How to Install Xen on POP! OS Latest

Xen is a powerful and flexible virtualization solution that allows you to create multiple virtual machines on a single physical server. In this tutorial, we will walk you through the process of installing Xen on POP! OS Latest.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• A server running POP! OS Latest.
• A user account with sudo privileges.

Step 1: Install Xen and its dependencies

1. Open the terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for Terminal in the Activities search bar.

2. Enter the following command to install Xen and its dependencies:

   sudo apt-get install xen-system xen-tools xen-utils-4.9
   

3. Press Y and then Enter to confirm the installation.

Step 2: Configure Xen

1. Open the terminal and enter the following command to edit the Xen configuration file:

   sudo nano /etc/default/grub
   

2. Add the following line to the file:

   GRUB_CMDLINE_XEN="dom0_mem=256M,max:256M dom0_max_vcpus=1 dom0_vcpus_pin"
   

   This line sets the memory and CPU limits for the domain 0, and ensures all CPU cores are reserved for domain 0.

3. Save and close the file by pressing Ctrl+X, Y, and then Enter.

4. Enter the following command to update the GRUB bootloader configuration:

   sudo update-grub
   

Step 3: Reboot and verify Xen installation

1. Reboot your system to apply the changes made in the previous step:

   sudo reboot
   

2. Once your system has restarted, open the terminal and enter the following command to verify that Xen is installed and running correctly:

   xl info
   

3. If everything is configured correctly, you should see output similar to the following:

   host                   : hostname
   release                : 5.11.0-7633-generic
   version                : #35~1612786722~20.04~7c8f262-Ubuntu SMP Fri Feb 12 19:59:26 UTC 20
   machine                : x86_64
   nr_cpus                : 4
   nr_nodes               : 1
   cores_per_socket       : 2
   threads_per_core       : 2
   cpu_mhz                : 3700
   hw_caps                : bfebfbff:28100800:00000000:00001f40:fd3f9c00:00000000:00007fd
   virt_caps              : hvm hvm_directio
   total_memory           : 64301
   free_memory            : 23897
   sharing_freed_memory   : 0
   largest_free_chunk     : 48032
   xen_major              : 4
   xen_minor              : 11
   xen_extra              : .1
   xen_version            : 4.11.1
   xen_caps               : xen-3.0-x86_64 xen-3.0-x86_32p hvm-3.0-x86_32 hvm-3.0-x86_32p hvm-3.0-x86_64
   xen_scheduler          : credit
   xen_pagesize           : 4096
   platform_params        : virt_start=0xffff800000000000
   xen_changeset          : unavailable
   xen_commandline        : placeholder
   dom0_mem               : 262144
   dom0_max_vcpus         : 1
   dom0_vcpus_pin         : 0
   xen_pv_enabled         : false
   

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Xen on your POP! OS Latest system.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have shown you how to install Xen on POP! OS Latest. Now you can start creating virtual machines to run different operating systems or to test software in a safe environment.

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