Daniel Hilst
349658d3d7
A node with arch=riscv64 got an x86_64 libvirt domain from mkvm. The node took a DHCP lease, received the riscv64 GRUB binary that nodeset staged, and could not run it. The firmware fell through to the empty disk and stopped, so both flat provisioning cases of the riscv64 cell failed with a node that never installed. build_xmldesc and build_diskstruct in xCAT-server/lib/xcat/plugins/kvm.pm read the architecture from the hypervisor cpumodel. The arch of the node was never read while the domain XML was built, so on an x86_64 hypervisor every guest was an x86_64 guest, whatever the node said. guest_arch_profile now takes the arch of the node as well, and returns the domain type, the <os> arch and machine, the firmware and the device settings that follow from them. A riscv64 node becomes a qemu domain with the virt machine type and UEFI firmware. It drops the parts the riscv64 virt machine has no controller for, or that libvirt refuses there: the pae, acpi and apic features, the SeaBIOS serial option, the ich6 sound card, the USB tablet, and the ide disk and hd* optical drive. libvirt resolves the emulator and the UEFI firmware files itself. POWER and x86_64 domains do not change. kvm_guest_arch.t drives build_xmldesc and build_diskstruct in a scratch package, stubbing only the routines that reach libvirt or the xCAT database, and asserts the domain and the disks of each architecture. Ten of its twenty assertions fail without this change. Signed-off-by: Daniel Hilst <392820+dhilst@users.noreply.github.com> (cherry picked from commit 8d149c856302c8016fb0ead31e9859fd5a1e9dff)
xCAT
xCAT is a toolkit for deployment and administration of clusters of all sizes.
The xCAT sunset was only a quick eclipse
Dear xCAT Community,
The xCAT sunset has changed course. VersatusHPC has been invited to join the xCAT Consortium, and future development will move toward direct upstream contributions coordinated with the Consortium and its existing member companies.
That matters most for Enterprise Linux 10 (EL10). EL10 support is coming to xCAT, restoring a future operating-system path for sites that still rely on xCAT. This is an important change from the previous sunset guidance, where the lack of an EL10 path was one of the strongest reasons to move away from xCAT.
The xCAT Consortium continues to recommend Confluent as the long-term successor to xCAT, and that remains the Consortium position. Users planning new cluster-management deployments should evaluate Confluent and its xCAT comparison documentation.
At the same time, xCAT is no longer sunsetted. The Consortium and participating companies will continue updating xCAT while there is community and user demand for it.
In summary:
- xCAT development is continuing upstream through the Consortium and participating companies.
- Enterprise Linux 10 support is coming.
- Confluent remains the Consortium-recommended successor and migration path.
- xCAT updates will continue while there is community and user demand.
We want to thank the xCAT Consortium and community for keeping this project moving. The sun went behind the moon for a moment, but xCAT is still here.
For more information on Confluent and how to get started, please visit the Confluent: Project Page, Documentation or Confluent vs xCAT comparison.
With thanks,
The xCAT Consortium
Documentation
xCAT Documentation is hosted on Read The Docs: https://xcat-docs.readthedocs.io
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xCAT is made available under the EPL license: https://opensource.org/licenses/eclipse-1.0.php
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