Xen is one of the coolest open source projects I’ve seen. Like I said in my previous post, it’s a way of doing a VMWare style of virtualisation on x86 hardware. Like the Xen guys say:

Xen is a virtual machine monitor for x86 that supports execution of multiple guest operating systems with unprecedented levels of performance and resource isolation.

As I found out after talking to CSam from VPAC, the VMWare license states that you cannot use it for grid computing. I would have thought that VMWare would be great to use for testing simple grid computing configurations, so this restriction seems a little harsh.

The way that Xen works is that you create virtual machines running under a hypervisor, which is a xen-patched linux kernel. You can install any disto you like to become the hypervisor, but the difference is that instead of booting the linux kernel directly, you actually boot a Xen image first, which then loads the xen-patched Linux kernel. To Xen, this machine is known as the domain0.

When you have this up and running, you can begin to create your domainU machines inside of this. The easiest way to do this is by mounting the filesystem for your new VM, and doing a manual gentoo-style install of whatever distro you like. For the RPM based distro’s, there is a tool to accomplish this for you very easily. A Gentoo install isn’t much different, and debian provide a mechanism for bootstrapping also.

By default, Xen uses bridging to bridge together your eth0 from your domain0 to the eth0 of the VM’s, but this is completely configurable. From here, you can then use the virtual console connection to your VM’s to start making your VM’s do stuff.

For a very quick guide to setting up a Xen system, you can take a look at Damon’s guide using CentOS, but it would definately be a good idea to read the Xen docs first.

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… you recieve a plaque with your name on it

Although, I thought mine was kinda lacking something, so I added it in myself.

This is a photo of where I have been working currently. The store room. The advantage of this is that nobody can find you to harass you to do stuff for them. Jeremy, Adam and I have been chilling in here on and off for about a week. I like it. Kinda reminds me a little of the ‘pit’ from VPAC, but dingier.

I’m going to start playing with Xen today. Basically by making some small modifications to the Linux kernel, I can do VMWare style machine virtualisation, but without the overhead. Open source is the shiznit!

Also, if you’re bored, check out the Wikipedia definition for -izzle. Fo shizzle my nizzle

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Adam and Jeremy were in need of some serious furnature. Damien was in need of getting rid of some serious furniture because he was leaving the country. It was lucky I was here to bring these people together.

Adam and Jemery scored a couch and a futon for $100, but part of the deal was that they must take the two umbrellas and the safari hat. What a deal!

Andy, Damien and Adam. The umbrellas and safari hat were the deal-makers

Good luck to Damien on his fresh start in the UK. Peace out bruvva

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This device is labeled as a presentation player, but it is really a VNC viewer in a box! As most of the Linksys devices around today, it runs a customised version of Linux, just waiting to be hacked…

As the software shipped with the WPG54G is Windows only, some workarounds are needed to get it to play nicely with Linux or Mac. Here’s the details:

Firstly, you’ll need some form of VNC server set up on your PC. For GNOME users, GNOME 2.8+ ships with the Vino remote desktop utility. Windows users can use just plain old RealVNC, and I’m sure there is a solution for OSX users too, but I haven’t ever used a VNC server on a Mac before.

NOTE: for this to work correctly, your VNC server must be set to not require a password. This might not be necessary, but I believe the password sent to the WPG54G is encrypted. Without knowing the encryption, it won’t work.

The Windows utility does some sort of local subnet broadcast to discover the WPG54G, but for us, we will connect directly to the WPG54G’s IP address. For the WPG54G to initiate a connection to your VNC server, the windows software uses a GET URL for the unit to discover the client.

To start it, I used curl in Linux, but you could use any web brower. Fire up the URL

http://IP address/connect.html?DTYPE=plain&ov_name=your name&ov_passwd=whatever you want

and the WPG54G should start a VNC connection to your client’s IP address

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Had a BBQ and some drinks last night for my birthday. Sat around and watched some Chappell show and Team America: World Police. Some very funny stuff right there. Simone also bought a new digital camera for her trip, so today we went down to St. Kilda and walked along Acland St. and checked out some of the market stalls along the waterfront. The funny thing was, we walked into my mate Dave Hughes

Us with my mate Dave Hughes

Simone and Bek at Luna Park

Simone, Bek, Kelly and Shane at the tram stop at Flinders St.

Andy in the blue sky

Bek would like to note, for the record, Dave put his hand on her ass. She loved it

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Every so often, I think everybody searches for themselves on Google. I remember a time before the internet got really big, I was the only Andy Botting around. After doing some quick searches, I believe I have found another Andy Botting actually living in Melbourne!

An exert from this Melbourne Girls College Newsletter:

We are delighted to announce some rowing awards:
* Hannah Brown and Rachel Paule jointly received the Victorian Junior Rowers’ Award.
* Andy Botting received the Victorian Rowing Coach of the Year Award.


I knew there was an Andy Botting in the UK somewhere.. I but I had no idea I was sharing a city with one.

Also, today is my birthday, and I have my name on this building in Kensingon. w00t

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