[et-mgmt-tools] Koan virt install hanging

[Jason Hartley]

On 1/1/08, Michael DeHaan <mdehaan at redhat.com> wrote:
> Jason Hartley wrote:
> > Hey,
> >
> > Happy New Years!
> >
> >  I am having an issue with doing a koan virt install.  I am trying to
> > build a Centos5.1 Xen VM and during the initial boot it hangs at the
> > same spot every time.  I am using Cobbler version 0.6.4-2 and Koan
> > version 0.6.3-3.  Below is the output from the install during the boot
> > where it hangs.  Can some one help direct me on what might be my
> > problem?
> >
> >
> I think I know what is going on.
>
> It's not hanging, what is happening is that the virtualized console no
> longer becomes useful once the VNC graphics mode engages -- in other
> words, you should be able to watch the rest of the install with
> virt-manager.
>
> Older versions of koan had a flag to disable VNC support, but this was
> missing in recent versions (because I was not aware of the virt console
> issue).  In newer versions of koan (such as the test builds...
> http://cobbler.et.redhat.com/download/testing) there is once again a
> --nogfx flag.
>
> When this flag is used, the installation will happen entirely in the
> virt console (and is watchable in text mode), though you will not be
> able to get VNC graphics at the same time.
>
> qemu/KVM (another virtualization type cobbler supports) does not support
> the --nogfx flag.
>
> I suspect most folks using VMs in an automated context would want to
> disable the VNC/graphics bits so that they could use the text consoles.
>
> Since koan in the "testing" directory does not contain any new features
> that require the newer cobbler, I can look at releasing this version
> (with the --nogfx flag) in a few weeks to Fedora/EPEL.
>
> --Michael
>

Thanks, for the quick response.  Your explanation is spot-on.  I
played around with virt-install, turning the graphics support on and
off, and I got the same behavior with the graphics on.

Thanks,
Jason Hartley