[CentOS-virt] Cannot start xen domUs anymore, domUs hang on kernel startup, happens after a long dom0 uptime

Thu Aug 14 01:51:34 UTC 2008
Christopher G. Stach II <cgs at ldsys.net>

Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote:
> Hello!
> 
> I've noticed this problem two times now.. last time I fixed it by rebooting
> the (centos 5.1 x86 32b) xen host/dom0.
> 
> Symptoms:
> 
> - Already running domUs (debian 2.6.18-6-xen-686 32b PAE) continue running
>   and working OK 
> 
> - Cannot start new domUs (debian 2.6.18-6-xen-686).. kernel bootup just
> hangs before running initrd. Same domU with the exact same xen domU cfgfile worked
> earlier. 
> 
> - This problem starts to happen after a "longer" uptime.. atm uptime for the
> dom0-host is 174 days. Cannot say what the actual "limit" is.. last time I
> used the dom0 everything worked fine, now it doesn't.. 
> 
> 
> "xm list" shows the domain as "-b----" and the Time(s) for the domain does
> not increase.. it stays at 1.9 or so. It might increase to 2.0 after 15 mins
> or so..  it looks like nothing happens in domU kernel.
> 
> "xm console" shows the bootup has stalled.. destroying the domU and
> restarting it might show the hang in a bit different place 
> (+- a couple of lines). It always hangs before actually executing initrd
> image. 
> 
> Example console output:
> 
> checking if image is initramfs... it is
> Freeing initrd memory: 12028k freed
> Grant table initialized
> NET: Registered protocol family 16
> SMP alternatives: switching to SMP code
> <hangs here, nothing happens anymore>
> 
> Like said, it could be a couple of lines later or earlier where it hangs.. 
> 
> I tried changing the domU to use just a single vcpu.. doesn't help. I tried
> changing (lowering and increasing) the amount of memory.. didn't help either.
> 
> Any ideas how to debug this? 
> 
> -- Pasi
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> CentOS-virt at centos.org
> http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos-virt

Sometimes xenconsoled dies after a while.  Is it running when you 
attempt this?

-- 
Christopher G. Stach II