Chapter 7. Virtual Machine Drivers / 7.4. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
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SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9

[Note]Note

The drivers for SLES 9 are not included in the driver pack. They are available through the standard update channels.

This section provides isntructions for running SLES 9 SP4 as a fully virtual guest with Xen drivers. Running SLES 9 SP4 requires a VM Host Server based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2 or later.

To use this software, you must have SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP4 or later.

Setting Up a new Virtual Machine

  1. Create a new fully virtual machine or start an existing fully virtual machine. Use YaST+Virtualization+Virtual Machine.

  2. Get the latest updates for the operating system from your update channel. For information on updating SLES 9, see the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 Documentation.

    [Important]Important

    Make sure you perform this step.

  3. If you want to back up the driver files, open a terminal and enter cp initrd-xxx.img to initrd- xxx.img.bak , where xxx is the kernel version.

  4. Verify that the Xen drivers are installed.

    1. Launch YaST by entering yast2 at a terminal.

    2. Select Software+Software Management.

    3. Search for xen-kmp and make sure that the appropriate drivers are installed for your system.

      If they are not selected, select them and click Accept to complete the installation.

Using an Existing SLES 9 Virtual Machine

In SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, the device naming is different than the device naming of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9. Therefore, a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 VM Guest will not be able to find its root file system when running on a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 VM Host Server.

To be able to still boot the system, you must know which device is used for the root partition of your virtual system. For example, hdaxx will be changed to xvdaxx where xx is the partition number.

When booting the system, you have to append an extra root option to the kernel command line, that tells the system about its root file system. If your VM Guest used to live on /dev/hda2, append the string root=/dev/xvda2 to the kernel command line. This option should enable you to boot the system, although additional filesystems still will not be available to the system.

To make all the needed file systems available to the VM Guest, edit the file /etc/fstab and correct all device entries.

In order to have a valid initial ramdisk that knows about the new location of the root filesystem, run the command mkinitrd.

  1. Edit the virtual machine’s /boot/grub/menu.lst file. At the kernel line, append an xvd x=noprobe parameter where xvdxis the drive designation specified in the virtual machine configuration file.

    For example, if the virtual machine configuration file specifies a virtual disk as hda, such as: disk=['file:/var/lib/xen/images/vm1/hda,ioemu:xvda,w'], you should see something like kernel vmlinuz-kernel_ver xvda=noprobe appended to the kernel line.

  2. Reboot the virtual machine.

Editing the Configuration File to Recognize the Virtual Network Card

  1. On the virtualization host server, open a terminal and enter xm delete vm_name to delete the virtual machine’s reference in the Xen store so it is no longer managed.

    [Tip]Tip

    Enter xm list to see the name of the virtual machine (vm_name).

  2. Open the virtual machine configuration file located on virtualization host server (/etc/xen/vm/vm_cfgfile, where vm_cfgfile is usually the same as the name of the virtual machine).

  3. Remove all parameters from the vif= line except the mac=mac_address parameter. Make sure to leave the single quotes.

    For example, change the line 

    vif=[ 'mac=00:16:3e:55:24:21,model=pcnet,type=ioemu', ]

    to 

    vif=[ 'mac=00:16:3e:55:24:21', ]

  4. At the terminal, enter xm new vm_cfgfile to reference the virtual machine in the Xen store so it is managed again.

  5. Restart the virtual machine by using YaST+Virtualization+Virtual Machine Manager.

    You can also restart the virtual machine by using xm start vm_cfgfile, but make sure to connect to it with a viewer.

    The first time the virtual machine boots, you might see a message indicating that new hardware was found. This message can be safely canceled.

Configuring the Virtual Network Card

  1. Identify the number of each virtual network card.

    Virtual network cards are identified by vif-x files located in the /sys/class/net/ethx/driver directories. For example, network card 0 is designated as /sys/class/net/eth0/driver/vif-0. Look in each ethx/driver directory for a vif-x file, such as vif-0, vif-1, and so on.

  2. Run YaST.

    1. Make sure you are logged in as root.

    2. Open a terminal.

    3. Enter YaST2.

  3. In YaST, click Network Devices > Network Card.

  4. Click Change, then select and delete each network card that is already configured.

  5. Click Add, then change the ethx parameter to a network card number identified above. Repeat the process to add all virtual network cards.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2
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