XEN - Xen Virtualization Essentials

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© 2012 Neil Smyth / Payload Media. This eBook is provided for personal use only. Unauthorized use, reproduction and/or distribution strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

1. ​​About Xen Virtualization Essentials​​

• ​​What is Virtualization?​​
• ​​Why is Virtualization Important?​​

1. ​​An Overview of Virtualization Techniques​​

• ​​Guest Operating System Virtualization​​
• ​​Shared Kernel Virtualization​​
• ​​Kernel Level Virtualization​​
• ​​Hypervisor Virtualization​​
• ​​Paravirtualization​​
• ​​Full Virtualization​​
• ​​Hardware Virtualization​​

1. ​​Configuring and Installing

   a Xen Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM) domainU Guest​​

• ​​Checking Hardware Support

  for Xen Hardware Virtual Machines (HVM)​​

• ​​Preparing to Install a

  Xen HVM domainU Guest​​

• ​​Creating a Xen HVM Configuration

  File​​

• ​​Booting the HVM Guest​​

• ​​Connecting to the HVM

  domainU Guest Graphical Console​​

1. ​​Installing and Running Windows XP or Vista

   as a Xen HVM domainU Guest​​

• ​​Pre-Requisites for Installing a Windows Xen

  Guest​​

• ​​Preparing to Install Windows​​

• ​​Preparing the Windows XP / Windows Vista for

  Xen HVM Installation​​

• ​​Configuring the Xen Windows Guest Configuration

  File​​

• ​​Starting the Xen Windows HVM Guest​​

1. ​​Virtualizing Windows Server 2008 with Xen​​

• ​​Requirements for Xen Windows Server 2008 Virtualization​​
• ​​Windows Server 2008 Installation Media​​
• ​​Preparing Storage Space for Windows Server 2008​​
• ​​Creating the Xen Windows Server 2008 Configuration File​​
• ​​Starting the Xen Windows Server 2008 HVM Guest​​

1. ​​Installing and Running Windows 7 as a Xen HVM domainU Guest​​

• ​​Requirements for Xen Windows 7 Virtualization​​
• ​​Windows 7 Installation Media​​
• ​​Preparing Storage Space for Windows 7​​
• ​​Creating the Xen Windows 7 Configuration File​​
• ​​Starting the Xen Windows 7 HVM Guest​​

1. ​​Adding USB Devices to a Xen HVM domainU Guest​​

• ​​Identifying USB Devices on the Xen Host System​​
• ​​A Trick to Identify the Correct USB Device​​
• ​​Adding the New USB Device to the Xen domainU Configuration File​​
• ​​Temporarily Adding a USB Device to a running Xen HVM Guest​​

1. ​​Building a Xen Virtual

   Guest Filesystem on a Disk Image (Cloning Host System)​​

• ​​Xen Requirements​​

• ​​Creating a Disk Image

  for the Root Filesystem​​

• ​​Creating a Swap Space

  Disk Image​​

• ​​Cloning the Host OS on

  the Guest Domain​​

• ​​Creating a Xen Configuration

  File​​

• ​​Configuring System Files

  for the Guest Operating System​​

• ​​Modifying /etc/fstab for

  the Guest System​​

• ​​Booting the Guest OS​​
• ​​Xen Guest Boot Problems​​

1. ​​Building

   a Xen Virtual Guest Filesystem on a Physical Disk Partition (Cloning Host System)​​

• ​​An

  Overview of the Xen Host and Guest Physical Disks​​

• ​​Preparing

  the Xen Disk Partitions​​

• ​​Creating

  the a Filesystem on the Xen Guest Root Partition​​

• ​​Configuring

  the Swap Partition for the Xen Guest System​​

• ​​Mounting

  the Root Filesystem​​

• ​​Cloning

  the Host OS on the Guest Root Partition​​

• ​​Creating

  a Xen Configuration File​​

• ​​Configuring

  System Files for the Guest Operating System​​

• ​​Modifying

  /etc/fstab for the Guest System​​

• ​​Booting

  the Guest OS​​

• ​​Xen

  Guest Boot Problems​​

1. ​​Building a Xen Virtual

   Guest Filesystem using Logical Volume Management (LVM)​​

• ​​The Key Components of

  Logical Volume Management​​

• ​​Preparing for an LVM based

  Xen Guest Domain​​

• ​​Converting Physical Disks

  into Physical Volumes​​

• ​​Creating a Volume Group​​

• ​​Creating a Logical Volume

  for the Xen Guest System​​

• ​​Creating a Filesystem

  on the Logical Volume​​

• ​​Configuring the Swap Partition

  for the Xen Guest System​​

• ​​Mounting the Root Filesystem​​

• ​​Cloning the Host OS on

  the Guest Root Partition​​

• ​​Creating a Xen Configuration

  File​​

• ​​Configuring System Files

  for the Guest Operating System​​

• ​​Modifying /etc/fstab for

  the Guest System​​

• ​​Booting the Guest OS​​
• ​​Xen Guest Boot Problems​​

1. ​​Building a Xen Guest Root Filesystem using yum and rpm​​

• ​​An Overview of Repository Based Installation​​
• ​​Preparing to Create a Xen Guest Root Filesystem from Repositories​​
• ​​Beginning the Installation​​
• ​​Configuring the Guest System using chroot​​
• ​​Booting the Xen Guest System​​
• ​​Xen Guest Boot Problems​​

