Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Virtualization Guide

5.2

Christopher Curran

Jan Mark Holzer

ISBN:
Publication date:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization Guide contains information on installation,
configuring, administering, tips, tricks and troubleshooting virtualization technologies used in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Virtualization Guide
Author Christopher Curran <[email protected]>
Author Jan Mark Holzer <[email protected]>
Translator Don Dutile
Translator Barry Donahue
Translator Rick Ring
Translator Michael Kearey
Translator Marco Grigull
Translator Eugene Teo
Copyright © 2008 Red Hat, Inc

Copyright © 2008 Red Hat, Inc. This material may only be distributed subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the
Open Publication License, V1.0 or later with the restrictions noted below (the latest version of the OPL is presently
available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).

Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the
copyright holder.

Distribution of the work or derivative of the work in any standard (paper) book form for commercial purposes is
prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder.

Red Hat and the Red Hat "Shadow Man" logo are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and other
countries.

All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

The GPG fingerprint of the [email protected] key is:

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux
How should CIO's Think about Virtualization? .............................................................. ix
1. About this book .............................................................................................. xi
2. Document Conventions .................................................................................. xi
3. We Need Feedback ..................................................................................... xiii
I. System Requirements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization .............................. 1
1. System requirements ..................................................................................... 3
1. Hardware prerequisites .......................................................................... 3
2. Compatibility of host and guest combinations ................................................... 7
3. Virtualization limitations .................................................................................. 9
II. Installation Procedures ..........................................................................................11
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization ............................................... xiii
4. Installing Red Hat Virtualization packages on the host .....................................15
1. Installing Red Hat Virtualization during a new Red Hat Enterprise Linux
installation ................................................................................................15
2. Installing Red Hat Virtualization on an existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux
system .....................................................................................................15
5. Installing guests ............................................................................................19
1. Create a guest using virt-install .......................................................19
2. Create a guest using virt-manager .......................................................21
6. Guest operating system installation processes ................................................31
1. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as a para-virtualized guest ..............31
1.1. Graphical Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 installation .........................39
1.2. The first boot after the guest installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
.........................................................................................................54
1.3. First boot configuration ...............................................................56
2. Installing a Windows XP Guest as a fully virtualized guest .......................74
3. Installing a Windows 2003 SP1 Server Guest as a fully-virtualized guest ..89
III. Configuration .......................................................................................................93
Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization .......................................... xcv
7. Virtualized block devices ...............................................................................97
1. Installing a virtualized floppy disk controller .............................................97
2. Adding additional storage devices to a guest ..........................................98
3. Configuring persistent storage in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 environment
...............................................................................................................100
4. Adding an ISO file as a CD-ROM to a guest configuration file ................102
8. Configuring networks and guests .................................................................103
9. Server best practices ...................................................................................105
10. Securing the host ......................................................................................107
11. SELinux and virtualization ..........................................................................109
12. Virtualized network devices ........................................................................111
1. Configuring multiple guest network bridges to use multiple ethernet cards 111
2. Laptop network configuration ...............................................................112
13. Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers .......................................................117
1. System requirements ..........................................................................118
2. Para-virtualization Restrictions and Support ..........................................119
3. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized Drivers .......................122

v
Red Hat Enterprise Linux

3.1. Common installation steps ........................................................123

3.2. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized Drivers on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 3 ...........................................................................124
3.3. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized Drivers on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 4 ...........................................................................128
3.4. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized Drivers on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 ...........................................................................132
4. Para-virtualized Network Driver Configuration .......................................134
5. Additional Para-virtualized Hardware Configuration ...............................138
5.1. Virtualized Network Interfaces ...................................................138
5.2. Virtual Storage Devices ............................................................139
IV. Administration ...................................................................................................141
Administering Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization ...................................... cxliii
14. Starting or stopping a domain during the boot phase ...................................145
15. Managing guests with xend ........................................................................147
16. Managing CPUs ........................................................................................151
17. Virtualization live migration ........................................................................153
1. A live migration example ......................................................................155
18. Remote management of virtualized guests ..................................................165
1. Remote management with ssh .............................................................165
2. Remote management over TLS and SSL ..............................................166
V. Virtualization Reference Guide ............................................................................169
Tools Reference Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization ................... clxxi
19. Red Hat Virtualization tools ........................................................................173
20. Managing guests with virsh ......................................................................177
21. Managing guests with Virtual Machine Manager(virt-manager) ..................185
1. Virtual Machine Manager Architecture ..................................................185
2. The open connection window ...............................................................185
3. The Virtual Machine Manager main window ..........................................185
4. The Virtual Machine Manager details window ........................................186
5. Virtual Machine graphical console ........................................................186
6. Starting virt-manager ........................................................................186
7. Creating a new guest ..........................................................................187
8. Restoring a saved machine .................................................................197
9. Displaying guest details .......................................................................198
10. Status monitoring ..............................................................................199
11. Displaying domain ID .........................................................................200
12. Displaying a guest's status .................................................................200
13. Displaying virtual CPUs .....................................................................201
14. Displaying CPU usage .......................................................................201
15. Displaying memory usage ..................................................................202
16. Managing a virtual network ................................................................202
17. Creating a virtual network ..................................................................202
22. Commands for Red Hat Virtualization .........................................................205
1. virsh the command line interface tool for virtualization .........................205
2. The xm command line interface ............................................................208
23. Configuring GRUB ....................................................................................211

vi
 24. Configuring ELILO .....................................................................................213
25. Configuration files .....................................................................................217
VI. Tips and Tricks ..................................................................................................227
Tips and Tricks to Enhance Productivity ....................................................... ccxxix
26. Tips and tricks ...........................................................................................231
1. Automatically starting domains during the host system boot ...................231
2. Modifying /etc/grub.conf .................................................................231
3. Example guest configuration files and parameters .................................232
4. Duplicating an existing guest and its configuration file ...........................233
5. Identifying guest type and implementation ............................................234
6. Generating a new unique MAC address ................................................235
7. Limit network bandwidth for a guest .....................................................236
8. Starting domains automatically during system boot ...............................237
9. Modifying dom0 ..................................................................................237
10. Configuring guest live migration .........................................................238
11. Very Secure ftpd ..............................................................................239
12. Configuring LUN Persistence .............................................................240
13. Disable SMART disk monitoring for guests .........................................242
14. Cleaning up the /var/lib/xen/ folder ...............................................242
15. Configuring a VNC Server .................................................................242
16. Cloning guest configuration files .........................................................243
27. Creating custom Red Hat Virtualization scripts ............................................245
1. Using XML configuration files with virsh ..............................................245
28. Compiling para-virtualized driver packages from source code ......................247
VII. Troubleshooting ................................................................................................249
Introduction to Troubleshooting and Problem Solving ........................................ ccli
29. How To troubleshoot Red Hat Virtualization ................................................253
1. Debugging and troubleshooting Red Hat Virtualization ..........................253
2. Log files overview ...............................................................................255
3. Log file descriptions ............................................................................256
4. Important directory locations ................................................................256
5. Troubleshooting with the logs ...............................................................257
6. Troubleshooting with the serial console ................................................257
7. Para-virtualized guest console access ..................................................258
8. Fully virtualized guest console access ..................................................259
9. SELinux considerations .......................................................................259
10. Accessing data on guest disk image ...................................................259
11. Common troubleshooting situations ....................................................260
12. Guest creation errors .........................................................................261
13. Serial console errors .........................................................................261
14. Network bridge errors ........................................................................262
15. Guest configuration files ....................................................................263
16. Interpreting error messages ...............................................................264
17. The layout of the log directories ..........................................................267
18. Online troubleshooting resources .......................................................268
30. Troubleshooting ........................................................................................271
1. Identifying available storage and partitions ............................................271

vii
Red Hat Enterprise Linux

2. Virtualized ethernet devices are not found by networking tools ...............271

3. Loop device errors ..............................................................................271
4. Failed domain creation caused by a memory shortage ..........................271
5. Wrong kernel image error - using a non-Xen kernel in a para-virtualized
guest .....................................................................................................272
6. Wrong kernel image error - non-PAE kernel on a PAE platform ..............272
7. Fully-virtualized x86_64 guest fails to boot ............................................273
8. Missing localhost entry in /etc/hosts causing virt-manager to fail ......273
9. Microcode error during guest boot ........................................................274
10. Wrong bridge configured on guest causing Xen hot plug scripts to timeout
...............................................................................................................274
11. Python depreciation warning messages when starting a virtual machine 275
31. Troubleshooting Para-virtualized Drivers .....................................................277
1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Virtualization log file and directories ............277
2. Para-virtualized guest fail to load on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 guest
operating system ....................................................................................279
3. A warning message is displayed while installing the para-virtualized drivers
on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 .................................................................279
4. What to do if the guest operating system has been booted with
virt-manager or virsh ..........................................................................280
5. Manually loading the para-virtualized drivers .........................................282
6. Verifying the para-virtualized drivers have successfully loaded ...............283
7. The system has limited throughput with para-virtualized drivers .............283
A. Revision History .................................................................................................285
B. Red Hat Virtualization system architecture ...........................................................287
C. Additional resources ...........................................................................................289
1. Online resources .........................................................................................289
2. Installed documentation ...............................................................................289
Glossary ................................................................................................................291

viii
How should CIO's Think about Virtualization?

You may already be heavily invested in the rapidly emerging technology of virtualization. If so,
consider some of the ideas below for further exploiting the technology. If not, now is the right
time to get started.

Virtualization provides a set of tools for increasing flexibility and lowering costs, things that are
important in every enterprise and Information Technology organization. Virtualization solutions
are becoming increasingly available and rich in features.

Since virtualization can provide significant benefits to your organization in multiple areas, you
should be establishing pilots, developing expertise and putting virtualization technology to work
now.

Virtualization for Innovation.

In essence, virtualization increases flexibility by decoupling an operating system and the
services and applications supported by that system from a specific physical hardware platform.
It allows the establishment of multiple virtual environments on a shared hardware platform.

Organizations looking to innovate find that the ability to create new systems and services
without installing additional hardware (and to quickly tear down those systems and services
when they are no longer needed) can be a significant boost to innovation.

Among possible approaches are the rapid establishment of development systems for the
creation of custom software, the ability to quickly set up test environments, the capability to
provision alternate software solutions and compare them without extensive hardware
investments, support for rapid prototyping and agile development environments, and the ability
to quickly establish new production services on demand.

These environments can be created in house or provisioned externally, as with Amazon’s EC2
offering. Since the cost to create a new virtual environment can be very low, and can take
advantage of existing hardware, innovation can be facilitated and accelerated with minimal
investment.

Virtualization can also excel at supporting innovation through the use of virtual environments for
training and learning. These services are ideal applications for virtualization technology. A
student can start course work with a known, standard system environment. Class work can be
isolated from the production network. Learners can establish unique software environments
without demanding exclusive use of hardware resources.

As the capabilities of virtual environments continue to grow, we’re likely to see increasing use of
virtualization to enable portable environments tailored to the needs of a specific user. These
environments can be moved dynamically to an accessible or local processing environment,
regardless of where the user is located. The user’s virtual environments can be stored on the
network or carried on a portable memory device.

A related concept is the Appliance Operating System, an application package oriented

operating system designed to run in a virtual environment. The package approach can yield
lower development and support costs as well as insuring the application runs in a known,

ix
How should CIO's Think about Virtualization?

secure environment. An Appliance Operating System solution provides benefits to both

application developers and the consumers of those applications.

How these applications of virtualization technology apply in your enterprise will vary. If you are
already using the technology in more than one of the areas noted above, consider an additional
investment in a solution requiring rapid development. If you haven’t started with virtualization,
start with a training and learning implementation to develop skills, then move on to application
development and testing. Enterprises with broader experience in virtualization should consider
implementing portable virtual environments or application appliances.

Virtualization for Cost Savings.

Virtualization can also be used to lower costs. One obvious benefit comes from the
consolidation of servers into a smaller set of more powerful hardware platforms running a
collection of virtual environments. Not only can costs be reduced by reducing the amount of
hardware and reducing the amount of unused capacity, but application performance can
actually be improved since the virtual guests execute on more powerful hardware.

Further benefits include the ability to add hardware capacity in a non-disruptive manner and to
dynamically migrate workloads to available resources.

Depending on the needs of your organization, it may be possible to create a virtual environment
for disaster recovery. Introducing virtualization can significantly reduce the need to replicate
identical hardware environments and can also enable testing of disaster scenarios at lower cost.

Virtualization provides an excellent solution for addressing peak or seasonal workloads. If you
have complementary workloads in your organization, you can dynamically allocate resources to
the applications which are currently experiencing the greatest demand. If you have peak
workloads that you are currently provisioning inside your organization, you may be able to buy
capacity on demand externally and implement it efficiently using virtual technology.

Cost savings from server consolidation can be compelling. If you aren’t exploiting virtualization
for this purpose, you should start a program now. As you gain experience with virtualization,
explore the benefits of workload balancing and virtualized disaster recovery environments.

Virtualization as a Standard Solution.

Regardless of the specific needs of your enterprise, you should be investigating virtualization as
part of your system and application portfolio as the technology is likely to become pervasive. We
expect operating system vendors to include virtualization as a standard component, hardware
vendors to build virtual capabilities into their platforms, and virtualization vendors to expand the
scope of their offerings.

If you don’t have plans to incorporate virtualization in your solution architecture, now is a very
good time to identify a pilot project, allocate some underutilized hardware platforms, and
develop expertise with this flexible and cost-effective technology. Then, extend your target
architectures to incorporate virtual solutions. Although substantial benefits are available from
virtualizing existing services, building new applications with an integrated virtualization strategy
can yield further benefits in both manageability and availability.

x
 About this book

You can learn more about Red Hat’s virtualization solutions at http://www.redhat.com/products/

by Lee Congdon, Chief Information Officer, Red Hat, Inc.

1. About this book

This book is divided into 7 parts:

• System Requirements

• Installation

• Configuration

• Administration

• Reference

• Tips and Tricks

• Troubleshooting

2. Document Conventions
Certain words in this manual are represented in different fonts, styles, and weights. This
highlighting indicates that the word is part of a specific category. The categories include the
following:

Courier font
Courier font represents commands, file names and paths, and prompts .

When shown as below, it indicates computer output:

Desktop about.html logs paulwesterberg.png

Mail backupfiles mail reports

bold Courier font

Bold Courier font represents text that you are to type, such as: service jonas start

If you have to run a command as root, the root prompt (#) precedes the command:

# gconftool-2

xi
How should CIO's Think about Virtualization?

italic Courier font

Italic Courier font represents a variable, such as an installation directory:
install_dir/bin/

bold font
Bold font represents application programs and text found on a graphical interface.

When shown like this: OK , it indicates a button on a graphical application interface.

Additionally, the manual uses different strategies to draw your attention to pieces of information.
In order of how critical the information is to you, these items are marked as follows:

Note
A note is typically information that you need to understand the behavior of the
system.

Tip
A tip is typically an alternative way of performing a task.

Important
Important information is necessary, but possibly unexpected, such as a
configuration change that will not persist after a reboot.

Caution
A caution indicates an act that would violate your support agreement, such as
recompiling the kernel.

Warning
A warning indicates potential data loss, as may happen when tuning hardware
for maximum performance.

xii
 We Need Feedback

3. We Need Feedback
If you find a typographical error in the Virtualization Guide, or if you have thought of a way to
make this manual better, we would love to hear from you! Please submit a report in Busily:
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/ against the component Virtualization_Guide.

If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation, try and be as specific as possible
when describing it. If you have found an error, please include the section number and some of
the surrounding text so we can find it easily.

xiii
xiv
Part I. System Requirements for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Virtualization
Chapter 1.

System requirements
Your system will require the attributes listed in this chapter to successfully run virtualization on
Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You will require a host running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server
with the virtualization packages. The host will need a configured hypervisor. For information on
installing the hypervisor, read Chapter 4, Installing Red Hat Virtualization packages on the host.

You require installation media for the guest systems. The installation media must be available to
the host as follows:

• for para-virtualized guests you require the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 installation tree
available over NFS, FTP or HTTP.

• for fully-virtualized guest installations you will require DVD or CD-ROM distribution media or a
bootable .iso file and a network accessible installation tree.

The types of storage supported by Red Hat Virtualization are:

• a file

• a physical disk partition

• a locally connected physical LUN

• an LVM partition

• or as an iSCSI or Fibre Channel based LUN.

Tip
Use /var/lib/xen/images/ for file based guest images. If you use a different
directory you must add the directory to your SELinux policy. For more information
see Chapter 11, SELinux and virtualization.

1. Hardware prerequisites
Hardware requirements for para-virtualization and full virtualization

The following list is the recommended RAM and disk space for each para-virtualized or fully
virtualized guest

• a minimum of 2 GB of available RAM.

3
Chapter 1. System requirements

• a minimum of 6 GB of free disk space.

It is advised to have at least one processing core or hyper-thread for each virtual machine.

You system will also require hardware virtualization extensions to use fully virtualized guest
operating systems. The steps to identify whether your system has virtualization extensions can
be found at Hardware virtualization extensions.

Hardware virtualization extensions.

Full virtualization requires CPUs with hardware virtualization extensions. This section describes
how to identify hardware virtualization extensions and enable them in your BIOS if they are
disabled. If hardware virtualization extensions are not present you can only use
para-virtualization with Red Hat Virtualization.

The virtualization extensions can not be disabled in the BIOS for AMD-V capable processors
installed in a Rev 2 socket. The Intel® VT extensions can be disabled in the BIOS. Certain
laptop vendors have disabled the Intel® VT extensions by default in their CPUs.

These instructions enable Intel® VT virtualization extensions If they are disabled in BIOS:

1. Run the xm dmesg | grep VMX command. The output should display as follows:

(XEN) VMXON is done

(XEN) VMXON is done

2. Run the cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep vmx command to verify the CPU flags have been set.
The output should be similar to the following. Note vmx in the output:

flags : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts
acpi mmx fxsr
sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2
cx16 xtpr lahf_lm

Do not proceed if the output of xm dmesg | grep VMX is not VMXON is done for each CPU.
Please visit the BIOS if other messages are reported.

The following commands verify that the virtualization extensions are enabled on AMD-V
architectures:

1. Run the xm dmesg | grep SVM command. The output should look like the following:

(XEN) AMD SVM Extension is enabled for cpu 0

4
 Hardware prerequisites

(XEN) AMD SVM Extension is enabled for cpu 1

2. Run the cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep svm to verify the CPU flags have been set. The output
should be similar to the following. Note svm in the output:

flags : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx
fxsr sse sse2
ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy
svm cr8legacy ts
fid vid ttp tm stc

Enabling Intel® VT and AMD-V virtualization hardware extensions.

To run unmodified guest operating systems (also known as fully virtualized or HVM guests) you
require a Intel® VT or AMD-V capable system. The steps below will provide an overview about
how you can verify whether the virtualization extensions have been enabled, and that Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 can use them:

First, verify the Intel® VT or AMD-V capabilities are enabled via the BIOS. The BIOS settings for
Intel® VT or AMD-V are usually in the Chipset or Processor menus. However, they can
sometimes be hidden under obscure menus, such as Security Settings or other non standard
menus.

For Intel® VT architectures perform these steps to make sure Intel Virtualization Technology is
enabled. Some menu items may have slightly different names:

1. Reboot the computer and open the system's BIOS menu. This can usually be done by
pressing delete or Alt + F4.

2. Select Restore Defaults, and then select Save & Exit.

3. Power off the machine and disconnect the power supply.

4. Power on the machine and open the BIOS Setup Utility. Open the Processor section and
enable Intel®Virtualization Technology or AMD-V. The values may also be called
Virtualization Extensions on some machines. Select Save & Exit.

5. Power off the machine and disconnect the power supply.

6. The vmx or svm instructions should now be enabled.

5
Chapter 1. System requirements

Important
After resetting or updating the BIOS you must reboot the system for the updated
settings to take effect.

6
Chapter 2.

Compatibility of host and guest

combinations
The table below shows the available architecture combinations for hosts and guests.

The table Table 2.1, “Host and guest architecture compatibility”

Para-virtualized or fully Host Architecture Guest Architecture

virtualized
Para-virtualized i686 i686
Fully virtualized i686 i686
Fully virtualized x86_64 i686
Para-virtualized x86_64 x86_64
Fully virtualized x86_64 x86_64
Para-virtualized ia64 ia64
Fully virtualized ia64 ia64

Table 2.1. Host and guest architecture compatibility

Itanium® support
Red Hat Virtualization on the Itanium® architeture requires the guest firmware
image, refer to Installing Red Hat Virtualization with yum for more information.

7
8
Chapter 3.

Virtualization limitations
This chapter covers the limitations of virtualization in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. There are
several aspects of virtualization which make virtualized guests unsuitable for certain types of
application.

The following Red Hat Enterprise Linux platforms on para-virtualized guests are unable to
subscribe to RHN for the additional services:

• RHN Satellite

• RHN Proxy

It is possible to configure these as fully virtualized guests it should be avoided due to the high
I/O requirements imposed by these. This impact may be mitigated by full support of hardware
virtualization I/O extensions in future Z-stream releases of Red Hat Virtualization.

The following applications should be avoided for their high I/O requirement reasons:

• kdump server

• netdump server

You should carefully scrutinize databased applications before running them on a virtualized
guest. Databases generally use network and storage I/O devices intensively. These applications
may not be suitable for a fully virtualized environment. Consider para-virtualization or
para-virtualized drivers (see Chapter 13, Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers).

Other platforms and software applications that heavily utilize I/O or real-time should be
evaluated carefully. Using full virtualization with the para-virtualized drivers (see Chapter 13,
Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers) or para-virtualization will result in better performance
with I/O intensive applications. However, applications will always suffer some performance
degradation running on virtualized environments. The performance benefits of virtualization
through consolidating to newer and faster hardware should not be underestimated as they will
often outweigh the potential disadvantages of moving to a virtualized platform.

Test before deployment

You should test for the maximum anticipated load and virtualized network stress
before deploying heavy I/O applications. Stress testing is important as there will
be a performance hit in using virtualization with increased I/O usage.

9
Chapter 3. Virtualization limitations

For a list of other limitations and issues affecting Red Hat Virtualization read the
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release Notes for your version. The Release Notes
cover the present known issues and limitations as they are updated or
discovered.

10
Part II. Installation Procedures
Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization

These chapters provide the information for installing host and guest systems utilizing Red Hat
Virtualization. These chapters will provide you with the information to get started using Red Hat
Virtualization.

xiii
xiv
Chapter 4.

Installing Red Hat Virtualization

packages on the host
The virtualization packages, for the host, must be installed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux to utilize
Red Hat Virtualization. If the virtualization packages are not present you will need to install them
or the instructions in this guide will not work. You can install the necessary host packages

1. Installing Red Hat Virtualization during a new Red

Hat Enterprise Linux installation

Adding Red Hat Virtualization packages to a Kickstart file.

This section describes how to use kickstart files to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Kickstart
files allow for large, automated installations without a user manually installing each individual
system. The steps in this section will assist you in creating and using a Kickstart file to install
Red Hat Enterprise Linux with the Red Hat Virtualization packages.

More information on kickstart files can be found on Red Hat's website, redhat.com1, in the
Installation Guide for your Red Hat Enterprise Linux version.

2. Installing Red Hat Virtualization on an existing Red

Hat Enterprise Linux system
The section describes the steps necessary to install Red Hat Virtualization on a working copy of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Adding packages to your list of Red Hat Network entitlements.

This section will describe the procedure for enabling Red Hat Network (RHN) entitlements to
install the Red Hat Virtualization packages on your systems. You need to have these
entitlements enabled and the packages installed to set up host systems.

1. Log in to RHN2 using your RHN username and password.

RHN registration

1
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/
2
https://rhn.redhat.com/

15
Chapter 4. Installing Red Hat Virtualization packages on the host

You machines must be registered with Red Hat Network and you require a valid
Red Hat Network account in order to install Red Hat Virtualization on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux.

To register an unregistered installation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, run the

rhn_register command and follow the prompts.

if you do not have a valid Red Hat subscription, visit the Red Hat online store3.

2. Select the systems you want to install Red Hat Virtualization on.

3. In the System Properties section the present systems entitlements are listed next to the
Entitlements header. Use the (Edit These Properties) link to change your entitlements.

4. Select the Virtualization checkbox.

Your system is now entitled to receive the Red Hat Virtualization packages. The next section
covers installing these packages.

Installing Red Hat Virtualization with yum.

To commence using virtualization on Red Hat Enterprise Linux you will need the xen and
kernel-xen packages. The xen package contains the Xen hypervisor and Xen tools. The
kernel-xen package contains a modified linux kernel which runs as a virtual machine guest on
the Xen hypervisor.

To install the xen and kernel-xen packages, run:

# yum install xen kernel-xen

Fully virtualized guests on the Itanium® architecture require the guest firmware image
package(xen-ia64-guest-firmware) from the supplementary installation DVD. This package
can also be can be installed from RHN with the yum command:

# yum install xen-ia64-guest-firmware

Other recommended virtualization packages:

python-virtinst
Provides the virt-install command for creating virtual machines.

libvirt-python
3 The libvirt-python package contains a
https://www.redhat.com/wapps/store/catalog.html module that permits applications written in the Python

16
 Installing Red Hat Virtualization on an

programming language to use the interface supplied by the libvirt library to use the Xen
virtualization framework.

libvirt
libvirt is an API library which uses the Xen virtualization framework, and the virsh
command line tool to manage and control virtual machines.

virt-manager
Virtual Machine Manager provides a graphical tool for administering virtual machines. It
uses libvirt library as the management API.

To install the other recommended virtualization packages, use the command below:

# yum install virt-manager libvirt libvirt-python libvirt-python

python-virtinst

17
18
Chapter 5.

Installing guests
This chapter will guide you through the process for installing guest virtual machines.

These listed of questions are important to consider and note before commencing the installation
process on the host. Th

• are you using DHCP or a static configuration?

• will IPv6 support be enabled?

• is the hostname static or set via DHCP?

Start the installation process using either the New button in virt-manager or use the command
line interface virt-install.

1. Create a guest using virt-install

Instead of virt-manager you can use the virt-install command. virt-install can either
be used interactively or in a script to automate the creation of virtual machines. Using
virt-install with Kickstart files an unattended installation of virtual machines can be
achieved.

If you are using the virt-install CLI command and you select the --vnc option for a
graphical installation you will also see the graphical installation screen as shown below.

The virt-install script provides a number of options one can pass on the command line.
Below is the output from virt-install -help:

virt-install -help
usage: virt-install [options]
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-n NAME, --name=NAME Name of the guest instance
-r MEMORY, --ram=MEMORY
Memory to allocate for guest instance in megabytes
-u UUID, --uuid=UUID UUID for the guest; if none is given a random UUID
will be generated. If you specify UUID, you should
use
a 32-digit hexadecimal number.
--vcpus=VCPUS Number of vcpus to configure for your guest
--check-cpu Check that vcpus do not exceed physical CPUs and
warn
if they do.
--cpuset=CPUSET Set which physical CPUs Domain can use.
-f DISKFILE, --file=DISKFILE
File to use as the disk image
-s DISKSIZE, --file-size=DISKSIZE
Size of the disk image (if it doesn't exist) in
gigabytes

19
Chapter 5. Installing guests

--nonsparse Don't use sparse files for disks. Note that this
will
be significantly slower for guest creation
--nodisks Don't set up any disks for the guest.
-m MAC, --mac=MAC Fixed MAC address for the guest; if none or RANDOM
is
given a random address will be used
-b BRIDGE, --bridge=BRIDGE
Bridge to connect guest NIC to; if none given, will
try to determine the default
-w NETWORK, --network=NETWORK
Connect the guest to a virtual network, forwarding
to
the physical network with NAT
--vnc Use VNC for graphics support
--vncport=VNCPORT Port to use for VNC
--sdl Use SDL for graphics support
--nographics Don't set up a graphical console for the guest.
--noautoconsole Don't automatically try to connect to the guest
console
-k KEYMAP, --keymap=KEYMAP
set up keymap for a graphical console
--accelerat
--accelerate Use kernel acceleration capabilities
--connect=CONNECT Connect to hypervisor with URI
--livecd Specify the CDROM media is a LiveCD
-v, --hvm This guest should be a fully virtualized guest
-c CDROM, --cdrom=CDROM
File to use a virtual CD-ROM device for fully
virtualized guests
--pxe Boot an installer from the network using the PXE
boot
protocol
--os-type=OS_TYPE The OS type for fully virtualized guests, e.g.
'linux', 'unix', 'windows'
--os-variant=OS_VARIANT
The OS variant for fully virtualized guests, e.g.
'fedora6', 'rhel5', 'solaris10', 'win2k', 'vista'
--noapic Disables APIC for fully virtualized guest
(overrides
value in os-type/os-variant db)
--noacpi Disables ACPI for fully virtualized guest
(overrides
value in os-type/os-variant db)
--arch=ARCH The CPU architecture to simulate
-p, --paravirt This guest should be a paravirtualized guest
-l LOCATION, --location=LOCATION
Installation source for paravirtualized guest (eg,
nfs:host:/path, http://host/path, ftp://host/path)
-x EXTRA, --extra-args=EXTRA
Additional arguments to pass to the installer with
paravirt guests
-d, --debug Print debugging information
--noreboot Disables the automatic rebooting when the
installation
is complete.
--force Do not prompt for input. Answers yes where

20
 Create a guest using virt-manager

applicable,

2. Create a guest using virt-manager

Procedure 5.1. Creating a Virtual Machine using virt-manager

1. To start virt-manager execute the following as root in your shell:

# virt-manager &

The virt-manager opens a new virt-manager application graphical user interface. If you
do not have root privileges the New button will be grayed out and you will not be able to
create a new virtual machine.

2. You will see a dialog box as the one below. Select the Connect button and the main
virt-manager window will appear:

3. The main virt-manager window will allow you to create a new virtual machine using the
New button:

21
Chapter 5. Installing guests

4. The next window provides a summary of the information you will need to provide in order to
create a virtual machine:

22
 Create a guest using virt-manager

After you have reviewed all of the information required for your installation you can continue
to the next screen.

