The MLN Project

Installing Xen and MLN on Ubuntu Edgy

This is a complete guide to setting up Xen and MLN on a freshly installed Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy. We will install Xen from Ubuntu's own packages. It has been tested on i386 only.

Phase 1: Installing Xen

1. Edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include universe packages

2. apt-get update

3. On one line:
   

   apt-get install xen-image-xen0-2.6.17-6-generic-xen0
   
   xen-hypervisor-3.0-i386 xen-utils-3.0 bridge-utils  uml-utilities

4. mkinitramfs -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-6-generic-xen0
   
   2.6.17-6-generic-xen0

5. Edit /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp:
   Change this line:
   

   (network-script network-dummy)

   With:
   

   (network-script 'network-bridge netdev=eth0')

   (Note the "eth0" is the outgoing network interface, this might be different on your box.)
6. Edit /boot/grub/menu.lst. Add this right after: "## ## End Default Options ##"
   

   
   title           Xen 3.0.3
   
   root            (hd0,0)
   
   kernel  /boot/xen-3.0-i386.gz console=vga
   
   module /boot/xen0-linux-2.6.17-6-generic-xen0 root=/dev/hda1 ro console=tty0
   
   module /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-6-generic-xen0
   
   savedefault
   
   boot
   
   

7. Reboot into the Xen kernel, and check that xen is running with the following command:

   xm list

   If it prints out something like:

   
   Name                                      ID Mem(MiB) VCPUs State   Time(s)
   
   Domain-0                                   0      428     1 r-----    157.2
   
   

   Then you are ready to continue with installing MLN.

Phase 2: Installing MLN

1. wget http://mln.sourceforge.net/files/mln-latest.tar.gz

2. tar xzf mln-latest.tar.gz

3. cd mln-latest

4. ./mln setup

   
   Just go with the default choices.

5. cp mln /usr/local/bin

6. Next, we point MLN towards the Xen kernel we just installed:
   Edit /etc/mln/mln.conf and add the following two lines:
   

   
   xen_kernel /boot/xen0-linux-2.6.17-6-generic-xen0
   
   xen_ramdisk /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-6-generic-xen0
   
   

7. We are now ready to build our first project:

   mln build -f one-xen-host-on-lan.mln

8. If the build finishes without any apparent errors, you are ready to start it:

   mln start -p xen_on_lan

   You should get the following output:

   
   Starting xeno.xen_on_lan in screen
   
   You can connect to this vm using 'screen -r xeno'
   
   Log on as root and don't forget to set a new root password
   
   

9. Now you can connect to the VM using:

   
   screen -r xeno