XenKibbutz

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User Support

When your Xen guest was created you should have been sent several thigs, including:

  • Your xen-hosting username.
  • An ssh key for accessing your serial console.
  • The list of IP addresses belonging to your instance. These details should be sufficient to allow you to deal with most support issues yourself, but if they are not please do get in touch. The most common problems, failing networks, crashed kernel, etc, should be fixable using the Xen shell.

    The Xen Shell

    The Xen shell was developed for xen-hosting.org and allows easy control over your Xen guest. To use it you will need to connect to the host machine using the SSH key which you were previously given: 

    ssh -i $keyfile username@username.console.xenkibbutz.com
    The Xen shell contains several commands allowing you to control your guest, and includes built in help and TAB completion. The shell itself runs inside GNU Screen so if you wish to disconnect then return later (potentially from a different location) you can do so safely. The xen shell has built in help and TAB completion so it should be fairly simple to use. Some commands have synonyms and in that case both are listed even though the functionality doesn't change. The currently available commands are: 
    boot
    This allows you to boot your Xen guest if it is currently shutdown. 
    bandwidth
    This allows you to view the bandwidth you've used upon a month-by-month basis. 
    console / serial
    This command allows you to access your Xen guest's console, allowing you to login if your networking is broken, or if you've chosen to disable the OpenSSH server. 
    exit / quit
    Exit the shell. 
    help [command1 command2]
    When invoked with no arguments the help command will show a list of available commands and a one-line description of them all. If you wish help on a specific command you can use "help command" to see more details. 
    reboot
    This allows you to reboot your running Xen guest. 
    reimge
    After prompting for confirmation, and counting down for ten seconds this command will wipe your Xen guest, and perform a fresh installation of Debian Sarge, via the use of xen-tools. 
    shutdown
    This command will shutdown your currently running Xen guest. It will remain shutdown until you issue a boot command. 
    status
    This command shows you the current status of your Xen guest, which will either be "running/booted", or "shutdown".
    For information purposes it will also show you the uptime of the host system. 
    uptime
    This command is similar to the status command and will show you the uptime of your Xen guest along with the uptime of the host system. 
    version
    This shows you the version of the Xen shell which is installed, which is the CVS revision number.

    Extra Support

    If you end up in a situation where you cannot gain access to the shell then please mail Theron and he'll reboot your instance, or carry out basic admin work.