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| Manual creation of a vnd image - newfs
freezes |
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2007-01-07 03:18:28 |
Hey all,
In the last few weeks I've needed to resize a few images and
thought creating
them manually, without the use of the install kernel would
be most
appropriate for transferring the existing system.
The process went something like:
dd -> mount -> disklabel
Not being an old hand at disklabel, I kept it as simple as
possible using as
many defaults as I could. It all seemed to go accordingly up
until issuing
newfs on vnd0a where it would freeze after a second or two.
Configuring the image within the install kernel worked
flawlessly.
Is there any documentation or information for configuring an
image manually
available somewhere?
Oh, I've created images before with no problems, but these
included swap in
the disklabel and the largest image was 80GB. I didn't
attempt without swap
as I prefer it in the image. I was in a current dom0 with
128MB of RAM at the
time.
Thanks,
Sarton
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| Manual creation of a vnd image - newfs
freezes |
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2007-01-07 10:57:59 |
On Sun, Jan 07, 2007 at 02:18:28PM +1100, Sarton O'Brien
wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> In the last few weeks I've needed to resize a few
images and thought creating
> them manually, without the use of the install kernel
would be most
> appropriate for transferring the existing system.
>
> The process went something like:
>
> dd -> mount -> disklabel
>
> Not being an old hand at disklabel, I kept it as simple
as possible using as
> many defaults as I could. It all seemed to go
accordingly up until issuing
> newfs on vnd0a where it would freeze after a second or
two.
Did you try using rvnd0a instead ?
--
Manuel Bouyer <bouyer antioche.eu.org>
NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la
difference
--
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| Manual creation of a vnd image - newfs
freezes |
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2007-01-07 20:11:32 |
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> Is there any documentation or information for
configuring an image
> manually
> available somewhere?
"man makefs"
makefs is a great companion to xen management.
Johan
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| Re: Manual creation of a vnd image -
newfs freezes |
|
2007-01-23 02:30:22 |
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| On Sunday 07 January 2007 21:57, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> > Not being an old hand at disklabel, I kept it as simple as possible using
> > as many defaults as I could. It all seemed to go accordingly up until
> > issuing newfs on vnd0a where it would freeze after a second or two.
>
> Did you try using rvnd0a instead ?
No I didn't but I have just now and that works fine.
How come that is the case? I've just seen a new thread on current-users about
creating images and rvnd wasn't mentioned ...
I am quite naive when it comes to how devices function. Any information is
appreciated. I'm definitely interested in the technical reason.
Thanks Manuel.
Sarton
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| Re: Manual creation of a vnd image -
newfs freezes |
|
2007-01-23 13:22:28 |
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| On Tue, Jan 23, 2007 at 07:30:22PM +1100, Sarton O'Brien wrote:
> On Sunday 07 January 2007 21:57, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> > > Not being an old hand at disklabel, I kept it as simple as possible using
> > > as many defaults as I could. It all seemed to go accordingly up until
> > > issuing newfs on vnd0a where it would freeze after a second or two.
> >
> > Did you try using rvnd0a instead ?
>
> No I didn't but I have just now and that works fine.
>
> How come that is the case? I've just seen a new thread on current-users about
> creating images and rvnd wasn't mentioned ...
>
> I am quite naive when it comes to how devices function. Any information is
> appreciated. I'm definitely interested in the technical reason.
vnd0a is the block device; it goes though the buffer cache. rvnd0a is
the character device, it talks directly to the driver. I guess using
vnd0a you fill up the buffer cache quickly, and the system crawls because
it has no free memory.
--
Manuel Bouyer antioche.eu.org>
NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--
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| Re: Manual creation of a vnd image -
newfs freezes |
|
2007-01-23 13:22:28 |
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| On Tue, Jan 23, 2007 at 07:30:22PM +1100, Sarton O'Brien wrote:
> On Sunday 07 January 2007 21:57, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> > > Not being an old hand at disklabel, I kept it as simple as possible using
> > > as many defaults as I could. It all seemed to go accordingly up until
> > > issuing newfs on vnd0a where it would freeze after a second or two.
> >
> > Did you try using rvnd0a instead ?
>
> No I didn't but I have just now and that works fine.
>
> How come that is the case? I've just seen a new thread on current-users about
> creating images and rvnd wasn't mentioned ...
