Re: [Xen-users] xen + centos + areca raid issues

[Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi there,

> I am trying to run a new server with centos + xen using centos xen
> packages.

OK.  From what you've said I guess this is CentOS 5.0, so it's come with Xen 
support, libvirt, virt-manager, etc.

> After installation, we had to install a hardware raid card (areca) on the
> machine, and thus reload the os. It so happens the drivers shipped aren't
> compatible with xen kernel, so i was forced to compile xen from source to
> compile areca drivers.
>
> Now with system running under compiled xen, i cannot boot my old domU image
>
> :(
>
> Here is the error i get
>
> xm create aaa
> Using config file "./aaa".
> Error: (22, 'Invalid argument')

Hmmm, not a very helpful error message!  The contents of /var/log/xen/xend.log 
may yield more helpful hints.

Out of interest, did you uninstall your old Xen before building a new one?  
Sometimes the code of different Xen versions conflicts, which can mess things 
up unless the previous copy was properly uninstalled.  This is especially a 
problem with the tools.

> Also the Virtual Machine Manager under centos has stopped working. Does
> this mean i need to recreate these domU's ? Really confused here on how to
> go about it since the old domU has a lot of data in it, which is required
> and now the machine is down :(

I'm not sure exactly why virtual machine manager would have failed at this 
point; but I'm guessing that you've installed a newer version of Xen to that 
which CentOS and RHEL 5 shipped.  The Xen control interface changed, so your 
version of virt-manager doesn't understand it.

CentOS / RHEL 5 ship Xen 3.0.3, with a Xen 3.1 release being planned for their 
5.1 update.

> P.S. : Is there a way to compile the areca drivers under the centos xen
> kernel ? I see the only kernel-xen source is available is under centosplus
> repository called kernel-xen-devel-2.6.18-8.1.14.el5.centos.plus. I don't
> see any targets in the areca driver Makefile even, so don't know how it
> will be compiled as well :(

The package kernel-xen-devel should have the stuff required to build modules 
against the CentOS / RHEL Xenified kernels.  If you could use this to build 
your module then you'd be able to go back to using the stardard Xen / 
XenLinux packages; you'll get a newer version of Xen when it's added to the 
next OS increment release.

> Any help on this will be really appreciated.

Hope that helps.

Daniel: I hope you don't mind, but I've added you to the cc list in case you 
had any more specific insights / suggestions here.

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Dave: Just a question. What use is a unicyle with no seat?  And no pedals!
Mark: To answer a question with a question: What use is a skateboard?
Dave: Skateboards have wheels.
Mark: My wheel has a wheel!

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