xm console command is not working in XEN

Question

I have XEN 4.0.x.x rpm with CENT OS. I have set it up and have many VMs on it. But problem is when I execute 'xm console ' command from dom0, command just hangs dom0 and some 'y' comes up in next line but nothing really happens.

Is it a bug in xen 4.0 and I need to upgrade it or I can tweak some configuration file in /etc/xen/ to make it work.

I found following at some site but its not working: In order to be able to login to your domU from the console using:

xm create {your hostname}.cfg -c (to the set root password for ssh, for instance, or to see more output than just kernel output when debugging) it may be necessary to add the following line to your /etc/xen/{your hostname}.cfg extra='xencons=tty'

Is there any other way to solve it?

Answer 1

I finally found the solution for this issue.

There are different procedures for getting xm console work in paravirtualized guest and fully virtualized get. My machine was fully virtualized and I was trying solution of paravirtualized guest so it was not working.

So to make xm console work in Fully virtualized guest do the following procedure:

1.Edit guest configuration file and add "serial = pty"

2.Then edit guest configuration file and add console=ttyS0 to kernel line in grub and add "co:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty ttyS0 9600 vt100-nav" to your /etc/inittab.

And for Paravirtualized do the following procedure:

1.Add the two paramaters console=tty0 console=xvc0 to kernel line in grub.conf as follows

 kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-53.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet console=tty0 console=xvc0

2. To get a log in prompt on the console, please add the below line to your /etc/inittab before ttyx defenitions.

   co:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty xvc0 9600 vt100-nav

Once you do "xm console ", you may have to press "return" to get the console.