Change of domU kernel

If a user wants to use a different kernel, they are generally welcome to, as long as it offers Xen domU (oldstyle, not pv_ops) support. However, really try to push them to use one of the kernels that we already provide, especially the default SuSE Linux 10.1 kernel (2.6.32), as we have found this to be incredibly stable.

A very valid reason though is that the user requires a 32-bit kernel. This is usually for users that are using CentOS. This kernel should be available as 2.6.18-164.9.1.el5xen in /boot. See further instructions on this at Install of 32-bit CentOS.

• Edit the user's Xen configuration file (/etc/xen/xenXY).
• If the user is providing their own kernel, ensure they also provide a ramdisk with the following modules:
  • sd_mod
  • scsi_mod
  • blktap
  • blkbk
  • xenblk
  • netloop
  • netbk
  • xennet
• Copy the user's new kernel (if applicable) into /boot
• Change the kernel and ramdisk lines to match entries in /boot
• Boot up the kernel. If you don't see boot messages, consider changing xencons and console attributes in the extra parameter to read xvc0.

The default kernels that should be in /boot are:

• 2.6.32.19-0.2.99.17.22250fd-xen - Suse Linux 10 SP1 kernel (64-bit)
• 2.6.26-2-xen-amd64 - Debian Lenny kernel (64-bit)
• 2.6.18-164.9.1.el5xen - CentOS 5 (32-bit)