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On Sun, Jan 1, 2012 at 11:18 AM, Tanstaafl <tanstaafl@×××××××××××.org> wrote: |
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> Hi all, |
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> |
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> I'm looking into virtualizing my servers (all 3 of them), and am a little |
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> confused as to the differences between Xen and XenServer... |
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|
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Think of it as a bit like the difference between Linux and a Linux |
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distribution. "Xen" is the name of the hypervisor, XenServer is the |
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hypervisor plus some support tools in a dom0. |
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|
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While I haven't played with XenServer, I have played with its |
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open-source clone, XCP, and was very annoyed by it. I'd rather run a |
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Gentoo dom0. |
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|
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> |
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> First - I want to use a bare metal hypervisor that supports the following: |
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> |
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> 1. Can be installed on a USB FLASH drive (I have some Dell Poweredge 2970 |
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> servers with the internal USB slot for just this purpose), and |
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|
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I don't think I've heard of anyone doing this, but I don't see why |
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it'd be a problem. |
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|
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> 2. Fully supports both Windows Server 2008 (our Domain Controller), and |
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> Gentoo Linux (our mail and web servers). |
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|
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The xen supports hvm, where it emulates hardware; in a full hvm VM, |
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*any* operating system comfortable on x86 should run. |
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|
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There's also paravirtualization, which is faster, and is likely what |
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you're thinking of wrt 'bare metal'. Signed drivers for paravirt mode |
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for hardware (such as your network, disk or system clock) are |
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available for current versions of Windows. |
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|
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Finally, on some server hardware, you can grant VMs access to |
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particular PCI and PCIe devices. |
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|
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> By 'fully' above, I mean, I can install the guest tools/additions, so I'll |
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> be able to safely manage the VMs (shutdown in case of an extended power |
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> failure, snapshots, migrations, etc) |
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> |
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> I can't seem to find an ebuild for the xenserver tools, and when looking |
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> found out about Xen (I had thought that it went away a long time ago)... |
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|
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"eix xen" shows a few relevant results: |
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* app-emulation/xen |
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Available versions: 3.4.2-r4!t 4.1.1-r2!t ~4.1.2!t {acm |
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custom-cflags debug flask pae xsm} |
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Homepage: http://xen.org/ |
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Description: The Xen virtual machine monitor |
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|
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* app-emulation/xen-pvgrub |
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Available versions: 4.1.1-r1 ~4.1.2 {custom-cflags} |
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Homepage: http://xen.org/ |
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Description: allows to boot Xen domU kernels from a |
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menu.lst laying inside guest filesystem |
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|
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* app-emulation/xen-tools |
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Available versions: 3.4.2-r3 ~3.4.2-r5 ~4.1.1-r5 4.1.1-r6 |
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~4.1.2-r2!t {acm api custom-cflags debug doc flask hvm pygrub qemu |
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screen xend} |
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Homepage: http://xen.org/ |
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Description: Xend daemon and tools |
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|
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* sec-policy/selinux-xen |
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Available versions: [M]2.20110726 |
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Homepage: http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/hardened/selinux/ |
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Description: SELinux policy for xen |
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|
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* sys-kernel/xen-sources |
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Available versions: |
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(2.6.18-r12) 2.6.18-r12!b!s |
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(2.6.34-r3) ~2.6.34-r3!b!s |
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(2.6.34-r4) ~2.6.34-r4!b!s |
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(2.6.38) ~2.6.38!b!s |
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{build deblob symlink} |
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Homepage: http://xen.org/ |
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Description: Full sources for a dom0/domU Linux kernel to |
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run under Xen |
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|
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> |
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> Anyway, looking for any pointers from anyone currently running either of the |
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> two... |
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|
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Not currently, but had some experience with it at work and at home, |
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plan to get back into it later this month. |
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|
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-- |
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:wq |
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