Xen-4 on SLES-11-SP2: No GRUB boot menu entry

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES Virtualization
1

I’ve just finished installing SLES-11-SP2 (“Xen Virtualization Host” scenario) and followed the directions in Section 2.1 of the guide Virtualization with Xen…

[QUOTE][LIST][]If the host should always run as Xen host, run YaST System > Boot Loader and activate the Xen boot entry as default boot section.
[LIST][][]In YaST, click System > Boot Loader.
[][]Change the default boot to the Xen label, then click Set as Default.
[][*]Click Finish.
[/LIST]
[/LIST][/QUOTE]
But the Xen label does not load the Xen VMM - It loads the Linux kernel:

[CODE]# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Wed Oct 17 13:29:24 PDT 2012
default 1
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/message
##YaST - activate

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title Xen – SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 - 3.0.13-0.27
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.0.13-0.27-xen root=/dev/xvda2 resume=/dev/xvda3 splash=silent showopts
initrd /initrd-3.0.13-0.27-xen

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name: linux###
title XEN
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.0.13-0.27-xen root=/dev/xvda2 resume=/dev/xvda3 splash=silent showopts
initrd /initrd-3.0.13-0.27-xen[/CODE]

This seems like a bug. Should I be concerned about the integrity of the installation? Or should I just manually add the entry to menu.lst and move on?

Eric Pretorious
Truckee, CA

2

After manually modifying menu.lst I took a look around and realized that the Xen VMM is present in /boot…

suse-xen-1:~ # ls -al /boot/xen* -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 741959 Feb 15 2012 /boot/xen-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen-4.1.gz -> xen-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen-4.gz -> xen-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 743521 Feb 15 2012 /boot/xen-dbg-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen-dbg-4.1.gz -> xen-dbg-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen-dbg-4.gz -> xen-dbg-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 25 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen-dbg.gz -> xen-dbg-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen-syms -> xen-syms-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11736666 Feb 15 2012 /boot/xen-syms-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 27 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen-syms-dbg -> xen-syms-dbg-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11395972 Feb 15 2012 /boot/xen-syms-dbg-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 Oct 17 13:20 /boot/xen.gz -> xen-4.1.2_14-0.5.5.gz

…the scripts installed by xen-tools are missing too! e.g., From the Oracle VM Server host system…

[CODE][root@ovm-2 ~]# cat /etc/redhat-release
Oracle VM server release 3.1.1

[root@ovm-2 ~]# rpm -ql xen-tools | grep init.d
/etc/rc.d/init.d/xen-watchdog
/etc/rc.d/init.d/xencommons
/etc/rc.d/init.d/xend
/etc/rc.d/init.d/xendomains[/CODE]

What’s going on here? Where are all of the Xen tools? i.e., Why weren’t the tools included during installation?

suse-xen-1:~ # rpm -qa | grep xen kernel-xen-3.0.13-0.27.1 xen-doc-pdf-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 xen-libs-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 kernel-xen-base-3.0.13-0.27.1 sles-xen_en-pdf-11.2-0.41.1 xen-doc-html-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 xen-4.1.2_14-0.5.5 xen-tools-domU-4.1.2_14-0.5.5

Eric Pretorious
Truckee, CA

3

epretorious wrote:
[color=blue]

But the Xen label does not load the Xen VMM - -It loads the Linux
kernel:-[/color]

… not according to what you show below.[color=blue]

Code:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Wed Oct 17 13:29:24 PDT

2012 default 1
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/message
##YaST - activate

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name:
linux### title Xen – SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 -
3.0.13-0.27 root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.0.13-0.27-xen root=/dev/xvda2 resume=/dev/xvda3
splash=silent showopts initrd /initrd-3.0.13-0.27-xen

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name:
linux### title XEN
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.0.13-0.27-xen root=/dev/xvda2 resume=/dev/xvda3
splash=silent showopts initrd /initrd-3.0.13-0.27-xen
--------------------[/color]

I see a menu.lst file.

It shows two identical entries, except for the “title”.

Both will load the Xen kernel.

It will default to the second entry. (default 0 would be the first
entry)

Your post doesn’t shot show the command you used to produce this output
so I don’t know which file you may have listed.

The file used when your system boots is:
/boot/grub/menu.lst

If you think it may have been corrupted, check the backup:
/boot/grub/menu.lst.old

If you look in /boot you should see both the “-xen” and the “-default”
kernels. Verify they are both present.

If you want to boot the default kernel, the first entry show the
default kernel rather than the xen kernel.

–
Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
If you find this post helpful and are using the web interface,
show your appreciation and click on the star below…

4

[QUOTE=KBOYLE;9597]epretorious wrote:
[color=blue]

But the Xen label does not load the Xen VMM - -It loads the Linux
kernel:-[/color]

… not according to what you show below.[color=blue]

Code:

# Modified by YaST2. Last modification on Wed Oct 17 13:29:24 PDT

2012 default 1
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,0)/message
##YaST - activate

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name:
linux### title Xen – SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 -
3.0.13-0.27 root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.0.13-0.27-xen root=/dev/xvda2 resume=/dev/xvda3
splash=silent showopts initrd /initrd-3.0.13-0.27-xen

###Don’t change this comment - YaST2 identifier: Original name:
linux### title XEN
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-3.0.13-0.27-xen root=/dev/xvda2 resume=/dev/xvda3
splash=silent showopts initrd /initrd-3.0.13-0.27-xen
--------------------[/color]

I see a menu.lst file.

It shows two identical entries, except for the “title”.

Both will load the Xen kernel.

It will default to the second entry. (default 0 would be the first
entry)

Your post doesn’t shot show the command you used to produce this output
so I don’t know which file you may have listed.

The file used when your system boots is:
/boot/grub/menu.lst

If you think it may have been corrupted, check the backup:
/boot/grub/menu.lst.old

If you look in /boot you should see both the “-xen” and the “-default”
kernels. Verify they are both present.

If you want to boot the default kernel, the first entry show the
default kernel rather than the xen kernel.

–
Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
If you find this post helpful and are using the web interface,
show your appreciation and click on the star below…[/QUOTE]

I think that you’ve misread the question, Ken.

Please re-read the question:

Thanks, anyhow.

Eric Pretorious
Truckee, CA

5

epretorious wrote:
[color=blue]

I think that you’ve misread the question, Ken.

Please re-read the question:[color=green]

But the Xen label does not load the Xen VMM - It loads the Linux
kernel…[/color][/color]

Let’s just say we’re not communicating… :slight_smile:

  1. I understand the Xen label does not load the Xen VMM.

  2. The listing you provided shows two entries for the Xen kernel.
    menu.lst normally has one entry for the standard kernel so this listing
    is suspect and you don’t show what file you are listing.

  3. If this menu.list is used for booting, the 3.0.13-0.27-xen kernel
    should be loaded. Can you verify this?

uname /a

If the 3.0.13-0.27-xen kernel is loaded but you don’t have Xen
functions, then something may have gone wrong when you “Installed
Hypervisor and Tools”. On the other hand, if you see a different kernel
has been loaded, I would suggest a different menu.list is referenced
during boot.

What do you see?

–
Kevin Boyle - Knowledge Partner
If you find this post helpful and are using the web interface,
show your appreciation and click on the star below…