5. Depending on whether your system has Intel® VT or AMD-V capable processors the next
window will either display a single choice to create a para-virtualized guest or two choices.
Where one choice will be para-virtualized (modified and optimized operating system for
virtualization) guest creation and the second will be for a fully virtualized (unmodified
operating system) guest creation:

23
Chapter 5. Installing guests

6. The next screen will ask for the installation media for the type of installation you selected.
The para-virtualized installation will require an installation tree accessible either via HTTP,
FTP or NFS (can be setup on the same system as where you install the guest). You can
easily create an installation by either mounting the installation media DVD to a local
directory and exporting it via NFS or making it available via FTP or HTTP. If your media is
an .iso file you can loopback mount the file and extract the files onto a local directory.

24
 Create a guest using virt-manager

7. The fully virtualized installation will ask for the location of a boot media (ISO image, DVD or
CD-ROM drive). Depending on your installation media/process you can either perform a
network based installation after booting your guest off the .iso file or perform the whole
installation off a DVD .iso file. typically Windows installations are using DVD/CD .iso files,
Linux or unix-like operating systems such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux use use an .iso file
for installing a base system to use a a network based tree):

25
Chapter 5. Installing guests

8. This screen is for selecting storage for the guest. Choose a disk partition, LUN or a file
based image for the location of the guest image. The convention for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 is to install all file based guest images in the /var/lib/xen/images/ directory as
other SELinux blocks access to images located in other directories. If you run SELinux in
enforcing mode, see Chapter 11, SELinux and virtualization for more information on
installing guests. You must choose a size for file based guest image storage. The size of
your guest image should be larger than the size of the installation, any additional packages
and applications, and the size of the guests swap file. The installation process will choose
the size of the guest's swap file based on size of the RAM allocated to the guest.
Remember to allocate extra space if the guest is to store additional files, for example web
server log files or user storage.

26
 Create a guest using virt-manager

Note
It is recommend to use the default directory for virtual machine images which is
/var/lib/xen/images/ . If you are using a different location (such as
/xen/images/ in this example) make sure it is added to your SELinux policy and
relabeled before you continue with the installation (later in the document you will
find information on how to modify your SELinux policy)

9. The last configuration information to enter is the memory size of the guest you are installing
and the number of virtual CPUs you would like to assign to your guest. Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 / Virt will require physical memory to back a guest's memory you must ensure your
system is configured with sufficient memory in order to accommodate the guest you may
like to run and configure. A good practice for virtual CPU assignments is to not configure
more virtual CPUs in a single guest then available physical processors in the host. You can
allocate more virtual processors across a number of virtual machine than the number of
physical processors available. However, you should generally avoid doing this as it will
significantly negatively affect performance of your guests and host.

27
Chapter 5. Installing guests

10. At this step you will be presented with a summary screen of all configuration information
you entered. Review the information presented and use the Back button to make changes.
Once you are satisfied with the data entered click the Finish button and the installation
process will commence:

28
 Create a guest using virt-manager

Press the Finish button in virt-manager to conclude the installation and automatically
launch a VNC based window for the installation process.

29
30
Chapter 6.

Guest operating system installation

processes
This chapter covers, in detail, how to install various guest operating systems in a virtualized
environment.

1. Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as a

para-virtualized guest
If you are using the virt-install command line interface tool and you select the --vnc option
for a graphical installation you will also see the graphical installation screen as shown below.

If you used virt-install or virt-manager the following command line would start a guest
installation with the same parameters as selected above via the GUI:

virt-install -n rhel5PV -r 500 -f /var/lib/xen/images/rhel5PV.dsk -s 3 --vnc

-p -l\
ftp://10.1.1.1/trees/RHEL5-B2-Server-i386/

The window will show the initial boot of your guest:

31
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

After your guest has completed its initial bootstrap you will be dropped into the standard
installation process for Red Hat Enterprise Linux or the operating system specific installer you
select to install. For most installations the default answers will be acceptable

1. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installer will ask you for the installation language:

32
 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as a

2. Next you have to select the keyboard layout you want to use:

33
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

3. Assign the guest's network address. You can either choose DHCP (as shown below) or
static:

34
 para-virtualized guest

4. If you have chosen DHCP for your guest the installation process will now try to acquire an
IP address for your guest via DHCP:

35
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

5. If you elected to use a static IP address for your guest the next screen will ask you for the
details on the guest's networking configuration:

a. Enter a valid IP address, also make sure the IP address you enter can reach your
installation server which provides the installation tree.

b. Enter a valid Subnet mask, default gateway and name server address.

36
 Installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as a

6. Below is an example of a static IP address configuration:

37
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

7. After you finished the networking configuration of your guest the installation process will
retrieve the installation files required to continue:

38
 para-virtualized guest

1.1. Graphical Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 installation

After you have answered the basic questions to get the installation process started and all of the
required files have been retrieved you will be greeted by the graphical installation screen of Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (or the installation screen of the operating system you decided to install):

39
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

1. If you are installing a Beta or early release distribution you need to confirm that you really
want to install the operating system:

40
 Graphical Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

2. The next step is to enter a valid registration code. If you have a valid RHN subscription key
please enter in the Installation Number field:

41
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

3. The release notes for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 have temporary subscription keys for
Server and Client installations. If you are installing a local environment with no need to
access RHN enter V for virtualization, S for clustered storage (CLVM or GFS) and C for
clustering (Red Hat Cluster Suite) if required. In most cases entering V is sufficient:

42
 installation

Note
Depending on your version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux the setup numbers
above may not work. In that case you can skip this step and confirm your Red
Hat Network account details after the installation using the rhn_register
command.

4. The installation will now confirm you want to erase the data on the storage you selected for
the installation:

43
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

5. This screen will allow you to review the storage configuration and partition layout. You can
also chose to select the advanced storage configuration if you want to use iSCSI as guest
storage:

44
 Graphical Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

6. After you have reviewed the storage choice just confirm that you indeed want to use the
drive for the installation:

7. Next is the guest networking configuration and hostname settings. The information will be
populated with the data you entered earlier in the installation process:

45
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

8. Select the appropriate time zone for your environment:

9. Select a root password for your guest:

46
 installation

10. Now you get to select the software packages you want to install. You can also chose to
customize the software selection by selecting the Customize Now button:

47
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

11. For our installation we chose the office packages and web server packages:

48
 Graphical Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

12. After you have selected the packages to install, dependencies and space requirements will
be verified:

49
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

13. After all of the installation dependencies and space requirements have been verified you
need to press the Next button to start the actual installation:

50
 installation

14. Now the installation will automatically install all of the selected software packages:

51
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

15. After the installation has finished you need to reboot your guest:

52
 Graphical Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

16. Your newly installed guest will not reboot, instead it will shutdown:

53
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

1.2. The first boot after the guest installation of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5
To reboot your new guest use the command xm create GuestName where GuestName is the
name you entered during the initial installation. Guest configuration files are located in
/etc/xen/.

Once you have started your guest using the command above you can use virt-manager to
open a graphical console window for your guest. Start virt-manager, select your guest from the
list and click the Open tab, you will see a window similar to the one below:

54
installation

55
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

1.3. First boot configuration

During the first boot after the installation has finished you will see the First Boot configuration
screen. This screen will walk you through some basic configuration choices for your guest:

56
 First boot configuration

1. First you need to agree to the license agreement:

57
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

2. Next is the Firewall configuration:

58
 First boot configuration

3. If you select to disable the Firewall configuration you need to confirm your choice one more
time:

59
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

4. Next is SELinux. It is strongly recommended to run SELinux in enforcing mode but you can
chose to either run SELinux in permissive mode or completely disable it:

60
 First boot configuration

5. Choosing to disable SELinux causes the following warning to appear:

61
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

6. You can enable kdump:

62
 First boot configuration

7. Confirm time and date are set correctly for your guest. If you install a para-virtualized guest
time and date should be in sync with dom0/Hypervisor as the guest will get its time from
dom0. A fully-virtualized guest may need additional configuration such as NTP to avoid
skew in time from dom0:

63
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

8. If you have a Red Hat Network subscription or would like to try one you can use the screen
below to register your newly installed guest in RHN:

64
 First boot configuration

9. Confirm your choices for RHN:

65
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

10. Once setup has finished you may see one more screen if you opted out of RHN at this time:

66
 First boot configuration

11. This screen will allow you to create a user besides the standard root account:

67
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

12. The following warning appears if you do not choose to create a personal account:

68
 First boot configuration

13. If the install detects a sound device you would be asked to calibrate it on this screen:

69
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

14. If you want to install any additional software packages from CD you could do so on this
screen. It it often more efficient to not install any additional software at this point but add it
later using yum:

70
 First boot configuration

15. After you press the Finish button your guest will reconfigure any settings you may have
changed and continue with the boot process:

71
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

16. And finally you will be greeted with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 login screen:

72
 First boot configuration

17. After you have logged in you will see the standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 desktop
environment:

73
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

2. Installing a Windows XP Guest as a fully virtualized

guest
virt-manager can install Windows XP as a fully-virtualized guest. However there are some extra
steps which must be followed in order to complete the installation successfully. This section
explains the installation process and extra steps needed to get Windows XP fully virtualized
guests installed.

Itanium® support
Presently, Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts on the Itanium® architecture do not
support fully virtualized windows guests. This section only applies to x86 and
x86-64 hosts.

74
 Installing a Windows XP Guest as a fully

1. First you start virt-manager and select the New tab to create a new virtual machine. As
you install a Windows based virtual machine you need to select the option to install a Fully
virtualized guest:

2. Next you choose a descriptive system name:

75
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

3. Specify the location for the ISO image you want to use for your Windows installation:

76
 virtualized guest

4. Select the storage backing store, either a file based image can be used or a partition or
logical volume:

77
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

5. Specify the virtual machine resources such as CPU and Memory:

78
 Installing a Windows XP Guest as a fully

6. Before the installation will continue you will see the summary screen. Press Finish to
proceed to the actual installation:

79
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

7. Now the actual Windows installation will start. As you need to make a hardware selection it
is important that you open a console window very quickly after the installation has started.
Once you press Finish make sure you set focus to the virt-manager summary window and
select your newly started Windows guest. Double click on the system name and a console
window will open. Quickly press F5 to select a new HAL, once you get the dialog box in the
Windows install select the 'Generic i486 Platform' tab (you can scroll through the selections
using the Up and Down arrows.

80
 virtualized guest

8. The installation will proceed like any other standard Windows installation:

81
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

9. You will be asked to partition your drive:

82
 Installing a Windows XP Guest as a fully

10. After your drive has been formatted Windows will start copying the files onto your new hard
drive:

83
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

11. After setup has completed your Windows virtual machine will be rebooted:

12. You will have to halt the virtual machine after its initial reboot as you need to manually edit

84
 virtualized guest

the virtual machine's configuration file which is located in /etc/xen/VirtualMachineName.

You can halt the virtual machine using the xm destroy WindowsGuest command, where
WindowsGuest is the name of your virtual machine.

13. You will need to modify the disk entry and add a cdrom entry to the config file. The old
entry will look similar to the following:

disk = [ 'file:/var/lib/xen/images/winxp.dsk,hda,w' ]

and the new entry should look like the following:

disk = [ 'file:/var/lib/xen/images/winxp.dsk,hda,w' ,
'file:/xen/pub/trees/MS/en_winxp_pro_with_sp2.iso,hdc:cdrom,r', ]

14. Now you can restart your Windows virtual machine using the xm create WindowsGuest
command, where WindowsGuest is the name of your virtual machine.

15. Once you open the console window you will see Windows continuing with the setup phase:

16. If your installation seems to get stuck during the setup phase you can restart the virtual

85
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

machine using the command mentioned above. This will usually get the installation to
continue. As you restart the virtual machine you will see a Setup is being restarted
message:

17. After setup has finished you will see the Windows boot screen:

86
 Installing a Windows XP Guest as a fully

18. Now you can continue with the standard setup of your Windows installation:

87
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

19. After you completed the setup process you will be presented with your new Windows
desktop or login screen:

88
 virtualized guest

3. Installing a Windows 2003 SP1 Server Guest as a

fully-virtualized guest
virt-manager can install Windows XP as a fully-virtualized guest. However there are some extra
steps which must be followed in order to complete the installation successfully. This section
explains the installation process and extra steps needed to get Windows XP fully virtualized
guests installed.

It may be easier to use virt-install for installing Windows Server 2003 as the console for the
Windows guest will open quicker and allow for F5 to be pressed which is required to select a
new HAL.

Itanium® support
Presently, Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts on the Itanium® architecture do not
support fully virtualized windows guests. This section only applies to x86 and
x86-64 hosts.

89
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

An example of using the virt-install for installing a Windows Server 2003 guest:

virt-install -hvm -s 5 -f /var/lib/xen/images/windows2003spi1.dsk -n

windows2003sp1\
-cdrom=/xen/trees/ISO/WIN/en_windows_server_2003_sp1.iso -vnc -r 1024

1. After starting your guest installation you need to quickly press F5, this opens a dialog
window to select a different HAL or Computer Type. Choose Standard PC as the Computer
Type:

2. Continue with a normal Microsoft Windows Server 2003 installation:

90
Installing a Windows 2003 SP1 Server Guest

91
Chapter 6. Guest operating system installation processes

92
Part III. Configuration
Configuring Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization

These chapters contain specialized information for certain advanced virtualization tasks. Users
wanting enhanced security, additional devices or better performance are advised to read these
chapters.

xcv
xcvi
Chapter 7.

Virtualized block devices

This chapter explains installing and configuring block devices in Red Hat Virtualization guests.

1. Installing a virtualized floppy disk controller

Presently, physical floppy disks can not be mapped to virtualized guests, however, you can
access a virtualized floppy drive created using an image file of a floppy disk and a modified
configuration file. The section will guide you through the process.

This section uses a guest system created with virt-manager running a fully virtualized Red Hat
Enterprise Linux installation with an image located in /var/lib/xen/images/rhel5FV-1.img.

Note
There is no guarantee that this section will work for your system at this time.
Para-virtualized guests can access floppy drives as well as using para-virtualized
drivers on a fully virtualized system. For more information on using
para-virtualized drivers read Chapter 13, Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers.

Create the XML configuration file for your guest image using the following command on a
running guest. This will save the configuration settings as an XML file which can be edited to
customize the operations the guest performs when the guest is started. For another example of
editing the virsh XML files, read Chapter 27, Creating custom Red Hat Virtualization scripts.

# virsh dumpxml rhel5FV > rhel5FV.xml

Execute this instruction to create a floppy image to use on the guest.

dd if=/dev/zero of=/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5FV-1flop.img bs=512 count=2880

Add the content below, changing where appropriate, to your guest's configuration XML file. This
example creates a guest with a floppy device as a file based virtual device.

<disk type='file' device='floppy'>

<source file='/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5FV-1flop.img'/>
<target dev='fda'/>
</disk>

Stop the guest system, and restart the guest using the XML configuration file.

# virsh create rhel5FV.xml

97
Chapter 7. Virtualized block devices

The floppy device is now available in the guest and stored as an image file on the host.

2. Adding additional storage devices to a guest

After your guests are installed and configured you can add additional storage to your
virtualization machines. You can use multiple different types of storage in your guests, these
include:

• local hard drive partitions,

• logical volumes,

• fibre channel or iSCSI directly connected to the host.

• File containers residing in a file system on the host.

• NFS file systems mounted directly by the virtual machine.

• iSCSI storage directly accessed by the guest.

• Cluster File Systems (GFS).

Adding a file based container as additional storage to a guest.

To add a file based container to a guest you must perform the following steps:

1. Create an empty container file or using an existing file container (such as an ISO file).

• to create a sparse file use the following command (note that using sparse files is not
recommended due to data integrity and performance issues, they may be used for testing
but not in a production environment)

dd if=/dev/zero of=FileName.img bs=1M seek=4096 count=0

• or if you want to create a non-sparse file (recommended) just use the command

dd if=/dev/zero of=FileName.img bs=1M count=4096

The command above will create a 400MB file

2. Once you have created or identified the file you want to assign to your virtual machine you
can add it to the virtual machine's configuration file.

3. Edit the virtual machine's configuration in /etc/xen/VirtualMachineName and look for an

entry starting with disk=. A sample entry will look like the following:

disk = [ 'tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5vm01.dsk,xvda,w', ]

98
 Adding additional storage devices to a

4. To add the additional storage, add a new file based container entry in the disk= section of
the configuration file. Ensure you have specified a device name for the virtual block device
(xvd) which has not yet been used by other storage devices. The following is an example
configuration entry adding a file called oracle.dsk:

disk = [ 'tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5vm01.dsk,xvda,w',\
'tap:aio:/xen/images/oracle.dsk,xvdb,w', ]

5. Using the above entry your virtual machine will see file oracle.dsk as the device /dev/xvdb
inside the guest.

Adding a block device as additional storage to a guest.

To present a block device from your host to a guest you must perform the following steps:

1. Make the block device available to the host and configure for your guests needs (that is, the
name, persistence, multipath and so on).

2. Edit the virtual machine's configuration in /etc/xen/VirtualMachineName and look for an

entry starting with disk=. A sample entry will look like the following:

disk = [ 'tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5vm01.dsk,xvda,w', ]

3. To add the additional storage, add a new file based container entry in the disk= section of
the configuration file. Ensure you specify the type phy and use a virtual block device name for
the new virtual block device (xvd) which has not yet been used by other storage devices. The
following is an example configuration entry which adds a file called /dev/sdb1:

disk = [ 'tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5vm01.dsk,xvda,w',\
'phy:/dev/sdb1,xvdb,w', ]

4. Using the above entry your virtual machine will see the file oracle.dsk as the device
/dev/xvdb inside the guest

The same procedure can be used to allow a guest machine access to other physical block
devices, for example a CD-ROM or DVD drive.

Dynamically adding storage to a virtual machine.

In some cases one may want to add additional storage to a virtual machine without the need to
reboot it. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5/Virt provides this capability using the command line toolset

99
Chapter 7. Virtualized block devices

xm. In order to dynamically add storage to a virtual machine/domain you need to perform the
following steps:

1. Identify the block device or image file you want to make available to the virtual machine (for
our example we use /dev/sdb1)

2. After you have selected the storage you want to present to the guest you can use the xm
block-attach command to assign it to your virtual machine. The syntax for xm
block-attach is:

• xm block-attach domain backdev frontdev mode

• an example would look like the following:

xm block-attach MyVirtualMachine phy:/dev/sdb1 xvdb w

The above command will attach /dev/sdb1 to the virtual machine MyVirtualMachine and
the device would be seen as /dev/xvdb inside the virtual machine.

3. Configuring persistent storage in a Red Hat

Enterprise Linux 5 environment
In an environment where external storage (for example, Fibre Channel or iSCSI) is used it is
advised to configure persistent device names on your hosts. This will also aid in using Red Hat
Virtualization's (live) migration feature to implement consistent device names across multiple
systems.

Single Path Configuration.

On systems not using multipath, udev is a good way to implement LUN persistence. For more
information on scsi_id and its various options please consult the man page.

1. The first step would be to acquire UUIDs. Check/Open your /etc/scsi_id.config file and
verify that you have the following line commented out:

# options=-b

2. Add the following line to your /etc/scsi_id.config file:

options=-g

This configuration option will configure udev to assume that all attached SCSI devices will

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 guest

return a UUID (Unique Device Identifier)

3. To display the UUID for a given device execute the following command: scsi_id -g -s
/block/sdc. The output will look similar to the following:

# scsi_id -g -s /block/sdc
3600a0b800013275100000015427b625e

The result of the command above represents the device's UUID. At this time you should
verify the UUID you just retrieved is the same displayed via each path the device can be
accessed through. The UUID will be used as the primary/sole key to the device. UUIDs will
be persistent across reboots and as you add additional storage to your environment.

4. The next step is to create a rule to name your device. In /etc/udev/rules.d create the file
20-names.rules. You will be adding the new rules to the file
/etc/udev/rules.d/20-names.rules , any subsequent rules will be added to the same file
using the same format. Rules should have the following format:

KERNEL="sd*", BUS="scsi", PROGRAM="/sbin/scsi_id -g -s", RESULT=UUID,

NAME=devicename

Replace UUID and devicename with the UUID retrieved above, and the desired name for the
device. In the example, the rule would look as follows:

KERNEL="sd*", BUS="scsi", PROGRAM="/sbin/scsi_id -g -s",

RESULT="3600a0b800013275100000015427b625e", NAME="mydevice"

This forces the system to verify all devices which correspond to a block device ( /dev/sd*)
for the given UUID. When it finds a matching device, it will create a device node named
/dev/devicename. In the example above, the device node is labeled /dev/mydevice.

5. As the last step add the following line to /etc/rc.local:

/sbin/start_udev

Multi-path configuration.
To implement LUN persistence in a multipath environment, you need to define alias names for
your multipath devices. To identify a device's UUID or WWID follow the steps from the single
path configuration section. The multipath devices will be created in the /dev/mpath directory. In

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Chapter 7. Virtualized block devices

our example below we will define 4 devices in /etc/multipath.conf:

multipaths {
multipath {
wwid 3600805f30015987000000000768a0019
alias oramp1
}
multipath {
wwid 3600805f30015987000000000d643001a
alias oramp2
}
mulitpath {
wwid 3600805f3001598700000000086fc001b
alias oramp3
}
mulitpath {
wwid 3600805f300159870000000000984001c
alias oramp4
}
}

This configuration will create 4 LUNs named /dev/mpath/oramp1, /dev/mpath/oramp2,

/dev/mpath/oramp3 and /dev/mpath/oramp4. Once entered, the mapping of the devices'
WWIDs/UUIDs to their new names will now be persistent even after rebooting.

4. Adding an ISO file as a CD-ROM to a guest

configuration file
You may be prompted for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation CD-ROMs during the initial
installation to add additional software components or packages. This method can make any
ISO, or file based image, available as a device for your guest. This might be useful for installing
software from an ISO file or other media source(for example, a downloaded image).

The syntax for adding an ISO image as a new device to a guest is as following:

['file:/var/lib/xen/images/win2003sp1.dsk,hda,w',\
'file:/xen/trees/ISO/WIN/en_windows_server_2003_with_sp1_standard.iso,hdc:cdrom,r',
]

In the example above you can see how the file

en_windows_server_2003_with_sp1_standard.iso has been added to the guest
configuration. Once you reboot your guest this ISO image will be configured as a CD Rom driver
inside guest.

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Chapter 8.

Configuring networks and guests

Integrating Red Hat Virtualization into your network architecture is a complicated process and
depending upon your infrastructure, may require custom configuration to deploy multiple
ethernet interfaces and setup bridging.

Each domain network interface is connected to a virtual network interface in dom0 by a point to
point link. These devices are vif<domid> and <vifid>. vif1.0 for the first interface in dom1;
vif3.1 for the second interface in domain 3.

dom0 handles traffic on these virtual interfaces by using standard Linux conventions for
bridging, routing, rate limiting, etc. The xend daemon employs two shell scripts to perform initial
configuration of your network and new virtual interfaces. These scripts configure a single bridge
for all virtual interfaces. You can configure additional routing and bridging by customizing these
scripts.

Red Hat Virtualization's virtual networking is controlled by the two shell scripts, network-bridge
and vif-bridge. xend calls these scripts when certain events occur. Arguments can be passed
to the scripts to provide additional contextual information. These scripts are located in the
/etc/xen/scripts directory. You can change script properties by modifying the
xend-config.sxp configuration file located in the /etc/xen directory.

Use the network-bridge command when xend is started or stopped, this script initializes or
shuts down the virtual network. Then the configuration initialization creates the bridge xen—br0
and moves eth0 onto that bridge, modifying the routing accordingly. When xend finally exits, it
deletes the bridge and removes eth0, thereby restoring the original IP and routing configuration.

vif-bridge is a script that is invoked for every virtual interface on the domain. It configures
firewall rules and can add the vif to the appropriate bridge.

There are other scripts that you can use to help in setting up Red Hat Virtualization to run on
your network, such as network-route, network-nat, vif-route, and vif-nat. Or these
scripts can be replaced with customized variants.

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104
Chapter 9.

Server best practices

The following tasks and tips can assist you with securing and ensuring reliability of your Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 server host(dom0).

• Enable SELinux to run in enforcing mode. You can do this by executing the command below.

# setenforce 1

• Remove or disable any unnecessary services such as AutoFS, NFS, FTP, HTTP, NIS, telnetd,
sendmail and so on.

• Only add the minimum number of user accounts needed for platform management on the
server and remove unnecessary user accounts.

• Avoid running any unessential applications on your host. Running applications on the host
may impact virtual machine performance and can affect server stability. Any application which
may crash the server will also cause all virtual machines on the server to go down.

• Use a central location for virtual machine installations and images. Virtual machine images
should be stored under /var/lib/xen/images/. If you are using a different directory for your
virtual machine images make sure you add the directory to your SELinux policy and relabel it
before starting the installation.

• Installation sources, trees, and images should be stored in a central location, usually the
location of your vsftpd server.

105
106
Chapter 10.

Securing the host

When deploying Red Hat Virtualization on your corporate infrastructure, you must ensure that
the host(dom0) cannot be compromised. dom0 is the privileged domain that handles system
management. If dom0 is insecure, all other domains in the system are vulnerable. There are
several ways to enhance security on systems using Red Hat Virtualization. You or your
organisation should create a deployment plan containing the operating specifications and
specifies which services are needed on your virtualized guests and host servers as well as what
support is required for these services. Here are a few security issues to consider while
developing a deployment plan:

• Run the lowest number of necessary services. You do not want to include too many jobs and
services in dom0. The fewer processes and services running on dom0, the higher the level of
security and performance.

• Enable SELinux on the hypervisor(dom0). Read Chapter 11, SELinux and virtualization for
more information on using SELinux and virtualization.

• Use a firewall to restrict traffic to dom0. You can setup a firewall with default-reject rules that
will help secure attacks on dom0. It is also important to limit network facing services.

• Do not allow normal users to access dom0. If you do permit normal users dom0 access, you
run the risk of rendering dom0 vulnerable. Remember, dom0 is privileged, and granting
unprivileged accounts may compromise the level of security.

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108
Chapter 11.

SELinux and virtualization

Virtualization with SELinux enabled
SELinux prevents Red Hat Virtualization images from loading if SELinux is
enabled and the images are not in the correct directory. SELinux requires that all
Red Hat Virtualization images are stored in /var/lib/xen/images.

Adding additional devices and files to the hypervisor SELinux policy.

If you are using a LVM volume for your guest you will have to set the SELinux context for the
underlying block device and volume group. In the example below the lvm volume is
/dev/VirtGroupVol1/rhel4u4Vol01 and the underlying block device is /dev/sda3:

# semanage fcontext -a -t xen_image_t -f -b /dev/sda3

# restorecon /dev/sda3
# semanage fcontext -a -t xen_image_t -f -b /dev/VirtGroupVol01/rhel4u4Vol01
# restorecon /dev/virtGroupVol1/rhel4u4Vol01

Set the SELinux context for a block device used by a guest using the semanage and
restorecon commands. In the example below the block device is /dev/sda2:

# semanage fcontext -a -t xen_image_t -f -b /dev/sda2

# restorecon /dev/sda2

The commands above can be used to add an additional directory which allows you to store
guest images in a different directory than /var/lib/xen/images/. If you have a guest image
outside of /var/lib/xen/images/ Xen will be unable to access the image. Confirm the
problem using ls on the file and which should output a file not found error.

You can modify your SELinux policy to include other directories you may use to storage images.
You will need to add it to the SELinux policy and relabel the directory you want to use for your
guest images. To add another directory (in our example the directory /home/admin/xen/ will be
added) to your SELinux policy use the following command:

semanage fcontext --add -t xen_image_t '/home/admin/xen(/.*)?'

The last step is to relabel the directory using the following command:

restorecon /home/admin/xen

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Chapter 11. SELinux and virtualization

110
Chapter 12.

Virtualized network devices

This chapter covers special topics for networking and network configuration with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux Virtualization.

Most guest network configuration occurs during the guest initialization and installation process.
To learn about configuring networking during the guest installation process, read the relevant
sections of the installation process, Chapter 5, Installing guests.

Network configuration is also covered in the tool specific reference chapters for
virsh(Chapter 20, Managing guests with virsh) and virt-manager(Chapter 21, Managing
guests with Virtual Machine Manager(virt-manager)). Those chapters provide a detailed
description of the networking configuration tasks using both tools.

Tip
Using para-virtualized network drivers can improve performance on fully
virtualized Linux guests. Chapter 13, Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers
explains how to utilize para-virtualized network drivers.

1. Configuring multiple guest network bridges to use

multiple ethernet cards
Process to setup multiple Red Hat Virtualization bridges:

1. Configure another network interface using either the system-config-network GUI or

creating a new configuration file in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. Below is an
example configuration file for a second network interface called eth1

#/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/fcfg-eth1
DEVICE=eth1
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=no
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=10.1.1.1
GATEWAY=10.1.1.254
ARP=yes

2. Copy /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge to /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge.xen.

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Chapter 12. Virtualized network devices

3. Edit /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp and add line to your new network bridge script (we will
call the script network-xen-multi-bridge(example below) The new line should read
network-script network-xen-multi-bridge and remove the commenting on the line
called network-script network-bridge.

4. Create a custom script to create multiple Red Hat Virtualization network bridges. A sample
scripts is below, this example script will create two Red Hat Virtualization bridges (xenbr0
and xenbr1) one will be attached to eth1 and the other one to eth0. If you want to create
additional bridges just follow the example in the script and copy/paste the lines accordingly:

#!/bin/sh
# network-xen-multi-bridge
# Exit if anything goes wrong.
set -e
# First arg is the operation.
OP=$1
shift
script=/etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge.xen
case ${OP} in
start)
$script start vifnum=1 bridge=xenbr1 netdev=eth1
$script start vifnum=0 bridge=xenbr0 netdev=eth0
;;
stop)
$script stop vifnum=1 bridge=xenbr1 netdev=eth1
$script stop vifnum=0 bridge=xenbr0 netdev=eth0
;;
status)
$script status vifnum=1 bridge=xenbr1 netdev=eth1
$script status vifnum=0 bridge=xenbr0 netdev=eth0
;;
*)
echo 'Unknown command: ' ${OP}
echo 'Valid commands are: start, stop, status'
exit 1
esac

2. Laptop network configuration

The challenge in running Red Hat Virtualization on a laptop is that most laptops will connected
to the network via wireless network or wired connections. Often these connections are switched
multiple times a day. In such an environment Red Hat Virtualization does not behave well as it
assumes it has access to the same interface all the time and it also can perform ifup or ifdown
calls to the network interface it is using. In addition wireless network cards do not work well in a
Red Hat Virtualization environment due to Red Hat Virtualization's (default) bridged network
usage.

