Archived/Xen 4.3 RC1 test instructions

What needs to be tested

General things:

• Making sure that Xen 4.3 compiles and installs properly on different software configurations; particularly on distros
• Making sure that Xen 4.3, along with appropriately up-to-date kernels, work on different hardware.

Specific features:

To Do: Decide on these

Installing

Getting RC1

• xen: Pull from the main repo, and update to tag 4.3.0-rc1:

git clone -b 4.3.0-rc1 git://xenbits.xen.org/xen.git

• tarball: Xen 4.3.0 RC1 Tarball (and signature)

Building

Instructions are available for building Xen on Linux and NetBSD.

Test instructions

• Remove any old versions of Xen toolstack and userspace binaries (including qemu).
• Download and install the most recent Xen 4.3 RC, as described above. Make sure to check the README for changes in required development libraries and procedures. Some particular things to note:
  • In Xen 4.3 the default installation path has changed from /usr to /usr/local. Take extra care when removing any old versions to allow for this.

• Read the xl wiki page to understand what xl is, and what differences are expected between xm and xl.
  • In particular, xend typically did network setup (i.e., bridging, &c), while xl does not. So you will need to set up your networking through the standard distro tools.
  • For less common commands, check the xl man page to make sure names or argument conventions haven't changed.

• Try to use xl for things that you used to use xm for.

Reporting Bugs (& Issues)

• Report any bugs / missing functionality / unexpected results.
• Please put [TestDay] into the subject line
• Also make sure you specify the RC number you are using
• Make sure to follow the guidelines on Reporting Bugs against Xen.

Reporting success

We would love it if you could report successes by e-mailing xen-devel@lists.xen.org, preferably including:

• Hardware: Please at least include the processor manufacturer (Intel/AMD). Other helpful information might include specific processor models, amount of memory, number of cores, and so on
• Software: If you're using a distro, the distro name and version would be the most helpful. Other helpful information might include the kernel that you're running, or other virtualization-related software you're using (e.g., libvirt, xen-tools, drbd, &c).
• Guest operating systems: If running a Linux version, please specify whether you ran it in PV or HVM mode.
• Functionality tested: High-level would include toolstacks, and major functionality (e.g., suspend/resume, migration, pass-through, stubdomains, &c)

The following template might be helpful: should you use Xen 4.3.0-RC1 for testing, please make sure you state that information!

Subject: [TESTDAY] Test report
 
* Hardware:
 
* Software:

* Guest operating systems:

* Functionality tested:

* Comments:

For example:

Subject: [TESTDAY] Test report
 
* Hardware: 
Dell 390's (Intel, dual-core) x15
HP (AMD, quad-core) x5
 
* Software: 
Ubuntu 10.10,11.10
Fedora 17

* Guest operating systems:
Windows 8
Ubuntu 12.10,11.10 (HVM)
Fedora 17 (PV)

* Functionality tested:
xl
suspend/resume
pygrub

* Comments:
Window 8 booting seemed a little slower than normal.

Other than that, great work!