Keyboard

As in QMK, copy this to /etc/udev/rules.d/50-qmk.rules.
Then append these lines.

# Framework
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="32AC", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0012", TAG+="uaccess"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="32AC", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0013", TAG+="uaccess"
KERNEL=="hidraw*", SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="32ac", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0012", MODE="0660", GROUP="users", TAG+="uaccess", TAG+="udev-acl"
KERNEL=="hidraw*", SUBSYSTEM=="hidraw", ATTRS{idVendor}=="32ac", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0013", MODE="0660", GROUP="users", TAG+="uaccess", TAG+="udev-acl"

Then, reload rules, and trigeer the new rule.

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

Now, VIA should work.

Updated on: 2025-07-15

XOA if you wish (optional)

Once xcp-ng is up and running, you’ want XOA up for VM migration. Here is the fastest way.
Log into xen host,
bash -c "$(curl -s http://xoa.io/deploy)"
Answer pretty basic Q and off you go.

If you can run Docker image (Linux, WSL, MacOS (not sure for Apple silicone)), you can run XOA locally to connect to xcp-ng server. This saves the disk/memory on the server.

The default username/password is admin@admin.net / admin.

Cheat sheet

auto start

xe vm-list
xe vm-param-set uuid=$VMUUID other-config:auto_poweron=true

get IP

xe vm-param-get param-name=networks uuid=$VMUUID

PCI passthrough

source

First, make dom-0 to not use the PCI devices.

(8.3)

xe pci-list

xe pci-disable-dom0-access uuid=<pci uuid>
xe pci-enable-dom0-access uuid=<pci uuid>

This is less confusing than lspci.

(before 8.3)
/opt/xensource/libexec/xen-cmdline --set-dom0 "xen-pciback.hide=(02:00.0)(06:00.0)(06:00.1)"

check what’s the boot command with

cat /boot/efi/EFI/xenserver/grub.cfg

(if this is EFI boot.)

Reboot.

xl pci-assignable-list shows the devices, and use the devices for the guest.

0000:02:00.0
0000:06:00.0
0000:06:00.1

xe vm-param-set uuid=$VMUUID other-config:pci=0/0000:02:00.0,0/0000:06:00.0,0/0000:06:00.1

Reaching to client VNC console

First you need to allow sshd to port forward in /etc/ssh/sshd_config

PermitTunnel yes

systemctl restart sshd

ssh root@osiris -L 5902:localhost:5902 "socat TCP-LISTEN:5902,reuseaddr,fork UNIX-CONNECT:/var/run/xen/vnc-1"

Then, vnc clint at localhost:5902

Gotchas

When you import a VM from ESXi, the ethernet device name changes. If you are using netplan for static IP address, adjust the device name in /etc/netplan.

Debian/Ubuntu

You may need to install xe-daemon. Without it, the VM status like network IP does not show up.

sudo apt install xe-guest-utilities
systemctl enable xe-daemon
systemctl start xe-daemon

XigmaNAS

pkg install sysutils/xe-guest-utilities xen-guest-tools 

Go over to “System > Advanced > rc.conf” and add ” xenguest_enable” -> “YES”

and service xenguest start. Once it works, you can see the IP address on XOA.

XOA in a docker

This is one of good reasons on my book to go with xcp-ng. I don’t have to run XOA on the server.
Following the instructions on https://github.com/ronivay/xen-orchestra-docker, I make a docker image and running it locally.

Create dirs for the docker:

sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/xen/xo-server /var/lib/xen/redis

then run it.

docker run -dit -p 3380:80 -v /var/lib/xen/xo-server:/var/lib/xo-server -v /var/lib/xen/redis:/var/lib/redis --name xoa --stop-timeout 30 xen-orchestra

I put this in a shell script and run it when I want to run XOA and open the console on localhost:3380.

Local ISO library

xe sr-create name-label="Local ISO Library" type=iso device-config:location=/var/lib/iso-store/ device-config:legacy_mode=true

xe sr-scan uuid=UUID

ZFS

yum install -y zfs nvme-cli

Start from scratch

# nvme list
Node                  SN                   Model                                    Namespace Usage                      Format           FW Rev  
--------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- --------- -------------------------- ---------------- --------
/dev/nvme1n1          0000A000000         PC SN730 NVMe WDC 512GB                  1         512.11  GB / 512.11  GB    512   B +  0 B   11170012

# wipefs -a /dev/nvme1n1

ln -s /dev/sda /srv/pass_drives/sda
ln -s /dev/sdb /srv/pass_drives/sdb
ln -s /dev/sdc /srv/pass_drives/sdc
xe sr-create name-label=Pass_Drives type=udev content-type=disk device-config:location=/srv/pass_drives

Source

Broadcom’s buyout of VMware resulted the end of free version of ESXi.
With it, I have to start moving out my VMs from ESXi to something else. There are a few, and for me
– proxmox
– xcp-ng / xen
– bhyve
Majority seem to like proxmox, and I think I understand why. Pretty nice UI and for small user like me, it should work pretty well, especially Linux only users.
To me, proxmox is “too busy”. I want something simple. ESXi (vSphere?) free was comprehesive and did what I want it to do.
As a FreeBSD usre, bhyve is a possibility. The downside is, there is no good web UI at the moment, so everything needs to be done from command line.
Xen, especially using FreeBSD as dom0 is an interesting option but it would add extra layer of learning.
xcp-ng is a ESXi wanna be but the lingos and UI is lacking. I spent a few hours going through the menus and I am somewhat lost. Feature wise, it does what I want to do.
Well, the 4th option is to go back to bare metal. It’s not like I have too many VMs. (I am running 5 VMs.) and some can be consolidated. Some VMs can be done with docker or VirtualBox as well.
This is truely a PITA situation to undo the VMs. It is likely I have to write down a few posts for the transition.
TBH, at the moment, the front runner is xcp-ng. If I can run XOA in a docker, it would solve the most everything I want to do.