National Instruments NI Real-Time Hypervisor User manual

QUICK START GUIDE
NI Real-Time Hypervisor
Version 2.10
The NI Real-Time Hypervisor provides a platform you can use to develop and run LabVIEW
and LabVIEW Real-Time applications simultaneously on a single controller.
(Windows) Refer to the NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Windows section below for a summary of
your system configuration.
(Linux) Refer to the Installing the NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Linux section below for
installation instructions.
NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Windows
Your NI Real-Time Hypervisor ships pre-configured with everything you need to develop and
run LabVIEW and LabVIEW Real-Time applications simultaneously on a single controller.
NI Factory Installation Services (FIS) has equipped your system with hardware that meets the
requirements of the NI Real-Time Hypervisor. In addition, FIS has partitioned this hardware
between Windows and the LabVIEW Real-Time OS (NI ETS) according to the preferences you
specified during the ordering process and the resource partitioning requirements of the
NI Real-Time Hypervisor.
However, you can assign the resources in your system to different OSes. Refer to the Getting
Started with Your NI Real-Time Hypervisor System section for information about completing
this task.
Installing the NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Linux
You need the following items to install the NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Linux:
• A development computer with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module and Measurement and
Automation Explorer (MAX) installed
• The installation CD for a supported version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Note Refer to ni.com/info and enter the Info Code HV_Devices for
information about supported versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
• A USB CD-ROM drive
• A USB memory drive

NI Real-Time Hypervisor 2.10 Quick Start Guide 2 ni.com
Complete the following steps to install the NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Linux.
1. Use a development computer to install LabVIEW RT and VISA Server on the NI Real-Time
Hypervisor system.
a. Power on or restart the NI Real-Time Hypervisor system.
b. Press the <Delete> key to access the BIOS setup utility.
c. Change the boot option so the NI Real-Time Hypervisor system boots into
LabVIEW RT.
d. Save the changes and restart the system.
e. Launch MAX on the development computer.
f. Expand the Remote Systems tree and locate the NI Real-Time Hypervisor system.
g. Expand the tree next to the NI Real-Time Hypervisor system.
h. Click the Software tree item and install LabVIEW RT and VISA Server on the
NI Real-Time Hypervisor system.
2. Use MAX to obtain identification information for the NI Real-Time Hypervisor controller
and chassis.
a. Expand the Devices and Interfaces tree.
b. Right-click the NI Real-Time Hypervisor controller and select its controller family in
the Identify As menu.
c. Expand the tree next to the controller.
d. Right-click the PXI chassis and select its model in the Identify As menu.
e. Connect to the NI Real-Time Hypervisor system with an FTP client.
f. Navigate to the ni-rt/system directory.
g. Copy the pxisys.ini and pxiesys.ini files to a USB drive. These files identify
your controller and chassis. Later, you will copy these files to the NI Real-Time
Hypervisor system.
3. Start the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation process.
a. Connect a USB CD-ROM drive to the NI Real-Time Hypervisor system.
b. Place the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation CD in the drive.
c. Restart the system.
d. Press the <Delete> key to access the BIOS setup utility on your system.
e. Change the boot option so the system boots into Windows/Other OS.
f. Change the boot priority so the system boots from the CD-ROM drive.
g. Save the changes and restart the system.
h. Begin the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation process.

©National Instruments Corporation 3 NI Real-Time Hypervisor 2.10 Quick Start Guide
4. When you reach the Partitioning Type menu, create two Linux partitions. Leave enough
free space for two more partitions, a partition at least 1 GB in size for the LabVIEW
Real-Time OS (NI ETS) and a 1 GB partition for boot information, that you will create later.
Note The free space must not be in a Logical Volume Manager (LVM).
a. Select Create Custom Layout from the hard drive menu.
b. Select New from the partition menu to create two new partitions. For example, you
could create an ext3 partition mounted at /and a swap partition.
5. After you complete the installation and the system restarts, log in with root privileges.
6. Connect the USB drive that contains the pxisys.ini and pxiesys.ini files to the
system to identify your controller and chassis.
7. Copy the pxisys.ini and pxiesys.ini files to the etc directory.
8. Use the fdisk utility that comes with Red Hat Enterprise Linux to partition the hard drive.
a. In the command prompt, type fdisk followed by the name of your hard drive and
press the <Enter> key. For example, if your hard drive is named /dev/sda, type fdisk
/dev/sda.
b. Press the <N> key and then the <Enter> key to create a new partition.
c. Press the <P> key and then the <Enter> key to designate the partition as a primary
partition.
d. Specify the number of an unused partition and press the <Enter> key to begin creating
the NI ETS partition. For example, if you only created two partitions during the Linux
installation process, press the <3> key.
e. Start the partition at the default cylinder.
f. Enter a size for the partition. For example, to designate 30 GB for NI ETS, type +30G.
g. Repeat steps b–g to create a 1 GB partition for boot information.
9. Change the file systems of the partitions.
a. Press the <T> key and then the <Enter> key.
b. Enter the partition number of the NI ETS partition and press the <Enter> key. For
example, if you designated partition 3 as the NI ETS partition, press the <3> key.
c. Press the <C> key and then the <Enter> key to format the NI ETS partition with the
W95 FAT32 (LBA) file system.
d. Press the <T> key and then the <Enter> key.
e. Enter the partition number of the boot partition and then press the <Enter> key.
f. Type 21 and then press the <Enter> key to identify the partition as the boot partition.
Note fdisk returns an error that says 21 is an unknown partition type. This error is
expected and does not indicate a problem.

