From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Jul 30 05:22:08 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 10F8116A46C for ; Mon, 30 Jul 2007 05:22:08 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from mxout3.cac.washington.edu (mxout3.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.166]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E8E2013C468 for ; Mon, 30 Jul 2007 05:22:07 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from youshi10@u.washington.edu) Received: from smtp.washington.edu (smtp.washington.edu [140.142.32.141] (may be forged)) by mxout3.cac.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.06) with ESMTP id l6U5M7iJ019085 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:22:07 -0700 X-Auth-Received: from [192.168.10.45] (c-24-10-12-194.hsd1.ca.comcast.net [24.10.12.194]) (authenticated authid=youshi10) by smtp.washington.edu (8.13.7+UW06.06/8.13.7+UW07.03) with ESMTP id l6U5M6I1007982 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:22:07 -0700 Message-ID: <46AD757E.7010602@u.washington.edu> Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:22:06 -0700 From: Garrett Cooper User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.5 (Windows/20070716) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Rakhesh Sasidharan , FreeBSD Questions References: <62b856460707290755s1225eaffy951caa9c81857de3@mail.gmail.com> <44964.212.72.24.148.1185772449.squirrel@rakhesh.com> In-Reply-To: <44964.212.72.24.148.1185772449.squirrel@rakhesh.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-PMX-Version: 5.3.2.304607, Antispam-Engine: 2.5.1.298604, Antispam-Data: 2007.7.29.215733 X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report='__CP_URI_IN_BODY 0, __CT 0, __CTE 0, __CT_TEXT_PLAIN 0, __HAS_MSGID 0, __MIME_TEXT_ONLY 0, __MIME_VERSION 0, __SANE_MSGID 0, __USER_AGENT 0' Cc: Subject: Re: XEN questions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 05:22:08 -0000 Rakhesh Sasidharan wrote: >> Does one run XEN inside of freebsd and then VMs inside that, or does >> one run XEN on the bare hardware and then run freebsd inside that? If >> I've already got freebsd running on my box, do I have to reload it >> from scratch or is there a way I can virtualize what I already have >> runing? >> > > Hi, > > Xen runs on the bare hardware and other OSes run atop Xen (i.e. they are > specifically "ported" to the Xen "hardware"). But you don't have to > install Xen on the bare hardware as such. Typically you install Xen on > your OS. And then you install other OSes on this Xen installation. That's > how it works. > > For example: Say you are running FreeBSD 7.0. You install Xen on FreeBSD > 7.0. Then you install FreeBSD 6.2 and NetBSD 3.1 onto Xen. In Xen > terminology, all these OS installations (including the FreeBSD 7.0 on > which Xen is installed) are called "domains". The FreeBSD 7.0 Xen domain > is called dom0 (domain 0). While the FreeBSD 6.2 and NetBSD 3.1 Xen > domains are called domU (domain User). > > dom0 is special coz that's what manages the other domains. Plus, that's > where you install Xen first for it to interact with the hardware etc. Not > all OSes support Xen on dom0. FreeBSD 6.2, for instance, doesn't. (It only > supports domU). FreeBSD 7.0 would, I believe. NetBSD 3.1 does. In Linux, > you need kernel 2.6.18 and greater I think. > > So to answer your question, if you are on FreeBSD 6.2, you can't try out > Xen. You can, however, install FreeBSD 6.2 atop any Xen installation > running on FreeBSD 7.0 and Linux or NetBSD 3.1 etc. > > Hope this helps. :) > > Regards, > Rakhesh > > ps. This should be of some info -- > http://tx.downloads.xensource.com/downloads/docs/user/#SECTION01140000000000000000. > dom0 isn't all the way yet either, though rink@ has said that support might be in 7-CURRENT prior to the first release. We'll see what happens, since he's a busy college student. -Garrett