[kernel-xen] Converting from bad habits

[Steven Spencer]

Hello list,

We have been using xen with CentOS for about 6 years now, always using 
the libvirt and virt-install routines. After some huge problems with a 
corrupted XML config file, and posts to this list earlier this year, we 
decided that on all future xen builds, we would use a straight 
configuration file for the builds from this point forward.

Recently, I retired a 5 year old xen server and decided that this would 
be my test environment for the "new" (i.e., correct) way of creating and 
installing DomU's. We set up a template in /etc/xen:

name = "vm_test"
memory = 1024
vcpus = 2
disk = [ 'tap:aio:/virtual/vm_test.img,xvda,w' ]
on_poweroff = 'destroy'
on_reboot   = 'restart'
on_crash    = 'restart'
vif = [ "mac=00:16:36:35:35:97,bridge=br0,script=vif-bridge" ]
kernel="/usr/lib/xen/boot/pv-grub-x86_64.gz"
extra="(hd0)/boot/grub/grub.conf"

And I created a disk image using dd:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/virtual/vm_test.img oflag=direct bs=1M count=2048

When we used the old virt-install routines, we always specified the IP 
of the machine we were building, used a hard partitioning, rather than 
Volume Groups and used the vncviewer to access the machine once the 
first set of prompts was complete. In reading, I see that some of this 
can be accomplished through a kickstarter file, so what I'm asking is if 
this is the recommended way to specify the remaining parameters, or if I 
need a more extensive configuration.

Your help is appreciated.

Thanks,
-- 
-- 
Steven G. Spencer, Network Administrator
KSC Corporate - The Kelly Supply Family of Companies
Office 308-382-8764 Ext. 231
Mobile 308-380-7957