Hey Guys,

I am writing about my current Xen configuration. I have inherited a server running CentOS 5.1 with a Xen kernel. There is one Guest running successfully, in which I can remotely connect to via SSH. When creating a new Guest it is successful up into the point where I am to access the console. When issuing "xm console <domain>" I am dropped into a blank screen. I have no output from the Guest OS just a blank command line. The interesting thing it also applies to the Guest which is running successfully. I have reviewed the configuration files etc. but I am left scratching my head. Any thoughts?


Regards,

Inescapeableus.

Ha, that's funny because it's happening as well to me.
The only time when I am able to see the real console is when I attach directly to it when starting the guest with "xm create myguest -c". Otherwise connecting using ssh is no problem.
I initially thought that it was a problem of X, but I have the same problem even when trying to connect in a pure shell, with no X running.
Well, it's not a really bad problem for me as if I really need the console I just shut down the domain and restart it with "-c", set up ssh and voilà. Unluckily I didn't even try to search for a resolution... .

Pearlseattle,

I am somewhat happy to see I am not the only person facing this issue. I am unable to view the console even when initializing the Guest, very frustrating to say the least. I am continuing to look into the issue and I will post the solution (provided I find one). Until then I hope somebody who has encountered this error kindly posts their solution.

Hi
Reading a little bit here and there I saw that people mentioned to disable the serial ports in the kernel configuration to make the virtual console of Xen work.
Now, I'm using the latest Xen-kernel provided by Gentoo, version 2.6.21 and in there (in the kernel config menu of the guest domain) I went into "XEN", selected the option "Disable serial port drivers" and rebuilt the kernel.
After that the console was still not working, so I uncommented a line in my "/etc/inittab" file which now reads as follows:
Now my console works.

If you have an older Xen-kernel, as far as I remember that option is not shown under the menu-entry called "XEN", but you'll probably find an option called something "Serial ports" under "Device drivers => Character devices".
Ciao!