Re: Newbie Question...

From: "M.A. Williamson" <maw48@cam.ac.uk>
To: David Templer <david.templer@virgin.net>
Cc: xen-devel@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: Newbie Question...
Date: 24 Dec 2004 12:29:58 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <Prayer.1.0.11.0412241229580.28368@hermes-1.csi.cam.ac.uk> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <41CB1B3F.9070106@virgin.net>

> Is setting up Xen similar to installing a distro ... ?

No, you install by dropping the Xen hypervisor and XenLinux kernel down 
onto your existing distro install and adding a grub entry to boot them. 
It's like a kernel install (plus a few user tools on top). See the manual 
for more details ;-)

> if so how does 
> Xen seperate virtual machines (& is possible to switch between them?)

Each virtual machine needs a separate root filesystem installed. There's a 
number of ways you can do this: * boot a distro install CD, make a new 
partition for the VM and do an install into that partition. Then boot back 
into your main distro and set up a VM to boot off that partition. * if 
you're using Redhat, you can use anaconda --root (I think) to install a new 
filesystem into some directory or disk file * if you're using SuSE, you 
could probably use the UML install tool to create a new SuSE filesystem and 
then tweak the disk image to work in a Xen VM * if you want to use Debian 
in your VM, you can download the debootstrap tool and use that to install 
into a directory or disk image (steps for this are described in the user 
manual) * you could copy files from your existing distro filesystem to 
create the new filesystem - this is described in the user manual

> I have 40gb spare is that enough to run a couple of VM just to test it 
> out ?

Sure thing! If it's enough space to install multiple distros on your disk 
then it's enough space to install them an run them under Xen. If you're 
using the same distro in all domains, you could also consider sharing a 
/usr partition between them.

Note that the user manual provides a tutorial based around a modified 
version of ttylinux (available from our SF.net page). This can run out of a 
disk file and only requires about 4meg of space.

HTH,
Mark

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