From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "M.A. Williamson" Subject: Re: Newbie Question... Date: 24 Dec 2004 12:29:58 +0000 Message-ID: References: <41CB1B3F.9070106@virgin.net> Reply-To: maw48@cantab.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=ISO-8859-1 Return-path: In-Reply-To: <41CB1B3F.9070106@virgin.net> Sender: xen-devel-admin@lists.sourceforge.net Errors-To: xen-devel-admin@lists.sourceforge.net List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: To: David Templer Cc: xen-devel@lists.sourceforge.net List-Id: xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org > 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 ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/