Hello. I have set up Xen 3.0.2 and 3.0.3 using the howto "http://www.howtoforge.com/debian_sarge_xen_3.0.3". The Dom0-system and the DomU-system are running on Debian 3.1. So far it works, except for some (minor) problems. First: If I use the compiled xen-kernel (the one created with "make world" and "make install"), the host system works fine, no problems at all. If I use the xen0-kernel, created by using "make linux-2.6-xen0-config CONFIGMODE=menuconfig KERNELS="linux-2.6-xen0"" (step 4.2 in the above mentioned howto), i get some ugly load-problems using the host system. I.e. copying a file from /dev/hdc1 to /dev/hda4 takes forever, the kjournald takes 99,9% of cpu time (the same happens if I use ftp to copy anything to the host machine). So working with the xen0-kernel is not possible. Second: I ran into some problems with my virtual machines. They start up ok and run without problems as long as I don't do anything that requires a large amount of memory. The problem: the VM's don't use swap memory. The config file looks like this: Code: name="vm01" kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.29-xenU" root="/dev/sda1" memory=128 disk=['file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01.img,sda1,w','file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01-swap.img,sda2,w'] # network #vif = ['mac=00:00:00:00:00:01' ,'bridge=xenintbr'] vif = ['ip=10.80.0.2'] dhcp ="off" ip="10.80.0.2" netmask="255.0.0.0" gateway="10.80.0.254" hostname="vm01" extra="3" So the VM should be able to use swap. Output of "cat /proc/partitions" inside the VM: major minor #blocks name 8 1 1024000 sda1 8 2 512000 sda2 I honestly don't understand why the virtual machines don't use swap at all. I recently purged hotplug, replacing it with udev, but that didn't change a thing (even compiled a new kernel). I would appreciate any help. Regards, Merc ps: I searched the xen-source-forum but didn't find a solution to the above mentioned problems. The swap-problem was mentioned there, but no solution (it was said using udev instead of hotplug would solve the problem, but it didn't, at least not for me).
logs, part 1 Hello. Thanks for your reply. I'll post the output of the log files. from "less /var/log/xen/xend.log" in dom0: Code: [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) XendDomainInfo.create(['vm', ['name', 'vm01'], ['memory', 128], ['vcpus', 1], ['image', [' linux', ['kernel', '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.29-xenU'], ['ip', '10.80.0.2:1.2.3.4:10.80.0.254:255.0.0.0:vm01:eth0:off'], ['root', '/dev/sda1'], ['args', '3']]], [' device', ['vbd', ['uname', 'file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01.img'], ['dev', 'sda1'], ['mode', 'w']]], ['device', ['vbd', ['uname', 'file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm0 1-swap.img'], ['dev', 'sda2'], ['mode', 'w']]], ['device', ['vif', ['ip', '10.80.0.2']]]]) [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) parseConfig: config is ['vm', ['name', 'vm01'], ['memory', 128], ['vcpus', 1], ['image', [ 'linux', ['kernel', '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.29-xenU'], ['ip', '10.80.0.2:1.2.3.4:10.80.0.254:255.0.0.0:vm01:eth0:off'], ['root', '/dev/sda1'], ['args', '3']]], [ 'device', ['vbd', ['uname', 'file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01.img'], ['dev', 'sda1'], ['mode', 'w']]], ['device', ['vbd', ['uname', 'file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm 01-swap.img'], ['dev', 'sda2'], ['mode', 'w']]], ['device', ['vif', ['ip', '10.80.0.2']]]] [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) parseConfig: result is {'shadow_memory': None, 'uuid': None, 'on_crash': None, 'on_reboot' : None, 'localtime': None, 'image': ['linux', ['kernel', '/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.29-xenU'], ['ip', '10.80.0.2:1.2.3.4:10.80.0.254:255.0.0.0:vm01:eth0:off'], ['ro ot', '/dev/sda1'], ['args', '3']], 'on_poweroff': None, 'bootloader_args': None, 'cpus': None, 'name': 'vm01', 'backend': [], 'vcpus': 1, 'cpu_weight': None, ' features': None, 'vcpu_avail': None, 'memory': 128, 'device': [('vbd', ['vbd', ['uname', 'file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01.img'], ['dev', 'sda1'], ['mode', 'w']] ), ('vbd', ['vbd', ['uname', 'file:/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01-swap.img'], ['dev', 'sda2'], ['mode', 'w']]), ('vif', ['vif', ['ip', '10.80.0.2']])], 'bootloader' : None, 'cpu': None, 'maxmem': None} [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) XendDomainInfo.construct: None [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) XendDomainInfo.initDomain: 2 1.0 [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Balloon: 771252 KiB free; need 131072; done. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] INFO (__init__:1072) buildDomain os=linux dom=2 vcpus=1 [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) dom = 2 [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) image = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.29-xenU [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) store_evtchn = 1 [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) console_evtchn = 2 [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) cmdline = ip=10.80.0.2:1.2.3.4:10.80.0.254:255.0.0.0:vm01:eth0:off root=/dev/sda1 3 [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) ramdisk = [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) vcpus = 1 [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) features = [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) exception looking up device number for sda1: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/dev/sda1' [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) DevController: writing {'backend-id': '0', 'virtual-device': '2049', 'device-type': 'disk', 'state': '1', 'backend': '/local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2049'} to /local/domain/2/device/vbd/2049. