[SUSPECTED SPAM]Re: HEADS UP: FreeBSD/Xen dom0 UEFI support

[Stephen Walker-Weinshenker]

On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 3:30 AM Roger Pau Monné <roger.pau at citrix.com>
wrote:

> On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 05:10:44PM -0600, Stephen Walker-Weinshenker wrote:
> > On Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 12:58 AM Roger Pau Monné <roger.pau at citrix.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 08:32:18PM -0600, Stephen Walker-Weinshenker
> wrote:
> > > > Hello Roger:
> > > >
> > > > Thank you for your work on this. I am new to Xen and FreeBSD but am
> > > willing
> > > > to help test this and get it in a release version.
> > > >
> > > > I have 3 Intel NUC 8v5PNK that I am planning on using for Xen hosts,
> but
> > > > they can only boot in UEFI mode (intel disabled BIOS booting per
> their
> > > > official documentation even though it is still an option in the BIOS
> > > > /shrug). Until this patch came along I could not get any Xen
> distribution
> > > > to boot since they all require BIOS mode.
> > > >
> > > > I have 2 of the 3 NUCS running 14.0-CURRENT at git commit
> > > > 55fc118be8f0cd20e2123cfd2728c5f32317a9fa (after your patch was
> merged)
> > > and
> > > > I have attempted to follow the instructions at
> > > >
> > >
> https://docs.freebsd.org/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/virtualization-host-xen.html
> > > > in order to get the Xen kernel booting. Unfortunately, when I
> rebooted
> > > > after making the changes, I get an error saying:
> > > >
> > > > >Loading Xen kernel...
> > > > >Failed to load Xen kernel '/boot/xen'
> > > > >can't load 'kernel'
> > > > >
> > > > >can't load 'kernel'
> > >
> > > Did you update the loader on the EFI partition?
> > >
> > > After an installworld on my box I would usually do:
> > >
> > > # mount -t msdosfs /dev/ada0p1 /mnt/
> > > # cp /boot/loader.efi /mnt/EFI/freebsd/loader.efi
> > > # umount /mnt
> > >
> > > To update the EFI loader. You might have to check the output of
> > > `efibootmgr -v`to make sure you are replacing the correct loader. I
> > > guess there must also be a way to do this with efibootmgr.
> > >
> > > For whatever reason my EFI partition nvd0p1 was already mounted at
> > /boot/efi,
> > so my copy command was
> > # cp -f /boot/loader.efi /boot/efi/efi/freebsd/loader.efi
> >
> > I did this prior to the last reboot after changing the boot config as
> > recommended by
> >
> > This fixed the issue of the xen kernel not booting on one of the boxes.
> > (did the copy prior to the final reboot) Looks like I will have to
> > reinstall the OS on the other one (not a big deal)
> >
> > Now, I am just getting a blank screen on boot. I am unable to ssh into
> the
> > Dom0 either.
>
> What's your Xen command line? (ie: xen_cmdline string in
> loader.conf)
>
> Which version of Xen are you using?
>
> Do you have serial output available on those boxes? That might help
> get some messages if everything else fails.
>
> Roger.
>

Sorry for the delay in responding. Real life took precedence over this
testing.

xen_cmdline="dom0_mem=2048M dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0=pvh com1=115200,8n1
guest_loglvl=all loglvl=all console=vga,com1"

xen-kernel version = 4.14.1_1
xen-tools version = 4.14.1_1

Both installed from packages, rather than ports.

These boxes are Intel NUCs that I normally manage over intel AMT using mesh
commander. I tried enabling the virtual serial port through AMT but no
dice. I know the nucs have a hardware serial port, but I don't have the
cable to attach to the header at the moment. I have ordered some headers
and crimp pins to attach to the serial port for more debugging, but they
will not get here for about a week.

I also tried connecting directly to the NUC's HDMI port but I just got a
blank screen again, after all the boot messages appeared.

Thank you again.

-- 
Stephen Walker-Weinshenker
sww1235 at gmail.com