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 Laptop network configuration

This setup will also enable you to run Red Hat Virtualization in offline mode when you have no
active network connection on your laptop. The easiest solution to run Red Hat Virtualization on
a laptop is to follow the procedure outlined below:

• You basically will be configuring a 'dummy' network interface which will be used by Red Hat
Virtualization. In this example the interface is called dummy0. This will also allow you to use a
hidden IP address space for your guests/Virtual Machines.

• You will need to use static IP address as DHCP will not listen on the dummy interface for
DHCP requests. You can compile your own version of DHCP to listen on dummy interfaces,
however you may want to look into using dnsmasq for DNS, DHCP and tftpboot services in a
Red Hat Virtualization environment. Setup and configuration are explained further down in
this section/chapter.

• You can also configure NAT/IP masquerading in order to enable access to the network from
your guests/virtual machines.

Configuring a dummy network interface.

Perform the following configuration steps on your host/Dom0:

1. create a dummy0 network interface and assign it a static IP address. In our example I
selected 10.1.1.1 to avoid routing problems in our environment. To enable dummy device
support add the following lines to /etc/modprobe.conf

alias dummy0 dummy

options dummy numdummies=1

2. To configure networking for dummy0 edit/create

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-dummy0:

DEVICE=dummy0
BOOTPROTO=none
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=no
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=10.1.1.1
ARP=yes

3. Bind xenbr0 to dummy0, so you can use networking even when not connected to a physical
network. Edit /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp to include the netdev=dummy0 entry:

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Chapter 12. Virtualized network devices

(network-script 'network-bridge bridge=xenbr0 netdev=dummy0')

4. Open /etc/sysconfig/network in the guest and modify the default gateway to point to
dummy0. If you are using a static IP, set the guest's IP address to exist on the same subnet
as dummy0.

NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=localhost.localdomain
GATEWAY=10.1.1.1
IPADDR=10.1.1.10
NETMASK=255.255.255.0

5. Setting up NAT in the host will allow the guests access internet, including with wireless,
solving the Red Hat Virtualization and wireless card issues. The script below will enable
NAT based on the interface currently used for your network connection.

Configuring NAT(network address translation) for Red Hat Virtualization.

Network address translation(NAT) allows multiple network address to connect through a single
IP address by intercepting packets and passing them to the private IP addresses. You can copy
the following script to /etc/init.d/xenLaptopNAT and create a soft link to
/etc/rc3.d/S99xenLaptopNAT. this automatically starts NAT at boot time.

NetworkManager and wireless NAT

The script below may not work well with wireless network or NetworkManager
due to start up delays. In this case run the script manually once the machine has
booted.

#!/bin/bash
PATH=/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin
export PATH
GATEWAYDEV=`ip route | grep default | awk {'print $5'}`
iptables -F
case "$1" in
start)
if test -z "$GATEWAYDEV"; then
echo "No gateway device found"
else
echo "Masquerading using $GATEWAYDEV"
/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o $GATEWAYDEV -j MASQUERADE

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 Laptop network configuration

fi
echo "Enabling IP forwarding"
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
echo "IP forwarding set to `cat /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward`"
echo "done."
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|restart|status}"
;;
esac

Configuring dnsmasq for the DNS, DHCP and tftpboot services.

One of the challenges in running Red Hat Virtualization on a laptop (or any other computer
which is not connected by a single or stable network connection) is the change in network
interfaces and availability. Using a dummy network interface helps to build a more stable
environment but it also brings up new challenges in providing DHCP, DNS and tftpboot services
to your virtual machines/guests. The default DHCP daemon shipped with Red Hat Enterprise
Linux and Fedora Core will not listen on dummy interfaces, your DNS forwarded information
may change as you connect to different networks and VPNs.

One solution to the above challenges is to use dnsmasq which can provide all of the above
service in a single package and will also allow you to control its service only being available to
requests from your dummy interface. Below is a short write up on how to configure dnsmasq on
a laptop running Red Hat Virtualization:

• Get the latest version of dnsmasq from here1.

• Document for dnsmasq can be found here2.

• Copy the other files referenced below from http://et.redhat.com/~jmh/tools/xen/ and grab the
file dnsmasq.tgz. The tar archive includes the following files:

• nm-dnsmasq can be used as a dispatcher script for NetworkManager. It will be run every
time NetworkManager detects a change in connectivity and force a restart/reload of
dnsmasq. It should be copied to /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/nm-dnsmasq

• xenDNSmasq can be used as the main start up or shut down script for
/etc/init.d/xenDNSmasq

• dnsmasq.conf is a sample configuration file for /etc/dnsmasq.conf

• dnsmasq is the binary image for /usr/local/sbin/dnsmasq

• Once you have unpacked and build dnsmasq (the default installation will be the binary into
/usr/local/sbin/dnsmasq) you need to edit your dnsmasq configuration file. The file is
located in /etc/dnsmaqs.conf
1
• http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/
Edit the configuration to suit your local needs and requirements. The following parameters are
2
http://www.thekelleys.org.uk/dnsmasq/doc.html

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Chapter 12. Virtualized network devices

likely the ones you want to modify:

• interface If you want dnsmasq to listen for DHCP and DNS requests only on specified (ie
dummy interface(s) but not your public interfaces) interfaces (and the loopback) give the
name of the interface (eg dummy0). Repeat the line for more than one interface. An
example would be interface=dummy0

• dhcp-range to enable the integrated DHCP server, you need to supply the range of
addresses available for lease and optionally a lease time. If you have more than one
network, you will need to repeat this for each network on which you want to supply DHCP
service. An example would be (for network 10.1.1 and a lease time of 12hrs):
dhcp-range=10.1.1.10,10.1.1.50,255.255.255.0,12h

• dhcp-option to override the default route supplied by dnsmasq, which assumes the router
is the same machine as the one running dnsmasq. An example would be
dhcp-option=3,10.1.1.1

• After configuring dnsmasq you can copy the script below as xenDNSmasq to /etc/init.d

• If you want to automatically start dnsmasq during system boot you should register it using
chkconfig(8):

chkconfig --add xenDNSmasq

Enable it for automatic start up:

chkconfig --levels 345 xenDNSmasq on

• To configure dnsmasq to restart every time NetworkManager detects a change in connectivity

you can use the supplied script nm-dnsmasq.

• Copy the nm-dnsmasq script to /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/

• The NetworkManager dispatcher will execute the script (in alphabetical order if you have
other scripts in the same directory) every time there is a change in connectivity

• dnsmasq will also detect changes in your /etc/resolv.conf and automatically reload them
(ie if you start up a VPN session for example).

• Both the nm-dnsmasq and xenDNSmasq script will also setup NAT if you have your virtual
machines in a hidden network to allow them access to the public network.

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Chapter 13.

Introduction to Para-virtualized
Drivers
Para-virtualized drivers provide increased performance for fully virtualized Red Hat Enterprise
Linux guests. Use these drivers if you are using fully virtualized Red Hat Enterprise Linux guests
and require better performance.

The RPM packages for the para-virtualized drivers include the modules for storage and
networking para-virtualized drivers for the supported Red Hat Enterprise guest operating
systems. These drivers enable high performance throughput of I/O operations in unmodified
Red Hat Enterprise Linux guest operating systems on top of a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 (or
greater) host.

The supported guest operating systems are:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Architecture support for para-virtualized drivers

The minimum guest operating system requirements are architecture dependent.
Only x86 and x86-64 guests are supported.

The drivers are not supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux guest operating systems prior to
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 .

Using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as the virtualization platform allows System Administrators to
consolidate Linux and Windows workloads onto newer, more powerful hardware with increased
power and cooling efficiency. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (as of update 6) and Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 guest operating systems are aware of the underlying virtualization technology
and can interact with it efficiently using specific interfaces and capabilities. This approach can
achieve similar throughput and performance characteristics compared to running on the bare
metal system.

As this approach requires modifications in the guest operating system not all operating systems
and use models can use para-virtualized virtualization. For operating systems which can not be
modified the underlying virtualization infrastructure has to emulate the server hardware (CPU,
Memory as well as IO devices for storage and network). Emulation for IO devices can be very
slow and will be especially troubling for high-throughput disk and network subsystems. The
majority of the performance loss occurs in this area.

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Chapter 13. Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers

The para-virtualized device drivers part of the distributed RPM packages bring many of the
performance advantages of para-virtualized guest operating systems to unmodified operating
systems because only the para-virtualized device driver (but not the rest of the operating
system) is aware of the underlying virtualization platform.

After installing the para-virtualized device drivers, a disk device or network card will continue to
appear as a normal, physical disk or network card to the operating system. However, now the
device driver interacts directly with the virtualization platform (with no emulation) to efficiently
deliver disk and network access, allowing the disk and network subsystems to operate at near
native speeds even in a virtualized environment, without requiring changes to existing guest
operating systems.

The para-virtualized drivers have certain host requirements. 64 bit hosts can run:

• 32 bit guests.

• 64 bit guests.

• a mixture of 32 bit and 64 bit guests.

The para-virtualized drivers only work on 32 bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts for 32 bit guests.

1. System requirements
This section provides the requirements for para-virtualized drivers with Red Hat Enterprise
Linux.

Installation.
Before you install the para-virtualized drivers the following requirements (listed below) must be
met.

You will need the following RPM packages for para-virtualized drivers for each guest operating
system installation.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 requires:

• kmod-xenpv.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 requires:

• kmod-xenpv,

• modules-init-tools (for versions prior to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6z you require
modules-init-tools-3.1-0.pre5.3.4.el4_6.1 or greater), and

• modversions.

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 Para-virtualization Restrictions and Support

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 requires:

• kmod-xenpv.

Minimum host operating system version

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 or higher

Minimum guest operating system version

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 and higher

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 6 and higher

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9 and higher

You require at least 50MB of free disk space in the /lib filesystem

2. Para-virtualization Restrictions and Support

This section outlines support restrictions and requirements for using para-virtualized drivers on
Red Hat Enterprise Linux. What we support and the restrictions put upon support can be found
in the sections below.

Supported Guest Operating Systems.

Support for para-virtualized drivers is available for the following operating systems and versions:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 6

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9

You are supported for running a 32 bit guest operating system with para-virtualized drivers on
64 bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Virtualization.

The table below indicates the kernel variants supported with the para-virtualized drivers. You
can use the command shown below to identify the exact kernel revision currently installed on
your host. Compare the output against the table to determine if it is supported.

# rpm -q --queryformat '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}.%{ARCH}\n' kernel

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 i686 and x86_64 kernel variants include Symmetric
Multiprocessing(SMP), no separate SMP kernel RPM is required.

Take note of processor specific kernel requirements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Guests in

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Chapter 13. Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers

the table below.

Kernel Architecture Red Hat Enterprise Red Hat Enterprise Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 3 Linux 4 Linux 5
athlon Supported(AMD)
athlon-SMP Supported(AMD)
i32e Supported(Intel)
i686 Supported(Intel) Supported Supported
i686-PAE Supported
i686-SMP Supported(Intel) Supported
i686-HUGEMEM Supported(Intel) Supported
x86_64 Supported(AMD) Supported Supported
x86_64-SMP Supported(AMD) Supported
x86_64-LARGESMP Supported
Itanium (IA64) Supported

Table 13.1. Supported kernel architectures for para-virtualized drivers

Note
The table above is for guest operating systems. AMD and Intel processors are
supported for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 host.

Take note
Write the output of the command below down or remember it. This is the value
that determines which packages and modules you need to download.

# rpm -q --queryformat '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}.%{ARCH}\n'

kernel

Your output should appear similar to this:

kernel-PAE-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5.i686

The name of the kernel is PAE(Physical Address Extension), kernel version is

2.6.18, the release is 53.1.4.el5 and the architecture is i686. The kernel rpm
should always be in the format kernel-name-version-release.arch.rpm.

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 Para-virtualization Restrictions and Support

Important Restrictions.
Para-virtualized device drivers can be installed after successfully installing a guest operating
system. You will need a functioning host and guest before you can install these drivers.

Para-virtualized block devices and GRUB

GRUB can not presently, access para-virtualized block devices. Therefore, a
guest can not be booted from a device that uses the para-virtualized block device
drivers. Specifically, the disk that contains the Master Boot Record(MBR), a disk
containing a boot loader (GRUB), or a disk that contains the kernel initrd
images. That is, any disk which contains the /boot directory or partition can not
use the para-virtualized block device drivers.

After installing the para-virtualized drivers on a guest operating system you should only use the
xm command or virsh to start the guests. If xm is not used the network interfaces (for example,
eth1 and so on) will not be connected correctly during boot. This problem is known and the
Bugzilla number is 300531 and a bug fix is in progress. The bug connects the network interface
to qemu-dm and subsequently limits the performance dramatically.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 kernel variant architecture dependencies.

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 based guest operating systems you must use the processor
specific kernel and para-virtualized driver RPMs as seen in the tables below. If you fail to install
the matching para-virtualized driver package loading of the xen-pci-platform module will fail.

The table below shows which host kernel is required to run a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 guest
on if the guest was compiled for an Intel processor.

Guest kernel type Required host kernel type

ia32e (UP and SMP) x86_64
i686 i686
i686-SMP i686
i686-HUGEMEM i686

Table 13.2. Required host kernel architecture for guests using

para-virtualized drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for Intel processors

The table below shows which host kernel is required to run a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 guest
on if the guest was compiled for an AMD processor.

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Guest kernel type Required host kernel type

athlon i686
athlon-SMP i686
x86_64 x86_64
x86_64-SMP x86_64

Table 13.3. Required host kernel architectures for guests using

para-virtualized drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for AMD processors

Note
After installing the para-virtualized drivers on a guest operating system you
should only use the xm command or the virsh command to start the guests. If
xmor virsh are not used the network interfaces(for example, eth1) will not be
correctly connected during boot. This problem is known and the Bugzilla1
number is 300531. The bug connects the network interface to qemu-dm and
subsequently limits the performance dramatically. A bug fix is presently in
development and will be released via RHN.

3. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized

Drivers
The following three chapters describe how to install and configure your fully virtualized guests to
run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 or above with para-virtualized drivers.

Verify your architecture is supported before proceeding

Para-virtualized drivers are only supported on certain hardware and version
combinations. Verify your hardware and operating system requirements are met
before proceeding to install para-virtualized drivers.

Maximizing the benefit of the para-virtualized drivers for

new installations
If you are installing a new guest system, in order to gain maximal benefit from the

1
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=300531

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 Common installation steps

para-virtualized block device drivers, you should create the guest with at least
two disks.

Specifically, use the first disk to install the MBR and the boot loader (GRUB), and to
contain the /boot partition. (This disk can be very small, as it only needs to have
enough capacity to hold the /boot partition.

Use the second disk and any additional disks for all other partitions (e.g. /, /usr)
or logical volumes.

Using this installation method, when the para-virtualized block device drivers are
later installed after completing the install of the guest, only booting the guest and
accessing the /boot partition will use the virtualized block device drivers.

3.1. Common installation steps

The list below covers the high level steps common across all guest operating system versions.

1. Copy the RPMs for your hardware architecture to a suitable location in your guest operating
system. Your home directory is sufficient. If you do not know which RPM you require verify
against the table at Section 2, “Para-virtualization Restrictions and Support”.

2. Use the rpm utility to install the RPM packages. The rpm utility will install the following four
new kernel modules into
/lib/modules/[%kversion][%kvariant]/extra/xenpv/%release:

• the PCI infrastructure module, xen-platform-pci.ko,

• the ballooning module, xen-balloon.ko,

• the virtual block device module, xen-vbd.ko,

• and the virtual network device module, xen.vnif.ko.

3. If the guest operating does not support automatically loading the para-virtualized drivers (for
example Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3) perform the required post-install steps to copy the
drivers into the operating system specific locations.

4. Shutdown your guest operating system.

5. Reconfigure the guest operating system configuration file on the host to use the installed
para-virtualized drivers.

6. Remove the “type=ioemu” entry for the network device.

7. Add any additional storage entities you want to use for the para-virtualized block device

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driver.

8. Restart your guest using the “xm create YourGuestName” command where
YourGuestName is the name of the guest operating system.

9. Reconfigure the guest network

3.2. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized Drivers on

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
This section contains detailed instructions for the para-virtualized drivers in a Red Hat
Enterprise 3 guest operating system.

Please note
These packages do not support booting from a para-virtualized disk. Booting the
guest operating system kernel still requires the use of the emulated IDE driver,
while any other (non-system) user-level application and data disks can use the
para-virtualized block device driver.

Driver Installation.
The list below covers the steps to install a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 guest with
para-virtualized drivers.

1. Copy the kmod-xenpv rpm corresponding to your hardware architecture and kernel variant to
your guest operating system.

2. Use the rpm utility to install the RPM packages. Make sure you have correctly identified which
package you need for your guest operating system variant and architecture.

[root@rhel3]# rpm -ivh kmod-xenpv*

3. You need to perform the commands below to enable the correct and automated loading of
the para-virtualized drivers. %kvariant is the kernel variant the para-virtualized drivers have
been build against and %release corresponds to the release version of the para-virtualized
drivers.

[root@rhel3]# mkdir -p /lib/modules/'uname -r'/extra/xenpv

[root@rhel3]# cp -R
/lib/modules/2.4.21-52.EL[%kvariant]/extra/xenpv/%release \
/lib/modules/'uname -r'/extra/xenpv
[root@rhel3]# cd /lib/modules/'uname -r'/extra/xenpv/%release
[root@rhel3]# insmod xen-platform-pci.o
[root@rhel3]# insmod xen-balloon.o`

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 Installation and Configuration of

[root@rhel3]# insmod xen-vbd.o

[root@rhel3]# insmod xen-vnif.o

Note
Warnings will be generated by insmod when installing the binary driver modules
due to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 having MODVERSIONS enabled. These
warnings can be ignored.

4. Verify /etc/modules.conf and make sure you have an alias for eth0 like the one below. If
you are planning to configure multiple interfaces add an additional line for each interface.

alias eth0 xen-vnif

Edit /etc/rc.local and add the line:

insmod /lib/modules/'uname -r'/extra/xenpv/%release/xen-vbd.o

Note
Substitute “%release” with the actual release version (for example 0.1-5.el) for
the para-virtualized drivers. If you update the para-virtualized driver RPM
package make sure you update the release version to the appropriate version.

5. Shutdown the virtual machine (use “#shutdown -h now” inside the guest).

6. Edit the guest configuration file in /etc/xen/YourGuestsName in the following ways:

• Remove the “type=ioemu” entry from the “vif=” entry.

• Add any additional disk partitions, volumes or LUNs to the guest so that they can be
accessed via the para-virtualized (xen-vbd) disk driver.

• For each additional physical device, LUN, partition or volume add an entry similar to the
one below to the “disk=” section in the guest configuration file. The original “disk=” entry
might also look like the entry below.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel3_64_fv.dsk,hda,w"]

• Once you have added additional physical devices, LUNs, partitions or volumes your

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para-virtualized driver the entry should resemble the entry shown below.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel3_64_fv.dsk,hda,w",
"tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/UserStorage.dsk,xvda,w" ]

Note
Use “tap:aio” for the para-virtualized device if a file based image is used.

7. Boot the virtual machine using the xm command:

# xm create YourGuestName

Note
You must use "xm create <virt-machine-name>” on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.1. The para-virtualized network driver(xen-vnif) will not be connected to eth0
properly if you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 and the virt-manager or
virsh interfaces. This issue is currently a known bug, BZ 300531.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 does not have this bug and the virt-manager or
virsh interfaces will correctly load the para-virtualized drivers.

Be aware
The para-virtualized drivers are not automatically added and loaded to the
system because weak-modules and modversions support is not provided in Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 3. To insert the module execute the command below.

insmod xen-vbd.ko

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 requires the manual creation of the special files for the block
devices which use xen-vbd. The steps below will cover how to create and register
para-virtualized block devices.

Use the following script to create the special files after the para-virtualized block device driver is
loaded.

#!/bin/sh

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 Para-virtualized Drivers on Red Hat

module="xvd"
mode="664"
major=`awk "\\$2==\"$module\" {print \\$1}" /proc/devices`
# < mknod for as many or few partitions on xvd disk attached to FV guest >
# change/add xvda to xvdb, xvbd, etc. for 2nd, 3rd, etc., disk added in
# in xen config file, respectively.
mknod /dev/xvdb b $major 0
mknod /dev/xvdb1 b $major 1
mknod /dev/xvdb2 b $major 2
chgrp disk /dev/xvd*
chmod $mode /dev/xvd*

For each additional virtual disk, increment the minor number by 16. In the example below an
additional device, minor number 16, is created.

mknod /dev/xvdc b $major 16

mknod /dev/xvdc1 b $major 17

This would make the next device 32 which can be created by:

mknod /dev/xvdd b $major 32

mknod /dev/xvdd1 b $major 33

Now you should verify the partitions which you have created are available.

[root@rhel3]# cat /proc/partitions

major minor #blocks name

3 0 10485760 hda
3 1 104391 hda1
3 2 10377990 hda2
202 0 64000 xvdb
202 1 32000 xvdb1
202 2 32000 xvdb2
253 0 8257536 dm-0
253 1 2031616 dm-1

In the above output, you can observe that the partitioned device “xvdb” is available to the
system.

The commands below mount the new block devices to local mount points and updates the
/etc/fstab inside the guest to mount the devices/partitions during boot.

[root@rhel3]# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_p1

[root@rhel3]# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_p2
[root@rhel3]# mount /dev/xvdb1 /mnt/pvdisk_p1
[root@rhel3]# mount /dev/xvdb2 /mnt/pvdisk_p2

[root@rhel3]# df /mnt/pvdisk_p1

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Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on

/dev/xvdb1 32000 15 31985 1% /mnt/pvdisk_p1

Performance tip
Using a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 host(dom0), the "noapic" parameter
should be added to the kernel boot line in your virtual guest's
/boot/grub/grub.conf entry as seen below. Keep in mind your architecture
and kernel version may be different.

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.EL ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/rhel4_x86_64

rhgb noapic

A Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 dom0 will not need this kernel parameter for the
guest.

Please note
The Itanium (ia64) binary RPM packages and builds are not presently available.

3.3. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized Drivers on

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
This section contains detailed instructions for the para-virtualized drivers in a Red Hat
Enterprise 4 guest operating system.

Please note
These packages do not support booting from a para-virtualized disk. Booting the
guest operating system kernel still requires the use of the emulated IDE driver,
while any other (non-system) user-level application and data disks can use the
para-virtualized block device driver.

Driver Installation.
The list below covers the steps to install a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 guest with
para-virtualized drivers.

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 Enterprise Linux 3

1. Copy the kmod-xenpv, modules-init-tools and modversions RPMs corresponding to your

hardware architecture and kernel variant to your guest operating system.

2. Use the rpm utility to install the RPM packages. Make sure you have correctly identified which
package you need for your guest operating system variant and architecture. An updated
module-init-tools is required for this package, it is available with the Red Hat Enterprise
Linux4-6-z kernel and beyond.

[root@rhel4]# rpm -ivh modversions

[root@rhel4]# rpm -Uvh module-init-tools
[root@rhel4]# rpm -ivh kmod-xenpv*

Note
There are different packages for UP, SMP, Hugemem and architectures so make
sure you have the right RPMs for your kernel.

3. Execute cat /etc/modules.conf to verify you have an alias for eth0 like the one below. If
you are planning to configure multiple interfaces add an additional line for each interface. It it
does not look like the entry below change it.

alias eth0 xen-vnif

4. Shutdown the virtual machine (use “#shutdown -h now” inside the guest).

5. Edit the guest configuration file in /etc/xen/YourGuestsName in the following ways:

• Remove the “type=ioemu” entry from the “vif=” entry.

• Add any additional disk partitions, volumes or LUNs to the guest so that they can be
accessed via the para-virtualized (xen-vbd) disk driver.

• For each additional physical device, LUN, partition or volume add an entry similar to the
one shown below to the “disk=” section in the guest configuration file. The original “disk=”
entry might also look like the entry below.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel4_64_fv.dsk,hda,w"]

• Once you have added additional physical devices, LUNs, partitions or volumes your
para-virtualized driver the entry should resemble the entry shown below.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel3_64_fv.dsk,hda,w",
"tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/UserStorage.dsk,xvda,w" ]

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Note
Use “tap:aio” for the para-virtualized device if a file based image is used.

6. Boot the virtual machine using the xm command:

# xm create YourGuestName

Note
You must use "xm create <virt-machine-name>” on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.1. The para-virtualized network driver(xen-vnif) will not be connected to eth0
properly if you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 and the virt-manager or
virsh interfaces. This issue is currently a known bug, BZ 300531.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 does not have this bug and the virt-manager or
virsh interfaces will correctly load the para-virtualized drivers.

On the first reboot of the virtual guest, kudzu will ask you to "Keep or Delete the Realtek
Network device" and "Configure the xen-bridge device". You should configure the xen-bridge
and delete the Realtek network device.

Performance tip
Using a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 host(dom0), the "noapic" parameter
should be added to the kernel boot line in your virtual guest's
/boot/grub/grub.conf entry as seen below. Keep in mind your architecture
and kernel version may be different.

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.EL ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/rhel4_x86_64

rhgb noapic

A Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 dom0 will not need this kernel parameter for the
guest.

Now, verify the partitions which you have created are available.

[root@rhel4]# cat /proc/partitions

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 Installation and Configuration of

major minor #blocks name

3 0 10485760 hda
3 1 104391 hda1
3 2 10377990 hda2
202 0 64000 xvdb
202 1 32000 xvdb1
202 2 32000 xvdb2
253 0 8257536 dm-0
253 1 2031616 dm-1

In the above output, you can see the partitioned device “xvdb” is available to the system.

The commands below mount the new block devices to local mount points and updates the
/etc/fstab inside the guest to mount the devices/partitions during boot.

[root@rhel4]# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_p1

[root@rhel4]# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_p2
[root@rhel4]# mount /dev/xvdb1 /mnt/pvdisk_p1
[root@rhel4]# mount /dev/xvdb2 /mnt/pvdisk_p2

[root@rhel4]# df /mnt/pvdisk_p1
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/xvdb1 32000 15 31985 1% /mnt/pvdisk_p1

Note
This package is not supported for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4-GA through Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 4 update 2 systems and kernels.

Also note...
IA64 binary RPM packages and builds are not presently available.

A handy tip
If the xen-vbd driver does not automatically load. Issue the following command
from the guest's terminal. Substitute %release with the correct release version
for the para-virtualized drivers.

[root@rhel4]# insmod /lib/modules/'uname

-r'/weak-updates/xenpv/%release/xen-vbd.ko

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3.4. Installation and Configuration of Para-virtualized Drivers on

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
This section contains detailed instructions for the para-virtualized drivers in a Red Hat
Enterprise 5 guest operating system.

Please note
These packages do not support booting from a para-virtualized disk. Booting the
guest operating system kernel still requires the use of the emulated IDE driver,
while any other (non-system) user-level application and data disks can use the
para-virtualized block device driver.

Driver Installation.
The list below covers the steps to install a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 guest with
para-virtualized drivers.

1. Copy the kmod-xenpvrpm corresponding to your hardware architecture and kernel variant to
your guest operating system.

2. Use the rpm utility to install the RPM packages. Make sure you correctly identify which
package you need for your guest operating system variant and architecture.

[root@rhel5]# rpm -ivh kmod-xenpv*

3. Issue the command below to disable automatic hardware detection inside the guest operating
system

[root@rhel5]# chkconfig kudzu off

4. Execute cat /etc/modules.conf to verify you have an alias for eth0 like the one below. If
you are planning to configure multiple interfaces add an additional line for each interface. It it
does not look like the entry below change it.

alias eth0 xen-vnif

5. Shutdown the virtual machine (use “#shutdown -h now” inside the guest).

6. Edit the guest configuration file in /etc/xen/<Your GuestsName> in the following ways:

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• Remove the “type=ioemu” entry from the “vif=” entry.

• Add any additional disk partitions, volumes or LUNs to the guest so that they can be
accessed via the para-virtualized (xen-vbd) disk driver.

• For each additional physical device, LUN, partition or volume add an entry similar to the
one shown below to the “disk=” section in the guest configuration file. The original “disk=”
entry might also look like the entry below.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel4_64_fv.dsk,hda,w"]

• Once you have added additional physical devices, LUNs, partitions or volumes your
para-virtualized driver the entry should resemble the entry shown below.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel3_64_fv.dsk,hda,w",
"tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/UserStorage.dsk,xvda,w" ]

Note
Use “tap:aio” for the para-virtualized device if a file based image is used.

7. Boot the virtual machine using the xm command:

# xm create YourGuestName

Note
You must use "xm create <virt-machine-name>” on Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5.1. The para-virtualized network driver(xen-vnif) will not be connected to eth0
properly if you are using Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 and the virt-manager or
virsh interfaces. This issue is currently a known bug, BZ 300531.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 does not have this bug and the virt-manager or
virsh interfaces will correctly load the para-virtualized drivers.

To verify the network interface has come up after installing the para-virtualized drivers issue the
following command on the guest. It should display the interface information including an
assigned IP address

[root@rhel5]# ifconfig eth0

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Now, verify the partitions which you have created are available.

[root@rhel5]# cat /proc/partitions

major minor #blocks name
3 0 10485760 hda
3 1 104391 hda1
3 2 10377990 hda2
202 0 64000 xvdb
202 1 32000 xvdb1
202 2 32000 xvdb2
253 0 8257536 dm-0
253 1 2031616 dm-1

In the above output, you can see the partitioned device “xvdb” is available to the system.