>
> I am quite naive when it comes to how devices function. Any information is
> appreciated. I'm definitely interested in the technical reason.
vnd0a is the block device; it goes though the buffer cache. rvnd0a is
the character device, it talks directly to the driver. I guess using
vnd0a you fill up the buffer cache quickly, and the system crawls because
it has no free memory.
--
Manuel Bouyer antioche.eu.org>
NetBSD: 26 ans d'experience feront toujours la difference
--
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| Re: Manual creation of a vnd image -
newfs freezes |
|
2007-01-24 04:30:45 |
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| On Wednesday 24 January 2007 20:55, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> No, it's not a problem with your system, it's know behavior with
> vnd.
OK, good to know. Is it intended behavior?
> wd0c is not 'character' device, it's the 'raw' device (without any offset
> translation from the disklabel). it'a also the device that can always be
> openned, even for e.g. a removable media without media inserted.
Sorry about that. For some reason I started confusing raw and character. I
blame it on too much linux exposure. Not that there's anything wrong with
that ;)
> On NetBSD it's wd0d on i386 and xen, and wd0c everywhere else (for
> historical reasons)
That's put me straight. Thanks a lot ... you triggered knowledge that I would
have strained to retrieve ... and probably googled for hours.
> > Actually ... just looking at disklabel ... is wd0c the whole disk minus
> > the mbr?
>
> It is if you installed NetBSD on the whole disk. It's the NetBSD partition
> of the disk in the mbr parititon table.
Makes perfect sense. Thanks again for your help.
Sarton
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| Re: Manual creation of a vnd image -
newfs freezes |
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2007-01-24 02:55:27 |
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| On Wednesday 24 January 2007 07:54, Michael van Elst wrote:
> bouyerantioche.eu.org (Manuel Bouyer) writes:
> >the character device, it talks directly to the driver. I guess using
> >vnd0a you fill up the buffer cache quickly, and the system crawls because
> >it has no free memory.
>
> The system deadlocks because it has no free buffers (but possibly
> still tons of free memory).
Yeah, that's what I figured Manuel was was referring to ... buffer memory ...
not system memory.
Thanks for clarifying though.
Sarton
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| Re: Manual creation of a vnd image -
newfs freezes |
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2007-01-24 02:56:50 |
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| On Wednesday 24 January 2007 06:22, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> vnd0a is the block device; it goes though the buffer cache. rvnd0a is
> the character device, it talks directly to the driver. I guess using
> vnd0a you fill up the buffer cache quickly, and the system crawls because
> it has no free memory.
I guess the obvious question then is, does this indicate a problem with my
system? And is there any way to diagnose the problem ...
It seems strange to me that newfs would cause this under a dom0.
Sorry to stray but I tried looking through the NetBSD guide and searched a bit
but I haven't found any documentation:
From memory, the character device under FreeBSD would be, for example, wd0c.
Under NetBSD what is wd0c? I understand wd0d to be the whole disk (buffered)
and now rwd0d to be the whole disk as a character device but the purpose of
wd0c (or rwd0c) under NetBSD has eluded me.
Actually ... just looking at disklabel ... is wd0c the whole disk minus the
mbr?
Sarton
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| Re: Manual creation of a vnd image -
newfs freezes |
|
2007-01-24 04:30:45 |
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| On Wednesday 24 January 2007 20:55, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
> No, it's not a problem with your system, it's know behavior with
> vnd.
OK, good to know. Is it intended behavior?
> wd0c is not 'character' device, it's the 'raw' device (without any offset
> translation from the disklabel). it'a also the device that can always be
> openned, even for e.g. a removable media without media inserted.
Sorry about that. For some reason I started confusing raw and character. I
blame it on too much linux exposure. Not that there's anything wrong with
that ;)
> On NetBSD it's wd0d on i386 and xen, and wd0c everywhere else (for
> historical reasons)
That's put me straight. Thanks a lot ... you triggered knowledge that I would
have strained to retrieve ... and probably googled for hours.
> > Actually ... just looking at disklabel ... is wd0c the whole disk minus
> > the mbr?
>
> It is if you installed NetBSD on the whole disk. It's the NetBSD partition
> of the disk in the mbr parititon table.
Makes perfect sense. Thanks again for your help.
Sarton
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