[Xen-users] How to Configure Xen for Networking, System Use Cases

[rayj <ray3960852@xxxxxxxxx>]

I would like to understand how to setup Xen to implement my use cases.  
It seems a fundamental consideration for successful implementation is 
Xen networking.  I have achieved simple internet connections with Xen on 
the laptop (Debian as dom0) but not running vms.  I have had networking 
with vms when I used qubes-os instead of Debian.  But the security 
mandate of qubes puts a significant load on the user.
The laptop works but I need to come up with an appropriate configuration 
especially due to wireless being the main physical network interface.  
My related challenges have been that bridging is not conducive to 
wireless; static IP addresses can provide a work-around but that is 
challenging for replicating the corporate laptop.
I would like a robust solution that will be straight forward to manage.

Target machine
Toshiba laptop with 450GB SSD, 16GB RAM, integrated wireless, USB 2, USB 
3, USB docking station with NIC and two display ports.
The laptop will be a workstation, mostly for engineering activities 
carried out in a Debian domu.
Additionally, I need to replicate a corporate laptop as a domu that runs 
Wind10 using its computer name, and any other identifying 
characteristics necessary for VPNing and directly connecting into the 
corporate network.  (An alternative for replicating the corporate laptop 
might be to remote into it)
I will use other vms for personal use such as email and surfing and music.

External network functionality
Connect through my home infrastructure - wired and wireless
Connect through public wireless
Connect through a variety of corporate 'guest' wired and wireless networks.
Access the internet.
Access corporate intranet, file  shares and SharePoint.
Access my remote boxes for file sharing, remote desktop, remoter terminal.
Replicate/clone laptop version control repositories to my remote boxes, 
and cloud services.
Physical network
I would like to determine how to setup Xen networking with Debian as 
dom0 on a laptop with integrated wireless and wired through a USB 
docking station.  As wired networking requires docking and it is not 
always available, the machine must be able to run on wireless only, and 
at sometimes with no external networking.
Xen network
Reviewing the Xen Networking info, it seems like the basic configuration 
may be to use a domU with the network physical interface servicing dom0 
and other domUs.
Qubes-os (Fedora based using NAT) uses this model and divides the 
functionality between a vm for the network interface (sys-net) and 
firewall (sys-firewall).
I would like to understand the trade-offs of performance, security and 
flexibility of separating these two (or more) functions.
I find the change to Xen to be sufficient for enhanced security so I 
don't feel the need to partition functionality to the degree of qubes.
What would be the relative trade-offs of this compartmentalization and 
are there examples of how to do it?
VCS repositories/file sharing
I would like to version control:
  Artifacts from the individual vms (engineering, corporate, personal)
  Configuration parameters from Xen and associated vms. (This might be 
displaced or supplemented by Ansible, Salt, Chef or similar tool)
Would it be appropriate to build a vm as a file server than would also 
manage VC?  What are the considerations?
I would appreciate all comments.
Ray

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