[et-mgmt-tools] Where is the Configuration File?

[Daniel P. Berrange]

On Thu, Jun 28, 2007 at 05:00:53PM -0400, Steve Brueckner wrote:
> Hugh Brock wrote:
> > 
> > With xen 3.1, config information for guests is no longer in /etc/xen,
> > nor is it modifiable by editing a config file. XenSource decided it
> > was better to hide the config information.  
> > 
> > Virt-manager gets information about active and inactive guests by
> > querying libvirt for them. libvirt then turns around and asks xend,
> > or whatever hypervisor you are using, for the information and returns
> > it. for You can do the same thing from the command line with "virsh
> > dumpxml <guest>".   
> > 
> > --Hugh
> 
> What is the new "Xen way" of creating VMs?  That is, without using 
> virt-manager, how do they recommend users do things?  Their user
> manual is still stuck at version 3.0.

They provide a way to feed a config into XenD  with 'xm new <filename>'
which takes a file in same format as those in /etc/xen. They don't 
provide any way to get the config back out in that format :-(  So for
Xen 3.0.4 or later we recommend either

  1. Using virsh

            virsh dumpxml {guest} > guest.xml
            vi  guest.xml
            virsh define guest.xml

  2. Using virt-manager  - the 'Details' dialog of a VM lets you alter
     a subset of the config options. Memory, max memory, vCPU count
     and addition/removal of disk & network devices.


If you're requirements are satisfied by 2, that's the best, otherwise
option 1 is more general purpose. We're trying to expand the coverage
of config parameters in both cases.

Of course both these methods work with Xen, KVM, QEMU & KQEMU guests

Dan.
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