From owner-freebsd-xen@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 4 14:22:19 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-xen@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 342DA106566C for ; Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:22:19 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from joe@tao.org.uk) Received: from alpha.tao.org.uk (alpha.tao.org.uk [212.42.1.232]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EEDFB8FC12 for ; Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:22:18 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost (alpha.tao.org.uk [212.42.1.232]) by alpha.tao.org.uk (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5B2931076E0D; Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:12:42 +0000 (GMT) Received: from alpha.tao.org.uk ([212.42.1.232]) by localhost (mail.tao.org.uk [212.42.1.232]) (amavisd-maia, port 10024) with LMTP id 84573-04; Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:12:32 +0000 (GMT) Received: from [90.155.77.76] (unknown [90.155.77.76]) (Authenticated sender: joemail@alpha.tao.org.uk) by alpha.tao.org.uk (Postfix) with ESMTPA id 6633C1076C76; Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:12:28 +0000 (GMT) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1081) From: Dr Josef Karthauser Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 14:12:26 +0000 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <7F0BEDC0-D2F5-45C1-8DE2-DF89622D42D0@tao.org.uk> References: To: freebsd-xen@freebsd.org X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1081) X-Virus-Scanned: Maia Mailguard 1.0.2a Subject: Xen, and "ops_pv" boot loader? X-BeenThere: freebsd-xen@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion of the freebsd port to xen - implementation and usage List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:22:19 -0000 Hello everyone, I'm beginning to play with Freebsd and Xen, and I'm targeting a VPS = provider who is giving me a large memory instance for a good price. = However, he only supports "ops_pv" kernels, being primarily a linux = house. So, I'm trying to work out what the best approach is. Ideally I'd be = running amd64, but he doesn't want to run an hvmloader. I guess that = means that I need to be running an i386 kernel; hopefully PAE works so = that I take advantage of the memory. However, this appears to be an inflexible solution. Doesn't it mean that = I will have no ability to tweak kernel variables, because effectively = once it's setup he will control the boot process - I'll also not be able = to upgrade the kernel easily. Also, no access to single user mode... = Ideally I want a boot loader.... So, I was thinking. How do we make the boot loader appear to Xen to be a = paravirtualized kernel? Currently it isn't even an elf object, but what = it is was. How much work do you think that it might be to make a "loader = kernel" that appears to be a kernel, but in fact is a boot strap. The = idea being that it could be run as a "ops_pv" kernel on a Xen platform = but otherwise behave exactly like our boot loader, processing = loader.conf, and booting a kernel in the normal way. Does anyone have any idea of whether that's a possibility? Or, is there = something fundamental about the pv_ops model that would prevent this? If this were possible we could boot the amd64 XENHVM kernel in a pv_ops = manner, with full control of the kernel configuration. Hmm... Joe