Topic: redhat-release change for xenserver..

[compdoc]

I have SME 7.4 installed as a virtual machine on xenserver.

I needed to get xe-tools installed, which are bascially drivers and services needed for xenserver to communicate with the OS.

They have an install script that loads xe-tools, but it has to determine the OS. But it couldnt.

So, I changed the text in /etc/redhat-release. It used to say "SME Server release 7.4", which of course made no sense to the installer. I changed it to "CentOS release 4.7 (Final)" and the installer runs and installs the software.

I left the text in /etc/e-smith-release alone, which still contains "SME Server release 7.4".

My question is, will changing the OS version in /etc/redhat-release cause any problems for other services, etc. in SME? Yum seems to have no issues with it...

Thanks

[cactus]

I have SME 7.4 installed as a virtual machine on xenserver.

I needed to get xe-tools installed, which are bascially drivers and services needed for xenserver to communicate with the OS.

I think you are missing the point here, xen tools should be installed on the host (dom0) and not on the guest (domU) according to http://www.xen-tools.org/software/xen-tools/ :

xen-tools is a collection of simple perl scripts which allow you to easily create new guest Xen domains upon your Debian GNU/Linux host.
Once installed and configured you can create a new Xen instance in a matter of minutes.

SME Server can only run as guest (domU) and not function as a host (dom0), so install xen-tools on SME Server makes no sense to me.

[compdoc]

Thats partly correct. Most of what you say is true for a xen dom0.

But I'm talking about running SME on xenserver, which was a commercial product of Citrix. They include a driver pack for linux and Windows based vms. As example for Windows vms, it includes a scsi card driver, and also a nic driver. These match the hardware xenserver adds to the vm, and allows near native speeds because there's no emulation.

I say you're partly correct, because if you google around you'll find free drivers for Windows domUs. Also, xen-tools is not the same as xe-tools from Citrix.

And, I said xenserver 'was' a commercial product because they have now given it away, as of a couple of days ago. Turns out the free version was the same as the pay-for Enterprise version, but with limits. For example, it now allows a host with 64 cpu sockets.

You just d/l the free license and install it on the free version to have their enterprise product. I run it on dual and triple-core AMD cpus. Guests have always run much faster for me on xenserver than on xen 3.1 running on centos 5.2.

Xen 3.3 seems faster, but it's still not as fast. Not to mention the xenserver GUI running on my Win XP workstation, the quality of which is quite remarkable. Allows me to add/remove storage, backup guests to a file to any storage on the network, create new vms, etc.

I can't compare it to VMware because their ESXi never likes my cheap hardware - I can never get it to install. I think they designed it to run only on expensive iron like HP, and maybe Dell servers.

I seem to have said more than I intended - guess I'll shut up now...

[stephen noble]

I don't think it will cause a problem,  it may be overwritten
or maybe not http://smolt.contribs.org/stats.html has all sorts of versions
which look like they come from here

[root@kiwi ~]# cat /etc/e-smith/templates.metadata/etc/redhat-release           
TEMPLATE_PATH="/etc/motd"                                                       

[root@kiwi ~]# cat /etc/e-smith/templates/etc/motd/template-begin               
{    $OUT = "SME Server release " . $sysconfig{ReleaseVersion};    }
                                                                               

[stephen noble]

I'm seriously considering running sme on top for xenserver
the lite version would have been enough, the enterprise feature list is insane

But it doesn't support  software raid
(and actively discourages, ie updates will break it)

sme made raid so easy I'm hesitant to stop using it
do citrix expect you to be using hardware raid

[compdoc]

Thanks for the help. Can you tell me what triggers the update to the /etc/redhat-release file? I want to be able to test my template...

[stephen noble]

[root@kiwi ~]# slocate redhat-release                                           
/etc/redhat-release                                                             
/etc/e-smith/events/post-install/templates2expand/etc/redhat-release           
/etc/e-smith/events/post-upgrade/templates2expand/etc/redhat-release           
/etc/e-smith/templates.metadata/etc/redhat-release                             

but this should do
expand-template /etc/redhat-release

[compdoc]

I do use hardware raid. I use SME as my personal mail server and spam filter. My SME has been running on xenserver for about a year, I think. I started using xenserver when it was version 4.x. I started using sme many years ago.

The other main purpose of my xenserver is for file storage. I store backup images for my computer as well files related to my business. If my workstation's hdd dies, I can restore a recent image, and then restore a recent backup, and be up and running again pretty quickly.

Anyway, the files and the guests have to be safe, so I have three 1TB drives in a RAID 5, using a 4-port 3ware sata controller. On another box, I use a 3ware 2-port sata controller with two 1TB drives in a mirror. RAID 1?

Thinking about it, maybe you can attach a second virtual drive to the sme guest and have sme do its raid thing with the two virtual drives. Attached storage can be a network share, so if you had a fast network, maybe the delayed writes wont matter and sme can keep a backup of itself over the lan? That would be interesting to try.   

[linuxhelp]

Quick Howto  for SME Setup as guest at XEN?

[linuxhelp]

http://blog.webotin.fr/2009/09/sme-server-as-a-pv-xen-domu/comment-page-1/#comment-3

Blog not not help..

[Stefano]

http://blog.webotin.fr/2009/09/sme-server-as-a-pv-xen-domu/comment-page-1/#comment-3

Blog not not help..

linuxhelp, please do not hijack topics.. you've already started a 3ad about SME in a xen environment..

please continue in the other one explaining what problems are you exeperiencing with that howto

thank you

[byte]

Moving this topic to the SME 7.x contribs forum, it is more appropriate there. Thanks!