Re: Utility of PV on non-obsolete hardware

[Brian Buhrow <buhrow%nfbcal.org@localhost>]

[ I sent a version of this message a week or so agao, but I'm not sure it
made it into the archive, so I'm resending.]

	hello.  Below is a config file for bringing up an HVM domU host under
xen3.3 with a serial console.  I've used this with FreeBSD and NetBSD-4.x.
I have FreeBSD-11.x running  with this setup, so although the xen
installation is quite old, I'm able to run modern versions of domU guests.
Will this help get some documentation going?

	This is with NetBSD-5.2 as the Dom0 guest.  
For the HVM hosts, the qemu process on the dom0 runs when the HVM hosts are
running.  Because NetBSD-Dom0 is restricted to 1 virtual CPU, I'm not sure
how well this scales if there were a lot of busy HVM DomU's.  However, the
DomU's are stable and run well.

<cut here for xen33-dom0-hvm.conf>

#============================================================================
# Python configuration setup for 'xm create'.
# This script sets the parameters used when a domain is created using 'xm create'.
# You use a separate script for each domain you want to create, or 
# you can set the parameters for the domain on the xm command line.
#============================================================================

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Kernel image file.
kernel = "/usr/pkg/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"

builder='hvm'

# Initial memory allocation (in megabytes) for the new domain.
memory = 8192

vcpus = 4

# A name for your domain. All domains must have different names.
name = "YourDomain"

#Network interface. By default emules a realtek 8139. For a NetBSD guest you
# have to disable re(4) and let rtk attach to use it.
# ne2k_pci emulates a pci ne2000 clone; this his cpu-hungry in dom0
# pcnet emulates a AMD PCnet-PCI controller; but it corrupts packets with
# pcn(4) under NetBSD.
#vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:00:00:13, bridge=bridge0, type=ioemu, model=ne2k_pci' ]
#vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:00:00:13, bridge=bridge0, type=ioemu, model=pcnet' ]
vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:00:00:13, bridge=bridge0, type=ioemu' ]

#----------------------------------------------------------------------------
# device model to use: only qemu-dm available for now
device_model = '/usr/pkg/libexec/qemu-dm'

# Define the disk devices you want the domain to have access to, and
# what you want them accessible as.
# Each disk entry is of the form phy:UNAME,DEV,MODE
# where UNAME is the device, DEV is the device name the domain will see,
# and MODE is r for read-only, w for read-write.
# For hvm domains you can only use hda to hdd. You can set extra types
# (e.g. cdrom)

disk = [ 'file:/var/xen/domus/YourDomain/disk0,ioemu:hda,w', ]

# The following line creates 2 disks, a boot (install) disk and the system
# disk.  use this to recover from a disaster.  System disk shows up as ada1
# Root filesystem is ada1s1a (BB 08/31/2018)
# The cdrom file can be an image suitable for writing to a flash disk
# and should be bootable.
#disk = [ 'file:/var/xen/domus/YourDomain/cdrom,ioemu:hda,w', 'file:/var/xen/domus/YourDomain/disk0,ioemu:hdb,w', ]

# floppy images; this doesn't seem to work currently. Use a iso image instead.
#fda = '/home/domains/boot1.fs'

# boot device: a = floppy, c= hard drive, d= cdrom (with the disk entry
# before)
#boot='c'
#boot='d'

# By default, 'xm create' will try to open an X window on the current display
# for the virtal framebuffer. You can have the virtal framebuffer in vnc
# instead, and connect using a vnc client (using localhost:$vncdisplay)
# If vncunused is set to 1 (this is the default value), vncdisplay
# will be set to the first unused port; so it's recommended to
#vnc = 1
#vncdisplay = 0
#vncunused = 0

#Xen emulates a PS/2 mouse, but the pointer in the guest has difficulties
# tracking the absolute position. Xen can emulate a USB tablet in addition
# to the mouse which will report the absolute position of the pointer,
# and make the mouse much easier to use. 
# 
usb=1
usbdevice='tablet'
#usbdevice='mouse'

#============================================================================

#Turn on the serial port as console
serial = 'pty'

#autorestart = True
autorestart = False