The commands below mount the new block devices to local mount points and updates the
/etc/fstab inside the guest to mount the devices/partitions during boot.

[root@rhel5]# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_p1

[root@rhel5]# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_p2
[root@rhel5]# mount /dev/xvdb1 /mnt/pvdisk_p1
[root@rhel5]# mount /dev/xvdb2 /mnt/pvdisk_p2
[root@rhel5]# df /mnt/pvdisk_p1
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/xvdb1 32000 15 31985 1% /mnt/pvdisk_p1

Performance tip
Using a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 host(dom0), the "noapic" parameter
should be added to the kernel boot line in your virtual guest's
/boot/grub/grub.conf entry as seen below. Keep in mind your architecture
and kernel version may be different.

kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.9-67.EL ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/rhel4_x86_64

rhgb noapic

A Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 dom0 will not need this kernel parameter for the
guest.

4. Para-virtualized Network Driver Configuration

Once the para-virtualized network driver is loaded you may need to reconfigure the guest's
network interface to reflect the driver and virtual ethernet card change.

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 Enterprise Linux 4

Perform the following steps to reconfigure the network interface inside the guest.

1. In virt-manager open the console window for the guest and log in as root.

2. On Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 verify the file /etc/modprobe.conf contains the line “alias
eth0 xen-vnif”.

# cat /etc/modprobe.conf
alias eth0 xen-vnif

3. To display the present settings for eth0 execute “# ifconfig eth0”. If you receive an error
about the device not existing you should load the modules manually as outlined in Section 5,
“Manually loading the para-virtualized drivers”.

ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:6A:27:3A
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:630150 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:9 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:109336431 (104.2 MiB) TX bytes:846 (846.0 b)

4. Start the network configuration utility(NetworkManager) with the command “#

system-config-network”. Click on the “Forward” button to start the network card
configuration.

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5. Select the 'Xen Virtual Ethernet Card (eth0)' entry and click 'Forward'.

Configure the network settings as required.

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 Para-virtualized Network Driver

6. Complete the configuration by pressing the 'Apply' button.

7. Press the 'Activate' button to apply the new settings and restart the network.

8. You should now see the new network interface with an IP address assigned.

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ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:3E:49:E4:E0
inet addr:192.168.78.180 Bcast:192.168.79.255 Mask:255.255.252.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:630150 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:501209 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:109336431 (104.2 MiB) TX bytes:46265452 (44.1 MiB)

5. Additional Para-virtualized Hardware Configuration

This section will explain how to add additional virtual network or storage to a guest operating
system. For more details on configuring network and storage resources on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 5 Virtualization read the document available on Emerging Technologies, Red Hat.com2

5.1. Virtualized Network Interfaces

Perform the following steps to configure additional network devices for your guest.

Edit your guest configuration file in /etc/xen/YourGuestName replacing YourGuestName with

the name of your guest.

The original entry may look like the one below.

vif = [ "mac=00:16:3e:2e:c5:a9,bridge=xenbr0" ]

Add an additional entry to the “vif=” section of the configuration file similar to the one seen
below.

vif = [ "mac=00:16:3e:2e:c5:a9,bridge=xenbr0",
"mac=00:16:3e:2f:d5:a9,bridge=xenbr0" ]

Make sure you generate a unique MAC address for the new interface. You can use the
command below.

# echo 'import virtinst.util ; print virtinst.util.randomMAC()' | python

After the guest has been rebooted perform the following step in the guest operating system.
Verify the update has been added to your /etc/modules.conf in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 or
/etc/modprobe.conf in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Add a
new alias for each new interface you added.

2
http://et.redhat.com/~jmh/docs/Installing_RHEL5_Virt.pdf

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 Configuration

alias eth1 xen-vnif

Now test that each new interface you added make sure it is available inside the guest.

# ifconfig eth1

The command above should display the properties of eth1, repeat the command for eth2 if you
added a third interface, and so on.

Now you can configure the new network interfaces using redhat-config-network or Red Hat
Enterprise Linux3 or system-config-network on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.

5.2. Virtual Storage Devices

Perform the following steps to configure additional virtual storage devices for your guest.

Edit your guest configuration file in /etc/xen/YourGuestName replacing YourGuestName with

the name of your guest. The original entry may look like the one below.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5_64_fv.dsk,hda,w"]

Add an additional entry for your new physical device, LUN, partition or volume to the “disk=”
section of the configuration file. The storage entity the para-virtualized driver the updated entry
would like the following. Note the use of “tap:aio” for the para-virtualized device if a file based
image is used.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5_64_fv.dsk,hda,w",
"tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/UserStorage1.dsk,xvda,w" ]

If you want to add more entries just add them to the “disk=” section as a comma separated list.

Note
You need to increment the letter for the 'xvd' device, that is for your second
storage entity it would be 'xvdb' instead of 'xvda'.

disk = [ "file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5_64_fv.dsk,hda,w",
"tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/UserStorage1.dsk,xvda,w" ]
"tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/UserStorage2.dsk,xvdb,w" ]

Verify the partitions have been created and are available.

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Chapter 13. Introduction to Para-virtualized Drivers

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name
3 0 10485760 hda
3 1 104391 hda1
3 2 10377990 hda2
202 0 64000 xvda
202 1 64000 xvdb
253 0 8257536 dm-0
253 1 2031616 dm-1

In the above output you can see the partition or device “xvdb” is available to the system.

Mount the new devices and disks to local mount points and update the /etc/fstab inside the
guest to mount the devices and partitions at boot time.

# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_xvda
# mkdir /mnt/pvdisk_xvdb
# mount /dev/xvda /mnt/pvdisk_xvda
# mount /dev/xvdb /mnt/pvdisk_xvdb
# df /mnt/pvdisk_p1
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/xvda 64000 15 63985 1% /mnt/pvdisk_xvda
/dev/xvdb 64000 15 63985 1% /mnt/pvdisk_xvdb

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Part IV. Administration
Administering Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization

These chapters contain information for administering host and guest systems using Red Hat
Virtualization tools and technologies.

cxliii
cxliv
Chapter 14.

Starting or stopping a domain during

the boot phase
You can start or stop running domains at any time. Domain0 waits for all running domains to
shutdown before restarting. You must place the configuration files of the domains you wish to
shut down in the /etc/xen/ directory. All the domains that you want to start at boot time must
be symbolically linked to /etc/xen/auto.

chkconfig xendomains on

The chkconfig xendomains on command does not automatically start domains; instead it will
start the domains on the next boot.

chkconfig xendomains off

The chkconfig xendomains off terminates all running domains and does not start them again
during the next boot.

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Chapter 15.

Managing guests with xend

The xend node control daemon performs certain system management functions that relate to
virtual machines. This daemon controls the virtualized resources, and xend must be running to
interact with virtual machines. Before you start xend, you must specify the operating parameters
by editing the xend configuration file /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp. Here are the parameters
you can enable or disable in the xend-config.sxp configuration file:

Item Description

(console-limit) Determines the console server's memory

buffer limit xend_unix_server and assigns
values on a per domain basis.

(min-mem) Determines the minimum number of

megabytes that is reserved for domain0 (if
you enter 0, the value does not change).

(dom0-cpus) Determines the number of CPUs in use by

domain0 (at least 1 CPU is assigned by
default).

(enable-dump) Determines that a crash occurs then enables

a dump (the default is 0).

(external-migration-tool) Determines the script or application that

handles external device migration. Scripts
must reside in
etc/xen/scripts/external-device-migrate.

(logfile) Determines the location of the log file (default

is /var/log/xend.log).

(loglevel) Filters out the log mode values: DEBUG,

INFO, WARNING, ERROR, or CRITICAL
(default is DEBUG).

(network-script) Determines the script that enables the

networking environment (scripts must reside
in etc/xen/scripts directory).

(xend-http-server) Enables the http stream packet management

server (the default is no).

(xend-unix-server) Enables the unix domain socket server, which

is a socket server is a communications

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Chapter 15. Managing guests with xend

Item Description

endpoint that handles low level network

connections and accepts or rejects incoming
connections. The default value is set to yes.

(xend-relocation-server) Enables the relocation server for

cross-machine migrations (the default is no).

(xend-unix-path) Determines the location where the

xend-unix-server command outputs data
(default is var/lib/xend/xend-socket)

(xend-port) Determines the port that the http management

server uses (the default is 8000).

(xend-relocation-port) Determines the port that the relocation server

uses (the default is 8002).

(xend-relocation-address) Determines the virtual machine addresses

that are allowed for system migration. The
default value is the value of xend-address

(xend-address) Determines the address that the domain

socket server binds to. The default value
allows all connections.

Table 15.1. xend configuration parameters

After setting these operating parameters, you should verify that xend is running and if not,
initialize the daemon. At the command prompt, you can start the xend daemon by entering the
following:

The xend node control daemon performs system management functions that relate to virtual
machines. This daemon controls the virtualized resources, and xend must be running to interact
with virtual machines. Before you start xend, you must specify the operating parameters by
editing the xend configuration file xend-config.sxp which is located in the /etc/xen directory.

service xend start

You can use xend to stop the daemon:

service xend stop

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This stops the daemon from running.

You can use xend to restart the daemon:

service xend restart

The daemon starts once again.

You check the status of the xend daemon.

service xend status

The output displays the daemon's status.

Enabling xend at boot time

Use the chkconfig command to add the xend to the initscripts.

chkconfig --level 345 xend

The the xend will now start at runlevels 3, 4 and 5.

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Chapter 16.

Managing CPUs
Red Hat Virtualization allows a domain's virtual CPUs to associate with one or more host CPUs.
This can be used to allocate real resources among one or more guests. This approach allows
Red Hat Virtualization to make optimal use of processor resources when employing dual-core,
hyperthreading, or other advanced CPU technologies. If you are running I/O intensive tasks, it is
typically better to dedicate either a hyperthread or entire core to run domain0. The Red Hat
Virtualization credit scheduler automatically re-balances virtual cpus between physical ones, to
maximize system use. The Red Hat Virtualization system allows the credit scheduler to move
CPUs around as necessary, as long as the virtual CPU is pinned to a physical CPU.

To view vcpus using virsh refer to Displaying virtual CPU information for more information.

To set cpu affinities using virsh refer to Configuring virtual CPU affinity for more information.

to configure and view cpu information with virt-manager refer to Section 13, “Displaying virtual
CPUs ” for more information.

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Chapter 17.

Virtualization live migration

Red Hat Virtualization includes the capabilities to support migration of para-virtualized guests
between Red Hat Virtualization servers. Migration can either be performed in two ways:

• Offline mode using the command xm migrate VirtualMachineName HostName. In this

mode the virtual machine will be stopped on the original host and restarted on the new host.

• Live mode using the --live option for the command xm migrate --live
VirtualMachineNameHostName.

Word usage note

Take note of the interchangeable use of relocation and migration throughout
these section. The different terms are used to match the different naming
conventions of certain configuration files. Both terms can be taken to mean the
same thing, that is the relocation of one guest image from one server to another.

Itanium® support note

Virtual machine migration is presently unsupported on the Itanium® architecture.

To enable the use of migration a few changes must be made to configuration file
/etc/xen/xend-config.sxp. By default migration is disabled due to the potentially harmful
affects on the host's security. Opening the relocation port carries the potential ability of
unauthorized hosts and users to initiate migrate or connect to the relocation ports. As there is
no specific authentication for relocation requests and the only control mechanism is based on
hostnames and IP addresses special care should be taken to make sure the migration port and
server is not accessible to unauthorized hosts.

A note on virtualization migration security

IP address and hostname filters offer only minimal security. Both of these
attributes can be forged if the attacker knows the address or hostname of the
migration client. The best method for securing migration is to isolate the network
the host and client are on from external and unauthorized internal connections.

Enabling migration.

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Chapter 17. Virtualization live migration

Modify the following entries in /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp to enable migration, remove the

comments preceding the parameters in the configuration file:

(xend-relocation-server yes)
The default value is no to keep the migration server deactivated. Unless you are using a
trusted network, the domain virtual memory will be exchanged in raw form without
encryption of the communication.

You modify the xend-relocation-hosts-allow option to restrict access to the migration

server.

(xend-relocation-port 8002)
The parameter, (xend-relocation-port), specifies the port xend should use for the
relocation interface, if xend-relocation-server is set to yes

The default value of this variable should work for most installations. If you change the value
make sure you are using an unused port on the relocation server.

(xend-relocation-address '')
(xend-relocation-address)is the address the xend should listen on for
relocation-socket connections, if xend-relocation-server is set.

The default is listen on all active interfaces, the parameter can be used to restrict the
relocation server to only listen to a specific interface. The default value in
/etc/xen/xend-config.sxp is an empty string(''). This value should be replaced with a
valid list of addresses or regular expressions surrounded by single quotes.

(xend-relocation-hosts-allow '')
The (xend-relocation-hosts-allow ) parameter is used to control the hosts who are
allowed to talk to the relocation port.

If the value is empty, as denoted in the example above by an epty string surrounded by
single quotes, then all connections are allowed. This assumes the connection arrives on a
port and interface which the relocation server listens on, see also xend-relocation-port
and xend-relocation-address above).

Otherwise, the (xend-relocation-hosts-allow ) parameter should be a sequence of

regular expressions separated by spaces. Any host with a fully-qualified domain name or an
IP address which matches one of these regular expressions will be accepted.

An example of a (xend-relocation-hosts-allow ) attribute:

(xend-relocation-hosts-allow '^localhost$ ^localhost\\.localdomain$')

After you have configured the parameters in your configuration file you should reboot the host to
restart your environment with the new parameters.

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 A live migration example

1. A live migration example

Below is an example of how to setup a simple environment for live migration. This configuration
is using NFS for the shared storage. NFS is suitable for demonstration environments but for a
production environment a more robust shared storage configuration using Fibre Channel or
iSCSI and GFS is recommended.

The configuration below consists of two servers (et-virt07 and et-virt08), both of them are
using eth1 as their default network interface hence they are using xenbr1 as their Red Hat
Virtualization networking bridge. We are using a locally attached SCSI disk (/dev/sdb) on
et-virt07 for shared storage using NFS.

Setup for live migration.

Create and mount the directory used for the migration:

# mkdir /xentest
# mount /dev/sdb /xentest

Important
Ensure the directory is exported with the correct options. If you are exporting the
default directory /var/lib/xen/images/ make sure you only export
/var/lib/xen/images/ and not/var/lib/xen/ as this directory is used by the
xend daemon and other Xen components. Sharing /var/lib/xen/ will cause
unpredictable behavior.

# cat /etc/exports
/xentest *(rw,async,no_root_squash)

Verify it is exported via NFS:

# showmount -e et-virt07
Export list for et-virt07:
/xentest *

Install the virtual machine.

The install command in the example used for installing the virtual machine:

# virt-install -p -f /xentest/xentestTravelVM01.dsk -s 5 -n\

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Chapter 17. Virtualization live migration

xentesttravelvm01 --vnc -r 1024 -l

http://porkchop.devel.redhat.com/rel-eng/RHEL5-\
Server-20070105.0/4.92/x86_64/os/ -b xenbr1

Verify environment for migration.

Make sure the Xen networking bridges are configured correctly and have the same name on
both hosts:

[et-virt08 ~]# brctl show

bridge name bridge id STP enabled interfaces
xenbr1 8000.feffffffffff no peth1
vif0.1

[et-virt07 ~]# brctl show

bridge name bridge id STP enabled interfaces
xenbr1 8000.feffffffffff no peth1
vif0.1

Check the relocation parameters have been configured in the Xen config file on both hosts:

[et-virt07 ~]# grep xend-relocation /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp |grep -v '#'

(xend-relocation-server yes)
(xend-relocation-port 8002)
(xend-relocation-address '')
(xend-relocation-hosts-allow '')

[et-virt08 ~]# grep xend-relocation /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp |grep -v '#'

(xend-relocation-server yes)
(xend-relocation-port 8002)
(xend-relocation-address '')
(xend-relocation-hosts-allow '')

Make sure the Xen relocation server has started and is listening on the dedicated port for Xen
migrations (8002):

[et-virt07 ~]# lsof -i :8002

COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
python 3445 root 14u IPv4 10223 TCP *:teradataordbms (LISTEN)

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 A live migration example

[et-virt08 ~]# lsof -i :8002

COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
python 3252 root 14u IPv4 10901 TCP *:teradataordbms (LISTEN)

Verify the NFS directory has been mounted on the other host and you can see and access the
virtual machine image and file system:

[et-virt08 ~]# df /xentest

Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
et-virt07:/xentest 70562400 2379712 64598336 4% /xentest

[et-virt08 ~]# file /xentest/xentestTravelVM01.dsk

/xentest/xentestTravelVM01.dsk: x86 boot sector; partition 1: ID=0x83,
active, starthead 1, startsector 63, 208782 sectors; partition 2: ID=0x8e,
starthead 0, startsector 208845, 10265535 sectors, code offset 0x48

[et-virt08 ~]# touch /xentest/foo

[et-virt08 ~]# rm -f /xentest/foo

Verification of save and restore on local host.

Start up the virtual machine (if it has not yet):

[et-virt07 ~]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 1880 8 r----- 50.7

[et-virt07 ~]# xm create xentesttravelvm01

Using config file "/etc/xen/xentesttravelvm01".
Going to boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-1.2961.el5xen)
kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2961.el5xen
initrd: /initrd-2.6.18-1.2961.el5xen.img
Started domain xentesttravelvm01

Verify the virtual machine is running:

[et-virt07 ~]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 983 8 r----- 58.2
xentesttravelvm01 1 1024 1 -b---- 9.2

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Chapter 17. Virtualization live migration

Save the virtual machine on the local host:

[et-virt07 xentest]# time xm save xentesttravelvm01 xentesttravelvm01.sav

real 0m15.744s
user 0m0.188s
sys 0m0.044s

[et-virt07 xentest]# ls -lrt xentesttravelvm01.sav

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1075657716 Jan 12 06:46 xentesttravelvm01.sav

[et-virt07 xentest]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 8 r----- 110.7

Restore the virtual machine on the local host:

[et-virt07 xentest]# time xm restore xentesttravelvm01.sav

real 0m12.443s
user 0m0.072s
sys 0m0.044s

[et-virt07 xentest]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 8 r----- 118.5
xentesttravelvm01 3 1023 1 -b---- 0.0

Live migration test.

Run a simple loop inside the guest to print out time and hostname every 3 seconds.

Note
The local host's clock is set to a different time 4hrs ahead of the remote host's
clock.

# while true

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 A live migration example

> do
> hostname ; date
> sleep 3
> done
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:50:16 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:50:19 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:50:22 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:50:25 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:22:24 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:22:27 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:22:30 EST 2007

Verify the virtual machine is running:

[et-virt08 xen]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 4 r----- 45.9
xentesttravelvm01 1 1023 1 -b---- 1.3

Initiate the live migration to et-virt08. in the example below et-virt07 is the hostname you
are migrating to and <domain-id> muyst be replaced with a guest domain available to the host
system.

[et-virt08 ~]# xm migrate --live <domain-id> et-virt07

Verify the virtual machine has been shut down on et-virt07

[et-virt07 xentest]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 8 r----- 161.1

Verify the virtual machine has been migrated to et-virt08:

[et-virt08 ~]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 4 r----- 46.3
xentesttravelvm01 1 1023 1 -b---- 1.6

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Chapter 17. Virtualization live migration

Testing the progress and initiating the live migration.

Create the following script inside the virtual machine to log date and hostname during the
migration. This script performs I/O tasks on the virtual machine's file system.

#!/bin/bash

while true
do
touch /var/tmp/$$.log
echo `hostname` >> /var/tmp/$$.log
echo `date` >> /var/tmp/$$.log
cat /var/tmp/$$.log
df /var/tmp
ls -l /var/tmp/$$.log
sleep 3
done

Remember, that script is only for testing purposes and unnecessary for a live migration in a
production environment.

Verify the virtual machine is running on et-virt08 before we try to migrate it to et-virt07:

[et-virt08 ~]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 4 r----- 46.3
xentesttravelvm01 1 1023 1 -b---- 1.6

Initiate a live migration to et-virt07. You can add the time command to see how long the
migration takes:

[et-virt08 ~]# time xm migrate --live xentesttravelvm01 et-virt07

real 0m10.378s
user 0m0.068s
sys 0m0.052s

run the script inside the guest:

# ./doit
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:27 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 62 Jan 12 02:26 /var/tmp/2279.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com

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 A live migration example

Fri Jan 12 02:26:27 EST 2007

dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:30 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 124 Jan 12 02:26 /var/tmp/2279.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:27 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:30 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:33 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 186 Jan 12 02:26 /var/tmp/2279.log
Fri Jan 12 02:26:45 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:48 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:51 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:54:57 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:55:00 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:55:03 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 744 Jan 12 06:55 /var/tmp/2279.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:26:27 EST 2007

Verify the virtual machine has been shut down on et-virt08:

[et-virt08 ~]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 4 r----- 56.3

Verify the virtual machine has started up on et-virt07:

[et-virt07 xentest]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 8 r----- 198.1
xentesttravelvm01 4 1023 1 -b---- 1.0

Run through another cycle migrating from et-virt07 to et-virt08. Initiate a migration from

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Chapter 17. Virtualization live migration

et-virt07 to et-virt08:

[et-virt07 xentest]# time xm migrate --live xentesttravelvm01 et-virt08

real 0m11.490s
user 0m0.084s
sys 0m0.028s

Verify the virtual machine has been shut down:

[et-virt07 xentest]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 8 r----- 221.7

Before initiating the migration start the simple script in the guest and note the change in time
when migrating the guest:

# ./doit
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:53 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 62 Jan 12 06:57 /var/tmp/2418.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:53 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:56 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 124 Jan 12 06:57 /var/tmp/2418.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:53 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:56 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:58:00 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 186 Jan 12 06:57 /var/tmp/2418.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:53 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:56 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:58:00 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:30:00 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00

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 A live migration example

2983664 2043120 786536 73% /

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 248 Jan 12 02:30 /var/tmp/2418.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:53 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:56 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:58:00 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:30:00 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:30:03 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 310 Jan 12 02:30 /var/tmp/2418.log
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:53 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:57:56 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 06:58:00 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:30:00 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:30:03 EST 2007
dhcp78-218.lab.boston.redhat.com
Fri Jan 12 02:30:06 EST 2007
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
2983664 2043120 786536 73% /
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 372 Jan 12 02:30 /var/tmp/2418.log

After the migration command completes on et-virt07 verify on et-virt08 that the virtual
machine has started:

[et-virt08 ~]# xm li
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State Time(s)
Domain-0 0 975 4 r----- 67.3
xentesttravelvm01 2 1023 1 -b---- 0.4

and run another cycle:

[et-virt08 ~]# time xm migrate --live xentesttravelvm01 et-virt07

real 0m10.378s
user 0m0.068s
sys 0m0.052s

At this point you have successfully performed an offline and a live migration test.

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Chapter 18.

Remote management of virtualized

guests
This section will explain how to remotely manage your Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization
guests using ssh or TLS and SSL.

1. Remote management with ssh

The ssh tool can be used to manage remote virtual machines. The method described uses the
libvirt management connection securely tunneled over an SSH connection to manage the
remote machines. All the authentication is done using SSH public key cryptography and
passwords or passphrases gathered by your local SSH agent. In addition the VNC console for
each guest virtual machine will be tunneled over SSH.

SSH is usually configured by default so you probably already have SSH keys setup and no
extra firewall rules needed to access the management service or VNC console.

Be aware of the issues with using SSH for remotely managing your virtual machines, including:

• you require root login access to the remote machine for managing virtual machines,

• the initial connection setup process may be slow,

• there is no standard or trivial way to revoke a user's key on all hosts or guests, and

• ssh does not scale well with larger numbers of remote machines.

Configuring SSH access for virt-manager.

The following instructions assume you are starting from scratch and do not already have SSH
keys set up.

1. You need a public key pair on the machine where you will run virt-manager. If ssh is
already configured you can skip this command.

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa

2. To permit remote log in, virt-manager needs a copy of the public key on each remote
machine running libvirt. Copy the file $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub from the machine you
want to use for remote management using the scp command:

$ scp $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub root@somehost:/root/key-dan.pub

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3. After the file has copied, use ssh to connect to the remote machines as root and add the file
that you copied to the list of authorized keys. If the root user on the remote host does not
already have an list of authorized keys, make sure the file permissions are correctly set

$ ssh root@somehost
# mkdir /root/.ssh
# chmod go-rwx /root/.ssh
# cat /root/key-dan.pub >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys
# chmod go-rw /root/.ssh/authorized_keys

The libvirt daemon (libvirtd).

The libvirt daemon provide an interface for managing virtual machines. You must have the
libvirtd daemon installed and running on every remote host that you need to manage. Using
Red Hat Virtualization may require a special kernel or CPU hardware support, see Chapter 1,
System requirements for details.

$ ssh root@somehost
# chkconfig libvirtd on
# service libvirtd start

After libvirtd and SSH are configured you should be able to remotely access and manage
your virtual machines. You should also be able to access your guests with VNC at this point.

2. Remote management over TLS and SSL

You can manage virtual machines using TLS and SSL. TLS and SSL provides greater
scalability but is more complicated than ssh (see Section 1, “Remote management with ssh”.
TLS and SSL is the same technology used by web browsers for secure connections. The
libvirt management connection will open a TCP port for incoming connections, which is
securely encrypted and authenticated based on x509 certificates. In addition the VNC console
for each guest virtual machine will be setup to use TLS with x509 certificate authentication.

Using this method you will not need to give users shell accounts on the remote machines being
managed. However, extra firewall rules are needed to access the management service or VNC
console. Certificate revocation lists can be used to revoke access to users.

Steps to setup TLS/SSL access for virt-manager.

The following short guide assuming you are starting from scratch and you do not have any
TLS/SSL certificate knowledge. If you are lucky enough to have a certificate management
server you can probably skip the first steps.

libvirt server setup

The libvirt website has a walk-through on creating certificates, and placing them in the
corrRefer to http://libvirt.org/remote.html

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The Red Hat Virtualization VNC Server

The Red Hat Virtualization VNC server can have TLS enabled by editing the configuration
file, /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp. Remove the commenting on the (vnc-tls 1)
configuration parameter in the configuration file.

The /etc/xen/vnc directory needs the following 3 files:

• ca-cert.pem - The CA certificate

• server-cert.pem - The Server certificate signed by the CA

• server-key.pem - The server private key

This provides encryption of the data channel. It might be appropriate to require that clients
present their own x509 certificate as a form of authentication. To enable this remove the
commenting on the (vnc-x509-verify 1) parameter.

virt-manager and virsh client setup

The setup for clients is slightly inconsistent at this time. To enable the libvirt
management API over TLS, the CA and client certificates must be placed in /etc/pki. For
details on this consult http://libvirt.org/remote.html

In the virt-manager user interface, use the 'SSL/TLS' transport mechanism option when
connecting to a host.

For virsh, the qemu://hostname.domainname/system or xen://hostname.domainname/

URIs should be used.

To enable SSL and TLS for VNC, it is necessary to put the certificate authority and client
certificates into $HOME/.pki, that is the following three files:

• CA or ca-cert.pem - The CA certificate

• libvirt-vnc or clientcert.pem - The client certificate signed by the CA

• libvirt-vnc or clientkey.pem - The client private key

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Part V. Virtualization Reference
Guide
Tools Reference Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Virtualization

These chapters provide in depth description of the tools used by Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Virtualization. Users wanting to find information on advanced functionality should read these
chapters.

clxxi
clxxii
Chapter 19.

Red Hat Virtualization tools

The following is a list of tools for Linux and Xen administration, debugging and networking tools
that are useful for systems running Xen.

System Administration Tools

• xentop

• xm dmesg

• xm log

• vmstat

• iostat

• lsof

# lsof -i :5900
xen-vncfb 10635 root 5u IPv4 218738 TCP grumble.boston.redhat.com:5900
(LISTEN)

Advanced Debugging Tools

• XenOprofile

• systemTap

• crash

• xen-gdbserver

• sysrq

• sysrq t

• sysrq w

• sysrq c

Networking
brtcl

# brctl show
bridge name bridge id STP enabled interfaces
xenbr0 8000.feffffffffff no vif13.0
pdummy0

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vif0.0

# brctl showmacs xenbr0

port no mac addr is local? aging timer
1 fe:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff yes 0.00

# brctl showstp xenbr0

xenbr0
bridge id 8000.feffffffffff
designated root 8000.feffffffffff
root port 0 path cost 0
max age 20.00 bridge max age 20.00
hello time 2.00 bridge hello time 2.00
forward delay 0.00 bridge forward delay 0.00
aging time 300.01
hello timer 1.43 tcn timer 0.00
topology change timer 0.00 gc timer 0.02
flags

vif13.0 (3)
port id 8003 state
forwarding
designated root 8000.feffffffffff path cost 100
designated bridge 8000.feffffffffff message age timer 0.00
designated port 8003 forward delay timer 0.00
designated cost 0 hold timer 0.43
flags

pdummy0 (2)
port id 8002 state
forwarding
designated root 8000.feffffffffff path cost 100
designated bridge 8000.feffffffffff message age timer 0.00
designated port 8002 forward delay timer 0.00
designated cost 0 hold timer 0.43
flags

vif0.0 (1)
port id 8001 state
forwarding
designated root 8000.feffffffffff path cost 100
designated bridge 8000.feffffffffff message age timer 0.00
designated port 8001 forward delay timer 0.00
designated cost 0 hold timer 0.43
flags

• ifconfig

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• tcpdump

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Chapter 20.

Managing guests with virsh

virsh is a command line interface tool for managing guests and the hypervisor.

The virsh tool is built on the libvirt management API and operates as an alternative to the
xm tool and the graphical guest Manager(virt-manager). Unprivileged users can employ this
utility for read-only operations. If you plan on running the xend, you should enable xend to run
as a service. After modifying the respective configuration file, reboot the system, and xendwill
run as a service. You can use virsh to load scripts for the guest machines.

Connecting to the hypervisor.

To initiate a hypervisor session with virsh :

virsh connect <name>

Where <name> is the machine name of the hypervisor. If you want to initiate a read-only
connection, append the above command with -readonly.

