Installing XenServer 8 using console

Installing XenServer 8 using console

Bedrock V3000 lacks an integrated display adapter. Consequently, to install Xen server 8, users must connect Bedrock to a host PC using a console, facilitated by serial over USB.

This document describes Xen server 8 installation process on Bedrock V3000.

Table of Contents

• Test Setup

• Installation Process

  • Creating a Bootable USB Drive

  • Connecting to Serial Console

  • BIOS Boot select

  • Configuring Grub

  • Live USB Settings

  • Enable ttyS4 Service

Test setup

This installation process has been validated by SolidRun with the following configurations:

• Xen versions:

  • XenServer 8

• Terminal software:

  • Putty

• USB flash disk: Kingston Data Traveler

Installation process

Creating bootable USB drive

Please follow instructions at /amd/v3000/sbc-platform/bedrock-v3000-technical-documentation/software-bedrock-v3000/creating-bootable-usb-drive-for-bedrock-v3000.md

Connecting serial console

Please follow instructions at Using serial console with Bedrock V3000

BIOS Boot select

You need to choose your USB bootable device to start the installation.

• Insert the USB media to the device

• Turn on Bedrock

• Repetitively press the DEL / ESC key to enter the BIOS setup

• In BIOS go to -> Save & Exit -> -> yes

• Device will reset and a grub menu screen will appear

  • If you dont see a grub menu, reboot and press the “arrow down” key repetitively right after you pressed enter to boot from BIOS

Configure grub

At the grub menu (displaying "install", “no-serial“, …),Press ‘e’ over the ”install” option to set the boot parameters.

• You'll encounter a window resembling:

setparams 'install'                                                         
	multiboot2 /boot/xen.gz dom0_max_vcpus=1-16 dom0_mem=max:8192M com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga                                                    │
	module2 /boot/vmlinuz console=hvc0 console=tty0
	module2 /install.img

• Change the entry that starts with 'module2 /boot/vmlinuz' to look as follows:

module2 /boot/vmlinuz console=hvc0 console=tty0 console=ttyS4,115200n8

• Wait for the live USB to boot to the installer

might take some time for the installer to run, so just give it some time

Live USB settings

• After live USB boots, the installer will start

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• Select your Desired keymap

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• Press OK to cuntinue with installation

• Accept EUA

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• Choose if you want to install or upgrade Xen in this case well select “Perform clean installation”

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• Select installation drive

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• Select VM storage location

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• Enable thin provisioning if required

image-20241117-085308.png

• Select installation media source, in this case were using a USB drive so we select Local media

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• Verify installation source

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• Select password

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• Choose which network interface will be used to connect to the management server

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• Configure networking settings

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• Select time zone

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• Select system time settings

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• Confirm installation

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• Wait until installation is complete

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• Select supplemental packages if required

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• When prompted, remove the installation media and press enter

• Device will be rebooted

Enable ttyS4 service

Enable the ttyS4 console to be able to interact with the system.

• Boot into BIOS

• Boot from the disk you installed Xen on

• If you don't get a grub menu automatically, press the “arrow down” key repetitively right after you pressed enter to boot from BIOS

  • If you dont get the grub menu after pressing shift, connect a keyboard to the device and hold shift on the connected keyboard when booting

• In the grub menu choose:

  • *XenServer (Serial)

  • Press ’e’

setparams 'XenServer (Serial)'
        search --label --set root root-umnjnb
        multiboot2 /boot/xen.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga dom0_mem=1808M,max:1808M watchdog ucode=scan dom0_max_vcpus=1-4 crashkernel=256M,below=4G
        module2 /boot/vmlinuz-4.19-xen root=LABEL=root-umnjnb ro nolvm hpet =disable console=tty0 console=hvc0
		module2 /boot/initrd-4.19-xen.img

• In the line that says: module2 /boot/vmlinuz-4.19-xen

• Add the console parameters to grub after the console=hvc0 parameter

  • from this:

module2 /boot/vmlinuz-4.19-xen root=LABEL=root-umnjnb ro nolvm hpet =disable console=tty0 console=hvc0

  - to this:
  - ```
module2 /boot/vmlinuz-4.19-xen root=LABEL=root-umnjnb ro nolvm hpet =disable console=tty0 console=hvc0 console=ttyS4,115200n8 systemd.wants=serial-getty@ttyS4

• Type to enable the ttyS4 service persistently for future boots: systemctl enable serial-getty@ttyS4

• Edit grub config file: nano /etc/grub-efi.cfg

  • Add the console parameter to the file from this:

menuentry 'XenServer (Serial)' {
        search --label --set root root-umnjnb
        multiboot2 /boot/xen.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga dom0_mem=1808M$
        module2 /boot/vmlinuz-4.19-xen root=LABEL=root-umnjnb ro nolvm hpet=dis$
        module2 /boot/initrd-4.19-xen.img

• To this:

menuentry 'XenServer (Serial)' {
        search --label --set root root-umnjnb
        multiboot2 /boot/xen.gz com1=115200,8n1 console=com1,vga dom0_mem=1808M$
        module2 /boot/vmlinuz-4.19-xen root=LABEL=root-umnjnb ro nolvm hpet=dis$ console=ttyS4,115200n8
        module2 /boot/initrd-4.19-xen.img

• Reboot, the console should start automatically when you choose the XenServer (Serial) option.