Hi,
what would be the shortest and fastest way to clone a e.g. basic Centos 5 guest for further use? For example I'd like to set up a master Mysql-server as a guest an than "clone" two additional slaves.
Which xen configfiles may be edited? Can the config and the filesystem simply be copied?
Thanks for suggestions!
Regards
Götz
Götz Reinicke wrote:
Hi,
what would be the shortest and fastest way to clone a e.g. basic Centos 5 guest for further use? For example I'd like to set up a master Mysql-server as a guest an than "clone" two additional slaves.
I have a lvm "template", i.e. a simple volume with the OS skeleton ( a minimal install). When I need a new VM I do - lvcreate newvolume - mkfs newvolume - mount template /mnt/source - mount newvolume /mnt/destination - cp -a /mnt/source /mnt/destination
wash, rinse, repeat as needed.
Which xen configfiles may be edited?
cp /etc/xen/template /etc/xen/newVM vim /etc/xen/newVM
Can the config and the filesystem simply be copied?
yes.
Manuel Wolfshant wrote:
Götz Reinicke wrote:
Hi,
what would be the shortest and fastest way to clone a e.g. basic Centos 5 guest for further use? For example I'd like to set up a master Mysql-server as a guest an than "clone" two additional slaves.
I have a lvm "template", i.e. a simple volume with the OS skeleton ( a minimal install). When I need a new VM I do
- lvcreate newvolume
- mkfs newvolume
- mount template /mnt/source
- mount newvolume /mnt/destination
- cp -a /mnt/source /mnt/destination
wash, rinse, repeat as needed.
Which xen configfiles may be edited?
cp /etc/xen/template /etc/xen/newVM vim /etc/xen/newVM
Can the config and the filesystem simply be copied?
yes.
There is another approach too. You can set up your guests as virtual diskless servers which can net boot their configuration from dom0. Maybe iSCSI or blktap their root drives and overlay a configuration over / or /etc from NFS on dom0, or their whole configuration.
You can definitely mash-up some good ideas with LTSP and Xen.
I wish Xen had a virtual 10Gbe interface, then you can really do some nifty stuff!
I personnally setup KDM or GDM in each domU to do XDMCP broadcast then I can pick which virtual guest to log into once it is up and running and with KDM/GDM user switching I open another session, pick a guest and get a full graphical login.
-Ross
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Ross S. W. Walker schrieb:
Manuel Wolfshant wrote:
Götz Reinicke wrote:
Hi,
what would be the shortest and fastest way to clone a e.g. basic Centos 5 guest for further use? For example I'd like to set up a master Mysql-server as a guest an than "clone" two additional slaves.
I have a lvm "template", i.e. a simple volume with the OS skeleton ( a minimal install). When I need a new VM I do
- lvcreate newvolume
- mkfs newvolume
- mount template /mnt/source
- mount newvolume /mnt/destination
- cp -a /mnt/source /mnt/destination
wash, rinse, repeat as needed.
Which xen configfiles may be edited?
cp /etc/xen/template /etc/xen/newVM vim /etc/xen/newVM
Can the config and the filesystem simply be copied?
yes.
There is another approach too. You can set up your guests as virtual diskless servers which can net boot their configuration from dom0. Maybe iSCSI or blktap their root drives and overlay a configuration over / or /etc from NFS on dom0, or their whole configuration.
You can definitely mash-up some good ideas with LTSP and Xen.
I wish Xen had a virtual 10Gbe interface, then you can really do some nifty stuff!
I personnally setup KDM or GDM in each domU to do XDMCP broadcast then I can pick which virtual guest to log into once it is up and running and with KDM/GDM user switching I open another session, pick a guest and get a full graphical login.
That sounds realy cool; do you have any wiki or how to set this things up. (I know that there are a lot of how tos, but they seem to handle mostly special aspects ... )
regards
Götz
Götz Reinicke wrote:
Ross S. W. Walker schrieb:
Manuel Wolfshant wrote:
Götz Reinicke wrote:
Hi,
what would be the shortest and fastest way to clone a e.g. basic Centos 5 guest for further use? For example I'd like to set up a master Mysql-server as a guest an than "clone" two additional slaves.
I have a lvm "template", i.e. a simple volume with the OS skeleton ( a minimal install). When I need a new VM I do
- lvcreate newvolume
- mkfs newvolume
- mount template /mnt/source
- mount newvolume /mnt/destination
- cp -a /mnt/source /mnt/destination
wash, rinse, repeat as needed.
Which xen configfiles may be edited?
cp /etc/xen/template /etc/xen/newVM vim /etc/xen/newVM
Can the config and the filesystem simply be copied?
yes.
There is another approach too. You can set up your guests as virtual diskless servers which can net boot their configuration from dom0. Maybe iSCSI or blktap their root drives and overlay a configuration over / or /etc from NFS on dom0, or their whole configuration.
You can definitely mash-up some good ideas with LTSP and Xen.
I wish Xen had a virtual 10Gbe interface, then you can really do some nifty stuff!
I personnally setup KDM or GDM in each domU to do XDMCP broadcast then I can pick which virtual guest to log into once it is up and running and with KDM/GDM user switching I open another session, pick a guest and get a full graphical login.
That sounds realy cool; do you have any wiki or how to set this things up. (I know that there are a lot of how tos, but they seem to handle mostly special aspects ... )
I don't have time to write a wiki now, but the LTSP and K12 projects have extensive wikis on PXE boot/install, NFS root overlays and such, so that is where I would look first.
I bet you could even take one of the CentOS 5 based LTSP respins install it, install xen via yum and you would have a good base to add in other features like iSCSI.
Just treat your domUs as remote workstations, but with very fast and reliable 1Gbe connectivity. You can even create a separate xenbr for this to travel over along with a dom0 loop adapter and the traffic would run secure and segregated from the regular network traffic.
I wonder if anybody has tested the performance of iSCSI to a domU for storage versus the blktap driver?
I wonder if you could setup bonded interfaces with the loopback driver and the xen virtual interfaces... Hmmm, might be able to see 200+MB/s io on domUs by bonding 2 or 4 together and using iSCSI...
-Ross
______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender and permanently delete the original and any copy or printout thereof.
Manuel Wolfshant schrieb:
Götz Reinicke wrote:
Hi,
what would be the shortest and fastest way to clone a e.g. basic Centos 5 guest for further use? For example I'd like to set up a master Mysql-server as a guest an than "clone" two additional slaves.
I have a lvm "template", i.e. a simple volume with the OS skeleton ( a minimal install). When I need a new VM I do
- lvcreate newvolume
- mkfs newvolume
- mount template /mnt/source
- mount newvolume /mnt/destination
- cp -a /mnt/source /mnt/destination
wash, rinse, repeat as needed.
Which xen configfiles may be edited?
cp /etc/xen/template /etc/xen/newVM vim /etc/xen/newVM
Can the config and the filesystem simply be copied?
yes.
Thanks, that's realy simple. I'll try it.
regards
Götz
Götz Reinicke wrote on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:41:47 +0200:
Can the config and the filesystem simply be copied?
yes. You want to remove information from the config file that should be unique, for instance the UUID. It will then create a new one for you.
Kai
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Götz Reinicke -
Kai Schaetzl -
Manuel Wolfshant -
Ross S. W. Walker