Creating a guest.
Guests can be created from XML configuration files. You can copy existing XML from previously
created guests or use the dumpxml option(refer to Creating a virtual machine XML
dump(configuration file)). To create a guest with virsh from an XML file:

virsh create configuration_file.xml

Creating a virtual machine XML dump(configuration file).

To perform a data dump for an existing guest with virsh:

virsh dumpxml [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

This command outputs the domain information (in XML) to stdout. You save the data by piping
the output to a file.

virsh dumpxml GuestID > guest.xml

The file guest.xml can then be used to recreate the guest (refer to Creating a guest. You can
edit this XML configuration file to configure additional devices or to deploy additional guests.
Refer to Section 1, “Using XML configuration files with virsh” for more information on modifying
files created with virsh dumpxml.

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Suspending a guest.
To suspend a guest with virsh:

virsh suspend [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

When a domain is in a suspended state, it still consumes system RAM. Disk and network I/O
will not occur while the guest is suspended. This operation is immediate and the guest must be
restarted with the resume option .

Resuming a guest.
To restore a suspended guest with virsh using the resume option:

virsh resume [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

This operation is immediate and the guest parameters are preserved for suspend and resume
operations.

Saving a guest.
To save the current state of a guest to a file using the virsh command :

virsh save [domain-name] [domain-id or domain-uuid] [filename]

This stops the guest you specify and saves the data to a file, which may take some time given
the amount of memory in use by your guest. You can restore the state of the guest with the
restore option.

Restoring a guest.
To restore a guest that you previously saved with the virsh save option using the virsh
command:

virsh restore [filename]

This restarts the saved guest, which may take some time. The guest's name and UUID are
preserved but are allocated for a new id.

Shutting Down a guest.

To shut down a guest using the virsh command:

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 virsh shutdown [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

You can control the behavior of the rebooting guest by modifying the on_shutdown parameter
of the xmdomain.cfg file.

Rebooting a guest.
To reboot a guest using virsh command:

virsh reboot [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

You can control the behavior of the rebooting guest by modifying the on_reboot parameter of
the xmdomain.cfg file.

Terminating a guest.
To terminate, destroy or delete guest use the virsh command with destroy:

virsh destroy [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

This command does an immediate ungraceful shutdown and stops any guest domain sessions
(which could potentially lead to file corrupted file systems still in use by the guest). You should
use the destroy option only when the guest is non-responsive. For a para-virtualized guest,
you should use the shutdown option .

Converting a Domain Name to a Domain ID.

To convert a domain name or UUID to a domain id with virsh:

virsh domid [domain-name or domain-uuid]

Converting a Domain ID to a Domain Name .

To convert a domain id or UUID to a domain name with virsh:

virsh domname [domain-id or domain-uuid]

Converting a Domain Name to a UUID.

To convert a domain name to a UUID with virsh :

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virsh domuuid [domain-id or domain-name]

Displaying guest Information .

Using virsh with the guest's domain ID, domain name or UUID you can display information on
the specified guest:

virsh dominfo [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

Displaying node information .

To display node information virsh :

virsh nodeinfo

The outputs displays something similar to:

CPU model x86_64

CPU (s) 8
CPU frequency 2895 Mhz
CPU socket(s) 2
Core(s) per socket 2
Threads per core: 2
Numa cell(s) 1
Memory size: 1046528 kb

This displays the node information and the machines that support the virtualization process.

Displaying the guests.

To display the guest list and their current states with virsh:

virsh list [ --inactive | --all]

The --inactive option lists inactive domains (domains that have been defined but are not
currently active). The --all domain lists all domains, whether active or not. Your output should
resemble the this example:

Id Name State
----------------------------------

180
 0 Domain-0 running
1 Domain202 paused
2 Domain010 inactive
3 Domain9600 crashed

Using virsh list will output domains with the following states:

• The running state refers to domains which are currently active on a CPU.

• Domains listed as blocked or blocking are presently idle, waiting for I/O, waiting for the
hypervisor or dom0 or .

• The paused state lists domains which are suspended.

• The shutdown state is for domains in the process of shutting down.

• Domains in the shutoff state are off and not using system resources.

• crashed domains have failed while running and are no longer running.

Displaying virtual CPU information.

To display virtual CPU information from a guest with virsh:

virsh vcpuinfo [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid]

Configuring virtual CPU affinity.

To configure the affinity of virtual CPUs with physical CPUs:

virsh vcpupin [domain-id, domain-name or domain-uuid] [vcpu] , [cpulist]

Where [vcpu] is the virtual VCPU number and [cpulist] lists the physical number of CPUs.

Configuring virtual CPU count.

To modify a domain's number of CPUs with virsh:

virsh setvcpus [domain-name, domain-id or domain-uuid] [count]

You cannot increase the count above the amount you specified when you created the guest.

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Configuring memory allocation.

To modify a guest's memory allocation with virsh :

virsh setmem [domain-id or domain-name] [count]

You must specify the [count] in kilobytes. The new count value cannot exceed the amount you
specified when you created the guest. Values lower than 64 MB are unlikely to work with most
guest operating systems. A higher maximum memory value will not affect the an active guest
unless the new value is lower which will shrink the available memory usage.

Managing virtual networks.

This section covers managing virtual networks with the virsh command. To list virtual
networks:

virsh net-list

This command generates output similar to:

[root@domain ~]# virsh net-list

Name State Autostart
-----------------------------------------
default active yes
vnet1 active yes
vnet2 active yes

To view network information for a specific virtual network:

virsh net-dumpxml [vnet name]

This displays information about a specified virtual network in XML format:

# virsh net-dumpxml vnet1

<network>
<name>vnet1</name>
<uuid>98361b46-1581-acb7-1643-85a412626e70</uuid>
<forward dev='eth0'/>
<bridge name='vnet0' stp='on' forwardDelay='0' />
<ip address='192.168.100.1' netmask='255.255.255.0'>
<dhcp>
<range start='192.168.100.128' end='192.168.100.254' />
</dhcp>

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 </ip>
</network>

Other virsh commands used in managing virtual networks are:

• virsh net-autostart [network name] — Autostart a network specified as [network name]

• virsh net-create [XML file] — Generates and starts a new network using a preexisting
XML file

• virsh net-define [XML file] — Generates a new network from a preexisting XML file
without starting it

• virsh net-destroy [network name] — Destroy a network specified as [network name]

• virsh net-name [network UUID] — Convert a specified [network UUID] to a network name

• virsh net-uuid [network name — Convert a specified [network name] to a network UUID

• virsh net-start [name of an inactive network] — Starts a previously undefined

inactive network

• virsh net-undefine [name of an inactive network] — Undefine an inactive network

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Chapter 21.

Managing guests with Virtual

Machine Manager(virt-manager)
This section describes the Red Hat Virtualization Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) windows,
dialog boxes, and various GUI controls.

1. Virtual Machine Manager Architecture

Red Hat Virtualization is a collection of software components that work together to host and
manage virtual machines. The Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) gives you a graphical view of
the virtual machines on your system. You can use VMM to define both para-virtual and full
virtual machines. Using Virtual Machine Manager, you can perform any number of virtualization
management tasks including assigning memory, assigning virtual CPUs, monitoring operational
performance, and save, restore, pause, resume, and shutdown virtual systems. It also allows
you to access the textual and graphical console. Red Hat Virtualization abstracts CPU and
memory resources from the underlying hardware and network configurations. This enables
processing resources to be pooled and dynamically assigned to applications and service
requests. Chip-level virtualization enables operating systems with Intel VT and AMD-V hardware
to run on hypervisors.

2. The open connection window

This window appears first and prompts the user to choose a hypervisor session. Non-privileged
users can initiate a read-only session. Root users can start a session with full blown read-write
status. For normal use, select the Local Xen host option. You start the Virtual Machine
Manager test mode by selecting the Other hypervisor and then type test:///default in the
URL field beneath. Once in test mode, you can connect to a libvirt dummy hypervisor. Note that
although the Remote Xen host screen is visible, the functionality to connect to such a host is
not implemented into Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Figure 21.1. Virtual Machine Manager connection window

3. The Virtual Machine Manager main window

This main window displays all the running virtual machines and resources currently allocated to
them (including domain0). You can decide which fields to display. Double-clicking on the
desired virtual machine brings up the respective console for that particular machine. Selecting a
virtual machine and double-click the Details button to display the Details window for that
machine. You can also access the File menu to create a new virtual machine.

Figure 21.2. Virtual Machine Manager main window

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4. The Virtual Machine Manager details window

This window displays graphs and statistics of a guest's live resource utilization data available
from the Red Hat Virtualization Virtual Machine Manager. The UUID field displays the globally
unique identifier for the virtual machines.

Figure 21.3. Virtual Machine Manager details window

5. Virtual Machine graphical console

This window displays a virtual machine's graphical console. Para-virtualized and fully virtualized
guests use different techniques to export their local virtual framebuffers, but both technologies
use VNC to make them available to the Virtual Machine Manager's console window. If your
virtual machine is set to require authentication, the Virtual Machine Graphical console prompts
you for a password before the display appears.

Figure 21.4. Graphical console window

A note on security and VNC

VNC is considered insecure by many security experts, however, several changes
have been made to enable the secure usage of VNC for virtualization on Red Hat
enterprise Linux. The guest machines only listen to the local host(dom0)'s
loopback address (127.0.0.1). This ensures only those with shell privileges on
the host can access virt-manager and the virtual machine through VNC.

Remote administration can be performed following the instructions in Chapter 18,

Remote management of virtualized guests. TLS can be used to provide
enterprise level security for managing guest and host systems.

Your local desktop can intercept key combinations (for example, Ctrl+Alt+F11) to prevent them
from being sent to the guest machine. You can use virt-managersticky key' capability to send
these sequences. You must press any modifier key (Ctrl or Alt) 3 times and the key you specify
gets treated as active until the next non-modifier key is pressed. Then you can send Ctrl-Alt-F11
to the guest by entering the key sequence 'Ctrl Ctrl Ctrl Alt+F1'.

6. Starting virt-manager
To start virt-manager session, from the Applications menu, click System Tools and select
Virtual Machine Manager(virt-manager).

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 Creating a new guest

The virt-manager main window appears.

Figure 21.5. Starting virt-manager

Alternatively, virt-manager can be started remotely using ssh as demonstrated in the following
command:

ssh -X host's address

[remotehost]# virt-manager

Using ssh to manage virtual machines and hosts is discussed further in Section 1, “Remote
management with ssh”.

7. Creating a new guest

virt-manager is the desktop application which can be used to manage guests.

You can use Red Hat's Virtual Machine Manager to:

• Create new domains.

• Configure or adjust a domain's resource allocation and virtual hardware.

• Summarize running domains with live performance and resource utilization statistics.

• Display graphs that show performance and resource utilization over time.

• Use the embedded VNC client viewer which presents a full graphical console to the guest
domain.

Before creating new guest virtual machines you should consider the following options. This list
is a summery of the installation process using the Virtual Machine Manager.

• The name for your guest virtual machine.

• Decide whether you will use full virtualization (required for non-Red Hat Enterprise Linux
guests. Full virtualization provides more flexibility but less performance) or para-virtualization
(only for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 guests. Provides performance close to
bare-metal).

• Identify installation media and kickstart (if appropriate) locations.

• Para-virtualized guests required network based installation media. That is your installation
media must be hosted on a nfs, ftp or http server.

• Fully virtualized guests require iso images, CD-ROMs or DVDs of the installation media

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available to the host system.

• If you are creating a fully virtualized guest, identify the operating system type and variant.

• Decide the location and type (for example, a file or partition) of the storage for the virtual disk

• Select the network connection

• Decide how much of your physical memory and cpu cores, or processors, you are going to
allocate the guest. Be aware of the physical limitations of your system and the system
requirements of your virtual machines.

• Review your selected options and start the installation.

VNC is used for graphical installations.

Note:
You must install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, virt-manager, and the kernel
packages on all systems that require virtualization. All systems then must be
booted and running the Red Hat Virtualization kernel.

If virt-manager is not working properly...

If virt-manager is not working, it is usually due to one of these common problems:

1. you have not booted the correct kernel. Verify you are running the
kernel-xen kernel by running uname.

$ uname -r
2.6.18-53.1.14.el5xen

If the kernel-xen is installed it must be enabled in grub, seeChapter 23,

Configuring GRUB. If the Red Hat Virtualization packages are not installed,
see Chapter 4, Installing Red Hat Virtualization packages on the host.

2. the virtualization extensions are not enabled or available on your hardware.

Verify your hardware has the virtualization extensions for full virtualization,
read Chapter 1, System requirements.

3. virt-manager is not installed. To install Red Hat Virtualization, read Chapter 4,

Installing Red Hat Virtualization packages on the host.

For other issues see the troubleshooting section, Part VII, “Troubleshooting”.

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 Creating a new guest

These are the steps required to install a guest operating system on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
using the Virtual Machine Monitor:

Procedure 21.1. Creating a guest with virt-manager

1. From the Applications menu, select System Tools and then Virtual Machine Manager.

The Virtual Machine Manager main window appears.

Figure 21.6. Virtual Machine Manager window

2. From the File menu, select New machine.

Figure 21.7. Selecting a new machine

The Creating a new virtual system wizard appears.

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3. Click Forward.

Figure 21.8. Creating a new virtual system wizard

4. Enter the name of the new virtual system, this name will be the name of the configuration
file for the virtual machine, the name of the virtual disk and the name displayed by
virt-manager's main screen.

Choose para-virtualization or full virtualization (hardware virtualization). Now you can

continue by clicking the Forward button.

Figure 21.9. Naming the virtual system

Warning
Do not use the kernel-xen as the file name for a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
fully virtualized guest. Using this kernel on fully virtualized guests can cause your

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 Creating a new guest

system to hang.

5. Choose a virtualization method to use for your guest, either para-virtualization or full
virtualization.

Fully virtualized guests do not use the kernel-xen kernel

If you are using an Installation Number when installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux
on a fully virtualized guest, be sure to deselect the Virtualization package
group during the installation. The Virtualization package group option installs
the kernel-xen kernel.

Para-virtualized guests are not affected by this issue. Para-virtualized guests

always use the kernel-xen kernel.

6. Enter the location of your install media. The location of the kickstart file is optional. Then
click Forward .

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Figure 21.10. Locating the installation media for para-virtualized

guests

Storage media
For installation media on an http server the address should resemble
"http://servername.example.com/pub/dist/rhel5" where the actual source on your
local host is /var/www/html/pub/dist/rhel5.

For installation media on an ftp server the address should resemble

"ftp://servername.exampe.com/dist/rhel5", where the actual source on your local
host is /var/ftp/pub/dist/rhel5.

For installation media on an NFS server the address should resemble

"nfs:servername.example.com:/dist/rhel5". The actual location depends on your
NFS share. Use the system-config-nfs command to configure NFS to share
media.

For more information on configuring these network services read the relevant
sections of your Red Hat Enterprise Linux Deployment Guide in the
System->Documentation menu.

Networked installation media must be accessible

The installation media and kickstart files must be accessible for the host and the
guest in order to install. You must take into account the IP address of both host
and guest and you may need to use the IP addresses instead of hostnames.

Tip: networked media for para-virtualization

You can use an iso image, a local CD-ROM or DVD to install para-virtualized
guests. To enable this, mount the iso file or disk and host the image with NFS. To
mount an iso image locally use the command:

# mount -o loop image.iso /mountpoint

7. For fully virtualized guests you must use an .iso file, CD-ROM or DVD.

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 Creating a new guest

Figure 21.11. Locating installation media for fully virtualized guests

8. Install either to a physical disk partition or install to a virtual file system within a file.

Note
This example installs a virtual system within a file.

The default SELinux policy only allows storage of virtualization disk images in the
/var/lib/xen/images folder.

To install images at a different location, /virtimages for example, open a

terminal and create the /virtimages directory and set the SELinux policy
settings with the command restorecon -v /virtimages. Specify your newly
created location and the size of the virtual disk, then click Forward.

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A time saving tip

Creating a new disk image may take a while depending on the size and your
system configuration. You can create a file before hand by using dd – for
example to build an empty 6GB file you could use:

dd if=/dev/zero of=osimage.img bs=1048576 count=6144

Remember if you have created this file outside of the /var/lib/xen/images

folder the file will need SELinux settings changed. Change the SELinux policy for
the file with the command:

restorecon -v /path/to/file

Figure 21.12. Assigning the storage space

9. Connecting to the host network

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 Creating a new guest

Choose the “Shared Physical Device” option to allow the guest access to the same
network as the host and accessible to other computers on the network.

Choose the “Virtual Network” option if you want your guest to on a virtual network. You
can bridge a virtual network making it accessible to external networked computers, read
Chapter 8, Configuring networks and guests for configuration instructions.

Note
The section, Section 17, “Creating a virtual network”, can guide you through the
process of creating and configuring network devices or the chapter on network
devices, Chapter 12, Virtualized network devices.

Figure 21.13. Connect to the host network

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10. Select memory to allocate the guest and the number of virtual CPUs then click Forward.

Figure 21.14. Allocating Memory and CPU

Note
Avoid allocating more memory to all of your virtual machines than you have
physically available. Over allocating will cause the system to use the swap
partition excessively, causing unworkable performance levels.

11. Review your selections, then click Forward to open a console and the files start to install.

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 Restoring a saved machine

Figure 21.15. The final virt-manager screen

12. Your virtual machine will begin to boot.

Figure 21.16. The virtual machine's boot output

13. Type xm create -c xen-guest to start the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 guest. Right click
on the guest in the Virtual Machine Manager and choose Open to open a virtual console.

Figure 21.17. A Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 guest

8. Restoring a saved machine

After you start the Virtual Machine Manager, all virtual machines on your system are displayed

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in the main window. Domain0 is your host system. If there are no machines present, this means
that currently there are no machines running on the system.

To restore a previously saved session:

1. From the File menu, select Restore a saved machine.

Figure 21.18. Restoring a virtual machine

2. The Restore Virtual Machine main window appears.

Figure 21.19. Selecting saved virtual machine session

3. Navigate to correct directory and select the saved session file.

4. Click Open.

The saved virtual system appears in the Virtual Machine Manager main window.

Figure 21.20. A restored virtual machine manager session

9. Displaying guest details

You can use the Virtual Machine Monitor to view activity data information for any virtual
machines on your system.

To view a virtual system's details:

1. In the Virtual Machine Manager main window, highlight the virtual machine that you want to
view.

Figure 21.21. Selecting a virtual machine to display

2. From the Virtual Machine Manager Edit menu, select Machine Details (or click the Details
button on the bottom of the Virtual Machine Manager main window).

Figure 21.22. Displaying virtual machine details menu

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 Status monitoring

The Virtual Machine Details Overview window appears. This window summarizes CPU and
memory usage for the domain(s) you specified.

Figure 21.23. Displaying guest details overview

3. On the Virtual Machine Details window, click the Hardware tab.

The Virtual Machine Details Hardware window appears.

Figure 21.24. Displaying guest hardware details

4. On the Hardware tab, click on Processor to view or change the current processor memory
allocation.

Figure 21.25. Displaying processor allocation

5. On the Hardware tab, click on Memory to view or change the current RAM memory
allocation.

Figure 21.26. Displaying memory allocation

6. On the Hardware tab, click on Disk to view or change the current hard disk configuration.

Figure 21.27. Displaying disk configuration

7. On the Hardware tab, click on Network to view or change the current network
configuration.

Figure 21.28. Displaying network configuration

10. Status monitoring

You can use the Virtual Machine Manager to modify the virtual system Status monitoring.

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Chapter 21. Managing guests with Virtual Machine Manager(virt-manager)

To configure Status monitoring, and enable Consoles:

1. From the Edit menu, select Preferences.

Figure 21.29. Modifying guest preferences

The Virtual Machine Manager Preferences window appears.

2. From the Status monitoring area selection box, specify the time (in seconds) that you want
the system to update.

Figure 21.30. Configuring status monitoring

3. From the Consoles area, specify how to open a console and specify an input device.

11. Displaying domain ID

To view the domain IDs for all virtual machines on your system:

1. From the View menu, select the Domain ID check box.

Figure 21.31. Selecting domain IDs

2. The Virtual Machine Manager lists the Domain IDs for all domains on your system.

Figure 21.32. Displaying domain IDs

12. Displaying a guest's status

To view the status of all virtual machines on your system:

1. From the View menu, select the Status check box.

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 Displaying virtual CPUs

Figure 21.33. Selecting a virtual machine's status

2. The Virtual Machine Manager lists the status of all virtual machines on your system.

Figure 21.34. Displaying a virtual machine's status

13. Displaying virtual CPUs

To view the amount of virtual CPUs for all virtual machines on your system:

1. From the View menu, select the Virtual CPUs check box.

Figure 21.35. Selecting the virtual CPUs option

2. The Virtual Machine Manager lists the Virtual CPUs for all virtual machines on your system.

Figure 21.36. Displaying Virtual CPUs

14. Displaying CPU usage

To view the CPU usage for all virtual machines on your system:

1. From the View menu, select the CPU Usage check box.

Figure 21.37. Selecting CPU usage

2. The Virtual Machine Manager lists the percentage of CPU in use for all virtual machines on
your system.

Figure 21.38. Displaying CPU usage

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15. Displaying memory usage

To view the memory usage for all virtual machines on your system:

1. From the View menu, select the Memory Usage check box.

Figure 21.39. Selecting Memory Usage

2. The Virtual Machine Manager lists the percentage of memory in use (in megabytes) for all
virtual machines on your system.

Figure 21.40. Displaying memory usage

16. Managing a virtual network

To configure a virtual network on your system:

1. From the Edit menu, select Host Details.

Figure 21.41. Selecting a host's details

2. This will open the Host Details menu. Click the Virtual Networks tab.

Figure 21.42. Virtual network configuration

3. All available virtual networks are listed on the left-hand box of the menu. You can edit the
configuration of a virtual network by selecting it from this box and editing as you see fit.

17. Creating a virtual network

To create a virtual network on your system:

1. Open the Host Details menu (refer to Section 16, “Managing a virtual network”) and click
the Add button.

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 Creating a virtual network

Figure 21.43. Virtual network configuration

This will open the Create a new virtual network menu. Click Forward to continue.

Figure 21.44. Creating a new virtual network

2. Enter an appropriate name for your virtual network and click Forward.

Figure 21.45. Naming your virtual network

3. Enter an IPv4 address space for your virtual network and click Forward.

Figure 21.46. Choosing an IPv4 address space

4. Define the DHCP range for your virtual network by specifying a Start and End range of IP
addresses. Click Forward to continue.

Figure 21.47. Selecting the DHCP range

5. Select how the virtual network should connect to the physical network.

Figure 21.48. Connecting to physical network

If you select Forwarding to physical network, choose whether the Destination should be
NAT to any physical device or NAT to physical device eth0.

Click Forward to continue.

6. You are now ready to create the network. Check the configuration of your network and click
Finish.

Figure 21.49. Ready to create network

7. The new virtual network is now available in the Virtual Network tab of the Host Details
menu.

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Figure 21.50. New virtual network is now available

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Chapter 22.

Commands for Red Hat Virtualization

You can use the xm and virsh commands to create, manage, and troubleshoot virtual
machines.

1. virsh the command line interface tool for virtualization

The virsh command is an alternative command to manage a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Xen
environment using a Command Line Interface(CLI). The virsh command is provided as part of
the libvirt API which provides a common API to applications requiring standardized access to
interact with Xen using a stable interface. Besides providing virsh the libvirt API also provide a
higher level language API for C, Python, and Perl (via the CPAN network) The virsh command
is an interactive shell which can either be used in scripts or interactively. The following virsh
commands assume you have already run virsh and are at a virsh# prompt.

Basic management options.

The following are basic and commonly used virsh commands:

command description
help print help
list list domains
create create a domain from an XML file
start start a previously created inactive domain
destroy destroy a domain
define define (but do not start) a domain from an
XML file
domid convert a domain name or UUID to domain id
domuuid convert a domain name or id to domain UUID
dominfo domain information
domname convert a domain id or UUID to domain name
domstate domain state
quit quit this interactive terminal
reboot reboot a domain
restore restore a domain from a saved state in a file
resume resume a domain
save save a domain state to a file
shutdown gracefully shutdown a domain
suspend suspend a domain
undefine undefine an inactive domain

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Table 22.1. virsh commands

Resource management options.

Use the following virsh commands to manage resources:

command description
setmem changes the allocated memory.
setmaxmem changes maximum memory limit.
setvcpus changes number of virtual CPUs.
vcpuinfo domain vcpu information.
vcpupin control the domain vcpu affinity.

Table 22.2. virsh resource management commands

Monitoring and troubleshooting options.

Use the following virsh commands for monitoring and troubleshooting:

command description
version show version
dumpxml domain information in XML
nodeinfo node information

Table 22.3. virsh monitoring and troubleshooting commands

Presently unsupported options.

The connect command that is used to connect or reconnect to a hypervisor.

virsh command output.

The following are example outputs from common virsh commands:

• the list command:

virsh # list
Id Name State
----------------------------------
0 Domain-0 running
13 r5b2-mySQL01 blocked

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 virsh the command line interface tool for

• the dominfo domain command:

virsh # dominfo r5b2-mySQL01

Id: 13
Name: r5b2-mySQL01
UUID: 4a4c59a7-ee3f-c781-96e4-288f2862f011
OS Type: linux
State: blocked
CPU(s): 1
CPU time: 11.0s
Max memory: 512000 kB
Used memory: 512000 kB

• the domstate domain command:

virsh # domstate r5b2-mySQL01

blocked

• the domuuid domain command:

virsh # domuuid r5b2-mySQL01

4a4c59a7-ee3f-c781-96e4-288f2862f011

• the vcpuinfo domain command:

virsh # vcpuinfo r5b2-mySQL01

VCPU: 0
CPU: 0
State: blocked
CPU time: 0.0s
CPU Affinity: yy

• the dumpxm domain command:

virsh # dumpxml r5b2-mySQL01

<domain type='xen' id='13'>
<name>r5b2-mySQL01</name>
<uuid>4a4c59a7ee3fc78196e4288f2862f011</uuid>
<bootloader>/usr/bin/pygrub</bootloader>
<os>
<type>linux</type>
<kernel>/var/lib/xen/vmlinuz.2dgnU_</kernel>
<initrd>/var/lib/xen/initrd.UQafMw</initrd>
<cmdline>ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb
quiet</cmdline>

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</os>
<memory>512000</memory>
<vcpu>1</vcpu>
<on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
<on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
<on_crash>restart</on_crash>
<devices>
<interface type='bridge'>
<source bridge='xenbr0'/>
<mac address='00:16:3e:49:1d:11'/>
<script path='vif-bridge'/>
</interface>
<graphics type='vnc' port='5900'/>
<console tty='/dev/pts/4'/>
</devices>

• the version domain command:

virsh # version
Compiled against library: libvir 0.1.7
Using library: libvir 0.1.7
Using API: Xen 3.0.1
Running hypervisor: Xen 3.0.0

2. The xm command line interface

The xm command is used to manage your Red Hat Virtualization environment using a CLI
interface. Most operations can be performed by the virt-manager application, including a CLI
interface which is part of virt-manager. However, there are a few operations which currently
can not be performed using virt-manager. As the xm command is part of the Xen environment a
few options available with the xm command will not work in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
environment. The list below provides an overview of command options available (and
unavailable) in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 environment. As an alternative to using the xm
command one can also use the virsh command which is provided as part of the Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 Xen environment . The virsh command is layered on top of the libvirt API
which can provide a number of benefits over using the xm command. Namely the ability to use
virsh in scripts and the ability to manage other hypervisors as they are integrated into the libvirt
API.

Basic management options.

The following are basic and commonly used xm commands:

• xm help [--long]: view available options and help text.

• use the xm list command to list active domains:

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 virtualization

$ xm list
Name ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State
Time(s)
Domain-0 0 520 2 r-----
1275.5
r5b2-mySQL01 13 500 1 -b----
16.1

• xm create [-c] DomainName/ID: start a virtual machine. If the -c option is used, the start up
process will attach to the guest's console.

• xm console DomainName/ID: attach to a virtual machine's console.

• xm destroy DomainName/ID: terminate a virtual machine , similar to a power off.

• xm reboot DomainName/ID: reboot a virtual machine, runs through the normal system shut
down and start up process.

• xm shutdown DomainName/ID: shut down a virtual machine, runs a normal system shut down
procedure.

• xm pause

• xm unpause

• xm save

• xm restore

• xm migrate

Resource management options.

Use the following xm commands to manage resources:

• xm mem-set

• use the xm vcpu-list to list virtual CPU assignments/placements:

$ xm vcpu-list
Name ID VCPUs CPU State Time(s) CPU Affinity
Domain-0 0 0 0 r-- 708.9 any cpu
Domain-0 0 1 1 -b- 572.1 any cpu
r5b2-mySQL01 13 0 1 -b- 16.1 any cpu

• xm vcpu-pin

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• xm vcpu-set

• use the xm sched-credit command to display scheduler parameters for a given domain:

$ xm sched-credit -d 0
{'cap': 0, 'weight': 256}
$ xm sched-credit -d 13
{'cap': 25, 'weight': 256}

Monitoring and troubleshooting options.

Use the following xm commands for monitoring and troubleshooting:

• xm top

• xm dmesg

• xm info

• xm log

• use the xm uptime to display the uptime of guests and hosts:

$ xm uptime
Name ID Uptime
Domain-0 0 3:42:18
r5b2-mySQL01 13 0:06:27

• xm sysrq

• xm dump-core

• xm rename

• xm domid

• xm domname

Currently unsupported options.

The xm vnet-list is currently unsupported.

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Chapter 23.

Configuring GRUB
The GNU Grand Unified Boot Loader(GRUB) is a program which enables the user to select
which installed operating system or kernel to load at system boot time. It also allows the user to
pass arguments to the kernel. The GRUB configuration file (located in /boot/grub/grub.conf)
is used to create a list of operating systems to boot in GRUB's menu interface. When you install
the kernel-xen RPM, a post script adds kernel-xen entries to the GRUB configuration file.
You can edit the grub.conf file and enable the following GRUB parameter.

