Arch Linux (Parabola) and Xen

Discussion in 'all things UNIX' started by Balthazar, Sep 18, 2015.

  1. Balthazar

    Balthazar Registered Member

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    I am wondering if anybody is using Xen on Arch Linux or Parabola? I installed a fresh encrypted basic installation + the latest xen kernel. I've been following the guide in the Parabola wiki (https://wiki.parabola.nu/Xen) but the xen kernel is not booting. I guess something's wrong with my xen menuentry in Grub2. The system is booting fine but I already have a running Parabola system. Now I wanted to try it as Dom0.
     
  2. UnknownK

    UnknownK Registered Member

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    I have tried installing Xen in Parabola in the past, but could never make it to work. It did boot into the Xen kernel though. Most probably something is wrong with your grub configuration.

    In Arch/Parabola, you have to change so many things manually, changing the grub.conf, editing your fstab, enabling various systemd services, etc. in order to make Xen work. Compare this to Debian where installing only the Xen metapackage did all the things necessary and it works fine.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2015
  3. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    I couldn't get it to work either. My choice is running a chroot with grsec and firejail.
     
  4. UnknownK

    UnknownK Registered Member

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    If you just want an alternative to virtualbox, KVM is the best option. You won't need a custom kernel like Xen and it's much easier to setup.
     
  5. Balthazar

    Balthazar Registered Member

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    Thanks for your input. There is indeed a lot of things to take into account. I expected to run into problems at some point because it is not that well documented. I will try again if I find the time. I am having a little problem with my "normal" Parabola system which I have to solve first.

    I have another laptop running Qubes. It's working great (for most parts). I do use Parabola as my main system though. I like to run free software only. That's why I wanted to try out Xen on Parabola. I don't need it, it was out of curiosity but it still would be nice to have other options. In the end I can and want to use only a few systems for my everyday work & internet use.
     
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