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[Xen-users] Re: VMWare and xen comparison

To: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Xen-users] Re: VMWare and xen comparison
From: Black Dew <bdew@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 17:23:56 +0200
Cc: Charles Duffy <cduffy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
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Do you mean setting up a new system as a Dom0, or adding new DomUs? The former absolutely requires rebooting if not running the hypervisor and an appropriate kernel already (this being a deep enough design requirement that despite not being in any way part of the dev team I'm on quite safe ground saying it won't change, at least until major OS distributions come with Xen out-of-the-box). If you're discussing adding new DomUs, on the other hand, this absolutely should not require rebooting, and if you could be a little more specific about what you're doing that *does* require you to reboot, perhaps we could help you find a different procedure. (What's this "install from CD" bit, for instance? What exactly are you installing? Why are you booting off a CD to do it?)

I think he refers to installing a brand new OS that will run in a domU by rebooting, installing it off a cd then going back to the old (dom0) os and using the newly-installed OS as a domU.

The emulation level xen uses is generaly unable to handle the process of installing an OS from a generic installation CD. One of the main problems would be that the kernel on the install CD is meant to run on a rial system, it'll not function in a domU. Replacing the kernel is possible but my guess is that 90% of instalers would barf if ran on a different kernel inside a domU.

I am personaly using debian, and for me this is a nonproblem, installing a new copy of the os is as simple as:

mke3fs /dev/blah
mount /dev/blah /mnt
debootstrap sarge /mnt
umount /mnt

But most of the linux distros don't provide such capability.

--
Best regards, Black Dew.
==============================
~ bdew@xxxxxxxxxxx ~ ICQ:2666606 ~ 2:400/567 ~

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