Mailing List Archive

dmidecode domu help, domu boot question
I am managing some xen systems on both Debian bullseye and Ubuntu focal.
I would like dmidecode to return some useful information, but when I
run dmidecode I am getting the following message:

# dmidecode
# dmidecode 3.2
Scanning /dev/mem for entry point.
# No SMBIOS nor DMI entry point found, sorry.

This works fine on physical systems. I am clearly missing something in
the
Xen environment. The bullseye systems are all using "bootloader =
'pygrub'"
and the focal systems are 'using "type = 'pvh'". What am I missing?
What
should I try?

In looking at the problem I decided to try "type = 'pv'" with
"kernel = "/usr/lib/grub-xen/grub-x86_64.bin'" on a focal system. When
I try this I get the following messages:

error: file `/boot/grub/fonts/unicode.pf2` not found.
error: no suitable video mode found.
error: not xen image. [ grub.cfg 8.70Kib 100% 10.91Kib/s ]
error: you need to load the kernel first.

I am not sure how to correct this. What have I done wrong?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Bill

--
Bill MacAllister <bill@ca-zephyr.org>
Re: dmidecode domu help, domu boot question [ In reply to ]
Hi Bill,

On Tue, Nov 30, 2021 at 12:24:07AM -0800, Bill MacAllister wrote:
> In looking at the problem I decided to try "type = 'pv'" with
> "kernel = "/usr/lib/grub-xen/grub-x86_64.bin'" on a focal system. When
> I try this I get the following messages:
>
> error: file `/boot/grub/fonts/unicode.pf2` not found.
> error: no suitable video mode found.
> error: not xen image. [ grub.cfg 8.70Kib 100% 10.91Kib/s ]
> error: you need to load the kernel first.
>
> I am not sure how to correct this. What have I done wrong?

I don't know the answer to your dmidecode question, but this bit is
because you're trying to load an LZ4-compressed kernel, which pvgrub
doesn't support.

If you need to run PV mode guests instead of PVH mode then you can
make it work by decompressing the kernel image. Here are some
pointers to how to do that:

https://tools.bitfolk.com/wiki/Ubuntu#No_support_for_LZ4-compressed_kernels_in_Xen_PV_mode

Cheers,
Andy
Re: dmidecode domu help, domu boot question [ In reply to ]
Hi Andy,

On 2021-11-30 05:53, Andy Smith wrote:
> Hi Bill,
> I don't know the answer to your dmidecode question, but this bit is
> because you're trying to load an LZ4-compressed kernel, which pvgrub
> doesn't support.
>
> If you need to run PV mode guests instead of PVH mode then you can
> make it work by decompressing the kernel image. Here are some
> pointers to how to do that:
>
>
> https://tools.bitfolk.com/wiki/Ubuntu#No_support_for_LZ4-compressed_kernels_in_Xen_PV_mode

I should have remembered this. Thanks for reminding me.

Bill

--
Bill MacAllister <bill@ca-zephyr.org>