mindi doesn't work when running the Xen kernel

[Michael Shapiro]

mindi-2.0.7.3-1.rhel5

Mindi doesn't work with a server running the Xen kernel. mondoarchive will successfuly create an image but, when you try to restore it, it will tell you that the kernel is corrupt. This is because mindi doesn't look at the Xen kernels in TryToFindKernelPath() and, also, uses uname which returns information on the running kernel, not the Xen kernel. You can use the -k option to point to a different kernel but the situation that I'm in, at a customer site, is that they have only the Xen kernel installed on the server.

Additionally, ISOLINUX cannot directly boot the Xen kernel and must use mboot.c32. This is an entry in isolinux.cfg for a server running a non-Xen kernel:

label nuke
        kernel /vmlinuz
        append initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 rw ramdisk_size=102400 nuke devfs=nomount noresume selinux=0 barrier=off udevtimeout=10

This is an entry in isolinux.cfg for a server running a Xen kernel:

label nuke
        kernel /mboot.c32
        append /xen.gz --- /vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 rw ramdisk_size=102400  nuke devfs=nomount noresume selinux=0 barrier=off udevtimeout=10 ramdisk_blocksize=1024 --- /initrd.img

I've made modifications to mindi, attached, to allow the image to boot and restore from the Xen kernel. Look for my name, SHAPIRO, to see where I made the modifications. We've tested it only on RHEL 5; it will not work, yet, on SUSE. You'll see output on the screen from mindi if you're running a Xen kernel:

It's a Xen kernel...
  Found mboot.c32 at /usr/lib/syslinux/mboot.c32
  xenkernelpath = /boot/xen.gz-2.6.18-194.el5
  xenkernel     = xen.gz-2.6.18-194.el5
kernelname = 2.6.18-194.el5xen
kernelpath = /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-194.el5xen

[Michael Shapiro]

mindi-2.0.7.3-1.rhel5.x86_64 modified for xen

[Michael Shapiro]

tar file with modified mindi and patch

[Bruno Cornec]

Applied in rev [2629]

[Bruno Cornec]

Hi Mike, I made some changes to be more portable in latest beta of mindi. Could you check packages at ​ftp://ftp.mondorescue.org/test/rhel/5 tag 2.0.7.6-0.20100805025923) and report back please ? TIA.