CentOS Xen Image

Submitted by Exoware on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 06:45

When creating a CentOS VM on Xen (using the supplied image), "nash-hotplug" consumes 99.9% CPU constantly on the guest VM.

Status: 
Closed (fixed)

Comments

Submitted by lxtrix on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 08:16

if this problem doesn't get resolved try lodging the issue with CentOS as well as Xen

Submitted by JamieCameron on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 12:27

Wow, I haven't seen that before. Does it help if you kill that process, and prevent it from starting at boot?

Submitted by Exoware on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 14:01

It seems this issue has existed for some time. Peculiar that it has still not been addressed. I guess a temporarily resolution is to create a Xen system with all templates with the issue, fix the issue then create a template from the aforementioned instance?

I still wonder why it has been allowed to exist for so long, though.

Submitted by JamieCameron on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 14:48

Yes, if you see it on your own systems, one fix would be to create a Xen system, remove or disable nash-hotplug, then create an image from the fixed Xen system.

Submitted by Exoware on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 16:25

It seems this issue is not restricted to CentOS and the underlying problem is mkinitrd and its use of nash. The problem only seems to exist with Xen though. Have you experienced it yourself yet?

Submitted by JamieCameron on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 17:48

No, I've never seen this on my systems.. and I don't think anyone else has reported it either.

Could it perhaps be an issue with the Virtualmin-provided CentOS images?

Submitted by Exoware on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:26

It's definitely a possibility as I've not come across it before. Which reminds me, could you either add more variety in the images or allow it to be possible to add custom Xen images? And is there any particular reason why there are old Fedora and Ubuntu images?

Submitted by JamieCameron on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 18:39

I've tried to limit the number of different images, as maintaining them takes quite a lot of work... however, you can create your own using Cloudmin for your own use. Or you can download more from http://stacklet.com/ , although they aren't in the same format Cloudmin uses .. so you'd have to create a system from one, then create an image from it.

Submitted by Exoware on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 20:52

Thanks Jamie,

I've managed to get an Ubuntu 9.04 and Gentoo 2008 image running reasonably smoothly (though the Gentoo was being a pain in the ass to begin with).

Have you any plans to support the addition/installation of operating systems with their ISO? Also, do you have any plans to support Windows images (for example, boot an ISO and drop them in with VNC to do their installation).

Submitted by JamieCameron on Sun, 08/30/2009 - 22:04

Windows images or booting from an ISO aren't really on the road-map yet .. although there is support in Cloudmin for managing Xen guests like this (you can tell it to not try SSHing into them).

Submitted by JamieCameron on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 00:43

Regarding the nash-hotplug issue, I just saw this on a Debian Lenny Xen guest. Have you seen it on any non-Debian systems?

It looks like the recommended "fix" is to just kill the "nash" process, which seems like a hack to me. I'll see if I can add something to Cloudmin in the next release to automate this.

Submitted by Exoware on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 05:36

Yes, I've seen it on CentOS, too.

Submitted by Exoware on Thu, 09/10/2009 - 19:28

Any update on this issue Jamie?

Submitted by JamieCameron on Thu, 09/10/2009 - 23:28

Oh yeah, I fixed this and forgot to update the bug .. I fixed this in Cloudmin 3.0 or 3.1 by adding an entry to /etc/rc.local on new virtual systems that kills nash-hotplug.

Submitted by Issues on Fri, 09/25/2009 - 05:19

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.