[OpenAFS] Re: Linux-VServer and openAFS

["Einar S. Idsø"]

Hi Derek and Sidney,

Derek Atkins wrote:
> I've never heard of "linux vserver" until today..  A quick google
> search and it looks like it does something similar to Xen.  Honestly,
> I don't know if anyone has ever tried to make it work.  But I'm
> fairly sure that OpenAFS works on a Xen kernel (I don't remember if
> it works on the Xen host or Xen guest or both).

Well, Xen and VServer are really two quite different beasts. Xen allows
different kernels to run under a main Xen-kernel on the host, presenting
virtual hardware to each instance. VServer lets (and requires) each
instance to run the same kernel as the host, thus reducing the overhead
but also reducing flexibility compared to Xen. Since the same kernel is
used by all instances (and the host) in a VServer environment, I am sure
there are things to overcome that aren't as easy as for harder
virtualisations such as Xen (and VMWare).

> "Managed" and "Tried" are two different things.

Indeed. And I am willing to try. I just need to be pushed in the right
direction :)

Sidney Cammeresi wrote:
> I don't think a vserver instance can load kernel modules, in which case,
> you could run the server, but not the client.

Hmm... very good point. Very good point indeed. Though I am not entirely
sure that the vserver instance _needs_ to load kernel modules. Since it
shares the same kernel as its host, hopefully it will be sharing modules
with the host too?

In any case, what I am having problems with is actually running the
server from the host. Bosserver dies with no indication of why.

Cheers,
Einar