Another day of struggle ...

I've spent another day struggling with this issue. Searching the net etc etc until I stumbled across http://www.tomz.pl/virtualization/86-xenserver/75-xenserver-wifi that suggests that WiFi isn't even included in the xenServer kernel. ("In this article I would like to present how it is possible to re-compile kernel for Xenserver 6.0 to enable WIFI support")

Even though I'm on xenServer 7.0 I went for it. Starting the changes.

Problem 1: xenServer != CentOS (duh!)

I ran into problems on step 3 already. There is no "CentOS-Base.repo.orig" in my installation. So I went back to my VM installation of CentOS 7 to find that one and copied the changes from that installation. It wasn't any major. More that xenServer adds a bunch of "exclude" statements for kernel stuff.

Problem 2: No repositories

When I ran the "yum update" I get the problem that it can't find any matching baseurl for my kernel spec. 

Searching again I came across this post http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/22924/how-can-i-fix-cannot-find-a-valid-baseurl-for-repo-errors-on-centos that suggest me to run the "dhclient" command. Without knowing what it did, I went for it and it outputs "xs_config: command not found", on line 303. 

Looking at the line it doesn't look strange so I compared it to my CentOS VM. First of all, xenServer have the script at /usr/sbin/dhclient while CentOS has it directly at /sbin/dhclient. What is more, the CentOS version is a binary. No luck comparing there.

Problem 3: No networking

Seems like the dhclient command did something at least. It reconfigured my networking to IPv6, and as a result I have no external connectivity at all.

At this point I had it... as I have no clue how to revert this without even further investigation.

Problem 4: Looking for another solution 

I decided to go for VMware HyperVisor instead. Maybe it detects my WiFi instantly? No struggle? 

Downloaded the ISO, fixed the USB. Restarted the CI323 and booted up from the USB.

It came to the point of not actually starting the installer, just trying to start the kernel. And then nothing ...

Returning to xenServer

OK, re-installation of the xenServer seems to be the only viable option at this point so I replaced the xenServer ISO onto the USB. Restarted the CI323 and booted up the installation.

Problem 5: Kernel panic

Booting up the xenServer installation USB I get "kernel panic unable to mount root fs on unknown-block". What? 

Several re-formats and rebuilds of the USB later, I remembered something. This short descriptive instruction https://gist.github.com/thuandt/7235099 (facepalm!)

Which path forward?

So, I'm at a crossroads and haven't decided which path to go.

1. Research and revert the IPv6 configuration
2. Reinstall xenServer and setup a fresh install.

... but that is for another day!

Preparations for the Great Firewall GFW

Shanghai - here I come!

So, I'm going to China. To Shanghai to be more precise. For the unprepared this means a total shut-out from the 'real' internet, as we know it.

How come, you might ask? Well, the Chinese government has since (at least) the 1990s made efforts to tackle computer crime and as a part of "The Golden Shield Project" a "Great Firewall" was created.

This firewall blocks pretty much everything that the Chinese government deems a threat to their supremacy. (Analyzer)

... a solution?

In preparation for this I am in the process of setting up my own VPN solution to attempt to cut through the crap. I am fully aware of the many existing, free and paid, VPN solutions out there, but they tend to go up and down in accordance to the political mood of the day.

I plan to have an VPN endpoint in Sweden (from where I originate) and a VPN entry in my apartment in Shanghai.

Great plans

I currently have an old Asus Eee Box EB1012 as the Swedish endpoint, running Ubuntu server. I recently bought a new box for the Shanghai entrypoint, a Zotac Zbox CI323 nano. This small beauty I plan to run xenServer with two VMs, pfSense and an Ubuntu server. Reasons for the Ubuntu server is to enable Shadowsocks as a VPN tunnel between the two endpoints.

... with problems

Unfortunately I've run into the first problems with the CI323 and xenServer. The xenServer doesn't pickup the WiFi hardware. This is where I'm currently at, searching to resolve this.

What I know (or think I know):

• xenServer is a CentOS 7 'distribution'. (
• # cat /etc/centos-release "XenServer release 7.0.0-125380c (xenenterprise)"
• I've found strings in settings files that suggests that this is CentOS 7.
• CI323 have an Intel 5100 AGN WiFi NIC. The accompanying Windows drivers disc have the strings "ProWireless 5100AGN" that gives this clue. (shows up as "04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3160 (rev 83)" using # lspci)

I'm currently installing CentOS7 into a VM to check it out and compare. I'm going a bit nuts now, hehe.

Stay tuned for more posts on how I continue this technical preparation...