Re: [Xen-users] [XCP] Install to Flash Media

["Nick Couchman" <Nick.Couchman@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2012-02-09 at 10:01 +0100, Roger Pau Monné wrote:
> 2012/2/8 Nick Couchman <Nick.Couchman@xxxxxxxxx>:
> > Well, now that I've figured out that network booting XCP is not really
> > going to be feasible, I'm moving on to my next option: flash media
> > installation.  The systems that I purchased have SDHC slots on them, so
> > I figured I'd attempt to install XCP to one of these cards.  I had
> > already read that there's a minimum disk size in the installer
> > (apparently 12 GB in XCP) and so have factored in that.  However,
> > whenever I try to install I get an error message that the "Partition
> > size in sectors is negative."  Any ideas on this one?
> 
> I've successfully installed XCP on a SD card some time ago, but I
> don't recommend that. Running an OS from a SD is not recommended
> because the access time is large, and the system can feel
> irresponsible some times.

I'm willing to take the risk - I'm using Class 10 SDHC cards (10MB/s),
and there isn't going to be a lot going on at the dom0 level that is
going to require responsiveness.  Additionally, I'll be doing syslog to
a remote machine, so this should take care of some of the normal
read/write traffic that would be on the local disk.

> 
> > Any better way to
> > install to flash media?  I suppose I could go ahead and do the install
> > to a regular HD, then use a rescue system and dd to grab an image of the
> > system partition, then transfer it to the flash media.  Any other
> > possible paths?
> 
> Installing the image and doing a dd will not work straight away, you
> will have to use syslinux to make the usb bootable, but again you will
> face access problems.
> 
> > Anyone running XCP or XenServer off SDHC or other
> > flash-based media?
> 
> I'm using a SD card to boot a regular Xen install (4.1.2) on some of
> my servers, using Alpine Linux which is easy to install to a SD card,
> has a very small footprint and works great with Xen. Don't have
> experience with XenServer.
> 

I did throw a 16GB SDHC card into one of the systems and ran the XCP
install, and it worked fine.  It installed to the SDHC card.  The only
issue I ran into is that in the case the SDHC card is seen as a USB
storage device by the O/S, and the default XCP initrd did not have
usb-storage loaded.  So, I had to boot into a rescue system, mount the
SDHC card, and regenerate the initrd, and reboot.  It is working well,
now, and I've ordered SDHC cards for the rest of the systems so that I
can install XCP this way.  I will have to see longer-term if there are
any adverse side-effects of install XCP this way - performance,
degradation of the flash devices, etc.

-Nick



--------
This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use 
of the intended recipient.  If this email is not intended for you, or you are 
not responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, 
please note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR) 
Privileged/Proprietary Information.  In such a case, you are strictly 
prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this 
message, its contents or attachments in any way.  If you have received this 
message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and 
delete the message from your mailbox.  Information contained in this message 
that does not relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor 
attributable to SEAKR.
_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users