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Re: How to get xenconsole working on freeBSD-12 without burning up vnc ports or extra tty ports



At Wed, 17 Mar 2021 01:10:17 -0700, Brian Buhrow <buhrow%nfbcal.org@localhost> wrote:
Subject: Re: How to get xenconsole working on freeBSD-12 without burning up  vnc ports or extra tty ports
>
> 2.  Although I'm not sure it's needed, I include
> serial = 'pty'
> in my domain configuration file.

As far as I can tell a "serial" spec is definitely not needed.

It seems the FreeBSD 12.2 (and perhaps earlier?) generic kernel
automatically makes use of PV devices, including xencons, and of course
attaches xencons as the system console device.

	type = "pvh"
	name = "fbsd-test"
	memory = 2000
	maxmem = 8000
	vcpus = 4
	vif = [ 'bridge=bridge0' ]
	kernel = "/kernel"
	cmdline = 'vfs.root.mountfrom=cd9660:/dev/ada0 ro'
	disk = [
	        'format=raw, vdev=hda, access=ro, target=/images/FreeBSD-12.2-RELEASE-amd64-bootonly.iso',
	]

I did have some trouble with the installer seeming to lock up if I leave
it idle for too long, but if I jump into a shell right away then it
works fine.

In fact I'm still having troubles with booting anything but a re-created
ISO (i.e. I unpack the official ISO and rebuild it with mkisofs on NetBSD).

I'm suspecting some mis-match in sector size between what FreeBSD tries
to read from the xbd(4) device, and what the back-end delivers.

> 3.  On the root filesystem of the FreeBSD domu machine, edit /etc/ttys as follows:
>
> Replace the line:
> console none unknown  none secure
> with
> console "/usr/libexec/getty std.115200" unknown on local secure

That's probably just an optimization/convenience change?

I haven't done a full install yet though -- I'm still having problems
with FreeBSD-xbd(4)'s use of LVM logical volumes (corrupt filesystems).
(xenkernel411-4.11.4nb6 + xentools411-4.11.4nb3 on 9.99.81/amd64)

> 	Now, when the domu boots, you can log into it using xl console
> domid and not fool around with vncview or having to use extra ttys on
> the domu system.

Also the default xenconsoled logs work too!

(Unfortunately it seems as though the FreeBSD kernel cannot simulate a
system power down to Xen in PVH mode -- "halt -p" just halts the system
and leaves the console at the "press any key to reboot" prompt.)

--
					Greg A. Woods <gwoods%acm.org@localhost>

Kelowna, BC     +1 250 762-7675           RoboHack <woods%robohack.ca@localhost>
Planix, Inc. <woods%planix.com@localhost>     Avoncote Farms <woods%avoncote.ca@localhost>

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