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-3.el5xen)

root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz.-2.6.18-3.el5
module /vmlinuz-2.6..18-3.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
rhgb quiet
module /initrd-2.6.18-3. el5xenxen.img

If you set your Linux grub entries to reflect this example, the boot loader loads the hypervisor,
initrd image, and Linux kernel. Since the kernel entry is on top of the other entries, the kernel
loads into memory first. The boot loader sends, and receives, command line arguments to and
from the hypervisor and Linux kernel. This example entry shows how you would restrict the
Dom0 linux kernel memory to 800 MB.

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-3.el5xen)

root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz.-2.6.18-3.el5 dom0_mem=800M
module /vmlinuz-2.6..18-3.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
rhgb quiet
module /initrd-2.6.18-3. el5xenxen.img

You can use these GRUB parameters to configure the Virtualization hypervisor:

mem

This limits the amount of memory that is available to the hypervisor kernel.

com1=115200, 8n1

This enables the first serial port in the system to act as serial console (com2 is assigned for the
next port, and so on...).

dom0_mem

This limits the memory available for domain0.

dom0_max_vcpus

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Chapter 23. Configuring GRUB

This limits the amount of CPUs visible to domain0.

acpi

This switches the ACPI hypervisor to the hypervisor and domain0. The ACPI parameter options
include:

/* **** Linux config options: propagated to domain0 ****/

/* "acpi=off": Disables both ACPI table parsing and interpreter. */
/* "acpi=force": Overrides the disable blacklist. */
/* "acpi=strict": Disables out-of-spec workarounds. */
/* "acpi=ht": Limits ACPI from boot-time to enable HT. */
/* "acpi=noirq": Disables ACPI interrupt routing. */

noacpi

This disables ACPI for interrupt delivery.

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Chapter 24.

Configuring ELILO
ELILO is the boot loader used on EFI-based systems, notably Itanium®. Similar to the GRUB,
the boot loader on x86 and x86-64 systems, ELILO allows the user to select which installed
kernel to load during the system boot sequence. It also allows the user to pass arguments to the
kernel. The ELILO configuration file, which is located in the EFI boot partition and symbolically
linked to /etc/elilo.conf, contains a list of global options and image stanzas. When you
install the kernel-xen RPM, a post install script adds the appropriate image stanza to the
elilo.conf.

The ELILO configuration file has two sections:

• Global options that affect the behavior of ELILO and all the entries. Typically there's no need
to change these from the default values.

• Image stanzas that define a boot selection along with associated options.

Here is a sample image stanza in elilo.conf:

image=vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5xen
vmm=xen.gz-2.6.18-92.el5
label=linux
initrd=initrd-2.6.18-92.el5xen.img
read-only
root=/dev/VolGroup00/rhel5_2
append="-- rhgb quiet"

The image parameter indicates the following lines apply to a single boot selection. This stanza
defines a hypervisor(vmm), initrd, and command line arguments (read-only, root and
append) to the hypervisor and kernel. When ELILO is loaded during the boot sequence, this
image will be labeled label linux.

ELILO translates read-only to the kernel command line option ro which causes the root file
system to be mounted read-only until the initscripts mount the root drive as read-write. ELILO
copies the "root" line to the kernel command line. These are merged with the "append" line to
build a completecommand line:

"-- root=/dev/VolGroup00/rhel5_2 ro rhgb quiet"

The -- is used to delimit hypervisor and kernel arguments. The hypervisor arguments come
first, then the -- delimiter, followed by the kernel arguments. The hypervisor does not usually
have any arguments.

Technical note

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Chapter 24. Configuring ELILO

ELILO passes the entire command line to the hypervisor. The hypervisor divides
the content and passes the kernel options to the kernel.

To customize the hypervisor, insert parameters before the --. An example of the hypervisor
memory(mem) parameter and the quiet parameter for the kernel:

append="dom0_mem=2G -- quiet"

ELILO hypervisor parameters

Parameter : mem=
Description : The mem parameter defines the hypervisor maximum RAM usage. Any additional
RAM in the system will be ignored. The parameter may be specified with a B, K, M or G suffix;
representing bytes, kilobytes, megabytes and gigabytes respectively. If no suffix is specified the
default unit is kilobytes.
Parameter : dom0_mem=
Description : dom0_mem= sets the amount of RAM to allocate to dom0. The same suffixes are
respected as for the mem parameter above. The default in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 on
Itanium® is 4G.
Parameter : dom0_max_vcpus=
Description : dom0_max_vcpus= sets the number of CPUs to allocate to the hypervisor. The
default in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 on Itanium® is 4.
Parameter : com1=<baud>,DPS,<io_base>,<irq>
Description : com1= sets the parameters for the first serial line. For example,
com1=9600,8n1,0x408,5. The io_base and irq options can be omitted to leave them as the
standard defaults. The baud parameter can be set as auto to indicate the boot loader setting
should be preserved. The com1 parameter can be omitted if serial parameters are set as global
options in ELILO or in the EFI configuration.
Parameter : com2=<baud>,DPS,<io_base>,<irq>
Description : Set the parameters for the second serial line. Refer the description of the com1
parameter above.
Parameter : console=<specifier_list>
Description : The console is a comma delimited preference list for the Xen console options.
Options include vga, com1 and com2. This setting should be omitted because the hypervisor
will attempt to inherit EFI console settings.

For more information on ELILO parameters

A complete list of ELILO parameters are available from XenSource1.

1
http://tx.downloads.xensource.com/downloads/docs/user/#SECTION04130000000000000000

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A modified example of the configuration above, showing syntax for appending memory and cpu
allocation parameters to the hypervisor:

image=vmlinuz-2.6.18-92.el5xen
vmm=xen.gz-2.6.18-92.el5
label=linux
initrd=initrd-2.6.18-92.el5xen.img
read-only
root=/dev/VolGroup00/rhel5_2
append="dom0_mem=2G dom0_max_vcpus=2 --"

Additionally this example removes the kernel parameters "rhgb quiet" so that kernel and
initscript output are generated on the console. Note the double-dash remains so that the
append line is correctly interpreted as hypervisor arguments.

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Chapter 25.

Configuration files
Red Hat Virtualization configuration files contain the following standard variables. Configuration
items within these files must be enclosed in single quotes('). These configuration files reside in
the /etc/xen directory.

Item Description

pae Specifies the physical address extension

configuration data.

apic Specifies the advanced programmable

interrupt controller configuration data.

memory Specifies the memory size in megabytes.

vcpus Specifies the numbers of virtual CPUs.

console Specifies the port numbers to export the

domain consoles to.

nic Specifies the number of virtual network

interfaces.

vif Lists the randomly-assigned MAC addresses

and bridges assigned to use for the domain's
network addresses.

disk Lists the block devices to export to the

domain and exports physical devices to
domain with read only access.

dhcp Enables networking using DHCP.

netmask Specifies the configured IP netmasks.

gateway Specifies the configured IP gateways.

acpi Specifies the advanced configuration power

interface configuration data.

Table 25.1. Red Hat Virtualization configuration files

The table below, Table 25.2, “Red Hat Virtualization configuration files reference”, is formatted
output from xm create --help_config.

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Chapter 25. Configuration files

Parameter Description
vncpasswd=NAME Password for VNC console on HVM domain.
vncviewer=no | yes Spawn a vncviewer listening for a vnc server
in the domain. The address of the vncviewer
is passed to the domain on the kernel
command line using
VNC_SERVER=<host>:<port>. The port used
by vnc is 5500 + DISPLAY. A display value
with a free port is chosen if possible. Only
valid when vnc=1.
vncconsole=no | yes Spawn a vncviewer process for the domain's
graphical console. Only valid when vnc=1.
name=NAME Domain name. Must be unique.
bootloader=FILE Path to bootloader.
bootargs=NAME Arguments to pass to boot loader
bootentry=NAME DEPRECATED. Entry to boot via boot loader.
Use bootargs.
kernel=FILE Path to kernel image.
ramdisk=FILE Path to ramdisk.
features=FEATURES Features to enable in guest kernel
builder=FUNCTION Function to use to build the domain.
memory=MEMORY Domain memory in MB.
maxmem=MEMORY Maximum domain memory in MB.
shadow_memory=MEMORY Domain shadow memory in MB.
cpu=CPU CPU to run the VCPU0 on.
cpus=CPUS CPUS to run the domain on.
pae=PAE Disable or enable PAE of HVM domain.
acpi=ACPI Disable or enable ACPI of HVM domain.
apic=APIC Disable or enable APIC of HVM domain.
vcpus=VCPUS # of Virtual CPUS in domain.
cpu_weight=WEIGHT Set the new domain's cpu weight. WEIGHT is a
float that controls the domain's share of the
cpu.
restart=onreboot | always | never Deprecated. Use on_poweroff, on_reboot,
and on_crash instead. Whether the domain
should be restarted on exit. - onreboot: restart
on exit with shutdown code reboot - always:
always restart on exit, ignore exit code -
never: never restart on exit, ignore exit code

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Parameter Description
on_poweroff=destroy | restart | Behavior when a domain exits with reason
preserve | destroy 'poweroff'. - destroy: the domain is cleaned up
as normal; - restart: a new domain is started
in place of the old one; - preserve: no
clean-up is done until the domain is manually
destroyed (using xm destroy, for example); -
rename-restart: the old domain is not cleaned
up, but is renamed and a new domain started
in its place.
on_reboot=destroy | restart | preserve Behavior when a domain exits with reason
| destroy 'reboot'. - destroy: the domain is cleaned up
as normal; - restart: a new domain is started
in place of the old one; - preserve: no
clean-up is done until the domain is manually
destroyed (using xm destroy, for example); -
rename-restart: the old domain is not cleaned
up, but is renamed and a new domain started
in its place.
on_crash=destroy | restart | preserve | Behavior when a domain exits with reason
destroy 'crash'. - destroy: the domain is cleaned up as
normal; - restart: a new domain is started in
place of the old one; - preserve: no clean-up
is done until the domain is manually
destroyed (using xm destroy, for example); -
rename-restart: the old domain is not cleaned
up, but is renamed and a new domain started
in its place.
blkif=no | yes Make the domain a block device backend.
netif=no | yes Make the domain a network interface
backend.
tpmif=no | yes Make the domain a TPM interface backend.
disk=phy:DEV,VDEV,MODE[,DOM] Add a disk device to a domain. The physical
device is DEV, which is exported to the domain
as VDEV. The disk is read-only if MODE is r,
read-write if MODE is w. If DOM is specified it
defines the backend driver domain to use for
the disk. The option may be repeated to add
more than one disk.
pci=BUS:DEV.FUNC Add a PCI device to a domain, using given
params (in hex). For example pci=c0:02.1a.
The option may be repeated to add more than
one pci device.

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Chapter 25. Configuration files

Parameter Description
ioports=FROM[-TO] Add a legacy I/O range to a domain, using
given params (in hex). For example
ioports=02f8-02ff. The option may be
repeated to add more than one i/o range.
irq=IRQ Add an IRQ (interrupt line) to a domain. For
example irq=7. This option may be repeated
to add more than one IRQ.
usbport=PATH Add a physical USB port to a domain, as
specified by the path to that port. This option
may be repeated to add more than one port.
Make the domain a framebuffer backend. The
vfb=type={vnc,sdl}, vncunused=1, backend type should be either sdl or vnc. For
vncdisplay=N, type=vnc, connect an external vncviewer.
The server will listen on ADDR (default
vnclisten=ADDR, display=DISPLAY,
127.0.0.1) on port N+5900. N defaults to the
xauthority=XAUTHORITY, domain id. If vncunused=1, the server will try
vncpasswd=PASSWORD, to find an arbitrary unused port above 5900.
For type=sdl, a viewer will be started
keymap=KEYMAP automatically using the given DISPLAY and
XAUTHORITY, which default to the current
user's ones.
Add a network interface with the given MAC
vif=type=TYPE, mac=MAC, address and bridge. The vif is configured by
bridge=BRIDGE, ip=IPADDR, calling the given configuration script. If type is
not specified, default is netfront not ioemu
script=SCRIPT, backend=DOM,
device. If mac is not specified a random MAC
vifname=NAME
address is used. If not specified then the
network backend chooses it's own MAC
address. If bridge is not specified the first
bridge found is used. If script is not specified
the default script is used. If backend is not
specified the default backend driver domain is
used. If vifname is not specified the backend
virtual interface will have name vifD.N where
D is the domain id and N is the interface id.
This option may be repeated to add more
than one vif. Specifying vifs will increase the
number of interfaces as needed.
vtpm=instance=INSTANCE,backend=DOM Add a TPM interface. On the backend side
use the given instance as virtual TPM
instance. The given number is merely the
preferred instance number. The hotplug script

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Parameter Description
will determine which instance number will
actually be assigned to the domain. The
association between virtual machine and the
TPM instance number can be found in
/etc/xen/vtpm.db. Use the backend in the
given domain.
access_control=policy=POLICY,label=LABEL Add a security label and the security policy
reference that defines it. The local ssid
reference is calculated when
starting/resuming the domain. At this time, the
policy is checked against the active policy as
well. This way, migrating through save/restore
is covered and local labels are automatically
created correctly on the system where a
domain is started / resumed.
nics=NUM DEPRECATED. Use empty vif entries
instead. Set the number of network interfaces.
Use the vif option to define interface
parameters, otherwise defaults are used.
Specifying vifs will increase the number of
interfaces as needed.
root=DEVICE Set the root= parameter on the kernel
command line. Use a device, e.g. /dev/sda1,
or /dev/nfs for NFS root.
extra=ARGS Set extra arguments to append to the kernel
command line.
ip=IPADDR Set the kernel IP interface address.
gateway=IPADDR Set the kernel IP gateway.
netmask=MASK Set the kernel IP netmask.
hostname=NAME Set the kernel IP hostname.
interface=INTF Set the kernel IP interface name.
dhcp=off|dhcp Set the kernel dhcp option.
nfs_server=IPADDR Set the address of the NFS server for NFS
root.
nfs_root=PATH Set the path of the root NFS directory.
device_model=FILE Path to device model program.
fda=FILE Path to fda
fdb=FILE Path to fdb
serial=FILE Path to serial or pty or vc

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Chapter 25. Configuration files

Parameter Description
localtime=no | yes Is RTC set to localtime?
keymap=FILE Set keyboard layout used
usb=no | yes Emulate USB devices?
usbdevice=NAME Name of USB device to add?
stdvga=no | yes Use std vga or cirrhus logic graphics
isa=no | yes Simulate an ISA only system?
boot=a|b|c|d Default boot device
nographic=no | yes Should device models use graphics?
soundhw=audiodev Should device models enable audio device?
vnc Should the device model use VNC?
vncdisplay VNC display to use
vnclisten Address for VNC server to listen on.
vncunused Try to find an unused port for the VNC server.
Only valid when vnc=1.
sdl Should the device model use SDL?
display=DISPLAY X11 display to use
xauthority=XAUTHORITY X11 Authority to use
uuid xenstore UUID (universally unique identifier)
to use. One will be randomly generated if this
option is not set, just like MAC addresses for
virtual network interfaces. This must be a
unique value across the entire cluster.

Table 25.2. Red Hat Virtualization configuration files reference

Table 25.4, “Configuration parameter default values” lists all configuration parameters available,
the Python parser function used to set the value and each parameter's default value. The setter
function gives an idea of what the parser does with the values you specify. It reads them as
Python values, then feeds them to a setter function to store them. If the value is not valid
Python, you get an obscure error message. If the setter rejects your value, you should get a
reasonable error message, except it appears to get lost somehow, along with your bogus
setting. If the setter accepts, but the value makes no sense, the program proceeds, and you can
expect it to fall flat on its face somewhere down the road.

Parser function Valid arguments

set_bool
Accepted values:

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Parser function Valid arguments

• yes

• y

• no

• yes

set_float
Accepts a floating point number with Python's
float(). For example:

• 3.14

• 10.

• .001

• 1e100

• 3.14e-10

set_int
Accepts an integer with Python's int().
set_value
accepts any Python value.
append_value
accepts any Python value, and appends it to
the previous value which is stored in an array.

Table 25.3. Python functions used to set parameter values

Parameter Parser function Default value

name setter default value

vncpasswd set_value None

vncviewer set_bool None

vncconsole set_bool None

name set_value None

bootloader set_value None

bootargs set_value None

bootentry set_value None

kernel set_value None

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Chapter 25. Configuration files

Parameter Parser function Default value

ramdisk set_value ''

features set_value ''

builder set_value 'linux'

memory set_int 128

maxmem set_int None

shadow_memory set_int 0

cpu set_int None

cpus set_value None

pae set_int 0

acpi set_int 0

apic set_int 0

vcpus set_int 1

cpu_weight set_float None

restart set_value None

on_poweroff set_value None

on_reboot set_value None

on_crash set_value None

blkif set_bool 0

netif set_bool 0

tpmif append_value 0

disk append_value []

pci append_value []

ioports append_value []

irq append_value []

usbport append_value []

vfb append_value []

vif append_value []

vtpm append_value []

access_control append_value []

nics set_int -1

root set_value ''

extra set_value ''

ip set_value ''

gateway set_value ''

netmask set_value ''

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Parameter Parser function Default value
hostname set_value ''

interface set_value "eth0"

dhcp set_value 'off'

nfs_server set_value None

nfs_root set_value None

device_model set_value ''

fda set_value ''

fdb set_value ''

serial set_value ''

localtime set_bool 0

keymap set_value ''

usb set_bool 0

usbdevice set_value ''

stdvga set_bool 0

isa set_bool 0

boot set_value 'c'

nographic set_bool 0

soundhw set_value ''

vnc set_value None

vncdisplay set_value None

vnclisten set_value None

vncunused set_bool 1

sdl set_value None

display set_value None

xauthority set_value None

uuid set_value None

Table 25.4. Configuration parameter default values

225
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Part VI. Tips and Tricks
Tips and Tricks to Enhance Productivity

These chapters contain useful hints and tips to improve Red Hat Virtualization.

ccxxix
ccxxx
Chapter 26.

Tips and tricks

This chapter contains a number of scripts, tips and hints for using and enhancing Red Hat
Virtualization.

1. Automatically starting domains during the host

system boot
This section explains how to make guest systems boot automatically during the host system's
boot phase. You need to configure soft links in /etc/xen/auto to point to the guest
configuration file of the guests you want to automatically boot. It is recommended to keep the
number of guests small because the boot order of guests is serialized. More guests
automatically started at boot cause the boot sequence to take a significantly longer time.

The example below shows how you can configure the softlink for a guest image named
example to automatic boot during the system boot.

# cd /etc/xen/auto
# ls
# ln -s /var/lib/xen/images/example .
# ls -l
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Dec 14 10:02 example -> ../example

2. Modifying /etc/grub.conf
This section describes how to safely and correctly change your /etc/grub.conf file to use the
virtualization kernel. You must use the virtualization kernel for domain0 in order to successfully
run the hypervisor. Copy your existing virtualized kernel entry make sure you copy all of the
important lines or your system will panic upon boot (initrd will have a length of '0'). You need
specify hypervisor specific values you have to add them to the xen line of your grub entry.

The output below is an example of a grub.conf entry from a Red Hat Virtualization system. The
grub.conf on your system may vary. The important part in the example below is the section
from the title line to the next new line.

#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz hiddenmenu
serial --unit=0 --speed=115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=10 serial console

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen)

root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5 com1=115200,8n1
module /vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen ro
root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
module /initrd-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen.img

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Chapter 26. Tips and tricks

An important point regarding editing grub.conf...

Your grub.conf could look very different if it has been manually edited before or
copied from an example. Read Chapter 23, Configuring GRUB for more
information on using virtualization and grub.

To set the amount of memory assigned to your host system at boot time to 256MB you need to
append dom0_mem=256M to the xen line in your grub.conf. A modified version of the grub
configuration file in the previous example:

#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
serial --unit=0 --speed=115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=10 serial console

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen)

root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5 com1=115200,8n1 dom0_mem=256MB
module /vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen ro
root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
module /initrd-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen.img

3. Example guest configuration files and parameters

The following configuration files can be used as reference examples. Normally the configuration
will be created by virt-install or virt-manager during the installation of a guest. However
sometimes it might be useful to have a reference available in case a new configuration needs
manual creation.

Example: para-virtualized guest's configuration file.

An example of a para-virtualized guest's configuration file:

name = "rhel5b2vm01"
memory = "2048"
disk = [ 'tap:aio:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel5b2vm01.dsk,xvda,w', ]
vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:33:79:3c, bridge=xenbr0', ]
vnc=1
vncunused=1
uuid = "302bd9ce-4f60-fc67-9e40-7a77d9b4e1ed"
bootloader="/usr/bin/pygrub"
vcpus=2
on_reboot = 'restart'

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 Duplicating an existing guest and its

on_crash = 'restart'

An example of a fully virtualized guest's configuration file:

name = "rhel4u4-x86_64"
builder = "hvm"
memory = "500"
disk = [ 'file:/var/lib/xen/images/rhel4u4-x86_64.dsk,hda,w', ]
vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:09:f0:12, bridge=xenbr0', 'type=ioemu,
mac=00:16:3e:09:f0:13, bridge=xenbr1' ]
uuid = "b10372f9-91d7-a05f-12ff-372100c99af5"
device_model = "/usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm"
kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
vnc=1
vncunused=1
apic=1
acpi=1
pae=1
vcpus=1
serial = "pty" # enable serial console
on_reboot = 'restart'

4. Duplicating an existing guest and its configuration

file
This section outlines copying an existing configuration file to create a new guest. There are key
parameters in your guest's configuration file you must be aware of, and modify, to successfully
duplicate a guest.

name
The name of your guest as it is known to the hypervisor and displayed in the management
utilities. This entry should be unique on your system.

uuid
A unique handle for the guest, a new UUID can be regenerated using the uuidgen
command. A sample UUID output:

$ uuidgen
a984a14f-4191-4d14-868e-329906b211e5

vif

• The MAC address must define a unique MAC address for each guest. This is
automatically done if the standard tools are used. If you are copying a guest configuration
from an existing guest you can use the script Section 6, “Generating a new unique MAC
address”.

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Chapter 26. Tips and tricks

• If you are moving or duplicating an existing guest configuration file to a new host you
have to make sure you adjust the xenbr entry to correspond with your local networking
configuration (you can obtain the Red Hat Virtualization bridge information using the
command brctl show.

• Device entries, make sure you adjust the entries in the disk= section to point to the
correct guest image.

Now, adjust the system configuration settings on your guest:

/etc/sysconfig/network
Modify the HOSTNAME entry to the guest's new hostname.

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

• Modify the HWADDR address to the output from ifconfig eth0

• Modify the IPADDR entry if a static IP address is used.

/etc/selinux/config
Change the SELinux enforcement policy from Enforcing to Disabled. Use the GUI tool
system-config-securitylevel or the command:

# setenforce 0

5. Identifying guest type and implementation

The script below can identify if the environment an application or script is running in is a
para-virtualized, a fully virtualized guest or on the hypervisor. The script below can be used to
identify running on:

#!/bin/bash
declare -i IS_HVM=0
declare -i IS_PARA=0
check_hvm()
{
IS_X86HVM="$(strings /proc/acpi/dsdt | grep int-xen)"
if [ x"${IS_X86HVM}" != x ]; then
echo "Guest type is full-virt x86hvm"
IS_HVM=1
fi
}
check_para()
{
if $(grep -q control_d /proc/xen/capabilities); then
echo "Host is dom0"
IS_PARA=1
else

234
 configuration file

echo "Guest is para-virt domU"

IS_PARA=1
fi
}
if [ -f /proc/acpi/dsdt ]; then
check_hvm
fi

if [ ${IS_HVM} -eq 0 ]; then

if [ -f /proc/xen/capabilities ] ; then
check_para
fi
fi
if [ ${IS_HVM} -eq 0 -a ${IS_PARA} -eq 0 ]; then
echo "Baremetal platform"
fi

6. Generating a new unique MAC address

In some case you will need to generate a new and unique MAC address for a guest. There is no
command line tool available to generate a new MAC address at the time of writing. The script
provided below can generate a new MAC address for your guests. Save the script to your guest
as macgen.py. Now from that directory you can run the script using ./macgen.py . and it will
generate a new MAC address. A sample output would look like the following:

$ ./macgen.py
00:16:3e:20:b0:11

#!/usr/bin/python
# macgen.py script to generate a MAC address for Red Hat Virtualization
guests
#
import random
#
def randomMAC():
mac = [ 0x00, 0x16, 0x3e,
random.randint(0x00, 0x7f),
random.randint(0x00, 0xff),
random.randint(0x00, 0xff) ]
return ':'.join(map(lambda x: "%02x" % x, mac))
#
print randomMAC()

Another method to generate a new MAC and for your guest.

You can also use the built-in modules of python-virtinst to generate a new MAC address
and UUID for use in a guest configuration file:

# echo 'import virtinst.util ; print\

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Chapter 26. Tips and tricks

virtinst.util.uuidToString(virtinst.util.randomUUID())' | python
# echo 'import virtinst.util ; print virtinst.util.randomMAC()' | python

The script above can also be implemented as a script file as seen below.

#!/usr/bin/env python
# -*- mode: python; -*-
print ""
print "New UUID:"
import virtinst.util ; print
virtinst.util.uuidToString(virtinst.util.randomUUID())
print "New MAC:"
import virtinst.util ; print virtinst.util.randomMAC()
print ""

7. Limit network bandwidth for a guest

In some environments it may be required to limit the network bandwidth available to certain
guests. This can be used to implement basic Quality of Service on a host running multiple virtual
machines. By default the virtual machine will be able to use any bandwidth setting available on
your physical network card supports. The physical network card must be mapped to one of
virtual machine's virtual network interfaces. In Red Hat Virtualization the “rate” parameter part
of the VIF entries can be used to achieve the goal of throttling certain virtual machines.

This list covers the variables

rate
The rate= option can be added to the VIF= entry in a virtual machine configuration file to
limit a virtual machine's network bandwidth or to specify a specific granularity of credits
during a specified time window.

time window
The time window is optional to the rate= option:

The default time window is 50ms.

A smaller time window will provide less burst transmission, however, the replenishment rate
and latency will increase.

The default 50ms time window is a good balance between latency and throughput and in
most cases will not require changing.

Examples of rate parameter values and uses.

rate=10Mb/s

236
 Starting domains automatically during

Limit the outgoing network traffic from the guest to 10MB/s.

rate=250KB/s
Limit the outgoing network traffic from the guest to 250KB/s.

rate=10MB/s@50ms
Limit bandwidth to 10MB/s and provide the guest with a 50KB chunk every 50ms.

In the virtual machine configuration a sample VIF entry would look like the following:

vif = [ 'rate=10MB/s , mac=00:16:3e:7a:55:1c, bridge=xenbr1']

This rate entry would limit the virtual machine's interface to 10MB/s for outgoing traffic

8. Starting domains automatically during system boot

You can configure your guests to start automatically when you boot the system. To do this, you
must modify the symbolic links that resides in /etc/xen/auto . This file points to the guest
configuration files that you need to start automatically. The start up process is serialized,
meaning that the higher the number of guests, the longer the boot process will take. This
example shows you how to use symbolic links for the guest rhel5vm01 :

# cd /etc/xen
# cd auto
# ls
# ln -s ../rhel5vm01 .
# ls -l
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 Dec 14 10:02 rhel5vm01 -> ../rhel5vm01
#

9. Modifying dom0
To use Red Hat Virtualization to manage domain0, you will constantly making changes to the
grub.conf configuration file, that resides in the /etc directory. Because of the large number of
domains to manage, many system administrators prefer to use the 'cut and paste' method when
editing grub.conf . If you do this, make sure that you include all five lines in the Virtualization
entry (or this will create system errors). If you require Xen hypervisor specific values, you must
add them to the 'xen' line. This example represents a correct grub.conf Virtualization entry:

# boot=/dev/sda/
default=0
timeout=15
#splashimage=(hd0, 0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
serial --unit=0 --speed=115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=10 serial console

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Chapter 26. Tips and tricks

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.17-1.2519.4.21. el5xen)

root (hd0, 0)
kernel /xen.gz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5 com1=115200,8n1
module /vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
module /initrd-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen.img

For example, if you need to change your dom0 hypervisor's memory to 256MB at boot time, you
must edit the 'xen' line and append it with the correct entry, 'dom0_mem=256M' . This example
represents the respective grub.conf xen entry:

# boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
#splashimage=(hd0,0)/grubs/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
serial --unit=0 --speed =115200 --word=8 --parity=no --stop=1
terminal --timeout=10 serial console
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.17-1.2519.4.21. el5xen)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /xen.gz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5 com1=115200,8n1 dom0_mem=256MB
module /vmlinuz-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen ro
root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
module /initrd-2.6.17-1.2519.4.21.el5xen.img

10. Configuring guest live migration

Red Hat Virtualization can migrate virtual machines between other servers running Red Hat
Virtualization. Further, migration is performed in an offline method (using the xm migrate
command). Live migration can be done from the same command. However there are some
additional modifications that you must do to the xend-config configuration file. This example
identifies the entries that you must modify to ensure a successful migration:

(xend-relocation-server yes)
The default for this parameter is 'no', which keeps the relocation/migration server
deactivated (unless on a trusted network) and the domain virtual memory is exchanged in
raw form without encryption.

(xend-relocation-port 8002)
This parameter sets the port that xend uses for migration. This value is correct, just make
sure to remove the comment that comes before it.

(xend-relocation-address )
This parameter is the address that listens for relocation socket connections, after you
enable the xend-relocation-server . When listening, it restricts the migration to a
particular interface.

(xend-relocation-hosts-allow )

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 system boot

This parameter controls the host that communicates with the relocation port. If the value is
empty, then all incoming connections are allowed. You must change this to a
space-separated sequences of regular expressions (such as
xend-relocation-hosts-allow- '^localhost\\.localdomain$' ). A host with a fully
qualified domain name or IP address that matches these expressions are accepted.

After you configure these parameters, you must reboot the host for the Red Hat Virtualization to
accept your new parameters.

11. Very Secure ftpd

vsftpd provides access to installation trees for para-virtualized guests (for example the Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5 repositories) or to allow the storage of public tools/kits etc. If you have
not installed vsftpd during the server installation you can grab the RPM package from your
Server directory of your installation media and install it using the rpm -ivh vsftpd*.rpm (note
the RPM package must be in your current directory).

