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Xen Virtualization in red Hat enterprise linuX 5
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Short Description: ization in the system’s BIOS setup utility, enable. that setting, save, and reboot the system. Storage. For VM storage, Red Hat virtualization supports ...
Content Inside: virtualization Xen Virtualization in red Hat enterprise linuX 5 By Jose de la Rosa The open source Xen virtualization hypervisor included Puneet dhawan in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 OS provides key components to help build dynamic, scalable virtualized environments. This article describes the basic features of Xen virtualization in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and how organizations can deploy it on ninth-generation DellTM PowerEdgeTM servers. Virtualization enables enterprises to consolidate allows operating systems to run inside a VM without modi- multiple servers without sacrificing application fication, but may require overhead that can reduce isolation, scale their infrastructure as their needs performance. grow, and increase availability through dynamic provisioning Paravirtualization--the approach used by Xen--modifies and relocation of critical systems. Combining the open guest operating systems to run in a virtualized environ- source Xen hypervisor in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 with ment. The VMs interface with the Xen hypervisor using ninth-generation Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell storage hypercalls, rather than the system calls used by full virtu- Related Categories: enables enterprises to create a dynamic data center that can alization. As shown in Figure 1, the real device drivers run Red Hat Enterprise Linux scale easily to meet enterprise requirements. in a special VM, or domain, called Domain 0 (Dom0). Virtualization Rather than abstracting standard devices for the VMs, Visit DELL.COM/PowerSolutions Xen architecture Dom0 exposes a set of class devices, such as networks for the complete category index. The virtualization layer, often called the hypervisor or vir- and storage blocks, to the VMs. I/O data transfers to and tual machine (VM) monitor, abstracts underlying physical from each VM through Xen use the XenBus memory-mapped hardware to present a uniform set of hardware resources-- communication channel. The VMs use paravirtualized such as processors, memory, networks, and storage device drivers and a paravirtualized kernel to interoperate blocks--to VMs. VMs running on a single system share with Dom0 and the Xen hypervisor. available physical resources, with the hypervisor multiplex- Paravirtualization requires modifying guest operating ing key resources and maintaining isolation among differ- systems, which is not possible for all popular OS distribu- ent VMs. Figure 1 shows the architecture of the Xen tions. However, Xen can take advantage of Intel hypervisor. Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) and AMD VirtualizationTM How the hypervisor abstracts the underlying physical (AMD-VTM) technology to run unmodified operating systems resources defines key characteristics of the virtualization as well. The virtualization capabilities of Red Hat Enterprise architecture. Two popular approaches are full virtualization Linux 5 coupled with ninth-generation Dell PowerEdge serv- and paravirtualization. Full virtualization presents emu- ers can create a flexible, powerful virtualized environment lated resources to VMs that mimic a standard PC architec- that accommodates both modified and unmodified guest ture and standard peripheral devices. Using this approach operating systems. DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | November 2007 1 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, November 2007. Copyright 2007 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
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