Re: Distro kernel and 'virtualization server' vs. 'server that sometimes runs virtual instances' rant (was: Re: [Xen-devel] Re: [GIT PULL] Xen APIC hooks (with io_apic_ops))

[George Dunlap <dunlapg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Luke,

I hope this doesn't come off as a shameless plug, but Citrix XenServer
is exactly what you describe: dom0 is used only as a utility domain to
control other VMs.  And the basic version, which now includes (if I
recall our marketing blah blah blah correclty) support for server
pools, migration, and remote storage, is available for free
(as-in-beer, and with some registration so we can figure out who's
using it).  It's honestly what I would use if I were running a sever
in a small business.

If you're commenting on the lack of free-as-in-speech distro that
looks like XenServer, Xen as a project doesn't have much say in how
distros integrate Xen.  I don't see any technical reason why someone
couldn't take a Debian base and set up something like XenServer; or
any technical reason why someone couldn't do like CentOS has done, and
clone our entire open-source tree as a starting point.  (Obviously it
would take a little bit of additional work, since the control stack on
XenServer isn't open-source.)

If you're up for starting a distro based on Xen, that would be great.
I think it would probably get a lot of traction with server admins,
and if you make good design choices to minimize the amount of work you
have to do as things move forward, and can get a good community around
it, it's got a chance to have a big impact on OSS virtualization.

And any technical feedback, such as suggesting a better dom0_min_mem
size, can be submitted to the list, or put in a bugzilla note, even if
you don't have a patch to change it.

 -George

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