Fedora Linux

10.7.3.2. ...hardware support for virtualization?

CPU makers are starting to build support for virtualization into their CPUs. AMD's technology is named Pacifica, while Intel's is named VT-X. Xen can take advantage of either technology to boost performance and to provide full virtualization to unmodified operating systems.

10.7.3.3. ...using other network or storage configurations?

Xen is very configurable, but the Fedora Xen guest installation script handles only a small subset of the possibilities. To use alternate configurations it is necessary to manually edit the configuration files in /etc/xen (see the Xen documentation and the sample configuration files in /etc/xen for details).

10.7.3.4. ...booting other operating systems?

It is possible to install other Linux distributions and (soon) other operating systems into guest domains, but they must be installed manually; Fedora's Xen installer only works with Fedora Core at this point. For information on installing other Xen guests, see the XenSource web site ( http://www.xensource.com ) and the documentation for the Xen guest you wish to install.

Microsoft Windows and other unmodified operating systems can be used as Xen guests only with hardware virtualization support.

10.7.3.5. ...monitoring the resource usage and activity of Xen domains?

Xen provides the xentop tool for domain monitoring, shown in Figure 10-30 . As the name implies, it provides a top -like display of domain activity, updated every three seconds.

Figure 10-30. Xentop display

Fedora Core also includes the Virtual Machine Manager ( virt-manager ) application, but the version released with Fedora Core 6 is at a very early stage of development. It is designed to provide an effective way of managing virtual machines through a graphical user interface; you can follow development on the fedora-xen list (see Lab 9.1, 'Participating in the Fedora Mailing Lists ').

10.7.4. Where Can I Learn More?

? The Fedora Virtualization Project: http://fedora.redhat.com/projects/virtualization/

? The XenSource web site: http://www.xensource.com/

? The Xen Wiki: http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/

Colophon

The image on the cover of Fedora Linux is a cowboy roping a calf. In the Old West, horseback cowboys entrapped and retrieved fugitive cattle with the help of a lasso, or lariat, a rigid noose that could be tossed over a wayward animal's neck and easily tightened with a pull of the rope. The stiffness of the rope ensured that the noose maintained its wide aperture in midair.

Today, this activity is an official rodeo event called tie-down roping , sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. In this competition, a calf is released from a narrow holding pen, referred to as the bucking chute , into the rodeo arena. After giving his conquest a brief head start, the cowboy chases after the calf on his specially trained horse and attempts to rope it as quickly as possible. He then must expeditiously tip the animal on its side, a maneuver known as flanking , and use another tiny piece of rope, the pigging string , to bind together any three of its four legs. If the calf is unable to break free from its fetters in six seconds or less, the cowboy's attempt is a success, and his official time is registered. Leading professional ropers can ensnare and immobilize a calf in approximately seven seconds.

The cover image and chapter opening graphics are from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed.