33.2. Changing between the KVM and Xen hypervisors

This section covers changing between the KVM and Xen hypervisors.
Red Hat only supports one active hypervisor at a time.

Important

Presently, there is no application for switching Xen-based guests to KVM or KVM-based guests to Xen.

Warning

This procedure is only available for the Intel 64 or AMD64 version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 or newer. No other configurations or Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions are supported. KVM is not available in versions earlier than Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4.

33.2.1. Xen to KVM

The following procedure covers changing from the Xen hypervisor to the KVM hypervisor. This procedure assumes the kernel-xen package is installed and enabled.

  1. Install the KVM package

    Install the kvm package if you have not already done so. 
    # yum install kvm

  2. Verify which kernel is in use

    The kernel-xen package may be installed. Use the uname command to determine which kernel is running: 
    $ uname -r
2.6.18-159.el5xen
    The present kernel, "2.6.18-159.el5xen", is running on the system. If the default kernel, "2.6.18-159.el5", is running you can skip the substep.

    1. Changing the Xen kernel to the default kernel

      The grub.conf file determines which kernel is booted. To change the default kernel edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file as shown below. 
      								default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5.img
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5xen)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-159.el5
        module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        module /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5xen.img
      Notice the default=1 parameter. This is instructing the GRUB boot loader to boot the second entry, the Xen kernel. Change the default to 0 (or the number for the default kernel): 
      								default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5.img
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5xen)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-159.el5
        module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        module /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5xen.img

  3. Reboot to load the new kernel

    Reboot the system. The computer will restart with the default kernel. The KVM module should be automatically loaded with the kernel. Verify KVM is running: 
    $ lsmod | grep kvm
kvm_intel              85992  1 
kvm                   222368  2 ksm,kvm_intel
    The kvm module and either the kvm_intel module or the kvm_amd module are present if everything worked.

33.2.2. KVM to Xen

The following procedure covers changing from the KVM hypervisor to the Xen hypervisor. This procedure assumes the kvm package is installed and enabled.

  1. Install the Xen packages

    Install the kernel-xen and xen package if you have not already done so. 
    # yum install kernel-xen xen
    The kernel-xen package may be installed but disabled.

  2. Verify which kernel is in use

    Use the uname command to determine which kernel is running. 
    $ uname -r
2.6.18-159.el5
    The present kernel, "2.6.18-159.el5", is running on the system. This is the default kernel. If the kernel has xen on the end (for example, 2.6.18-159.el5xen) then the Xen kernel is running and you can skip the substep.

    1. Changing the default kernel to the Xen kernel

      The grub.conf file determines which kernel is booted. To change the default kernel edit the /boot/grub/grub.conf file as shown below. 
      								default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5.img
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5xen)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-159.el5
        module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        module /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5xen.img
      Notice the default=0 parameter. This is instructing the GRUB boot loader to boot the first entry, the default kernel. Change the default to 1 (or the number for the Xen kernel): 
      								default=1
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        initrd /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5.img
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-159.el5xen)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /xen.gz-2.6.18-159.el5
        module /vmlinuz-2.6.18-159.el5xen ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
        module /initrd-2.6.18-159.el5xen.img

  3. Reboot to load the new kernel

    Reboot the system. The computer will restart with the Xen kernel. Verify with the uname command: 
    $ uname -r
2.6.18-159.el5xen
    If the output has xen on the end the Xen kernel is running.