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- An open-source project developed by the ‘University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory' in coordination with the ‘Open Source Development Labs' and several Linux distributors and currently managed by Xen.source.
- It requires the user to boot up a Xen Linux Kernel package, server tools and documentation and then launch para-virtualized guest OS systems.
- The kernel package incorporates support for running Xen in domain 0 (xen0) as a server and for unprivileged (xenU) user access. The virtual machines are called domains. When the Xen Kernel starts up, it creates a primary domain, domain0, which manages the system and set up virtual machines for other operating systems.
- xend server: Manages virtual machines
- /var/log/xend.log: places the xend messages
- xend-config: for configuring Xen xend server
- The guest OS is modified and configured to access the Xen interface.
- HVM Abstraction Layer: It provides support for the Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM). The configuration file for HVM is in the /etc/xen directory and has the extension .hvm
Xen Benefits
- Increased Efficiency for Enterprise-level systems: Virtual machines have nearly the same efficiency as the native kernel
- It has full native device drive access support for graphics.
- Setup a separate test system: Xen isolates servers in virtual machines on the system, which lets the virtual machine access the hardware support provided by the native kernel.
Constraint: Only UNIX and LINUX OS configured to be Xen compatible.
XenMan Tool
- It provides a desktop interface to manage Xen domains (starting, stopping, or rebooting) or virtual machines, adding new ones, or deleting old ones.
- It can be used on most distributions, which include Debian, SUSE, and Ubuntu.
- The dashboard lets users check statistics like CPU and memory usage.
- Allows to save the snapshot of a machine and restore to the point
xenman command to start XenMan from a terminal window
xenman.conf: XenMan configuration file. Global definitions held in the /etc/xenman/xenman.conf file. The file defines virtual block devices, snapshots location, provides an environment, specific configurations, and client configuration like GNOME support, use of images collected into an image store. - Each user has .xenman directory.
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