1. To configure vsftpd, edit /etc/passwd using vipw and change the ftp user's home directory
to the directory where you are going to keep the installation trees for your para-virtualized
guests. An example entry for the FTP user would look like the following:

ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/xen/pub:/sbin/nologin

2. to have vsftpd start automatically during system boot use the chkconfig utility to enable the
automatic start up of vsftpd.

3. verify that vsftpd is not enabled using the chkconfig --list vsftpd:

$ chkconfig --list vsftpd

vsftpd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:off 4:off 5:off 6:off

4. run the chkconfig --levels 345 vsftpd on to start vsftpd automatically for run levels 3, 4
and 5.

5. use the chkconfig --list vsftpd command to verify vsftdp has been enabled to start
during system boot:

$ chkconfig --list vsftpd

vsftpd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

6. use the service vsftpd start vsftpd to start the vsftpd service:

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Chapter 26. Tips and tricks

$service vsftpd start vsftpd

Starting vsftpd for vsftpd: [ OK ]

12. Configuring LUN Persistence

This section covers how to implement LUN persistence in guests and on the host machine with
and without multipath.

Implementing LUN persistence without multipath.

If your system is not using multipath, you can use udev to implement LUN persistence. Before
implementing LUN persistence in your system, ensure that you acquire the proper UUIDs. Once
you acquire these, you can configure LUN persistence by editing the scsi_id file that resides in
the /etc directory. Once you have this file open in a text editor, you must comment out this
line: If your system is not using multipath, you can use udev to implement LUN persistence.
Before implementing LUN persistence in your system, ensure that you acquire the proper
UUIDs. Once you acquire these, you can configure LUN persistence by editing the scsi_id file
that resides in the /etc directory. Once you have this file open in a text editor, you must
comment out this line:

# options=-b

Then replace it with this parameter:

# options=-g

This tells udev to monitor all system SCSI devices for returning UUIDs. To determine the
system UUIDs, type:

# scsi_id -g -s /block/sdc

The output should resemble the following:

# scsi_id -g -s /block/sdc
*3600a0b80001327510000015427b625e*

This long string of characters is the UUID. To get the device names to key off the UUID, check
each device path to ensure that the UUID number is the same for each device. The UUIDs do
not change when you add a new device to your system. Once you have checked the device

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 Configuring LUN Persistence

paths, you must create rules for the device naming. To create these rules, you must edit the
20-names.rules file that resides in the /etc/udev/rules.d directory. The device naming
rules you create here should follow this format:

# KERNEL="sd*", BUS="scsi", PROGRAM="sbin/scsi_id", RESULT="UUID",

NAME="devicename"

Replace your existing UUID and devicename with the above UUID retrieved entry. So the rule
should resemble the following:

KERNEL="sd*", BUS="scsi", PROGRAM="sbin/scsi_id",

RESULT="3600a0b80001327510000015427b625e
", NAME="mydevicename"

This causes the system to enable all devices that match /dev/sd* to inspect the given UUID.
When it finds a matching device, it creates a device node called /dev/devicename. For this
example, the device node is /dev/mydevice . Finally, you need to append the rc.local file
that resides in the /etc directory with this path:

/sbin/start_udev

Implementing LUN persistence with multipath.

To implement lun persistence in a multipath environment, you must define the alias names for
the multipath devices. For this example, you must define four device aliases by editing the
multipath.conf file that resides in the /etc/ directory:

multipath {
wwid 3600a0b80001327510000015427b625e
alias oramp1
}
multipath {
wwid 3600a0b80001327510000015427b6
alias oramp2
}
multipath {
wwid 3600a0b80001327510000015427b625e
alias oramp3
}
multipath {
wwid 3600a0b80001327510000015427b625e
alias oramp4
}

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Chapter 26. Tips and tricks

This defines 4 LUNs: /dev/mpath/oramp1, /dev/mpath/oramp2, /dev/mpath/oramp3, and

dev/mpath/oramp4. The devices will reside in the /dev/mpath directory. These lun names are
persistent over reboots as it creates the alias names on the wwid of the LUNs.

13. Disable SMART disk monitoring for guests

SMART disk monitoring can be disabled as we are running on virtual disks and the physical
storage is managed by the host.

/sbin/service smartd stop

/sbin/chkconfig --del smartd

14. Cleaning up the /var/lib/xen/ folder

Over time you will see a number of files accumulate in /var/lib/xen, the usually named
vmlinuz.****** and initrd.******. These files are the initrd and vmlinuz files from virtual
machines which either failed to boot or failed for some other reason. These files are temporary
files extracted from virtual machine's boot disk during the start up sequence. These files should
be automatically removed after the virtual machine is shut down cleanly. Then you can safely
delete old and stale copies from this directory.

15. Configuring a VNC Server

You can configure a VNC server using by navigating to System, Preferences, and selecting
Remote Desktop. Alternatively you can run the vino-preferences command.

Follow these steps to run a dedicated VNC server session:

1. Edit the ~/.vnc/xstartup file to start a GNOME session whenever vncserver is started.
The first time you run the vncserver script it will ask you for a password you want to use for
your VNC session.

2. A sample xstartup file:

#!/bin/sh
# Uncomment the following two lines for normal desktop:
# unset SESSION_MANAGER
# exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc
[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
#xsetroot -solid grey
#vncconfig -iconic &
#xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
#twm &
if test -z "$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" ; then
eval `dbus-launch --sh-syntax –exit-with-session`
echo "D-BUS per-session daemon address is: \

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 Cloning guest configuration files

$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS"
fi
exec gnome-session

16. Cloning guest configuration files

You can copy (or clone) an existing configuration file to create an all new guest. You must
modify the name parameter of the guests' configuration file. The new, unique name then
appears in the hypervisor and is viewable by the management utilities. You must generate an all
new UUID as well by using the uuidgen command. Then for the vif entries you must define a
unique MAC address for each guest (if you are copying a guest configuration from an existing
guest, you can create a script to handle it). For the xen bridge information, if you move an
existing guest configuration file to a new host, you must update the xenbr entry to match your
local networking configuration. For the Device entries, you must modify the entries in the
'disk=' section to point to the correct guest image.

You must also modify these system configuration settings on your guest. You must modify the
HOSTNAME entry of the /etc/sysconfig/network file to match the new guest's hostname.

You must modify the HWADDR address of the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

file to match the output from ifconfig eth0 file and if you use static IP addresses, you must
modify the IPADDR entry.

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244
Chapter 27.

Creating custom Red Hat

Virtualization scripts
This section will provide some information which may be useful to programmers and system
administrators intending to write custom scripts to make their lives easier using Red Hat
Virtualization.

Chapter 26, Tips and tricks is recommended reading for programmers thinking of making new
applications which use Red Hat Virtualization.

1. Using XML configuration files with virsh

virsh can handle XML configuration files. You may want to use this to your advantage for
scripting large deployments with special options. You can add devices defined in an XML file to
a running para-virtualized guest. For example, to add a ISO file as hdc to a running guest create
an XML file:

# cat satelliteiso.xml
<disk type="file" device="disk">
<driver name="file"/>
<source
file="/var/lib/xen/images/rhn-satellite-5.0.1-11-redhat-linux-as-i386-4-embedded-oracle.iso"/
<target dev="hdc"/>
<readonly/>
</disk>

Run virsh attach-device to attach the ISO as hdc to a guest called "satellite" :

# virsh attach-device satellite satelliteiso.xml

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246
Chapter 28.

Compiling para-virtualized driver

packages from source code
You may need to rebuild the RPMs to get them working properly on your system for specific
architectures. Use the source RPMs provided by Red Hat. These instructions will also allow you
to install from the source RPMs.

Before compiling, the kverrel and kverbase variables in the xenpv.spec file must be changed
to match the kernel version that binary modules are being built for. Usually, this is the value
returned from 'uname -r'.

You can then use the following command to rebuild the kmod-xenpv package. Change
SOURCE to reflect the correct path to your kmod-xenpv RPM file.

cd /usr/src/redhat/SOURCE/xenpv
rpmbuild -bb kmod-xenpv

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248
Part VII. Troubleshooting
Introduction to Troubleshooting and Problem Solving

The following chapters provide information to assist you in troubleshooting issues you may
encounter using Red Hat Virtualization.

Important note on virtualization issues

Your particular problem may not appear in this book due to ongoing development
which creates and fixes bugs. For the most up to date list of known bugs, issues
and bug fixes read the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Release Notes for your version
and hardware architecture. The Release Notes can be found in the
documentation section of the Red Hat website,
www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/1.

If all else fails...

If you still cannot find a fix to your problem after reading this guide and it is not a
known issue, file a bug using Red Hat's Bugzilla. To create a new bug, go to
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi and select Red Hat Enterprise Linux
and then fill out the form.

1
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/

ccli
cclii
Chapter 29.

How To troubleshoot Red Hat

Virtualization
This chapter covers how to troubleshoot systems running Red Hat Virtualization.
Troubleshooting topics covered in this chapter include:

• general troubleshooting tools,

• virtualization specific troubleshooting tools,

• troubleshooting techniques,

• log file locations and explanations, and

• general virtualization task errors.

1. Debugging and troubleshooting Red Hat

Virtualization
This section summarizes the System Administrator applications, the networking utilities, and the
Advanced Debugging Tools (for more information on using these tools to configure the Red Hat
Virtualization services, see the respective configuration documentation). You can employ these
standard System Administrator Tools and logs to assist with troubleshooting:

Useful commmands and applications for troubleshooting

xentop
xentop displays real-time information about a Red HAt Virtualization host system and it's
domains.

xm
Using the dmesg and log

• vmstat

• iostat

• lsof

sysstat iostat, mpstat and sar.

You can employ these Advanced Debugging Tools and logs to assist with troubleshooting:

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• XenOprofile

• systemtap

• crash

• sysrq

• sysrq t

• sysrq w

These networking tools can assist with troubleshooting virtualization networking problems:

• ifconfig

• tcpdump

• brctl

brctl is a networking tool that inspects and configures the ethernet bridge configuration in the
Virtualization linux kernel. You must have root access before performing these example
commands:

# brctl show

bridge-name bridge-id STP enabled interfaces

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
xenbr0 8000.feffffff no vif13.0
xenbr1 8000.ffffefff yes pddummy0
xenbr2 8000.ffffffef no vif0.0

# brctl showmacs xenbr0

port-no mac-addr local? aging timer

1 fe:ff:ff:ff:ff: yes 0.00

2 fe:ff:ff:fe:ff: yes 0.00

# brctl showstp xenbr0

xenbr0

bridge-id 8000.fefffffffff

designated-root 8000.fefffffffff

root-port 0 path-cost 0

max-age 20.00 bridge-max-age 20.00

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 Log files overview

hello-time 2.00 bridge-hello-time 2.00

forward-delay 0.00 bridge-forward-delay 0.00

aging-time 300.01

hello-timer 1.43 tcn-timer 0.00

topology-change-timer 0.00 gc-timer 0.02

Other utilities which can be used to troubleshoot virtualization on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. All
utilities mentioned can be found in the Server repositories of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Server distribution:

• strace is a command which traces system calls and events received and used by another
process.

• vncviewer: connect to a VNC server running on your server or a virtual machine. Install
vncviwer using the yum install vnc command.

• vncserver: start a remote desktop on your server. Gives you the ability to run graphical user
interfaces such as virt-manager via a remote session. Install vncserver using the yum
install vnc-server command.

2. Log files overview

When deploying Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 with Virtualization into your network infrastructure,
the host's Virtualization software uses many specific directories for important configuration, log
files, and other utilities. All the Red Hat Virtualization logs files are standard ASCII files, and
easily accessible with any ASCII based editor:

• The Red Hat Virtualization main configuration directory is /etc/xen/. This directory contains
the xend daemon and other virtual machine configuration files. The networking script files
reside here as well (in the /scripts subdirectory).

• All of actual log files themselves that you will consult for troubleshooting purposes reside in
the /var/log/xen directory.

• You should also know that the default directory for all virtual machine file based disk images
resides in the /var/lib/xen directory.

• Red Hat Virtualization information for the /proc file system reside in the /proc/xen/
directory.

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3. Log file descriptions

Red Hat Virtualization features the xend daemon and qemu-dm process, two utilities that write
the multiple log files to the /var/log/xen/ directory:

• xend.log is the log file that contains all the data collected by the xend daemon, whether it is
a normal system event, or an operator initiated action. All virtual machine operations (such as
create, shutdown, destroy, etc.) appears here. The xend.log is usually the first place to look
when you track down event or performance problems. It contains detailed entries and
conditions of the error messages.

• xend-debug.log is the log file that contains records of event errors from xend and the
Virtualization subsystems (such as framebuffer, Python scripts, etc.).

• xen-hotplug-log is the log file that contains data from hotplug events. If a device or a
network script does not come online, the event appears here.

• qemu-dm.[PID].log is the log file created by the qemu-dm process for each fully virtualized
guest. When using this log file, you must retrieve the given qemu-dm process PID, by using
the ps command to examine process arguments to isolate the qemu-dm process on the virtual
machine. Note that you must replace the [PID] symbol with the actual PID qemu-dm process.

If you encounter any errors with the Virtual Machine Manager, you can review the generated
data in the virt-manager.log file that resides in the /.virt-manager directory. Note that
every time you start the Virtual Machine Manager, it overwrites the existing log file contents.
Make sure to backup the virt-manager.log file, before you restart the Virtual Machine
manager after a system error.

4. Important directory locations

There are other utilities and log files you should when you track errors and troubleshoot
problems. within Red Hat Virtualization environments:

• Virtual machines images reside in the /var/lib/xen/images directory.

• When you restart the xend daemon, it updates the xend-database that resides in the
/var/lib/xen/xend-db directory.

• Virtual machine dumps (that you perform with xm dump-core command) resides in the
/var/lib/xen/dumps directory.

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 Troubleshooting with the logs

• The /etc/xen directory contains the configuration files that you use to manage system
resources. The xend daemon configuration file is called xend-config.sxp and you can use
this file to implement system-wide changes and configure the networking callouts.

• The proc folders are another resource that allows you to gather system information. These
proc entries reside in the /proc/xen directory:

/proc/xen/capabilities

/proc/xen/balloon

/proc/xen/xenbus/

5. Troubleshooting with the logs

When encountering issues with installing Red Hat Virtualization, you can refer to the host
system's two logs to assist with troubleshooting. The xend.log file contains the same basic
information as when you run the xm log command. It resides in the /var/log/ directory. Here
is an example log entry for when you create a domain running a kernel:

[2006-12-27 02:23:02 xend] ERROR (SrvBase: 163) op=create: Error creating

domain: (0, 'Error')
Traceback (most recent call list)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/server/SrvBase.py" line 107
in_perform val = op_method (op,req)
File
"/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/server/SrvDomainDir.py line 71 in
op_create
raise XendError ("Error creating domain: " + str(ex))
XendError: Error creating domain: (0, 'Error')

The other log file, xend-debug.log, is very useful to system administrators since it contains
even more detailed information than xend.log . Here is the same error data for the same
kernel domain creation problem:

ERROR: Will only load images built for Xen v3.0

ERROR: Actually saw: GUEST_OS=netbsd, GUEST_VER=2.0, XEN_VER=2.0;
LOADER=generic, BSD_SYMTAB'
ERROR: Error constructing guest OS

When calling customer support, always include a copy of both these log files when contacting
the technical support staff.

6. Troubleshooting with the serial console

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The serial console is helpful in troubleshooting difficult problems. If the Virtualization kernel
crashes and the hypervisor generates an error, there is no way to track the error on a local host.
However, the serial console allows you to capture it on a remote host. You must configure the
host to output data to the serial console. Then you must configure the remote host to capture
the data. To do this, you must modify these options in the grub.conf file to enable a 38400-bps
serial console on com1/dev/ttyS0:

title Red Hat Enterprise Linux (2.6.18-8.2080_RHEL5xen0)

root (hd0,2)
kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-8.el5 com1=38400,8n1
module /vmlinuz-2.618-8.el5xen ro root=LABEL=/rhgb quiet
console=xvc console=tty xencons=xvc
module /initrd-2.6.18-8.el5xen.img

The sync_console can help determine a problem that causes hangs with asynchronous
hypervisor console output, and the "pnpacpi=off" works around a problem that breaks input
on the serial console. The parameters "console=ttyS0" and "console=tty" means that
kernel errors get logged with on both the normal VGA console and on the serial console. Then
you can install and set up ttywatch to capture the data on a remote host connected by a
standard null-modem cable. For example, on the remote host you could type:

Itanium serial console troubleshooting

To access the hypervisor via a serial console on the Itanium® architecture you
must enable the console in ELILO. For more information on configuring ELILO,
refer to Chapter 24, Configuring ELILO.

ttywatch --name myhost --port /dev/ttyS0

This pipes the output from /dev/ttyS0 into the file /var/log/ttywatch/myhost.log .

7. Para-virtualized guest console access

Para-virtualized guest operating systems automatically has a virtual text console configured to
plumb data to the dom0 operating system. You can do this from the command line by typing:

xm console [domain name or number]

Where domain100 represents a running name or number. You can also use the Virtual Machine
Manager to display the virtual text console. On the Virtual Machine Details window, select Serial

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 Fully virtualized guest console access

Console from the View menu.

8. Fully virtualized guest console access

Full Virtualized guest operating systems automatically has a text console configured for use, but
the difference is the kernel guest is not configured. To enable the guest virtual serial console to
work with the Full Virtualized guest, you must modify the guest's grub.conf file, and include the
'console =ttyS0 console=tty0' parameter. This ensures that the kernel messages are sent
to the virtual serial console (and the normal graphical console). If you plan to use the virtual
serial console in a full virtualized guest, you must edit the configuration file in the /etc/xen/
directory. On the host domain, you can then access the text console by typing:

xm console

You can also use the Virtual Machine Manager to display the serial console. On the Virtual
Machine Details window, select Serial Console from the View menu.

9. SELinux considerations
This sections contains things to you must consider when you implement SELinux into your Red
Hat Virtualization environment. When you deploy system changes or add devices, you must
update your SELinux policy accordingly. To configure an LVM volume for a guest, you must
modify the SELinux context for the respective underlying block device and volume group.

# semanage fcontext -a -t xen_image _t -f -b /dev/sda2

# restorecon /dev/sda2

The Boolean parameter xend_disable_t can be used to set the xend in unconfined mode after
restarting the daemon. It is better to disable protection for a single daemon than the whole
system. It is advisable that you should not re-label directories as xen_image_t that you will use
elsewhere.

10. Accessing data on guest disk image

You can use two separate applications that assist you in accessing data from within a guest
disk image. Before using these tools, you must shut down the guests. Accessing the file system
from the guest and dom0 could potentially harm your system.

You can use the kpartx application to handle partitioned disks or LVM volume groups:

yum install kpartx

kpartx -av /dev/xen/guest1
add map guest1p1 : 0 208782 linear /dev/xen/guest1 63
add map guest1p2: 0 16563015 linear /dev/xen/guest1 208845

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To access LVM volumes on a second partition, you must rescan LVM with vgscan and activate
the volume group on the partition (called VolGroup00 by default) by using the vgchange -ay
command:

# kpartx -a /dev/xen/guest1
#vgscan
Reading all physical volumes . This may take a while...
Found volume group "VolGroup00" using metadata type lvm2
# vgchange -ay VolGroup00
2 logical volume(s) in volume group VolGroup00 now active.
# lvs
LV VG Attr Lsize Origin Snap% Move Log Copy%
LogVol00 VolGroup00 -wi-a- 5.06G
LogVol01 VolGroup00 -wi-a- 800.00M
# mount /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 /mnt/
....
#umount /mnt/
#vgchange -an VolGroup00
#kpartx -d /dev/xen/guest1

You must remember to deactivate the logical volumes with vgchange -an, remove the partitions
with kpartx-d , and delete the loop device with losetup -d when you finish.

11. Common troubleshooting situations

When you attempt to start the xend service nothing happens. You type xm list1 and receive
the following:

Error: Error connecting to xend: Connection refused. Is xend running?

You try to run xend start manually and receive more errors:

Error: Could not obtain handle on privileged command interfaces (2 = No such

file or directory)
Traceback (most recent call last:)

File "/usr/sbin/xend/", line 33 in ?

from xen.xend.server. import SrvDaemon

File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/server/SrvDaemon.py" , line

26 in ?

from xen.xend import XendDomain

File "/usr//lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/XendDomain.py" , line 33,

in ?

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 Guest creation errors

from xen.xend import XendDomainInfo

File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/image.py" , line37, in ?

import images

File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/image.py" , line30, in ?

xc = xen.lowlevel.xc.xc ()

RuntimeError: (2, 'No such file or directory' )

What is most likely happened here is that you rebooted your host into a kernel that is not a
xen-hypervisor kernel. To correct this, you must select the xen-hypervisor kernel at boot
time (or set the xen-hypervisor kernel to default in your grub.conf file.

12. Guest creation errors

When you attempt to create a guest, you receive an "Invalid argument" error message. This
usually means that the kernel image you are trying to boot is incompatible with the hypervisor.
An example of this would be if you were attempting to run a non-PAE FC5 kernel on a PAE only
FC6 hypervisor.

You do a yum update and receive a new kernel, the grub.conf default kernel switches right
back to a bare-metal kernel instead of the Virtualization kernel.

To correct this problem you must modify the default kernel RPM that resides in the
/etc/sysconfig/kernel/ directory. You must ensure that kernel-xen parameter is set as the
default option in your gb.conf file.

13. Serial console errors

You receive no output to the serial console. To correct this problem, you must modify the
grub.conf and change the com port parameters to:

serial --unit=1 --speed=115200

title RHEL5 i386 Xen (2.6.18-1.2910.el5xen)

root (hd0, 8)
kernel /boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-1.2910.el5 com2=115200,8n1
module /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2910.el5xen to root=LABEL=RHEL5_i386
console=tty console=ttyS1115200
module /boot/initrd-2.8.6.18-12910.el5xen.img

title RHEL5 i386 xen (2.6.18.-1.2910.el5xen

root (hd0, 8)
kernel /boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-1.2910.el5 com2=115200 console=com2l

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module /boot/vmlinuz2.6.18-1.2910.el5xen to root=LABEL=RHEL5_i386

console=xvc xencons=xvc
module /boot/ititrd-2.6.18-1.2910.el5xen.img

These changes to the grub.conf should enable your serial console to work correctly. You
should be able to use any number for the ttyS and it should work like ttyS0 .

14. Network bridge errors

Red Hat Virtualization can configure multiple Virtualization network bridges to use with multiple
ethernet cards. To successfully configure multiple network bridges for ethernet cards, you must
configure the second network interface by either using the system-config-network TUI/GUI, or
by creating a new configuration file in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts . You should use a
process to setup multiple Xen bridges. This is an example config file for a second NIC called
'eth1' :

#/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/fcfg-eth1
DEVICE=eth1
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=no
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=10.1.1.1
GATEWAY=10.1.1.254
ARP=yes

Copy the /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge to /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge.xen .

Edit /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp and add a line to your new network bridge script (this
example uses "network-virtualization-multi-bridge" ).

In the xend-config.sxp file, the new line should reflect your new script:

network-script network-xen-multi-bridge

Remove the commenting on the line that states:

network-script network-bridge

If you want to create multiple Xen bridges, you must create a custom script. This example below
creates two Xen bridges (called xenbr0 and xenbr1 ) and attaches them to eth1 and eth0 ,

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 Guest configuration files

respectively:

# !/bin/sh
# network-xen-multi-bridge
# Exit if anything goes wrong
set -e
# First arg is operation.
OP=$1
shift
script=/etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge.xen
case ${OP} in
start)
$script start vifnum=1 bridge=xenbr1 netdev=eth1
$script start vifnum=0 bridge=xenbr0 netdev=eth0
;;
stop)
$script stop vifnum=1 bridge=xenbr1 netdev=eth1
$script stop vifnum=0 bridge=xenbr0 netdev=eth0
;;
status)
$script status vifnum=1 bridge=xenbr1 netdev=eth1
$script status vifnum=0 bridge=xenbr0 netdev=eth0
;;
*)
echo 'Unknown command: ' ${OP}
echo 'Valid commands are: start, stop, status'
exit 1
esac

If you want to create additional bridges, just use the example script and copy/paste the file
accordingly.

15. Guest configuration files

When you create guests with the virt-manager or virt-install tools on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5,
the guests configuration files are created automatically in the /etc/xen directory. The example
below is a typical a para-virtualized guest configuration file:

name = "rhel5vm01"
memory = "2048"
disk = ['tap:aio:/xen/images/rhel5vm01.dsk,xvda,w',]
vif = ["type=ieomu, mac=00:16:3e:09:f0:12
bridge=xenbr0',
"type=ieomu, mac=00:16:3e:09:f0:13 ]
vnc = 1
vncunused = 1
uuid = "302bd9ce-4f60-fc67-9e40-7a77d9b4e1ed"
bootloader = "/usr/bin/pygrub"
vcpus=2
on_reboot = "restart"
on_crash = "restart"

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Note that the serial="pty" is the default for the configuration file. This configuration file
example is for a fully-virtualized guest:

name = "rhel5u5-86_64"
builder = "hvm"
memory = 500
disk =
['file:/xen/images/rhel5u5-x86_64.dsk.hda,w1']
vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:09:f0:12,
bridge=xenbr0', 'type=ieomu, mac=00:16:3e:09:f0:13, bridge=xenbr1']
uuid = "b10372f9-91d7-ao5f-12ff-372100c99af5'
device_model = "/usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm"
kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader/"
vnc = 1
vncunused = 1
apic = 1
acpi = 1
pae = 1
vcpus =1
serial ="pty" # enable serial console
on_boot = 'restart'

16. Interpreting error messages

You receive the following error:

failed domain creation due to memory shortage, unable to balloon domain0

A domain can fail if there is not enough RAM available. Domain0 does not balloon down enough
to provide space for the newly created guest. You can check the xend.log file for this error:

[2006-12-21] 20:33:31 xend 3198] DEBUG (balloon:133) Balloon: 558432 Kib

free; 0 to scrub; need 1048576; retries: 20
[2006-12-21] 20:33:31 xend. XendDomainInfo 3198] ERROR (XendDomainInfo: 202
Domain construction failed

You can check the amount of memory in use by domain0 by using the xm list domain0
command. If dom0 is not ballooned down, you can use the command "xm mem-set dom0
NewMemSize" to check memory.

You receive the following error:

1
../../../home/mhideo/.evolution//xen/images/rhel5u5-x86_64.dsk.hda,w

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 Interpreting error messages

wrong kernel image: non-PAE kernel on a PAE

This message indicates that you are trying to run an unsupported guest kernel image on your
hypervisor. This happens when you try to boot a non-PAE para-virtualized guest kernel on a
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 host. Red Hat Virtualization only supports guest kernels with PAE
and 64 bit architectures.

Type this command:

# xm create -c va-base

Using config file "va-base"

Error: (22, 'invalid argument')
[2006-12-14 14:55:46 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] ERRORs
(XendDomainInfo:202) Domain construction failed

Traceback (most recent call last)

File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/XendDomainInfo.py", line 195
in create vm.initDomain()
File " /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/XendDomainInfo.py", line
1363 in initDomain raise VmError(str(exn))
VmError: (22, 'Invalid argument')
[2006-12-14 14:55:46 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] DEBUG (XenDomainInfo: 1449]
XendDlomainInfo.destroy: domain=1
[2006-12-14 14:55:46 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] DEBUG (XenDomainInfo: 1457]
XendDlomainInfo.destroy:Domain(1)

If you need to run a 32 bit non-PAE kernel you will need to run your guest as a fully virtualized
virtual machine. For para-virtualized guests, if you need to run a 32 bit PAE guest, then you
must have a 32 bit PAE hypervisor. For para-virtualized guests, to run a 64 bit PAE guest, then
you must have a 64 bit PAE hypervisor. For full virtualization guests you must run a 64 bit guest
with a 64 bit hypervisor. The 32 bit PAE hypervisor that comes with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
i686 only supports running 32 bit PAE para virtualized and 32 bit fully virtualized guest OSes.
The 64 bit hypervisor only supports 64 bit para-virtualized guests.

This happens when you move the full virtualized HVM guest onto a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
system. Your guest may fail to boot and you will see an error in the console screen. Check the
PAE entry in your configuration file and ensure that pae=1.You should use a 32 bit distribution.

You receive the following error:

Unable to open a connection to the Xen hypervisor or daemon

This happens when the virt-manager application fails to launch. This error occurs when there is
no localhost entry in the /etc/hosts configuration file. Check the file and verify if the localhost

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entry is enabled. Here is an example of an incorrect localhost entry:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs

# that require network functionality will fail.
localhost.localdomain localhost

Here is an example of a correct localhost entry:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs

# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
localhost.localdomain. localhost

You receive the following error (in the xen-xend.logfile ):

Bridge xenbr1 does not exist!

This happens when the guest's bridge is incorrectly configured and this forces the Xen hotplug
scripts to timeout. If you move configuration files between hosts, you must ensure that you
update the guest configuration files to reflect network topology and configuration modifications.
When you attempt to start a guest that has an incorrect or non-existent Xen bridge
configuration, you will receive the following errors:

[root@trumble virt]# xm create r5b2-mySQL01

Using config file " r5b2-mySQL01"

Going to boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18.-1.2747 .el5xen)
kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-12747.el5xen
initrd: /initrd-2.6.18-1.2747.el5xen.img
Error: Device 0 (vif) could not be connected. Hotplug scripts not working.

