Re: [Xen-users] Can't install Windows 2003 on SLES10SP1

[Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I believe the tools shouldn't be able to tell the difference between a sparse 
and non-sparse file on disk, if we're talking about OS-level sparse files.

The virtual machine certainly shouldn't be able to tell whether it's running 
out of a sparse file or not since that's handle by dom0, not by the guest 
filesystem.

I've not heard of an instance where creating a sparse file in dom0 doesn't 
work (although it has some disadvantages), so maybe I'm missing something 
here?

Cheers,
Mark

On Tuesday 15 July 2008, Dustin Henning wrote:
>       I really don't know.  I don't use file-based disks at all, so it was
> just a thought.  Additionally, I am not familiar with cfdisk.  However, I
> don't understand how cfdisk or kpartx (another tool I am unfamiliar with)
> could differentiate between sparse and solid files, as I would expect the
> underlying file system to deal with that.
>       Dustin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alexander
> Hoßdorf
> Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 16:05
> To: Dustin.Henning@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Cc: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Can't install Windows 2003 on SLES10SP1
>
> Hi Dustin,
>
> I don't think this is possible.
> You can't even read a hvm guests sparse disk file using tap:aio, with
> cfdisk when it's ext3 formatted.
> Or am I wrong?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alex
>
> Dustin Henning schrieb:
> >     Even if you couldn't create a sparse file formatted with ntfs
> > directly from dd (which doesn't sound plausible), couldn't you create the
> > sparse file, partition it, and then format the appropriate partition with
> > mkfs.ntfs (after making the file accessible in /dev with whatever tools
>
> are
>
> > necessary on a given distro)?  This still might not cut it, though,
>
> because
>
> > Server2003 might be as picky about the formatting as XP SP1+ (prior to XP
> > SP1 or SP2, I always used 8-64K clusters on my Windows partition, after
> > that, I had to use the default ntfs format [512 byte clusters?] or
> > Windows couldn't boot).
> >     Dustin
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alexander
> > Hoßdorf
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 07:26
> > To: James Pifer; xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Can't install Windows 2003 on SLES10SP1
> >
> > James Pifer schrieb:
> >>>         By the way, don't use sparse files if you don't have to.
> >>
> >> Why not use sparse files?
> >>
> >>> Looked like SLES 10 SP1 as the dom0 OS, and the version of Xen there
> >>> would be 3.1 I believe (or maybe a 3.0.x variant). SLES 10 SP2 has Xen
> >>> 3.2.
> >>
> >> Yes, SLES 10 SP1. xen version is actually 3.0.4.
> >>
> >>> The format should complete and then the initial file copy for Windows
> >>> begin (enough to set up the actual graphical part of the Windows
> >>> installation). Are you saying you consistently don't get this initial
> >>> file copy to occur? Is it an unexpected reboot of domU, or are you
> >>> prompted to do it?
> >>
> >> Correct, at the point it should start copying files the domU reboots, by
> >> itself.
> >>
> >>> In addition to not using sparse files (again shouldn't really affect
> >>> things too much) I'd also suggest setting dom0 memory to a low value.
> >>> What's the overall RAM in the system? setting dom0 down to 512M should
> >>> be fine: xm mem-set domain0 512 for example...
> >>
> >> I do have memory restricted for dom0 on my production servers, which
> >> have anywhere from 8 to 16 gig of RAM. I have not limited on this
> >> machine yet, which has 4 gig of ram.
> >>
> >> I have also tried using an ISO for the install instead of the CD and it
> >> does the exact same thing.
> >>
> >> I could install SP2 and see if that makes a difference. Anyone know the
> >> commands to create a sparse file pre-formatted to ntfs using dd? Time to
> >> google I guess.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> James
> >>
> >>
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> >
> > #I could install SP2 and see if that makes a difference. Anyone know the
> > #commands to create a sparse file pre-formatted to ntfs using dd? Time to
> > #google I guess.
> >
> >
> > Hi James,
> >
> > I don't think it's possible to format a sparse file natively with ntfs
> > under linux.
> > But maybe I'm wrong.
> >
> > But if you think this helps,
> > I can send you a ntfs fomatted sparse file.
> > Just let me know the size.
> >
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Alex
> >
> >
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> >
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