This is how I built my Xen server.
First install Debian 5.0 (Lenny). This should also work on 4 (Etch) too.
Everything is done on the command line as root.
To build Xen from source you’ll need as fair number of dependencies. The easiest way to install them is by using the apt-get install command as below:
apt-get install bcc bin86 gawk bridge-utils iproute libcurl3 libcurl4-openssl-dev bzip2 module-init-tools transfig tgif texinfo pciutils-dev mercurial build-essential make gcc libc6-dev zlib1g-dev python python-dev python-twisted libncurses5-dev patch libvncserver-dev libsdl-dev libjpeg62-dev
If you installed the 64bit version of Debian then you’ll also need gcc-multilib for the compile to work:
apt-get install gcc-multilib
Next create a temporary folder and download the Xen source code:
mkdir xentemp<br /> cd xentemp<br /> wget http://bits.xensource.com/oss-xen/release/3.3.1/xen-3.3.1.tar.gz
Now extract the soucecode from the downloaded archive:
tar -xzf xen-3.3.1.tar.gz<br /> cd xen-3.3.1
Right, now on with the compile (this will take a while…):
make world
Note, if you want USB and PCI passthrough to answer Y when prompted.
Assuming that the above compile went ok:
make dist
And now install the newly compiled kernel and tools into the system:
./install.sh
Ensure the xen deamon starts and stops with the rest of the system:
update-rc.d xend defaults 20 21<br /> update-rc.d xendomains defaults 21 20
Create the module dependencies stuff:
depmod 2.6.18.8-xen
Update/create initramfs for the new kernel:
update-initramfs -c -k 2.6.18.8-xen
Add the new kernel to your grub boot menu:
update-grub
Reboot the system and hope that it works!
reboot
Now have a xen kernel:
uname-a
Should show a xen kernel at version 2.6.18
However on my gigabyte motherboard I was getting some boot time errors:
2.6.18 exception Emask 0×40 SAct 0×0 SErr 0×800 action 0×2
A quick google confirmed that this was due to the old kernel version, 2.6.18 and my motherboard.
So to fix the error I used synaptic to install latest xen kernel from lenny repositories…
uname -a
2.6.26-1-xen-amd64 #1 SMP Fri Mar 13 21:39:38 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux
This resolved the error and still leaves me with xen 3.3.1
Type xm info to confirm xen version
And that’s it!