Posted by Fraser Campbell
Fri, 04 Aug 2006 19:11:00 GMT
I have posted a question to the Xen-devel list to see if there are any known fixes for my issue with b44 network driver. I’m not holding out a lot of hope for an immediate solution so I decided to try something else. QEMU.
If you haven’t heard of QEMU it is an open-source processor emulator, QEMU is also part of the technology used by Xen in order to boot unmodified guests. You can get more information on the QEMU website at http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/.
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Posted in Xen, Ubuntu, QEMU | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Fri, 04 Aug 2006 12:23:00 GMT
The OpenVZ project has announced the incorporation of OpenVZ virtualization into Debian. Also interesting to note is that OpenVZ has adjusted the license on their utilities in order to make it more palatable for Debian.
The reality is somewhat less glowing than the release would indicate but none-the-less it is a great step forward for OpenVZ users running Debian. The reality:
- the next version of Debian which is tentatively scheduled for December release is the Debian version being discussed
- the kernel support comes in the form of a source code patch (kernel-patch-openvz), while Debian patch packages do make it very easy to modify the kernel it does still mean that you must compile your own kernel
Read original OpenVZ press release here.
Posted in OpenVZ / Virtuozzo, Debian | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Fri, 04 Aug 2006 03:25:00 GMT
For unix administrators one key to a pleasant life is having a stable and friendly workstation from which to launch scripts, X clients, test/debug programs, etc. As an added bonus that workstation should be portable so that you can hack whether you are at the office, in a train or on the beach sipping your beverage of choice.
As a Linux administrator for over 10 years my choice of workstation is a Linux desktop. However, running the Linux desktop in some environments can be challenging as there are many vendors who force the use of their tools to the exclusion of others.
Among the numerous barriers I have encountered are:
- Microsoft Exchange/Outlook combination
- Microsoft Visio
- spreadsheets which think they are applications (macros)
- Lotus Notes
- websites that don’t function on anything but Internet Explorer
Cutting the story short, Microsoft Windows is a necessary evil for most unix administrators unless they have the fortune of working for small highly-focused technical companies.
For the past year my goal has been to run Windows as a guest on a Xen enabled laptop – avoiding hacks such as Citrix and Terminal Server.
Thanks to the common availability of Intel VT extensions there is now a good chance that this can be done. What follows is my account of how I did it …
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Posted in Xen, Ubuntu | 2 comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Thu, 03 Aug 2006 15:34:00 GMT
There have been quite a number of articles related to Xen and Xensource recently. I wasn’t going to bother posting about them but since I was quite amused I thought it might be worthwhile …
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Posted in Xen | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Mon, 31 Jul 2006 23:17:00 GMT
XenSource has placed their recent OLS presentation slides online for all to see.
If interested go to http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/netos/papers/2006-xen-ols.pdf.
Posted in Xen | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:11:00 GMT
IBM has put out a new Redbook titled “Linux HPC Cluster Installation”. The Redbook covers the basics of different cluster types and then goes into installation and management of xSeries servers using the xCAT cluster administration tool.
Download the full Redbook from http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg246041.pdf.
Posted in High Performance Computing, Documentation | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:02:00 GMT
QLusters, Inc announced that they now have plug-in support for Xen, VMware and Linux Vservers virtualization within their openQRM management framework.
To support each virtualization technology, the openQRM platform comes pre-configured with a generic, logical layer called the “partition engine.” This partition engine provides a virtualized server resource that is used the same way as a physical system with no configuration changes required on the application’s file system-images. Plug-ins for each specific virtualization solution can then be added into the partition-engine making it easy to support the creation, management and administration of any type of server under management.
Read the full, original press-release here.
Posted in Tools | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:12:00 GMT
The Register has to be one of my favorite web sites, yesterday they published their take on the Microsoft/Xensource agreement. I do like the following quote:
If Linux is full-blown cancer, then Xen has to be the equivalent of a colon polyp.
The premise of the article is that the Microsoft / Xensource agreement is just a means for Microsoft to hype Xen and hence detract from VMware. I would have to agree. Does Microsoft really care about Linux suddenly, I doubt it …
So what does Xensource get from this agreement? That is not entirely clear. I would hope there is more in this for Xensource than cheap publicity and hype.
My guess is that there must be some behind the scenes agreements about Microsoft assisting Xensource with providing a paravirtualized Longhorn or at least providing assistance with the creation of paravirtualized drivers to let Windows run more quickly on Xen/HVM.
Read Register article here.
Posted in Xen, Microsoft Virtual Server | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:02:00 GMT
There are currently 4 major competing implementations of containers – OpenVZ, Linux Vservers, linux-jail and an implementation apparently out of IBM (led by Eric Beiderman).
Yesterday Eric Beiderman presented “Multiple Instances of the Global Linux Namespaces”. Today there was a container BOF where use cases and implementation details were discussed.
Making the kernel container-capable requires allowing multiple instances of global names (think 2 processes with PID 1 for example). Needless to say there are many subsystems that need modification to be fully container-capable.
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Posted in OpenVZ / Virtuozzo, Containers, Linux-VServer | no comments
Posted by Fraser Campbell
Fri, 21 Jul 2006 03:30:00 GMT
Today at OLS Ian Pratt presented “Xen 3.1 and the Art of Virtualization”. To me the entire talk seemed like a bit of a sales pitch compared to most of the OLS talks but it was still interesting and some new bits emerged.
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Posted in Xen | no comments
