12.2. Para-virtualization Restrictions and Support

This section outlines support restrictions and requirements for using para-virtualized drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Supported Guest Operating Systems

Support for para-virtualized drivers is available for the following operating systems and versions:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 and newer.
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Update 6 and newer.
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Update 9 and newer.
You are supported for running a 32 bit guest operating system with para-virtualized drivers on 64 bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Virtualization.
The table below indicates the kernel variants supported with the para-virtualized drivers. You can use the command shown below to identify the exact kernel revision currently installed on your host. Compare the output against the table to determine if it is supported. 
# rpm -q --queryformat '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}.%{ARCH}\n' kernel
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 i686 and x86_64 kernel variants include Symmetric Multiprocessing(SMP), no separate SMP kernel RPM is required.
Take note of processor specific kernel requirements for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Guests in the table below.

Table 12.1. Supported guest kernel architectures for para-virtualized drivers

Kernel Architecture Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
athlon Supported (AMD)   
athlon-SMP Supported (AMD)   
i32e Supported (Intel)   
i686 Supported (Intel) Supported Supported
i686-PAE Supported
i686-SMP Supported (Intel) Supported  
i686-HUGEMEM Supported (Intel) Supported  
x86_64 Supported (AMD) Supported Supported
x86_64-SMP Supported (AMD) Supported  
x86_64-LARGESMP Supported  
Itanium (IA64) Supported

Important

The host system requires Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 or newer.

Note

Write the output of the command below down or remember it. This is the value that determines which packages and modules you need to download.
# rpm -q --queryformat '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}.%{ARCH}\n' kernel
Your output should appear similar to this:
kernel-PAE-2.6.18-53.1.4.el5.i686
The name of the kernel is PAE (an abbreviation of Physical Address Extensions), kernel version is 2.6.18, the release is 53.1.4.el5 and the architecture is i686. The kernel RPM should always be in the format kernel-name-version-release.arch.rpm.
Important Restrictions

Para-virtualized device drivers can be installed after successfully installing a guest operating system. You will need a functioning host and guest before you can install these drivers.

Note

GRUB cannot presently access para-virtualized block devices. Therefore, a guest can not be booted from a device that uses the para-virtualized block device drivers: specifically, the disk that contains the Master Boot Record (MBR), a disk containing a boot loader (GRUB), or a disk that contains the kernel initrd images. Any disk which contains the /boot directory or partition cannot use the para-virtualized block device drivers.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 kernel variant architecture dependencies

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 based guest operating systems you must use the processor specific kernel and para-virtualized driver RPMs as seen in the tables below. If you fail to install the matching para-virtualized driver package, loading of the xen-pci-platform module will fail.

The table below shows which host kernel is required to run a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 guest, if the guest was compiled for an Intel processor.

Table 12.2. Required host kernel architecture for guests using para-virtualized drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for Intel processors

Guest kernel type Required host kernel type
ia32e (UP and SMP) x86_64
i686 i686
i686-SMP i686
i686-HUGEMEM i686
The table below shows which host kernel is required to run a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 guest, if the guest was compiled for an AMD processor.

Table 12.3. Required host kernel architectures for guests using para-virtualized drivers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 for AMD processors

Guest kernel type Required host kernel type
athlon i686
athlon-SMP i686
x86_64 x86_64
x86_64-SMP x86_64