Xen install

Before installing the dedicated server, please follow this layout as we'll use the left free space for LVM (once the machine is installed) :

Mountpoint	Size	FS type	Partition type
/boot	256M	ext4	Primary
/	2048M	ext4	Primary
swap	1024	swap	Primary
n/a	all free space	n/a	Extended
/usr	4096	swap	Logical
/var	4096	swap	Logical

Retrieve Xen version and install package

apt-cache search xen-hypervisor
apt-get install xen-hypervisor-4.x-amd64

Check if Xen has been integrated to grub

grep Xen /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Specify dedicated CPUs and memory for dom0 in /etc/default/grub :

I prefer not to restrict memory for dom0, let's allocate only one CPU :

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="apparmor=0"
GRUB_CMDLINE_XEN="dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin"

Launch update-grub

Reboot

Check if Xen kernel has been loaded on boot

xm list

Comment and uncomment those lines in /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp

#(vif-script vif-bridge)
#(vif-script     vif-route)
(network-script network-nat)
(vif-script     vif-nat)

Launch /etc/init.d/xen restart

Create a 32 bits virtual machine

xen-create-image --lvm=datavg --size=4G --memory=256M --swap=256M --dist=wheezy --mirror=http://ftp.fr.debian.org/debian --force --ip=192.168.1.1  --netmask=255.255.255.0 --gateway=192.168.1.254 --hostname=wheezy32bits --kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-4-686-pae --initrd=/boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-4-686-pae --arch=i386 --fs=ext4

kernel and initrd files can be retrieved here :

kernel : vmlinuz-3.2.0-4-686-pae
initrd : initrd.img-3.2.0-4-686-pae

/etc/xen/wheezy32bits.cfg

#
# Configuration file for the Xen instance wheezy32bits, created
# by xen-tools 4.3.1 on Sun Feb  9 16:25:13 2014.
#

#
#  Kernel + memory size
#
kernel      = '/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-4-686-pae'
ramdisk     = '/boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-4-686-pae'

vcpus       = '1'
cpus        = '1,2,3'
memory      = '256M'

#
#  Disk device(s).
#
root        = '/dev/xvda2 ro'
disk        = [
                  'phy:/dev/datavg/wheezy32bits-disk,xvda2,w',
                  'phy:/dev/datavg/wheezy32bits-swap,xvda1,w',
              ]


#
#  Physical volumes
#


#
#  Hostname
#
name        = 'wheezy32bits'

#
#  Networking
#
vif         = [ 'ip=192.168.1.1 ,vifname=vif1.1' ]

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