Some notes on Xen

HVM must be turned on in the BIOS.

Debian Etch has Xen 3.0 which is too old for 64-bit HVM (full virtualization).

Ubuntu Gutsy does work. Install the Desktop version, not server because you need vnc later.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Xen is useful, though requires some reinterpretation at some points. The package ubuntu-xen-desktop-amd64 works.

create a sparse disk image with dd if=/dev/zero of=c.img bs=1M count=0 seek=10000 It does work fast, even after "format" during the installer. Production deployment will probably use partitions, though.

http://wiki.kartbuilding.net/index.php/Moving_from_Xen_Backports_to_Debian_Etch_Xen_Packages_-_Attempt1#Problems_with_incrementing_eth0.3B_changing_mac_address.2C_udev.2C_xen_and_etch For Etch, the incrementing eth0, eth1, eth2, etc... (The network works in the installer, but not after the first boot.) Solution, fix the mac addr: vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:76:89:9a, type=ioemu, bridge=xenbr0' ]

sudo halt triggers Xen to shutdown the virtual machine.

Do different vncviewers have different performance? I suspect tightvnc is better than realvnc.