Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:33:29 Z

I am using the stadard production version of Windows 2008 Server x64 with Hyper-V as the host OS. It has all of the latest patches and updates. I have SuSE Linux Enterprise 10 with the Linux IC's working as one of the guest OSs (1 CPU w/ 1024MB). However, it seems that the Linux IC version 1 does not work with SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 (1 CPU w/ 2048MB). I have tried to install the Linux IC's on SLES 11 and I got the following on boot-up:

Initializing X2V shim...done.
VIRT_BASE specified @ 0xffffffff80000000.
ELF_PADDR_OFFSET specified @ 0x0
VIRT_ENTRY specified @ 0xffffffff80200000.
HYPERCALL_PAGE specified @ 0xffffffff80207000.
Loading XenLinux...done.
Loading RAMDISK...done.
Running XenLinux...

The boot hangs at "Running XenLinux" and doesn't preceed any further.
Has anyone gotten SLES 11 to work with the Linux IC's?

Cheers,

Kevin

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:37:24 Z

I failed the first few times myself.

You have to be sure to add the xen kernel package groups. (xen- and xen-devel)
And the correct compiler groups.

The only way that I know of to get you back is to mount your VHD to another Linux VM and put the old menu.lst back in place (\boot\grub\)

Brian Ehlert (hopefully you have found this useful)

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:50:29 Z

Thanks Brian for your help. I have a another question. I am new to SuSE (I usualy use Red Hat) I searched the Novel/SuSE support sight and I did find the xen-devel package. Did you have to rebuild your kernel? Also, I installed the kernel source, but the SuSE source package did not contain a rpmbuild SPEC file like Red Hat. Does SuSE provide one? I know there question have noting to do with Hyper-V, but if you know them I would greatly appriciate an answer.

Thanks for you help,

Kevin

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:00:05 Z

It has been a few weeks since I did this and I didn't write it down.

The biggest problem was gettign the 'right' packages there in the first place.
And I ran into confusion with the xen kernel the xen kernel support components.

If I recall correctly it is actually the xen kernel support components that are required. As loading the xen PV kernel on top of Hyper-V does not make much sence (PV on top of PV).

The documentation actually mentions xen-pae (later on) - which is not the same as the xen package.
And I am thinking that his might actually have been the magic sauce.

Brian Ehlert (hopefully you have found this useful)

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:13:27 Z

Thanks again for you help Brian. The PAE is 32-bit Linux with an extened memory addressing. However I would like to use the 64-bit Linux. I maybe I'm SOL and have to go with VMware. To bad Hyper-V doesn't have better Linux support. I check with SuSE to see what they say.

Cheers,

Kevin

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:44:02 Z

Before you go VMware, try XenServer.
The architecture is very similar to Hyper-V - and there are currently paths for migrating between the two.

In the end, it gives you more options.

Brian Ehlert (hopefully you have found this useful)

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 19 May 2009 18:45:04 Z

Kevin, Have you managed to find out anything further on this issue? I'm currently trying to get SuSE 11 to work on Hyper V at my organization and am running into constant stumbling blocks.

Thanks,
Ben

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Tue, 19 May 2009 18:48:11 Z

I am in the process of clarifying the installation for the ICs and the mouse drivers.

Ben: Can you please elaborate on the issues that you are having?

Brian Ehlert (hopefully you have found this useful)

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:21:44 Z

I get exactly the same with opensuse 11

Hyper-V with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:06:21 Z

the short answer is: do not run the shim portion of the MSFT instructions for installing the Linux integration services.

the long answer is:
the shim is a component that is also referred to as the hypercall adapter. It is designed to allow a Linux virtual machine run with a xen PV kernel ( kernel-xen ).
Just as a Linux virtual machine could in a xen paravirtualized environment (well, not the same but compatible at least).

The shim is not necessary when installing a fresh, clean, and new vm on Hyper-V ( whether it be SuSE, Debian, RedHat, CentOS, or any other distro that you like). The shim is also no longer a required step with Hyper-V R2.
The shim IS necessary when you migrate a paravirtualized VM from a xen-family hypervisor. It is the shim that allows kernel-xen to actually work.

My advise is: When installing a new Linux VM on Hyper-V, use these instructions:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/0d2c5fa8-682c-4f5d-9fe7-388dd80a7e06

If you have a Linux virtual machine on a xen-family hypervisor ( therefore it is probably paravirtualized and using kernel-xen of the distro ) and you want to migrate that vm to Hyper-V - this is a totally different process.

Also, in regards to SLES - if you are 32-bit, then you must use kernel-xenpae as kernel-xen does not have PV support.

Brian Ehlert (hopefully you have found this useful)