How to Set up OpenSolaris as a xVM dom0

If you are running build 126 or later of OpenSolaris, enabling xVM is as simple as:

$ pfexec pkg install xvm-gui
$ pfexec svcadm enable milestone/xvm
$ pfexec reboot

If you're on an older release, follow the instructions below.

Enabling xVM on an older OpenSolaris release

Create a separate build environment, if needed

$ pfexec beadm create -a -d xvm xvm

Install the required packages

$ pfexec beadm mount xvm /tmp/xvm-be
$ pfexec pkg -R /tmp/xvm-be install SUNWvirt-manager SUNWxvm SUNWvdisk SUNWvncviewer
$ pfexec beadm umount xvm

If you're running a recent version of OpenSolaris, you can install the xvm-gui cluster instead of the individual packages.

Add the menu.lst entry

Run the AWK script over the menu.lst file that controls the GRUB menu. This step is necessary for beadm to reboot into Xen.

$ awk '
/^title/ { xvm=0; }
/^title.xvm$/ { xvm=1; }
/^(splashimage|foreground|background)/ {
    if (xvm == 1) next
}
/^kernel\$/ {
    if (xvm == 1) {
       print("kernel\$ /boot/\$ISADIR/xen.gz")
       sub("^kernel\\$", "module$")
       gsub("console=graphics", "console=text")
       gsub("i86pc", "i86xpv")
       $2=$2 " " $2
    }
}
{ print }' /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst >/var/tmp/menu.lst.xvm

Verify that the AWK script worked properly.

$ tail /var/tmp/menu.lst.xvm
#============ End of LIBBE entry =============
title xvm
findroot (pool_rpool,0,a)
bootfs rpool/ROOT/xvm
kernel$ /boot/$ISADIR/xen.gz
module$ /platform/i86xpv/kernel/$ISADIR/unix /platform/i86xpv/kernel/$ISADIR/unix -B $ZFS-BOOTFS,console=text
module$ /platform/i86pc/$ISADIR/boot_archive
#============ End of LIBBE entry =============

Replace menu.lst and reboot

$ pfexec cp /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst.saved
$ pfexec mv /var/tmp/menu.lst.xvm /rpool/boot/grub/menu.lst
$ pfexec reboot

Enable the services

Enable the xVM services (ignore any warnings about multiple instances).

$ svcadm enable -r xvm/virtd ; svcadm enable -r xvm/domains

You should be able to install guest domains now.