Xen Basics A Primer for the CPS 110
Xen Basics A Primer for the CPS 110 Programming Assignments Angela Dalton
Objective l To prepare you for the course programming assignments
What is Xen? l A virtual machine monitor (VMM) for x 86 compatible computers l Run multiple instances of OSes simultaneously l l l These are called Guest OSes Provides isolation between Guest OSes Uses Paravirtualization l l Does not hide virtualization from the Guest OSes OS must be ported to work with Xen
Using Xen in CPS 110 l l Xen machine: cps 210. cod. cs. duke. edu Each team will have an account on cps 210 l l Watch your email for info Part of Assignment 1: Get your team’s Linux Guest OS up and running on cps 210
The xm Utility l l Command line utility to control guests Commands to know: l l l xm create xm console xm list xm help <command>
Xen system structure l l l Xen is lowest, most privileged system level Xen hosts multiple Guest OSes (called domains in Xen) running in secure VMs Domain 0 – special privileged management domain l l Builds other domains and manages their virtual devices The domain you are logging in to when you ssh to cps 210. cod. cs. duke. edu
Launching your VM l xm create -c configfilename l -c flag causes console to attach once VM is created l l Useful because you’ll see bootup messages Each team has its own config file l Edit config file to specify location of linux kernel to boot in your VM
The Xen Commandments l Thou shalt not kill another team’s VM l l If there is a rogue VM causing some problem get in touch with that team and/or Angela and/or a UTA to deal with it Thou shalt not hog memory l Config file specifies memory allotted for VM l You don’t need much for these projects
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