Xen Live Migration with DRBD on Debian Jessie: Part 2 – DomU

The following is part 2 of a 3 part series that goes over installation and configuration of Xen live migration with DRBD.

This article covers a creation of a Debian guest domain (domU virtual machine) which we will later use to migrate between the two Xen hosts.

The convention followed in the article is that [ALL]# denotes a command that needs to be run on both Xen nodes.

Installation

We’ll need the xen-tools package:

[ALL]# apt-get install xen-tools

Configure xen-tools

We’ll need an LVM group to store domU images:

[ALL]# vgcreate vg_xen /dev/sdb  
  Physical volume "/dev/sdb" successfully created
  Volume group "vg_xen" successfully created
[ALL]# vgs
  VG         #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize  VFree
  vg_debian8   1   2   0 wz--n- 63.25g 48.11g
  vg_xen       1   0   0 wz--n- 50.00g 50.00g

Configuration file /etc/xen-tools/xen-tools.conf with our default settings can be seen below. Note the use of LVM group.

lvm = vg_xen
install-method = debootstrap
size = 4G # Root disk, suffix (G, M, k) required
memory = 256M # Suffix (G, M, k) required
maxmem = 512M # Suffix (G, M, k) optional
swap = 128M # Suffix (G, M, k) required
fs = ext4 # Default file system for any disk
dist = `xt-guess-suite-and-mirror --suite`
image = sparse # Specify sparse vs. full disk images (file based images only)
dhcp = 1
genpass = 1
genpass_len = 12
hash_method = sha512
kernel = /boot/vmlinuz-`uname -r`
initrd = /boot/initrd.img-`uname -r`
arch = [amd64]
mirror = `xt-guess-suite-and-mirror --mirror`
mirror_wheezy = http://http.debian.net/debian
mirror_jessie = http://http.debian.net/debian
ext4_options = noatime,nodiratime,errors=remount-ro
ext2_options = noatime,nodiratime,errors=remount-ro
xfs_options = defaults

Optionally, for those using loopback images to store Xen guest domains, you will almost certainly exhaust the default number of loopback images the distribution has created, and therefore you may need the following:

[ALL]# modprobe loop max_loop=255
[ALL]# echo "loop max_loop=255" >>/etc/modules

Also ensure that you have the actual devices in the /dev directory on your host.

Create a Debian Jessie Guest (DomU)

Note the LVM volume /dev/vg_xen/jessie01-disk the guest is being installed on.

[xen01]# xen-create-image --hostname=jessie01 --lvm=vg_xen \
  --vcpus=1 --memory=256M --maxmem=512M  --size=4G --fs=ext4 \
  --dhcp --mac=08:00:27:ff:60:00 --arch=amd64 --dist=jessie \
  --noswap

General Information
--------------------
Hostname       :  jessie01
Distribution   :  jessie
Mirror         :  http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian
Partitions     :  /               4G    (ext4)
Image type     :  full
Memory size    :  256M
Max mem size   :  512M
Kernel path    :  /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-amd64
Initrd path    :  /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-amd64

Networking Information
----------------------
IP Address     : DHCP [MAC: 08:00:27:ff:60:00]


Creating ext4 filesystem on /dev/vg_xen/jessie01-disk
Done
Installation method: debootstrap
Done

Running hooks
Done

No role scripts were specified.  Skipping

Creating Xen configuration file
Done

No role scripts were specified.  Skipping
Setting up root password
Generating a password for the new guest.
All done


Logfile produced at:
         /var/log/xen-tools/jessie01.log

Installation Summary
---------------------
Hostname        :  jessie01
Distribution    :  jessie
MAC Address     :  08:00:27:ff:60:00
IP Address(es)  :  dynamic
RSA Fingerprint :  55:e7:99:06:bf:db:dd:1f:bc:0e:72:d9:26:ae:31:3d
Root Password   :  sqKfU3JT8sZ6
[xen01]# xen-list-images
Name: jessie01
Memory: 256 MB
Config: /etc/xen/jessie01.cfg

Start the VM, ensure it’s running and connect to the console.

[xen01]# xl create /etc/xen/jessie01.cfg
Parsing config from /etc/xen/jessie01.cfg
[xen01]# xl list
Name              ID   Mem VCPUs      State   Time(s)
Domain-0          0  1022     1     r-----     215.4
jessie01          1   256     1     -b----       1.6
[xen01]# xl console jessie01

To exit console, type “Ctrl + ]” (same as with telnet).

To shutdown the guest:

[xen01]# xl shutdown jessie01

In case there is a need to immediately terminate a domain, the destroy option can be used. This does not however give the domain OS any chance to react, and is the equivalent of ripping the power cord out on a physical machine. In most cases we will want to use the shutdown command instead.

[xen01]# xl destroy jessie01

The image file can be deleted this way, if required:

[xen01]# xen-delete-image jessie01

To ensure that the guest jessie01 is auto started on boot, a symlink can be created:

[ALL]# mkdir -p /etc/xen/auto
[xen01]# ln -sf /etc/xen/jessie01.cfg /etc/xen/auto/jessie01.cfg

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