Dom0 Installation on Debian

This parameters were made for the Xen installation on Linux Debian over Intel machines or AMD 64 bits.

1) Install the adecuate software to enable it

 apt-get install xen-hypervisor-4.1-amd64 xen-tools xen-utils-4.1 xen-linux-system-amd64 

Debian autoconfigurates grub in order to use the Xen hypervisor for booting the next time

2) Reboot the machine

 reboot 

3) Check if the machine has the dom0 kernel of Xen

 uname -srm 

You have to see somethimg like this

Linux 3.2.0-4-amd64 x86_64

Also, you can see if dom0 is running by running the following command:

 xm list 

And the output will be

       Name                                        ID   Mem VCPUs      State   Time(s)
       Domain-0                                     0  7926     8     r-----     20.0

4) Edit the /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp file and uncomment the follwing lines

       (network-script 'network-bridge netdev=eth0')
       (vif-script vif-bridge)

NOTE: Reboot the daemon before doing any change on this file

5) If you are using images on files, edit /etc/modules and change the "loop" module line in order to look like this

       loop max_loop=64

CREATING IMAGES

1) Edit the /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf file and put the configuration you like to. Example:

       dir = /home/xen
       install-method = debootstrap
       size   = 4Gb      # Disk image size.
       memory = 1024Mb    # Memory size
       swap   = 1024Mb    # Swap size
       fs     = ext3     # use the EXT3 filesystem for the disk image.
       dist   = lenny     # Default distribution to install.
       image  = sparse   # Specify sparse vs. full disk images.
       kernel      = /boot/vmlinuz-`uname -r`
       initrd      = /boot/initrd.img-`uname -r`
       mirror = http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/
       ext3_options   = noatime,nodiratime,errors=remount-ro
       gateway   = 192.168.100.1
       netmask   = 255.255.255.0
       broadcast = 192.168.100.255
       passwd = 1

2) Generate the image by using the following command.

 xen-create-image --hostname=vm1.platino.gov.ve   --ip=192.168.100.80 --arch=amd64 --role=udev 

NOTE: The last script does not take on count some details, is necessary to fix them

3) Edit the /etc/xen/vm1.platino.gov.ve.cfg file and modify the following lines for looking like this

       root = '/dev/sda2 ro console=/dev/hvc0'
       vif  = [ 'bridge=eth0' ]

4) Mount the image

 mount -o loop /home/xen/domains/vm1.platino.gov.ve/disk.img /mnt 

5) Edit the file /mnt/etc/inittab and change the line

       1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1

For it to look like this

       1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 hvc0

6) Edit the /mnt/etc/securetty file and add to the end of the line

       hvc0

7) For booting the virtual machine run the following command:

 xm create -c /etc/xen/vm1.platino.gov.ve.cfg 