Arch PV guest in Xen won't boot

Question

Hi,
I have Xen installed and running several (win 7) HVMs.  I've setup an Arch PV guest but I am having a problem booting it.  After each failed attempt to fix this issue I try to view the /var/log/xen/bootloader.XX.log file but all of these files are zero bytes.  So, I'm having some trouble troubleshooting this.  I followed the instructions from https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/xen on setting up an Arch PV and do not think I missed anything.
This is the error message I get:
[root@earth arch1]# xl create -c /vm/arch1/arch1.conf
Parsing config from /vm/arch1/arch1.conf
libxl: error: libxl_bootloader.c:628:bootloader_finished: bootloader failed - consult logfile /var/log/xen/bootloader.85.log
libxl: error: libxl_exec.c:129:libxl_report_child_exitstatus: bootloader [-1] died due to fatal signal Killed
libxl: error: libxl_create.c:1022:domcreate_rebuild_done: cannot (re-)build domain: -3
This is the vm conf that I use to boot the arch install iso after loop mounting it.
name = "arch1"
kernel = "/mnt/arch/boot/x86_64/vmlinuz"
ramdisk = "/mnt/arch/boot/x86_64/archiso.img"
extra = "archisobasedir=arch archisolabel=ARCH_201410"
memory = 1024
vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3E:42:01:3D,bridge=xenbr0,model=e1000' ]
disk = [ '/vm/arch1/arch1.img,,hda,w', '/vm/img/ARCH_201410.iso,,hdb,cdrom']
This is my vm conf used to boot the VM after installing arch and umount-ing the loop mounted iso:
name = "arch1"
bootloader = "pygrub"
memory = 1024
vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3E:42:01:3D,bridge=xenbr0,model=e1000' ]
disk = [ '/vm/arch1/arch1.img,,hda,w']
And this is an abbreviated version of how I install arch on the VM.  During the install I don't think I've missed anything from the wiki.
My understanding is that pygrub will take care of booting as long as  /boot/grub/grub.conf is exists and is setup correctly which I believe I have done.
I copied the sample grub.conf from "Xen - ArchWiki" and used the UUID for "/" found in /etc/fstab (its the same I get from blkid)
The wiki mentions that without certain modules in  /etc/mkinitcpio.conf the VM will not boot.  But I've added them as shown below. 
So I'm not sure why I'm getting the above error.
gdisk /dev/xvda
n
1
<enter>
<enter>
8e00 #this sets up my lvm partition to stick everything in (root and home) as shown below.
pvcreate /dev/xvda1
vgcreate arch /dev/xvda1
lvcreate -L 18G -n root arch
lvcreate -L 1G -n home arch
mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/mapper/arch-root
mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/mapper/arch-home
mount /dev/mapper/arch-root /mnt
mkdir /mnt/home
mount /dev/mapper/arch-home /mnt/home
pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel
genfstab -U -p /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab
arch-chroot /mnt /bin/bash
#setup /etc/locale.gen & /etc/locale.conf
#setup host name
#setup network
sed -i 's/MODULES=\"\"/MODULES=\"xen-blkfront\ xen-fbfront\ xen-netfront\ xen-kbdfront\"/g' /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
mkinitcpio -p linux
mkdir /boot/grub
cd /boot/grub
cat /etc/fstab
#create /boot/grub/grub.conf based on the sample from "Xen - ArchWiki" with the UUID for "/" found in /etc/fstab (its the same I get from blkid)
After doing the above install I poweroff and umount the loop mounted iso. I then get the above error message when running xl create.  Unfortunately the bootloader logs are empty.
Last edited by hbc2 (2014-10-13 15:28:18)

Answer 1

Is your hard disk attached via usb?  If not, you did not have the proper modules for the intramfs to access the hard disk itself.  You had it set up so that it could boot from a usb device, but not an internal device.  You should have read the comments for each of those examples.  It explains pretty cearly what each example would be used for.
Edit: I use lvm and my mkinitcpio.conf HOOKS line looks like this:
HOOKS="base udev autodetect sata lvm2 filesystems fsck timestamp"
My SSD's are connected via SATA III, the lvm2 hook is obvious, the filesystems load the ext4 module (all filesystems are ext4), fsck adds fsck and fsck.ext4, timestamp makes 'systemd-analyze' able to tell you how long it takes the initramfs and kernel to load individually instead of together.  base should always be there, and first (unless you really really know what you are doing), udev adds... udev, and autodetect tries its best to strip everything you don't need for your particular system.
For info on a paritcular hook, use the -H option with mkinitcpio. (ie. 'mkinipcio -H lvm2').  There is also a fantasticlly informative wiki page about mkinitcpio.
Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-11-26 03:44:40)