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Hypervisor Layer
As the hypervisor layer, we'll first try to setup a Debian Wheezy (7.4.0) base OS using Xen and virt-manager.
Later, for production server deployment, we might try to go for some other configuration, in particular using oVirt will be one of our goals.
Debian Installation
The latest Debian installer was used, booted from a USB stick.
In case you have no idea how to make a bootable Debian installer USB stick, please refer to the Debian documentation on the subject, our attempt was made using the latest netboot mini.iso image.
We won't go into the details of installing Debian, following are simply a few notes that might be of interest during this step.
Desktop Environment
Although choosing the right desktop environment shouldn't be a main preoccupation, we decided to go for KDE on our first trial install.
Additional Packages
Also, you might want to add some proprietary drivers on the the space that is left free on your USB key. In our case, the Realtek WiFi interface required the rtlwifi/rtl8192cfw.bin package to be present.
You'll need to create a new partition in the free space left, using GParted is one of the easiest way to do this.
Once the packages are present on this extra space, it seems the Debian installer automatically detects them and uses them.
Partitionning
In the case of the hypervisor layer, what we'd like is to have as much disk space as possible available for the virtual machines. Therefore we'll apply the following partition schema when the Debian installer asks for the partition method:
Partitioning method: Manual
Partition disks: Select your main HD (to delete all existing partitions)
Create new partitions: Select pri/log FREE SPACE, then create new partition
Create a 1GB for /boot filesystem → Primary → Beginning → Ext4 journaling file system, Mount point: /boot → Label: Boot → Bootable flag: on → Done
Repeat partition setup for another one
Use full space available → Primary → Use as: Physical volume for LVM → Done
Configure the Logical Volume Manager
Write changes to disk and configure LVM?: Yes
Create volume group: xenvg
Select devices: (select only the LVM partition (/dev/sdX2)
Create logical volume
Volume group: xenvg
Logical volume name: root
Logical volume size: 4GB
Create logical volume
Volume group: xenvg
Logical volume name: swap
Logical volume size: 4GB
Create logical volume
Volume group: xenvg
Logical volume name: var
Logical volume size: 20GB
Finish
Set mount points
On top of the list, select the first entry
LVM VG xenvg, LV root - 4.0 GB Linux device-mapper (linear) #1 4.0GB
Use as: Ext4 → Mount point: / → Done
Second: LV swap entry: Use as: Swap → Done
Third: LV var: Use as: Ext4 → Mount point: /var → Done
Finish partitioning and write changes to disk
Software selection
[*] SSH server
[*] Laptop
[*] Standard system utilities
GRUB
Install the GRUB boot loader to the master boot record? Yes
Boot into the new system
Basic Configuration
Login as root
remove cdrom from sources
> nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Comment out any line which begins “deb cdrom:…” by inserting a hash (#) in front of it.
Save the file (ctrl-X).
Install sudo and create the 'nsrc' user into the sudo group
> apt-get update > apt-get install sudo > usermod -G sudo -a user_name (chosen during install process)
Network Configuration
Your computer probably has received an IP address from a DHCP server, let's configure a static address for it, so the VMs can share the same network interface:
> nano /etc/hosts
add 198.168.1.251 your_host.your_hostname.com your_hostname
Install additional networking packages
> apt-get install bridge-utils vlan
Edit /etc/network/interfaces
Change the file so that it looks like this. This removes the (dynamic) IP address from eth0, and instead creates a bridge interface “br-lan” with a static IP address, and eth0 a member of the bridge.
# The loopback network interface auto lo iface lo inet loopback # Management interface auto eth0 iface eth0 inet manual auto br-lan iface br-lan inet static address 10.10.0.X netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 10.10.0.254 bridge_ports eth0 bridge_stp off bridge_fd 0 bridge_maxwait 0
You can activate your changes like this:
> ifdown eth0 > killall dhclient > ifup br-lan > brctl show bridge name bridge id STP enabled interfaces br-lan 8000.xxxxxxxxxxxx no eth0
You should see your new IP address on ifconfig br-lan, and you should still be able to ping out (e.g. ping 8.8.8.8)
Edit /etc/resolv.conf
In case you have a local DNS:
domain your.domain.tld nameserver 192.168.1.1
Check you can still resolve names (e.g. ping apt.ws.nsrc.org)