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) DevController: writing {'domain': 'vm01', 'frontend': '/local/domain/2/device/vbd/2049', 'dev': 'sda1', ' state': '1', 'params': '/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01.img', 'mode': 'w', 'online': '1', 'frontend-id': '2', 'type': 'file'} to /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2049. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) exception looking up device number for sda2: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/dev/sda2' [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) DevController: writing {'backend-id': '0', 'virtual-device': '2050', 'device-type': 'disk', 'state': '1', 'backend': '/local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2050'} to /local/domain/2/device/vbd/2050. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) DevController: writing {'domain': 'vm01', 'frontend': '/local/domain/2/device/vbd/2050', 'dev': 'sda2', ' state': '1', 'params': '/mnt/storage/vserver/vm01-swap.img', 'mode': 'w', 'online': '1', 'frontend-id': '2', 'type': 'file'} to /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2 050. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) DevController: writing {'backend-id': '0', 'mac': '00:16:3e:48:2f:5d', 'handle': '0', 'state': '1', 'back end': '/local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0'} to /local/domain/2/device/vif/0. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) DevController: writing {'domain': 'vm01', 'handle': '0', 'script': '/etc/xen/scripts/vif-nat', 'ip': '10. 80.0.2', 'state': '1', 'frontend': '/local/domain/2/device/vif/0', 'mac': '00:16:3e:48:2f:5d', 'online': '1', 'frontend-id': '2'} to /local/domain/0/backend/vi f/2/0. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Storing VM details: {'shadow_memory': '0', 'uuid': '6d137699-5651-4836-be87-a9e95e0d911a', 'on_reboot': 'restart', 'start_time': '1164881835.46', 'on_poweroff': 'destroy', 'name': 'vm01', 'xend/restart_count': '0', 'vcpus': '1', 'vcpu_avail': '1', ' memory': '128', 'on_crash': 'restart', 'image': '(linux (kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.16.29-xenU) (ip 10.80.0.2:1.2.3.4:10.80.0.254:255.0.0.0:vm01:eth0:off) (root /dev/sda1) (args 3))', 'maxmem': '128'} [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 4785] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Storing domain details: {'console/ring-ref': '225593', 'console/port': '2', 'name': 'vm01' , 'console/limit': '1048576', 'vm': '/vm/6d137699-5651-4836-be87-a9e95e0d911a', 'domid': '2', 'cpu/0/availability': 'online', 'memory/target': '131072', 'store /ring-ref': '225594', 'store/port': '1'} [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend.XendDomainInfo 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) XendDomainInfo.handleShutdownWatch [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices vif. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for 0. [2006-11-30 11:17:15 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status. [2006-11-30 11:17:16 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vif/2/0/hotplug-status. [2006-11-30 11:17:16 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback 1. [2006-11-30 11:17:16 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices usb. [2006-11-30 11:17:16 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices vbd. [2006-11-30 11:17:16 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for 2049. [2006-11-30 11:17:16 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2049/hotplug-status. [2006-11-30 11:17:17 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2049/hotplug-status. [2006-11-30 11:17:17 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback 1. [2006-11-30 11:17:17 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for 2050. [2006-11-30 11:17:17 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2050/hotplug-status. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback /local/domain/0/backend/vbd/2/2050/hotplug-status. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 3144] DEBUG (__init__:1072) hotplugStatusCallback 1. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices irq. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices pci. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices ioports. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices tap. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 4790] DEBUG (__init__:1072) Waiting for devices vtpm. [2006-11-30 11:17:19 xend 5985] INFO (__init__:1072) Domain vm01 (2) unpaused. some output from "ps uax |grep loop" in dom0: Code: root 5441 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Nov30 0:00 [loop0] root 5975 0.0 0.0 0 0 ? S< Nov30 0:00 [loop1] root 14932 0.0 0.1 1532 484 pts/2 R+ 22:42 0:00 grep loop and some from "cat /proc/partitions" in dom0: Code: major minor #blocks name 7 0 1024000 loop0 7 1 512000 loop1 3 0 156290904 hda 3 1 5855661 hda1 3 2 489982 hda2 3 3 14651280 hda3 3 4 135291397 hda4 22 0 156290904 hdc 22 1 156288321 hdc1
