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XEN: Mounting CD-ROM's and USB devices in para-virtual DomU's using command line tools

This document (7000059) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 1
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 1

Situation

How to present CD/DVD's and USB media devices to Xen para-virtual DomU's.

Resolution

At times, it is desirable to present external media to a para-virtual DomU. This method only works for para-virtual DomU's. This method is the command line method.

setup
  1. Determine which disks are present in DomU. Generally a good choice is one letter higher for devices "xvd" or "hdc":
    fdisk -l
  2. Attach the CD/DVD/USB drive to the DomU.
    The command has the following syntax.
    xm block-attach NAME_OF_DOMU phy:LOCATION_OF_DEVICE FREE-BLOCK-DEVICE WRITE_MODE
    Example for a CD drive
    xm block-attach SLES10 phy:/dev/cdrom hdc:cdrom r
    Example for a DVD drive
    xm block-attach SLES10 phy:/dev/dvd hdc:cdrom r
    Example for a USB drive
    xm block-attach SLES10 phy:/dev/sdc xvdc r
  3. Inside of the DomU, mount the volume. Use the name of the BLOCK-DEVICE used in the previous step. The expected behavior of the DomU automatically mounting the media will NOT happen. As a result, you have to manually mount the volume.
    mount /dev/hdc /mnt

clean-up
  1. Umount the volume
  2. Detach the device
    The command has the following syntax.
    xm block-detach NAME_OF_DOMU BLOCK-DEVICE
    Example
    xm block-detach SLES10 hdc

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

  • Document ID:7000059
  • Creation Date: 10-Apr-2008
  • Modified Date:14-Mar-2021
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

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