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<h1>Xen hypervisor driver</h1>
<p>
The libvirt Xen driver provides the ability to manage virtual machines
on any Xen release from 3.0.1 onwards.
</p>
<h2>Deployment pre-requisites</h2>
<p>
The libvirt Xen driver uses a combination of channels to manage Xen
virtual machines.
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>XenD</strong>: Access to the Xen daemon is a mandatory
requirement for the libvirt Xen driver. It requires that the UNIX
socket interface be enabled in the <code>/etc/xen/xend-config.sxp</code>
configuration file. Specifically the config settings
<code>(xend-unix-server yes)</code>. This path is usually restricted
to only allow the <code>root</code> user access. As an alternative,
the HTTP interface can be used, however, this has significant security
implications.
</li>
<li>
<strong>XenStoreD</strong>: Access to the Xenstore daemon enables
more efficient codepaths for looking up domain information which
lowers the CPU overhead of management.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Hypercalls</strong>: The ability to make direct hypercalls
allows the most efficient codepaths in the driver to be used for
monitoring domain status.
</li>
<li>
<strong>XM config</strong>: When using Xen releases prior to 3.0.4,
there is no inactive domain management in XenD. For such releases,
libvirt will automatically process XM configuration files kept in
the <code>/etc/xen</code> directory. It is important not to place
any other non-config files in this directory.
</li>
</ul>
<h2><a name="xmlconfig">Example domain XML config</a></h2>
<p>
Below are some example XML configurations for Xen guest domains.
For full details of the available options, consult the <a href="formatdomain.html">domain XML format</a>
guide.
</p>
<h3>Paravirtualized guest bootloader</h3>
<p>
Using a bootloader allows a paravirtualized guest to be booted using
a kernel stored inside its virtual disk image
</p>
<pre><domain type='xen' >
<name>fc8</name>
<bootloader>/usr/bin/pygrub</bootloader>
<os>
<type>linux</type>
</os>
<memory>131072</memory>
<vcpu>1</vcpu>
<devices>
<disk type='file'>
<source file='/var/lib/xen/images/fc4.img'/>
<target dev='sda1'/>
</disk>
<interface type='bridge'>
<source bridge='xenbr0'/>
<mac address='aa:00:00:00:00:11'/>
<script path='/etc/xen/scripts/vif-bridge'/>
</interface>
<console tty='/dev/pts/5'/>
</devices>
</domain></pre>
<h3>Paravirtualized guest direct kernel boot</h3>
<p>
For installation of paravirtualized guests it is typical to boot the
domain using a kernel and initrd stored in the host OS
</p>
<pre><domain type='xen' >
<name>fc8</name>
<os>
<type>linux</type>
<kernel>/var/lib/xen/install/vmlinuz-fedora8-x86_64</kernel>
<initrd>/var/lib/xen/install/initrd-vmlinuz-fedora8-x86_64</initrd>
<cmdline> kickstart=http://example.com/myguest.ks </cmdline>
</os>
<memory>131072</memory>
<vcpu>1</vcpu>
<devices>
<disk type='file'>
<source file='/var/lib/xen/images/fc4.img'/>
<target dev='sda1'/>
</disk>
<interface type='bridge'>
<source bridge='xenbr0'/>
<mac address='aa:00:00:00:00:11'/>
<script path='/etc/xen/scripts/vif-bridge'/>
</interface>
<graphics type='vnc' port='-1'/>
<console tty='/dev/pts/5'/>
</devices>
</domain></pre>
<h3>Fullyvirtualized guest BIOS boot</h3>
<p>
Fullyvirtualized guests use the emulated BIOS to boot off the primary
harddisk, CDROM or Network PXE ROM.
</p>
<pre><domain type='xen' id='3'>
<name>fv0</name>
<uuid>4dea22b31d52d8f32516782e98ab3fa0</uuid>
<os>
<type>hvm</type>
<loader>/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader</loader>
<boot dev='hd'/>
</os>
<memory>524288</memory>
<vcpu>1</vcpu>
<on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
<on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
<on_crash>restart</on_crash>
<features>
<pae/>
<acpi/>
<apic/>
</features>
<clock sync="localtime"/>
<devices>
<emulator>/usr/lib/xen/bin/qemu-dm</emulator>
<interface type='bridge'>
<source bridge='xenbr0'/>
<mac address='00:16:3e:5d:c7:9e'/>
<script path='vif-bridge'/>
</interface>
<disk type='file'>
<source file='/var/lib/xen/images/fv0'/>
<target dev='hda'/>
</disk>
<disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
<source file='/var/lib/xen/images/fc5-x86_64-boot.iso'/>
<target dev='hdc'/>
<readonly/>
</disk>
<disk type='file' device='floppy'>
<source file='/root/fd.img'/>
<target dev='fda'/>
</disk>
<graphics type='vnc' port='5904'/>
</devices>
</domain></pre>
<h3>Fullyvirtualized guest direct kernel boot</h3>
<p>
With Xen 3.2.0 or later it is possible to bypass the BIOS and directly
boot a Linux kernel and initrd as a fullyvirtualized domain. This allows
for complete automation of OS installation, for example using the Anaconda
kickstart support.
</p>
<pre><domain type='xen' id='3'>
<name>fv0</name>
<uuid>4dea22b31d52d8f32516782e98ab3fa0</uuid>
<os>
<type>hvm</type>
<loader>/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader</loader>
<kernel>/var/lib/xen/install/vmlinuz-fedora8-x86_64</kernel>
<initrd>/var/lib/xen/install/initrd-vmlinuz-fedora8-x86_64</initrd>
<cmdline> kickstart=http://example.com/myguest.ks </cmdline>
</os>
<memory>524288</memory>
<vcpu>1</vcpu>
<on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
<on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
<on_crash>restart</on_crash>
<features>
<pae/>
<acpi/>
<apic/>
</features>
<clock sync="localtime"/>
<devices>
<emulator>/usr/lib/xen/bin/qemu-dm</emulator>
<interface type='bridge'>
<source bridge='xenbr0'/>
<mac address='00:16:3e:5d:c7:9e'/>
<script path='vif-bridge'/>
</interface>
<disk type='file'>
<source file='/var/lib/xen/images/fv0'/>
<target dev='hda'/>
</disk>
<disk type='file' device='cdrom'>
<source file='/var/lib/xen/images/fc5-x86_64-boot.iso'/>
<target dev='hdc'/>
<readonly/>
</disk>
<disk type='file' device='floppy'>
<source file='/root/fd.img'/>
<target dev='fda'/>
</disk>
<graphics type='vnc' port='5904'/>
</devices>
</domain></pre>
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