In addition, the xend.log displays the following errors:

[2006-11-14 15:07:08 xend 3875] DEBUG (DevController:143) Waiting for

devices vif
[2006-11-14 15:07:08 xend 3875] DEBUG (DevController:149) Waiting for 0
[2006-11-14 15:07:08 xend 3875] DEBUG (DevController:464)
hotplugStatusCallback

/local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status

[2006-11-14 15:08:09 xend.XendDomainInfo 3875] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1449)

XendDomainInfo.destroy: domid=2
[2006-11-14 15:08:09 xend.XendDomainInfo 3875] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1457)
XendDomainInfo.destroyDomain(2)

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 The layout of the log directories

[2006-11-14 15:07:08 xend 3875] DEBUG (DevController:464)

hotplugStatusCallback

/local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status

To resolve this problem, you must edit your guest configuration file, and modify the vif entry.
When you locate the vif entry of the configuration file, assuming you are using xenbr0 as the
default bridge, ensure that the proper entry resembles the following:

# vif = ['mac=00:16:3e:49:1d:11, bridge=xenbr0',]

You receive these python deprecation errors:

[root@python xen]# xm shutdown win2k3xen12

[root@python xen]# xm create win2k3xen12

Using config file "win2k3xen12".

/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/xenxm/opts.py:520: Deprecation Warning:

Non ASCII character '\xc0' in file win2k3xen12 on line 1, but no encoding
declared; see http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0263.html for details

execfile (defconfig, globs, locs,)

Error: invalid syntax 9win2k3xen12, line1)

Python generates these messages when an invalid (or incorrect) configuration file. To resolve
this problem, you must modify the incorrect configuration file, or you can generate a new one.

17. The layout of the log directories

The basic directory structure in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Virtualization environment is as
follows:

/etc/xen/

• directory containing configuration files used by the xend daemon.

• host the script used to setup the Virtualization networking environment can be found in
the scripts subdirectory.

• contains the configuration files used to describe virtual machines.

• Sometimes the system administrator may decided to keep the virtual machine
configuration files in a different or central location. Make sure you are not working off old
or stale configuration files.

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/var/log/xen/

• directory holding all Xen related log files.

/var/lib/xen/

• default directory for Virtualization related file (such as XenDB and virtual machine
images).

/var/lib/xen/images/

• The default directory for virtual machine image files.

• If you are using a different directory for your virtual machine images make sure you add
the directory to your SELinux policy and relabel it before starting the installation.

/proc/xen/

• Xen related information in the /proc filesystem.

18. Online troubleshooting resources

• Red Hat Virtualization Center

http://www.openvirtualization.com2

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Beta 2 Documentation

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-5-manual/index.html

• Libvirt API

http://www.libvirt.org3

• virt-manager Project Home Page

http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com4

• Xen Community Center

http://www.xensource.com/xen/xen/

2
•3 http://www.openvirtualization.com/
Virtualization Technologies Overview
http://www.libvirt.org/
4
http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com/

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 Online troubleshooting resources

http://virt.kernelnewbies.org5

• Emerging Technologies Projects

http://et.redhat.com6

5
http://virt.kernelnewbies.org/
6
http://et.redhat.com/

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Chapter 30.

Troubleshooting
This chapter covers common problems and solutions with Red Hat Enterprise Linux
virtualization.

1. Identifying available storage and partitions

Verify the block driver is loaded and the devices and partitions are available to the guest. This
can be done by executing "cat /proc/partitions" as seen below.

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name
202 16 104857600 xvdb
3 0 8175688 hda

2. Virtualized ethernet devices are not found by

networking tools
The networking tools cannot identify the 'Xen Virtual Ethernet' networking card inside the guest
operation system you should execute cat /etc/modprobe.conf(in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5) or cat /etc/modules.conf(in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3).
The output should contain the line “alias eth0 xen-vnif” and a similar line for each additional
interface. To fix this problem you will need to add the aliasing lines (for example, alias eth0
xen-vnif) for every para-virtualized interface for the guest.

3. Loop device errors

If file based guest images are used you may have to increase the number of configured loop
devices. The default configuration allows up to 8 active loop devices. If more than 8 file based
guests or loop devices are needed the number of loop devices configured can be adjusted in
/etc/modprobe.conf. Edit /etc/modprobe.conf and add the following line to it:

options loop max_loop=64

This example uses 64 but you can specify another number to set the maximum loop value. You
may also have to implement loop device backed guests on your system. To employ loop device
backed guests for a para-virtualized guest, use the phy: block device or tap:aio
commands. To employ loop device backed guests for a full virtualized system, use the phy:
device or file: file commands.

4. Failed domain creation caused by a memory

shortage

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This may cause a domain to fail to start. The reason for this is there is not enough memory
available or dom0 has not ballooned down enough to provide space for a recently created or
started guest. In your /var/log/xen/xend.log, an example error message indicating this has
occurred:

[2006-11-21 20:33:31 xend 3198] DEBUG (balloon:133) Balloon: 558432 KiB

free;
0 to scrub; need 1048576; retries: 20.
[2006-11-21 20:33:52 xend.XendDomainInfo 3198] ERROR (XendDomainInfo:202)
Domain construction failed

You can verify the amount of memory currently used by dom0 with the command “xm list
Domain-0”. If dom0 is not ballooned down you can use the command “xm mem-set Domain-0
NewMemSize” where NewMemSize should be a smaller value.

5. Wrong kernel image error - using a non-Xen kernel in

a para-virtualized guest
If you try to boot a non-xen kernel in a para-virtualized guest you will see the following error
message:

# xm create testVM
Using config file "./testVM".
Going to boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-1.2839.el5)
kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2839.el5
initrd: /initrd-2.6.18-1.2839.el5.img
Error: (22, 'Invalid argument')

In the above error you can see that the kernel line shows that it's trying to boot a non-xen
kernel. The correct entry in the example is ”kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2839.el5xen”.

The solution is to verify you have indeed installed a kernel-xen in your guest and it is the default
kernel to boot in your /etc/grub.conf configuration file.

If you do have a kernel-xen installed in your guest you can start your guest using the command
“xm create -c GuestName” where GuestName is the name of the kernel-xen. The previous
command will present you with the Grub boot loader screen and allow you to select the kernel
to boot. You will have to choose the kernel-xen kernel to boot. Once the guest has completed
the boot process you can log into the guest and edit /etc/grub.conf to change the default
boot kernel to your kernel-xen. Simply change the line “default=X” (where X is a number
starting at '0') to correspond to the entry with your kernel-xen line. The numbering starts at '0' so
if your kernel-xen entry is the second entry you would enter '1' as the default,for example
“default=1”.

6. Wrong kernel image error - non-PAE kernel on a PAE

platform

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 Fully-virtualized x86_64 guest fails to boot

If you to boot a non-PAE para-virtualized guest you will see the error message below. It
basically indicates you are trying to run a guest kernel on your Hypervisor which at this time is
not supported. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Xen presently only supports PAE and 64 bit
para-virtualized guest kernels.

# xm create -c va-base
Using config file "va-base".
Error: (22, 'Invalid argument')
[2006-12-14 14:55:46 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] ERROR (XendDomainInfo:202)
Domain construction failed
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/XendDomainInfo.py",
line 195, in create vm.initDomain()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xend/XendDomainInfo.py",
line 1363, in initDomain raise VmError(str(exn))
VmError: (22, 'Invalid argument')
[2006-12-14 14:55:46 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1449)
XendDomainInfo.destroy: domid=1
[2006-12-14 14:55:46 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1457)
XendDomainInfo.destroyDomain(1)

If you need to run a 32 bit or non-PAE kernel you will need to run your guest as a
fully-virtualized virtual machine. The rules for hypervisor compatibility are:

• para-virtualized guests your guest must match the architecture type of your hypervisor.
Therefore if you want to run a 32 bit PAE guest you must have a 32 bit PAE hypervisor.

• to run a 64 bit para-virtualized guest your Hypervisor must be a 64 bit version too.

• fully virtualized guests your hypervisor must be 32 bit or 64 bit for 32 bit guests. You can run a
32 bit (PAE and non-PAE) guest on a 32 bit or 64 bit hypervisor.

• to run a 64 bit fully virtualized guest your hypervisor must be 64 bit too.

7. Fully-virtualized x86_64 guest fails to boot

If you have moved the configuration file to a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 causing your
fully-virtualized guest fails to boot and present the error, “Your CPU does not support long
mode. Use a 32 bit distribution”. The problem is a missing or incorrect pae setting. Make sure
you have an entry “pae=1” in your guest's configuration file.

8. Missing localhost entry in /etc/hosts causing virt-manager

to fail
The virt-manager application may fail to launch and display an error such as “Unable to open
a connection to the Xen hypervisor/daemon”. This is usually caused by a missing localhost
entry in the /etc/hosts file. Verify that you indeed have a localhost entry and if it is missing
from /etc/hosts and insert a new entry for localhost if it is not present. An incorrect

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/etc/hosts may resemble the following:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs

# that require network functionality will fail.
localhost.localdomain localhost

The correct entry should look similar to the following:

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs

# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
localhost.localdomain localhost

9. Microcode error during guest boot

During the boot phase of your virtual machine you may see an error message similar to:

Applying Intel CPU microcode update: FATAL: Module microcode not found.
ERROR: Module microcode does not exist in /proc/modules

As the virtual machine is running on virtual CPUs there is no point updating the microcode.
Disabling the microcode update for your virtual machines will stop this error:

/sbin/service microcode_ctl stop

/sbin/chkconfig --del microcode_ctl

10. Wrong bridge configured on guest causing Xen hot

plug scripts to timeout
If you have moved configuration files between different hosts you may to make sure your guest
configuration files have been updated to reflect any change in your network topology, such as
Xen bridge numbering.

If you try to start a guest which has an incorrect or non-existent Xen bridge configured you will
see the following error after starting the guest

# xm create r5b2-mySQL01
Using config file "r5b2-mySQL01".
Going to boot Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-1.2747.el5xen)
kernel: /vmlinuz-2.6.18-1.2747.el5xen
initrd: /initrd-2.6.18-1.2747.el5xen.img
Error: Device 0 (vif) could not be connected. Hotplug scripts not working

In /var/log/xen/xen-hotplug.log you will see the following error being logged

bridge xenbr1 does not exist!

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 Python depreciation warning messages

and in /var/log/xen/xend.log you will see the following messages (or similar messages)
being logged

[2006-12-14 15:07:08 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:143) Waiting for

devices vif.
[2006-12-14 15:07:08 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:149) Waiting for 0.
[2006-12-14 15:07:08 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:464)
hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status.
[2006-12-14 15:07:08 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:464)
hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status.
[2006-12-14 15:08:48 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1449)
XendDomainInfo.destroy: domid=2
[2006-12-14 15:08:48 xend.XendDomainInfo 3874] DEBUG (XendDomainInfo:1457)
XendDomainInfo.destroyDomain(2)
[2006-12-14 15:08:48 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:464)
hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status.
[2006-12-14 15:08:48 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:464)
hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status.
[2006-12-14 15:08:48 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:464)
hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status.
[2006-12-14 15:08:48 xend 3874] DEBUG (DevController:464)
hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status.

To resolve this issue edit your guest's configuration file and modify the vif entry to reflect your
local configuration. For example if your local configuration is using xenbr0 as its default bridge
you should modify your vif entry in your configuration file from

vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:49:1d:11, bridge=xenbr1', ]

to

vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:49:1d:11, bridge=xenbr0', ]

11. Python depreciation warning messages when

starting a virtual machine
Sometimes Python will generate a message like the one below, these are often caused by
either an invalid or incorrect configuration file. A configuration file containing non-ascii
characters will cause these errors.The solution is to correct the configuration file or generate a
new one.

Another cause is an incorrect configuration file in your current working directory. “xm create”
will look in the current directory for a configuration file and then in /etc/xen

# xm shutdown win2k3xen12
# xm create win2k3xen12
Using config file "win2k3xen12".
/usr/lib64/python2.4/site-packages/xen/xm/opts.py:520: DeprecationWarning:
Non-ASCII character '\xc0' in file win2k3xen12 on line 1, but no encoding
declared; see http://www.python.org/peps/pep-0263.html for details
execfile(defconfig, globs, locs)

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Error: invalid syntax (win2k3xen12, line 1)

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Chapter 31.

Troubleshooting Para-virtualized
Drivers
This chapter deals with issues you may encounter with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts and
fully virtualized guests using the para-virtualized drivers

1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Virtualization log file and

directories

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Virtualization related log file.

In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, the log file written by the xend daemon and the qemu-dm process
are all kept in the following directories:

/var/log/xen/
directory holding all log file generated by the xend daemon and qemu-dm process.

xend.log

• This logfile is used by xend to log any events generate by either normal system events or
operator initiated events.

• virtual machine operations such as create, shutdown, destroy etc are all logged in this
logfile.

• Usually this logfile will be the first place to look at in the event of a problem. In many
cases you will be able to identify the root cause by scanning the logfile and review the
entries logged just prior to the actual error message.

xend-debug.log

• used to record error events from xend and its subsystems (such as framebuffer and
Python scripts etc..)

xen-hotplug.log

• used to log events from hotplug events.

• events such as devices not coming online or network bridges not online will be logged in
this file

qemu-dm.PID.log

• this file is create by the qemu-dm process which is started for each fully-virtualized guest.

• the PID will be replaced with the PID of the process of the related qemu-dm process

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Chapter 31. Troubleshooting Para-virtualized Drivers

• You can retrieve the PID for a given qemu-dm process using the ps command and in
looking at the process arguments you can identify the virtual machine the qemu-dm
process belongs to.

If you are troubleshooting a problem with the virt-manager application you can also review the
logfile generated by it. The logfile for virt-manager will be in a subdirectory called
.virt-manager in the user's home directory who's running virt-manager. For example,
~/.virt-manager/virt-manager

Note
The logfile is overwritten every time you start virt-manager. If you are
troubleshooting a problem with virt-manager make sure you save the logfile
before you restart virt-manager after an error has occurred.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Virtualization related directories.

There are a few other directories and files which may be of interest when troubleshooting a Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Xen environment:

/var/lib/xen/images/
the standard directory for file based virtual machine images.

/var/lib/xen/xend-db/
directory that hold the xend database which is generated every time the daemon is
restarted.

/etc/xen/
holds a number of configuration files used to tailor your Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Virtualization environment to suite your local needs

• xend-config.sxp is the main configuration for the xend daemon. It used to

enable/disable specific functionality of the Xen daemon, and to configure the callouts to
Xen networking.

/var/xen/dump/
hold dumps generate by virtual machines or when using the xm dump-core command.

/proc/xen/
has a number of entries which can be used to retrieve additional information:

• /proc/xen/capabilities

• /proc/xen/privcmd

• /proc/xen/balloon

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 Para-virtualized guest fail to load on a Red

• /proc/xen/xenbus

• /proc/xen/xsd_port

• /proc/xen/xsd_kva

2. Para-virtualized guest fail to load on a Red Hat

Enterprise Linux 3 guest operating system
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 is uses processor architecture specific kernel RPMs and because of
this the para-virtualized drivers may fail to load if the para-virtualized driver RPM does not
match the installed kernel architecture.

When the para-virtualized driver modules are inserted, a long list of unresolved modules will be
displayed. A shortened excerpt of the error can be seen below.

insmod xen-platform-pci.o
Warning: kernel-module version mismatch
xen-platform-pci.o was compiled for kernel version
2.4.21-52.EL
while this kernel is version 2.4.21-50.EL
xen-platform-pci.o: unresolved symbol
__ioremap_R9eac042a
xen-platform-pci.o: unresolved symbol
flush_signals_R50973be2
xen-platform-pci.o: unresolved symbol
pci_read_config_byte_R0e425a9e
xen-platform-pci.o: unresolved symbol
__get_free_pages_R9016dd82
[...]

The solution is to use the correct RPM package for your hardware architecture for the
para-virtualized drivers.

3. A warning message is displayed while installing the

para-virtualized drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
Installing the para-virtualized drivers on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 kernel prior to 2.4.21-52
may result in a warning message being displayed stating the modules have been compiled with
a newer version than the running kernel.

This message, as seen below, can be safely ignored.

Warning: kernel-module version mismatch

xen-platform-pci.o was compiled for kernel version
2.4.21-52.EL
while this kernel is version 2.4.21-50.EL
Warning: loading xen-platform-pci.o will taint the kernel:
forced load

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Chapter 31. Troubleshooting Para-virtualized Drivers

See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information

about tainted modules
Module xen-platform-pci loaded, with warnings

The important part of the message above is the last line which should state the module has
been loaded with warnings.

4. What to do if the guest operating system has been

booted with virt-manager or virsh
As mentioned in the installation notes, a guest operating system with network para-virtualized
drivers installed must be started using the “# xm create GuestName” command. You can only
use other methods for starting the guest in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2.

If the guest operating system has been booted using the virt-manager(the GUI tool) or
virsh(the command line application) interface the boot process will detect the “new” old Realtek
card. This due to the fact libvirt, as the underlying API to virt-manager and virsh, will
always add type=ioemu to the networking section followed by prompting the systems
administrator to reconfigure networking inside the guest. It is recommend you interrupt the boot
process (using virt-manager, virsh or xm) and to boot the guest using the xm command. In the
event of the guest operating system has booted all the way to multi-user mode you will detect
that there is no networking active as the backend and frontend drivers are not connected
properly.

To fix this issue, shut down the guest and boot it using “xm create”. During the boot process
kudzu (the hardware detection process) will detect the “old” Realtek card. Simply select
“Remove Configuration” to delete the Realtek card from the guest operating system. The
guest should continue to boot and configure the network interfaces correctly.

You can identify if your guest has been booted with virt-manager, virsh or “xm create” using
the command “# xm list –long YourGuestName”

In the screenshot below you can see the entry “ioemu” highlighted in the “device vif”
(networking) section. This would mean the guest was booted with virt-manager or virsh and
networking is not configured correctly, that is, without the para-virtualized network driver.

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 Hat Enterprise Linux 3 guest operating

In the screenshot below you can see there is no “type ioemu” entry in the “device vif”
section so you can safely assume the guest has been booted with “xm create
YourGuestName”. This means networking is configured to use the para-virtualized network
driver.

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Chapter 31. Troubleshooting Para-virtualized Drivers

5. Manually loading the para-virtualized drivers

If for some reason the para-virtualized drivers failed to load automatically during the boot
process you can attempt to load them manually.

This will allow you to reconfigure network or storage entities or identify why they failed to load in
the first place. The steps below should load the para-virtualized driver modules.

First, locate the para-virtualized driver modules on your system.

# cd /lib/modules/`uname -r`/
# find . -name 'xen-*.ko' -print

Take note of the location and load the modules manually. Substitute {LocationofPV-drivers} with
the correct location you noted from the output of the commands above.

# insmod \
/lib/modules/'uname
-r'/{LocationofPV-drivers}/xen-platform-pci.ko

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 system

# insmod /lib/modules/'uname
-r'/{LocationofPV-drivers}/xen-balloon.ko
# insmod /lib/modules/'uname
-r'/{LocationofPV-drivers}/xen-vnif.ko
# insmod /lib/modules/'uname
-r'/{LocationofPV-drivers}/xen-vbd.ko

6. Verifying the para-virtualized drivers have

successfully loaded
One of the first tasks you will want to do is to verify that the drivers have actually been loaded
into your system.

After the para-virtualized drivers have been installed and the guest has been rebooted you can
verify that the drivers have loaded. First you should confirm the drivers have logged their
loading into /var/log/messages

# grep -E "vif|vbd|xen" /var/log/messages

xen_mem: Initialising balloon driver
vif vif-0: 2 parsing device/vif/0/mac
vbd vbd-768: 19 xlvbd_add at
/local/domain/0/backend/vbd/21/76
vbd vbd-768: 19 xlvbd_add at
/local/domain/0/backend/vbd/21/76
xen-vbd: registered block device major 202

You can also use the lsmod command to list the loaded para-virtualized drivers. It should output
a list containing the xen_vnif, xen_vbd, xen_platform_pci and xen_balloon modules.

# lsmod|grep xen
xen_vbd 19168 1
xen_vnif 28416 0
xen_balloon 15256 1 xen_vnif
xen_platform_pci 98520 3
xen_vbd,xen_vnif,xen_balloon,[permanent]

7. The system has limited throughput with

para-virtualized drivers
If network throughput is still limited even after installing the para-virtualized drivers and you have
confirmed they are loaded correctly (see Section 6, “Verifying the para-virtualized drivers have
successfully loaded”). To fix this problem, remove the 'type=ioemu' part of 'vif=' line in your
guest's configuration file.

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Appendix A. Revision History
Revision History
Revision 5.2-10 Wednesday May 14 2008 ChristopherCurran<[email protected]>

New or rewritten sections for installation, troubleshooting, networking and installation

Various updates for spelling, grammar and language
Formatting and layout issues resolved
Updated terminology and word usage to enhance usability and readability
Revision 5.2-9 Mon April 7 2008 ChristopherCurran<[email protected]>

Book updated to remove redundant chapters and headings

Virtual Machine Manger updated for 5.1.
Revision 5.2-7 Mon March 31 2008 ChristopherCurran<[email protected]>

Resolves: #322761
Many spelling and grammar errors corrected.
Chapter on Remote Management added.
Revision 5.2-5 Tue Mar 19 2008 ChristopherCurran<[email protected]>

Resolves: #428915
New Virtualization Guide created.

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Appendix B. Red Hat Virtualization
system architecture
A functional Red Hat Virtualization system is multi-layered and is driven by the privileged Red
Hat Virtualization component. Red Hat Virtualization can host multiple guest operating systems.
Each guest operating system runs in its own domain, Red Hat Virtualization schedules virtual
CPUs within the virtual machines to make the best use of the available physical CPUs. Each
guest operating systems handles its own applications. These guest operating systems schedule
each application accordingly.

You can deploy Red Hat Virtualization in one of two choices: full virtualization or
para-virtualization. Full virtualization provides total abstraction of the underlying physical system
and creates a new virtual system in which the guest operating systems can run. No
modifications are needed in the guest OS or application (the guest OS or application is not
aware of the virtualized environment and runs normally). Para-virtualization requires user
modification of the guest operating systems that run on the virtual machines (these guest
operating systems are aware that they are running on a virtual machine) and provide
near-native performance. You can deploy both para-virtualization and full virtualization across
your virtualization infrastructure.

The first domain, known as domain0 (dom0), is automatically created when you boot the
system. Domain0 is the privileged guest and it possesses management capabilities which can
create new domains and manage their virtual devices. Domain0 handles the physical hardware,
such as network cards and hard disk controllers. Domain0 also handles administrative tasks
such as suspending, resuming, or migrating guest domains to other virtual machines.

The hypervisor (Red Hat's Virtual Machine Monitor) is a virtualization platform that allows
multiple operating systems to run on a single host simultaneously within a full virtualization
environment. A guest is an operating system (OS) that runs on a virtual machine in addition to
the host or main OS.

With Red Hat Virtualization, each guests memory comes from a slice of the host's physical
memory. For para-virtualized guests, you can set both the initial memory and the maximum size
of the virtual machine. You can add (or remove) physical memory to the virtual machine at
runtime without exceeding the maximum size you specify. This process is called ballooning.

You can configure each guest with a number of virtual cpus (called vcpus). The Virtual Machine
Manager schedules the vcpus according to the workload on the physical CPUs.

You can grant a guest any number of virtual disks. The guest sees these as either hard disks
or (for full virtual guests) as CD-ROM drives. Each virtual disk is served to the guest from a
block device or from a regular file on the host. The device on the host contains the entire full
disk image for the guest, and usually includes partition tables, multiple partitions, and potentially
LVM physical volumes.

Virtual networking interfaces runs on the guest. Other interfaces can run on the guest like

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Appendix B. Red Hat Virtualization system architecture

virtual ethernet Internet cards (VNICs). These network interfaces are configured with a
persistent virtual media access control (MAC) address. The default installation of a new guest
installs the VNIC with a MAC address selected at random from a reserved pool of over 16
million addresses, so it is unlikely that any two guests will receive the same MAC address.
Complex sites with a large number of guests can allocate MAC addresses manually to ensure
that they remain unique on the network.

Each guest has a virtual text console that connects to the host. You can redirect guest logins
and console output to the text console.

You can configure any guest to use a virtual graphical console that corresponds to the normal
video console on the physical host. You can do this for full virtual and para-virtualized guests. It
employs the features of the standard graphic adapter like boot messaging, graphical booting,
multiple virtual terminals, and can launch the x window system. You can also use the graphical
keyboard to configure the virtual keyboard and mouse.

Guests can be identified in any of three identities: domain name (domain-name), identity
(domain-id), or UUID. The domain-name is a text string that corresponds to a guest
configuration file. The domain-name is used to launch the guests, and when the guest runs the
same name is used to identify and control it. The domain-id is a unique, non-persistent number
that gets assigned to an active domain and is used to identify and control it. The UUID is a
persistent, unique identifier that is controlled from the guest's configuration file and ensures that
the guest is identified over time by system management tools. It is visible to the guest when it
runs. A new UUID is automatically assigned to each guest by the system tools when the guest
first installs.

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Appendix C. Additional resources
To learn more about Red Hat Virtualization, refer to the following resources.

1. Online resources

• http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/xen/ The project website of the Xen™

para-virtualization machine manager from which Red Hat Virtualization is derived. The site
maintains the upstream Xen project binaries and source code and also contains information,
architecture overviews, documentation, and related links regarding Xen and its associated
technologies.

• http://www.libvirt.org/ is the official website for the libvirt virtualization API that interacts
with the virtualization framework of a host OS.

• http://virt-manager.et.redhat.com/ is the project website for the Virtual Machine Manager

(virt-manager), the graphical application for managing virtual machines.

2. Installed documentation

• /usr/share/doc/xen-<version-number>/ is the directory which contains information about

the Xen para-virtualization hypervisor and associated management tools, including various
example configurations, hardware-specific information, and the current Xen upstream user
documentation.

• man virsh and /usr/share/doc/libvirt-<version-number> — Contains sub commands

and options for the virsh virtual machine management utility as well as comprehensive
information about the libvirt virtualization library API.

• /usr/share/doc/gnome-applet-vm-<version-number> — Documentation for the GNOME

graphical panel applet that monitors and manages locally-running virtual machines.

• /usr/share/doc/libvirt-python-<version-number> — Provides details on the Python

bindings for the libvirt library. The libvirt-python package allows python developers to
create programs that interface with the libvirt virtualization management library.

• /usr/share/doc/python-virtinst-<version-number> — Provides documentation on the

virt-install command that helps in starting installations of Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise
Linux related distributions inside of virtual machines.

• /usr/share/doc/virt-manager-<version-number> — Provides documentation on the

Virtual Machine Manager, which provides a graphical tool for administering virtual machines.

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290
Glossary
This glossary is intended to define the terms used in this Installation Guide.

B
Bare-metal The term bare-metal refers to the underlying physical
architecture of a computer. Running an operating system on
bare-metal is another way of referring to running an unmodified
version of the operating system on the physical hardware.
Examples of operating systems running on bare metal are
dom0 or a natively installed operating system.

D
dom0 Also known as the Host or host operating system.

dom0 refers to the host instance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux

running the Hypervisor which facilitates virtualization of guest
operating systems. Dom0 runs on and manages the physical
hardware and resource allocation for itself and the guest
operating systems.

Domains domU and Domains are both domains. Domains run on the
Hypervisor. The term domains has a similar meaning to Virtual
machines and the two are technically interchangeable. A
domain is a Virtual Machine.

domU domU refers to the guest operating system which run on the
host system (Domains ).

F
Full virtualization You can deploy Red Hat Virtualization in one of two choices:
full virtualization or para-virtualization. Full virtualization
provides total abstraction of the underlying physical system
(Bare-metal ) and creates a new virtual system in which the
guest operating systems can run. No modifications are needed
in the guest operating system. The guest operating system and
any applications on the guest are not aware of the virtualized
environment and run normally. Para-virtualization requires a
modified version of the Linux operating system.

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Glossary

Fully virtualized See Full virtualization.

G
Guest system Also known as guests, virtual machines or domU.

H
Hardware Virtual Machine See Full virtualization

Hypervisor The hypervisor is the software layer that abstracts the

hardware from the operating system permitting multiple
operating systems to run on the same hardware. The
hypervisor runs on the host system allowing virtual machines to
run on the host's hardware as well.

Host The host operating system, also known as Domains.

The host environment runs the software for Fully virtualized

and Fully virtualized guest systems.

I
I/O Short for input/output (pronounced "eye-oh"). The term I/O is
used to describe any program, operation or device that
transfers data to or from a computer and to or from a peripheral
device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an
input into another. Devices such as keyboards and mouses are
input-only devices while devices such as printers are
output-only. A writable CD-ROM is both an input and an output
device.

Itanium® The Intel Itanium® processor architecture.

K
Kernel-based Virtual KVM is a Full virtualization kernel module which will be
Machine incorporated into future releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
KVM is presently available in the fedora Linux distribution and
other Linux distributions.

L
292
LUN Logical Unit Numbers(LUN) is the number assigned to a logical
unit (a SCSI protocol entity).

M
Migration See also Relocation

Migration refers to the process of moving a para-virtualized

guest images from one Red Hat Virtualization server to
another. This other server could be on the same server or a
different server, including servers in other locations.

MAC Addresses The Media Access Control Address is the hardware address for
a Network Interface Controller. In the context of virtualization
MAC addresses must be generated for virtual network
interfaces with each MAC on your local domain being unique.

P
Para-virtualization Para-virtualization uses a special kernel, sometimes referred to
as the xen kernel or kernel-xen to virtualized another
environment while using the hosts libraries and devices. A
para-virtualized installation will have complete access to all
devices on the system. Para-virtualization is significantly faster
than full virtualization can can be effectively used for load
balancing, provisioning, security and consolidation advantages.

As of Fedora 9 a special kernel will no longer be needed. Once

this patch is accepted into the main Linux tree all linux kernels
after that version will have para-virtualization enabled or
available.

Para-virtualized drivers Para-virtualized drivers are device drivers that operate on fully
virtualized linux guests. These drivers greatly increase
performance of network and block device I/O for fully
virtualized guests.

R
Relocation Another term for Migration usually used to describe moving a
virtual machine image across geographic locations.

V
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Glossary

Virtual cpu A system running Red Hat Virtualization has a number of

virtual cpus, or vcpus. The number of vcpus is finite and
represents the total number of vcpus that can be assigned to
guest virtual machines.

Virtual machines A virtual machine is a software implementation of a physical

machine or programming language (for example the Java
Runtime Environment or LISP). Virtual machines in the context
of virtualization are operating systems running on virtualized
hardware.

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