logs, part 2 from "less /var/log/kern.log" (so the same as "dmesg") in domU: Code: Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: klogd 1.4.1#17, log source = /proc/kmsg started. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Linux version 2.6.16.29-xenU (root@Palan) (gcc vers ion 4.1.2 20060901 (prerelease) (Debian 4.1.1-13)) #2 SMP Wed Nov 29 23:03:25 CE T 2006 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: BIOS-provided physical RAM map: Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Xen: 0000000000000000 - 0000000008800000 (usable) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: 0MB HIGHMEM available. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: 136MB LOWMEM available. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: On node 0 totalpages: 34816 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: DMA zone: 34816 pages, LIFO batch:7 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: DMA32 zone: 0 pages, LIFO batch:0 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Normal zone: 0 pages, LIFO batch:0 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: HighMem zone: 0 pages, LIFO batch:0 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Built 1 zonelists Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Kernel command line: ip=10.80.0.2:1.2.3.4:10.80.0. 254:255.0.0.0:vm01:eth0:off root=/dev/sda1 3 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Enabling fast FPU save and restore... done. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Initializing CPU#0 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 10, 16384 byte s) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Xen reported: 1194.915 MHz processor. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 1 31072 bytes) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65 536 bytes) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Software IO TLB disabled Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: vmalloc area: c9000000-fb7fe000, maxmem 33ffe000 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Memory: 126360k/139264k available (1806k kernel cod e, 4572k reserved, 535k data, 140k init, 0k highmem) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Checking if this processor honours the WP bit even in supervisor mode... Ok. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 25 00.65 BogoMIPS (lpj=12503292) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Mount-cache hash table entries: 512 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: CPU: After generic identify, caps: 0183c1f1 c1c7f9f f 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: CPU: After vendor identify, caps: 0183c1f1 c1c7f9ff 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K (64 bytes/line), D cache 64K ( 64 bytes/line) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: CPU: L2 Cache: 256K (64 bytes/line) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: CPU: After all inits, caps: 0183c1f1 c1c7f9ff 00000 000 00000420 00000000 00000000 00000000 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Brought up 1 CPUs Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: migration_cost=0 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Grant table initialized Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 16 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Brought up 1 CPUs Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: xen_mem: Initialising balloon driver. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Initializing Cryptographic API Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: io scheduler noop registered Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: io scheduler anticipatory registered (default) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: io scheduler deadline registered Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: io scheduler cfq registered Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: i8042.c: No controller found. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K s ize 1024 blocksize Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Xen virtual console successfully installed as tty1 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Event-channel device installed. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: netfront: Initialising virtual ethernet driver. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Registering block device major 8 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: netfront: device eth0 has flipping receive path. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 2 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: IP route cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: TCP established hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: TCP bind hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: TCP: Hash tables configured (established 8192 bind 8192) Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: TCP reno registered Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: TCP bic registered Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 1 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 17 Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Using IPI No-Shortcut mode Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: IP-Config: Complete: Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: device=eth0, addr=10.80.0.2, mask=255.0.0.0, gw=10.80.0.254, Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: host=vm01, domain=, nis-domain=(none), Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: bootserver=1.2.3.4, rootserver=1.2.3.4, rootpa th= Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: EXT3 FS on sda1, internal journal Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: VFS: Mounted root (ext3 filesystem). Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: Freeing unused kernel memory: 140k freed Nov 30 11:17:34 vm01 kernel: EXT3 FS on sda1, internal journal the "cat /proc/partitions" output of the domU: Code: major minor #blocks name 8 1 1024000 sda1 8 2 512000 sda2 I can't really explain why the domU doesn't use swap. If you need a more specific error log please name it and I'll post it the next time Thanks. Merc
