Re: Reporting some xen 4.1.2* and 4.0 issues like limitations to 4 VCPUs for debian squeeze HVMs etc

["Pasi Kärkkäinen" <pasik@iki.fi>]

On Tue, Aug 09, 2011 at 01:26:44AM +0200, Mark Schneider wrote:
>
> Issue 1: 4 VCPUs limitation for squeeze?
> # ---
> <ironm> pasik, my problem was/is that HVM images for squeeze and wheezy  
> created on xen 4.0 for some reason didn't boot on xen 4.1.2* ..
> <ironm> pasik, when I create HVM images on xen 4.1.2* they can boot  
> correctly .. however with some limitations for squeeze (not more than  
> 4VCPUs )
> <pasik> ironm: do the images made on 4.0 boot properly on 4.1.2 if you  
> have only 1 vcpu and say, 1 GB of mem?
> <ironm> pasik, I had to install again . and this squeeze images boots  
> now with 8GB RAM / 4cores
> <ironm> pasik, I made tests with 1 core / 1 GB, 2 cores / 2GB and 4  
> cores / 8GB .. they worked
> <ironm> 8cores / 4 or 8 GB didn't work for squeeze
>
> The error looks like:
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/squeeze/squeeze-xen4.1.2-issue-install-menu-pic1.png
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/squeeze/squeeze-xen4.1.2-issue-error-pic2.png
>

So based on the "squeeze-xen4.1.2-issue-error-pic2.png" I recommend you to enable debugging options for the kernel, from the boot menu.

Add at least "nomodeset initcall_debug debug loglevel=10" 
Then paste/capture the output.

Some questions: 
	- That "BUG: soft lockup - CPU#0 stuck for 61s!" only happens when you have 8 vcpus, right?
	- What if you install with 1 vcpu, then after installation install the latest debian updates (new kernel),
	  and then try using 8 vcpus with the updated debian kernel?


> Config files are like:
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/HVM/hvm-squeeze.born2b3.net.cfg

Looks OK.


> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/HVM/hvm-wheezy.born2b3.net.cfg
>

For what is this wheezy cfgfile? 


>
> Issue 2: problem with too big install image size? (DVD images)
> <ironm> maybe there is a problem when using DVD.iso images for  
> installations .. (no problem with CD size )
> <ironm> big size images (like DVD) or just the content (missing grub  
> packages on them) causes install errors in HVMs
>
> The error looks like:
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/vxda-setting3-grub-error.png
>

So are you saying you only get that GRUB error when installing from DVD.iso,
but if you install from CD.iso GRUB installs ok ? do other deb packages install OK? 

Is DVD/CD iso image the only difference? Are you sure the checksums of the iso images are OK?

>
> Issues 3+: different errors in log files of xen 4.1.2*
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/xen4.1.2-kernel3final/qemu-dm-squeezehvm.born2b3.net.log-xen412-k3.txt
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/xen4.1.2-kernel3final/qemu-dm-wheezyhvm.born2b3.net.log-xen412-k3.tx
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/xen4.1.2-kernel3final/xen-hotplug.log-xen412-k3.txt
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/xen4.1.2-kernel3final/xend-debug.log-xen412-k3.txt
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/xen4.1.2-kernel3final/xend.log-xen412-k3.txt
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/xen4.1.2-kernel3final/xm_dmesg-xen412-k3.txt
> http://www.it-infrastrukturen.com/fileadmin/linux/paste/wheezy/xen4.1.2-kernel3final/xm_info-xen412-k3.txt
>
>

What exactly is the issue here? What problem are you having? 

-- Pasi