The Book of Xen

Converting VMware Disk Images

One of the great things about virtualization is that it allows people to distribute virtual appliances—complete, ready-to-run, preconfigured OS images. VMware has been pushing most strongly in that direction, but with a little work, it's possible to use VMware's prebuilt virtual machines with Xen.

PYGRUB, PYPXEBOOT, AND FRIENDS

The principle behind PyGRUB, pypxeboot, and similar programs is that they allow Xen's domain builder to load a kernel that isn't directly accessible from the dom0 filesystem. This, in turn, improves Xen's simulation of a real machine. For example, an automated provisioning tool that uses PXE can provision Xen domains without modification. This becomes especially important in the context of domU ...