Xen Virtualization and Multi-host Management Using MLN

Abstract

Xen virtualization is a powerful tool for encapsulating services and providing seamless migration of tasks on hardware failure. This tutorial shows how to set up multiple Xen instances in a network using the MLN management tool.

One of the main challenges in virtual machine administration on a large scale is the specification of complex and repeatable virtualized scenarios. Creating a singe new virtual machine, boot it and install an operating system is straight forward with many of todays tools. But what if you need to deploy 50 identical virtual machines across 25 servers and manage them as an atomic unit? How do you at a later point make consistent design adjustments such as migrating a subset of the virtual machines to a new server or adjusting memory levels? These issues are at the heart of this tutorial.

MLN is a virtual machine management tool supporting both User-Mode Linux and Xen. It has been developed at the Oslo University College in conjunction with its research on system administration and resource management. MLN and its research has previously been presented at the Norwegian Unix User Group (NUUG) and the 20th USENIX Large Installation System Administration conference LISA. This tutorial is interesting for all who want to look beyond the typical one-vm-on-my-desktop scenario. Teachers interested in virtual student labs should also attend.

We start with a short introduction to the Xen virtual machine technology and then proceed to MLN and its own configuration language. In the second part of the tutorial, we will talk about installation and configuration of MLN into a virtual infrastructure across several servers.