Re: [Xen-users] New Install Planning

[<ray@xxxxxxxxx>]

Date: Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:37:36 -0500
From: Miles Fidelman <mfidelman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] New Install Planning
To: xen-users <xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <4EB7DF20.3020506@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

ray@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> That sounds great. I am not very familiar with debian. Can you
> suggest 'whatever you need ssh etc'.
> ray
>
>
Not to be negative or anything, but if you're "not very familiar with
debian" - you're just asking for a world of hurt in trying to get Xen
working.

I've found Xen to be fairly touchy to get up and running, and there are
quite a few subtle interactions with the host operating system (e.g.,
getting grub startup configurations and kernel variables set up right).

With that said:

- for Xen on Debian, be sure to look at http://wiki.debian.org/Xen

- you might consider installing XCP (the bare metal hypervisor version
of Xen) - not sure if it would run on your hardware or not (note:
haven't tried it myself)

- if you're more familiar with another Linux distribution, you might
want to go with its Xen package (OpenSuse, in particular comes with Xen
pre-configured)

- depending on what you're actually trying to accomplish, you might
consider another virtualization environment (e.g., KVM under CentOS,
VirtualBox, VMware, Parallels)

For a production server environment, Xen is the best of the bunch
(IMHO), but if you're just trying to maintain a few separate images on a
desktop system, it might be more trouble than it's worth.

FYI: For ANY virtualization, make sure you have a fast CPU (multiple
cores are even better), lots of memory, and lots of extra disk space.
And make an informed choice between hardware-assist vs.
paravirtualization.

Miles Fidelman


--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In<fnord> practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra
------------------------------
Miles,

Thank you very much for all the info.  I have read up on XCP now and I
see several places where it is said to make sure your hardware supports
virtualization or Windows OS may not work correctly.  I have not found
anything that says what hardware supports virtualiation as neccessary
for XCP.

I plan to buy hardware to match.  I am expecting an AMD 4 core and an
ASUS motherboard.  My local supplier says that today, all motherboards
support virtualization.  I have contacted Asus and Gigabyte and have not
gotten a clear answer.

My goeal is to multiple video, NIC ports, and SATA ports all isolatable.
 I do not intend to address paravirtualization.  I wonder about usig SSD
for dom0 and possibly another SSD for one guest.

ray



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