Here's a bit from the dom0's dmesg output (some of the last lines): Code: ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.3: OHCI Host Controller ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.3: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2 ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.3: irq 10, io mem 0xcffff000 8250_pnp: Unknown symbol serial8250_unregister_port 8250_pnp: Unknown symbol serial8250_register_port usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found hub 2-0:1.0: 3 ports detected Linux agpgart interface v0.101 (c) Dave Jones pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5 8250_pnp: Unknown symbol serial8250_unregister_port 8250_pnp: Unknown symbol serial8250_register_port sis630_smbus 0000:00:02.0: SIS630 comp. bus not detected, module not inserted. sis96x_smbus 0000:00:02.1: SiS96x SMBus base address: 0x0c00 agpgart: Detected SiS 735 chipset agpgart: AGP aperture is 4M @ 0xd0000000 shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4 Adding 489972k swap on /dev/hda2. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:489972k EXT3 FS on hda1, internal journal it87: Found IT8705F chip at 0x290, revision 1 device-mapper: 4.5.0-ioctl (2005-10-04) initialised: [email protected] kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds EXT3 FS on hda3, internal journal EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds EXT3 FS on hda4, internal journal EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds EXT3 FS on hdc1, internal journal EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0d.0[A] -> Link [LNKC] -> GSI 12 (level, low) -> IRQ 12 ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0f.0[A] -> Link [LNKD] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5 NET: Registered protocol family 10 As you can see, the line "Adding 489972k swap on /dev/hda2. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:489972k" indicates, that swap is used by the dom0. And it's also this line that I miss reviewing the kern.log output of the domU. The really strange thing is this: Code: Broadcast message from root (tty1) (Mon Dec 4 16:29:41 2006): The system is going down for system halt NOW! INIT: Switching to runlevel: 0 INIT: Sending processes the TERM signal INIT: Sending processes the KILL signal Stopping X display manager: xdm not running (/var/run/xdm.pid not found). Stopping periodic command scheduler: cron. Stopping BitTorrent tracker: bttrack.bittorrent. Stopping internet superserver: inetd. Stopping OpenBSD Secure Shell server: sshd. Stopping X font server: xfs. Stopping kernel log daemon: klogd. Stopping system log daemon: syslogd. Sending all processes the TERM signal...done. Sending all processes the KILL signal...done. Saving random seed...done. Unmounting remote and non-toplevel virtual filesystems...done. Deconfiguring network interfaces...done. Cleaning up ifupdown...done. Deactivating swap...done. Unmounting local filesystems...done. System halted. The line "Deactivating swap...done." pops into my eye. Why would a system deactivate swap if it doesn't use it ?
some success Hello. I should have told that the images I used were hand-made, meaning that they were created after the instructions given in the howto. The result is the not working swap in the domU. However, I created an image with the "xen-create-image" command, giving me two files, "disk.img" and "swap.img". The strange thing is that the domU using the script-made images works perfectly now, meaning that it even uses swap (what the other domU's didn't). Does someone have any clue why the hand-made images don't work and the others do ?
Ok, let me put the question into an other form: What is different in using the "xen-create-image" command and the commands used by your howto to build a domU ? I admit I'm no linux or programming professional (not even close), but as far as I understand it, the "xen-create-image" command (from the xen-tools) is some kind of a perl script. By looking deeper into the file I figured out that it does basically the same as your howto recommends. Do you create domU's with this tool or do you hand-craft them ? Have you ever compared domU's created in those two ways ? I tried to compare the one built after the howto and the other, tool-based domU. As far as I can tell, the both aren't that different (not to say they are equal). The automatic created one is a bit bigger, uses some different fstab entries and uses sarge instead of stable in the sources list. But I doubt that these minor differences can change the proper working of domU's. Maybe there's something I've overlooked.
I think both do the same. xen-create-image is just some kind of wrapper script. I've used both ways (I also wrote this tutorial: http://www.howtoforge.com/xen_tools_xen_shell_argo ) and never had problems with either way. I've really no idea why the manual way isn't working for you.
I had this problem with a VM created by xen-create-image, lvm-swap. There was no line for the swap in the /etc/fstab on domU. check your /etc/fstab /Fred
