SLES11 xen kernel can't boot

password636 · 06-02-2011, 09:58 PM

Hi,

I have trouble in booting Suse Linux Enterprise Server 11 with kernel 2.6.27.39-0.3-xen. It stops at the following:

Code:

waiting for device /dev/sda2 to appear: .......

I have other kernels installed like 2.6.27.39-0.3-default and 2.6.27.39-0.3-pae. They all can boot successfully. Only xen kernel has such problem. I'm using a virtual machine and the following is the menu.lst:

Code:

title SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 - 2.6.27.39-0.3 (xen)
    root (hd0,1)
    kernel /boot/xen.gz
    module /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27.39-0.3-xen root=/dev/sda2 resume=/dev/sda1 splash=silent showopts vga=0x32b
    module /boot/initrd-2.6.27.39-0.3-xen

And the /boot is in the /dev/sda2. /dev/sda1 is swap partition

Code:

localhost:~ # df -h
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda2             7.2G  3.4G  3.5G  50% /
udev                  251M  188K  251M   1% /dev

Disk is SCSI.

Some say this might be related to the SCSI disk. Does this mean I never can boot the xen kernel if I use the SCSI disk? What should I do to make it successful to boot the xen kernel?

THANKS!

Arelatensis · 06-03-2011, 06:21 PM

First, it must be activated hypervisor and instruments for virtualisation. In OpenSuse it may be done with GUI System>virtualisation>install hypervisor and instruments. After the operation will be comleted, notification appears/ that you can choose XEN from boot menu for creating of guest OS. Without hypervisor XEN kernel is inactive. It also must be installed xen-tools or dom_U packages i. e. instruments.

password636 · 06-03-2011, 11:11 PM

Hi Arelatensis,

Thank you very much.

So I can't boot into xen-kernel unless I config system with virtualization stuff? Actually I can boot into 2.6.27.19-5-xen with the same system. I don't want to create any virtual machine on my system, just need to load the xen-kernel to boot the system up.

Arelatensis · 06-04-2011, 06:26 PM

There is not about configuring system, but only activating hypervisor. Xen-kernel will not load without it, because it need only for virtualization in xen technology. This enlighted kernel itself play a role of hypervisor: "Xen systems have a structure with the Xen hypervisor as the lowest and most privileged layer.[2] Above this layer come one or more guest operating systems, which the hypervisor schedules across the physical CPUs. The first guest operating system, called in Xen terminology "domain 0" (dom0), boots automatically when the hypervisor boots and receives special management privileges and direct access to all physical hardware by default. The system administrator can log into dom0 in order to manage any further guest operating systems, called "domain U" (domU) in Xen terminology. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xen).

In my Open Suse /usr/share/docs/packages/Xen there is complicated documentation about xen in common and xen in Suse.

P. S.
If you don't plan make any virtualization entierly, so you can uninstall it to clean disk space (about 150 MiB)/

Good luck