How to install Xen Virtual Machine monitor on obsolete hardware

How to install Xen Virtual Machine monitor on obsolete hardware

Xen is a virtual machine monitor that runs directly on the hardware, which means you must prepare a bare metal to install and run Xen. KVM is a little different from Xen-you can add it to any machine that is already running Linux. This tutorial describes how to install and configure Xen virtual machine monitors on obsolete hardware.

The entire installation process uses Debian Jessie (Debian test release) as the host operating system (also known as Dom0 ). Jessie is not the only option-Xen support is built in the Linux kernel. Many Linux distributions contain the kernel that supports Xen.

Debian system install Xen and create Win2003 Virtual Machine

XenServer VM physical CPU usage policy

An error occurred while starting the system VM on XenServer in the CloudStack compiling environment.

Disable CloudStack from deleting the original XenServer Virtual Machine

Configure Linux VM boot from the optical drive in XenServer

Enable and configure the SNMP service for Citrix XenServer

Resets the local disk LVM of XenServer to the EXT3 format.

Install and configure Xen On Debian

Find obsolete hardware

First, find a suitable workstation that can be formatted, such as an old notebook or desktop. Old hardware may not be suitable for games, but it is enough to install a host machine and some clients. A pc can meet the following requirements.

• One dual-core CPU (64-bit)
• 4 GB memory
• 80 GB hard drive
• Boot from CD, DVD, or USB boot
• One Network Card

Note that the CPU must be 64-bit because Debian no longer supports the 32-bit Xen installation package. If you do not have any spare hardware, you can spend some money to buy an old machine. Only $2010 is required for flagship laptops worth $1000 in 100. Purchasing a second-hand notebook from eBay and upgrading the memory can also meet your needs.

Burn a boot CD/USB

Download the ISO image of Debian Jessie. Download the network installation image from the Debian website.

1. $ Wget http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/jessie_di_beta_2/amd64/iso-cd/debian-jessie-DI-b2-amd64-netinst.iso

Next, write down the device name (for example,/dev/sdc) recognized by your CD/DVD or USB device ).

Use the dd command to burn an ISO image to a CD or USB. Replace the following/dev/sdc with the device name identified above.

1. $ Sudo dd if = debian-jessie-DI-b2-amd64-netinst.iso of =/dev/sdc

Start Installation

Before installation, use the burned CD/USB to start the Debian installation interface.

It is best to use a wired network instead of WIFI. If WIFI cannot be connected due to firmware or driver, you cannot complete the following steps.

Hard Disk partitioning

The settings here use four partitions. During automatic installation, an extended partition containing logical partitions is usually created. As shown below, the hard disk is divided into four areas.

• Mount sda1 to/boot, 200 MB
• Sda2 as/, 20 GB, Ubuntu occupies 4 GB
• Sda3 as swap, 6 GB (4 GB x 1.5 = 6)
• Sda4 is retained as LVM and is not attached. The size is the remaining hard disk size.

Install basic systems

Here we try to make the system installation easier and faster. A basic work system can be added later. Debian's APT (Advanced Package Tool) makes it very easy to add software. Installing Debian on a machine may be a waste of time. It is possible that the graphics card driver and the kernel are not monitored or that the older CD-ROM driver can only work intermittently.

When you choose to install software, select to install an SSH server. Do not install a desktop environment such as Gnome.

Installing a graphic desktop requires hundreds of thousands of packages-these extra work can be done later. If you encounter problems, it will take a lot of time to wait for the installation of the graphic desktop. At the same time, without desktop components, the system can be started faster-tens of seconds instead of minutes. The entire installation process may need to be restarted several times, so this can save a lot of time.

An SSH server allows you to configure this workstation from another computer. This can avoid some problems with old hardware-the keyboard of the old machine may be missing a few keys, the LCD screen may have bad points or the touchpad does not respond, and so on.

Add LVM (Logical Volume Manager)

Install LVM as root.

1. # Apt-get update
2. # Apt-get install lvm2

Select a partition to create a physical volume.

1. # Pvcreate/dev/sda4

Create a volume group.

1. # Vgcreate vg0/dev/sda4

You do not need to create a logical volume. If you want to test whether the LVM is normal, you can create a logical volume and delete it.

1. # Lvcreate-nmytempvol-L10G vg0
2. # Lvremove/dev/vg0/mytempvol

Check the LVM status.

1. # Pvs (view physical volume information)
2. # Vgs (view volume group information)
3. # Lvs (view logical volume information)

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