Windows Server 2008 R2 Xen HVM Installation with GPVPV Drivers v0.10.0.130

Howto install a Windows 2k8 r2 on a xen host with GPL PV drivers v0.10.0.130

[Update: Signed drivers can be found here]

The machine is called 'slate', and has a single 32Gbyte disk. The xen host is running (a very old) Fedora 8 with xen-3.1.2-5.fc8.

Install Server 2008 R2

Assign a lump of disk (from a LVM volume) for the operating system (32Gbytes), and boot from the installation media DVD. Use a VNC client to step through the graphical installation. Use the following 'xm' style configuration:

#
#  Windows 2008 Server r2
#
name = 'slate'
kernel = '/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader'
builder = 'hvm'
device_model = '/usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
maxmem = 4096
memory = 1024
vcpus=4
acpi=1
apic=1

vif = [ 'bridge=br118, mac=00:aa:0a:14:11:02' ]

#
# The VM has the following block devices
#  - A boot disk with a single partition for the OS, swap, and programs
#  - The installation DVD
#
disk = [ 'phy:/dev/6x320Gr6/slate-hvm,hda,w',
         'file:/xen/iso/en_windows_server_2008_r2_standard_enterprise_datacenter_web_retail_build_x64_dvd_x15-50365.iso,hdc:cdrom,r' ]

# Boot from the CD 
boot='d'

usbdevice='tablet'

#
# Use VNC for the console.
#
vnc=1
vncunused=0
vnclisten = '10.20.9.2'
vncdisplay=2
vncconsole=1
vncpasswd='pickareasonablepassword'

vncviewer=0
sdl=0

stdvga=0
serial='pty'
ne2000 = "0"


on_poweroff = 'destroy'
on_reboot   = 'restart'
on_crash    = 'restart'
# on_reboot   = 'preserve'
# on_crash    = 'preserve'

Note: A Windows Vista x64 machine was used as the VNC client during installation. For some reason connecting to the VNC session over a Putty SSH tunnel using the loopback interface didn't work (the connection hung during the initial handshake). Binding to the ethernet interface of the Xen host, and going directly worked well.

GPL PV Drivers

Given the Windows machine is Server 2008 R2 x64, the drivers must have 'wlh' and 'amd64' in their name. The current revision is gplpv_fre_wlh_AMD64_0.10.0.130.

The installation of the drivers was very straightforward. Given the drivers are signed for 'test mode' operation, and a certificate is provided, the pain to get the drivers installed is reasonably low. I created an ISO image with the MSI install program on it, and added the ISO image as a CDROM device. This means the qemu network adapter doesn't have to be used or configured (but this would be another way to get the drivers onto the machine).

The 'xm' style VM configuration with the gpl pv driver as a second CDROM device is:

disk = [ 'phy:/dev/6x320Gr6/slate-hvm,hda,w',
         'file:/xen/iso/en_windows_server_2008_r2_standard_enterprise_datacenter_web_retail_build_x64_dvd_x15-50365.iso,hdc:cdrom,r',
         'file:/xen/iso/gplpv_fre_wlh_AMD64_0.10.0.130.iso,hdd:cdrom,r' ]

The four steps I followed are:

set 'test signing' mode on
reboot
install driver MSI
reboot

To enable test signing mode execute:

bcdedit /set testsigning on

Once the driver was installed and the machine was rebooted, I configured a static IPv4 and IPv6 address on the network adapter, and enabled remote desktop.

Device manager indicated that the driver was being used, by the presence of the 'Xen Net Device Driver' and 'Xen PV Disk SCSI Disk Device'.

Screesnap 2009-10-30_121239 - GPLPV Driver Device Manager.png

Note: The shutdown service works well 'out of the box'. Shutting the machine down from the xen host with 'xm shutdown slate' performs an orderly shutdown.

Running 'xm' configuration

Once the machine is up and running:

change the boot device back to 'c' drive
change the network interface to 'type=paravirtualised' (so that qemu-dm doesn't create a tap device)

#
#  Windows 2008 Server r2 - MSSQL 2005 Development DB Server
#

name = 'slate'
kernel = '/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader'
builder = 'hvm'
device_model = '/usr/lib64/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
maxmem = 4096
memory = 1024
vcpus=4
acpi=1
apic=1

vif = [ 'bridge=br118, mac=00:aa:0a:14:11:02, type=paravirtualised' ]

disk = [ 'phy:/dev/6x320Gr6/slate-hvm,hda,w' ]

# Boot from the hardisk device
boot='c'

usbdevice='tablet'

#
# Use VNC for the console.
#
vnc = 1
vncunused = 0
vnclisten = '10.20.9.2'
vncdisplay = 2
vncconsole = 1
vncpasswd = 'pickaresonablepassword'

vncviewer = 0
sdl = 0

stdvga = 0
serial = 'pty'

on_poweroff = 'destroy'
on_reboot   = 'restart'
on_crash    = 'restart'

Residual Issues

Given I am running an old version of xen in domain 0 (v3.1.2), there is an issue with using the GPL PV driver such that the CDROM devices no longer function, and the 'Intel(r) 82371SB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller' device has an issue.

Upgrading to the latest xen would solve this issue.