1. ​​Building a Debian or Ubuntu Xen Guest

   Root Filesystem using debootstrap​​

• ​​Creating the Xen Guest Root Filesystem​​
• ​​Creating Swap for the Xen Guest Domain​​

• ​​Installing the Base Ubuntu/Debian System

  using debootstrap​​

• ​​Configuring the root Password​​

• ​​Creating a Configuration File for the

  Guest Domain​​

• ​​Configuring System Files for the Guest

  Operating System​​

• ​​Modifying /etc/fstab for the Guest System​​
• ​​Booting the Guest OS​​
• ​​Xen Guest Boot Problems​​

1. ​​Building a Xen Guest Domain using Xen-Tools​​

• ​​Getting Xen-Tools​​
• ​​Configuring Xen-Tools​​
• ​​Specifiy Xen-Tools Installation Location​​
• ​​Specifying the Xen-Tools Installation Source and Method​​
• ​​Configuring Disk Space and Memory for the Xen Guest​​
• ​​Choosing a Linux Distribution​​
• ​​Configuring Xen Guest Network Options​​
• ​​Configuring the Kernel and RAM Disk​​
• ​​Defining the Installation Source​​
• ​​Miscellaneous Settings Xen-Tools Configuration​​
• ​​Xen Guest Console Settings​​
• ​​Options Disk Drive Device Naming​​
• ​​Building the Xen Guest Images​​
• ​​Booting the Xen Guest System​​

1. ​​Using QEMU Disk Images for Xen DomainU Systems​​

• ​​Creating a QEMU Disk Image for the Xen domainU​​
• ​​Installing the Guest Operating System​​
• ​​Configuring the Guest Operating System for Xen​​
• ​​Mounting QEMU Disk Image Partitions​​
• ​​pyGRUB and the Xen Configuration File​​
• ​​Booting the Xen domainU System​​

1. ​​Creating and Booting a Xen

   Guest domainU using an NFS Mounted Root Filesystem​​

• ​​Kernel Requirements for NFS

  based Root Filesystems​​

• ​​Populating the Root Filesystem​​

• ​​Exporting and Mounting the

  Xen Guest Root Filesystem​​

• ​​Creating the Xen Configuration

  File for the NFS Root Filesystem​​

• ​​Booting the Xen domainU​​

1. ​​Configuring a VNC

   based Graphical Console for a Xen Paravirtualized domainU Guest​​

• ​​What is VNC?​​
• ​​VNC Security​​

• ​​Configuring a Xen

  domainU for VNC Access​​

• ​​Connecting to the

  Guest Desktop using VNC Viewer​​

• ​​Starting a Graphical

  Desktop on the Xen domainU Guest​​

• ​​Establishing a Secure

  Remote Desktop Session​​

1. ​​Running and Connecting to VNC Servers

   on a Xen Guest (domainU) System​​

• ​​Installing VNC on the Xen domainU Guest​​
• ​​Creating Xen domainU VNC Desktop Sessions​​
• ​​Connecting to a Xen domainU Remote Desktop​​
• ​​Configuring the Xen domainU Desktop Environment​​
• ​​Closing Down a domainU VNC Desktop Session​​

1. ​​Adding Disk, CDROM and DVD Devices to

   a Running Xen domainU Guest System​​

• ​​Requirements for Xen domainU Block Device

  Attachment​​

• ​​An Overview of xm block-attach​​
• ​​Attaching a Device to a domainU Guest​​
• ​​Mounting the Device in the domainU Guest​​

• ​​Detaching a Device from the domainU

  Guest​​

1. ​​Xen Monitoring Tools and Techniques​​

• ​​Why Monitor a Xen Environment?​​
• ​​Obtaining Xen Configuration and System Information​​
• ​​Monitoring Xen Performance with XenMon​​
• ​​Monitoring Performance with XenTop​​

1. ​​Migrating Xen domainU Guests Between Host Systems​​

• ​​Requirements for Xen domainU Migration​​
• ​​Enabling Xen Guest Migration​​
• ​​Xen Migration Firewall Configuration​​
• ​​Preparing the Xen Migration Environment​​
• ​​Running the DomainU Guest​​
• ​​Performing the Migration​​
• ​​Checking the Xen Log for Migration Errors​​

1. ​​Solving Common Xen Problems​​