NI Real-Time Hypervisor 2.10 Quick Start Guide 4 ni.com
g. Press the <W> key and then the <Enter> key to save these changes.
Note Linux displays an error that says it failed to re-read the partition table but will
use the new table when you reboot the system. This error is expected and does not
indicate a problem.
10. Restart the system.
11. Use the mkdosfs utility that comes with Red Hat Enterprise Linux to name the NI ETS
partition LABVIEW_RT.
a. Right-click the desktop and select Open Terminal from the shortcut menu.
b. Type mkdosfs -n LABVIEW_RT followed by the name of the hard drive and the
partition number of the NI ETS partition and then press the <Enter> key. For example,
if the NI ETS partition is the third partition of a hard drive named /dev/sda, type
mkdosfs -n LABVIEW_RT /dev/sda3.
12. Upgrade your system to use GRUB2, if necessary. To determine what version of GRUB is
running on your system, enter the command grub-install --version. If the version
is 1.98 or later, your system is running GRUB2.
Caution If you do not follow the correct installation procedures, upgrading to
GRUB2 can damage your system. Contact National Instruments if you require
assistance with this process.
13. Specify the nomodeset flag to avoid screen resolution issues by completing the following
steps:
a. If necessary, enter the command mkdir /usr/local/etc/default to create the
specified directory.
b. If necessary, create the/usr/local/etc/default/grub file.
c. Open the /usr/local/etc/default/grub file for editing and add the line
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=nomodeset to the file.
d. Enter the command grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg to regenerate
grub.cfg.
14. Install the kernel-rt-3.2.23-rt37.56.el6rt.x86_64 and
kernel-rt-devel-3.2.23-rt37.56.el6rt.x86_64 packages.
15. Download and install the libXinerama (libXinerama.so.1) and mesa-libGL
(libGL.so.1) i686 packages using the yum package manager.
16. (Optional) If you want to use shared memory with NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Linux, you
must install the 64-bit version of LabVIEW. National Instruments recommends you install
LabVIEW (64-bit) before installing NI Real-Time Hypervisor to preserve default
installation paths.
17. Place the NI Real-Time Hypervisor installation CD in the USB CD-ROM drive and run the
NI Real-Time Hypervisor installer.
18. Right-click the desktop and select Open Terminal. Then, navigate to
/usr/local/natinst/hypervisor/ConfigurationUtility and run the

©National Instruments Corporation 5 NI Real-Time Hypervisor 2.10 Quick Start Guide
NIHypervisorManager application to launch the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager.
A dialog box appears and prompts you to run the setup.
19. Click the Run Setup button. The NI Real-Time Hypervisor manager runs the setup and
prompts you to restart the system.
20. Restart the system and select Linux from the boot menu.
21. Log in with root privileges.
22. Compile the virtualization drivers into the Linux kernel. Refer to
Virtualization_Drivers.pdf and to
Virtualization_Drivers_Supplement.txt, located in the
/usr/local/natinst/
hypervisor directory, for instructions to perform this task. Pay particular attention to the
supplementary text file for information about the correct commands and file paths you need
when compiling the virtualization drivers. The linux-drv-src.tgz file, which contains
the virtualization drivers, is located in the /usr/local/natinst/
hypervisor/system/drivers directory.
23. Navigate to the /usr/local/natinst/nihypshm directory and run
KernelDrv_Install.sh.
24. Refer to the Getting Started with Your NI Real-Time Hypervisor System section below for
instructions to partition your devices according to your application needs and begin
developing applications.

NI Real-Time Hypervisor 2.10 Quick Start Guide 6 ni.com
Getting Started with Your NI Real-Time Hypervisor
System
Complete the following steps to become familiar with your system’s configuration utility,
known as the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager, and begin developing applications.
1. Power on or restart your system.
2. Depending on your system, select Windows or Linux from the boot menu to boot into your
general-purpose OS.
3. Use the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager to view the devices assigned to each OS.
a. (Windows) Select Start»National Instruments»NI Real-Time
Hypervisor»NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager to launch the NI Real-Time
Hypervisor Manager.
(Linux) Right-click the desktop and select Open Terminal. Then, navigate to
/usr/local/natinst/hypervisor/ConfigurationUtility and run the
NIHypervisorManager application to launch the NI Real-Time Hypervisor
manager.
b. Review the OS partition settings.
• The Basic tab displays each device and the OS to which each device is assigned.
• The Advanced tab displays each device, the OS to which each device is assigned,
and the PCI Interrupt Request Line (PIRQ) that each device uses.
4. (Optional) Change the OS partition settings.
a. Click the Basic tab to display the list of devices and the OS to which each one is
assigned.
b. Use the pull-down menus next to each device to change the OS to which each device
is assigned.
c. Right-click the Memory row and select Set Memory Allocation to partition the
system memory between the OSes according to your application needs.
d. Use the pull-down menus next to each CPU core to assign CPU cores to OSes
according to your application needs.
e. Click the Apply button to apply the partitioning configuration. The NI Real-Time
Hypervisor Manager generates a set of instructions.
f. Follow the instructions generated by the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager to ensure
that each hardware device is connected to the correct card slot.
5. Power on or restart your system.
6. Select NI Real-Time Hypervisor from the boot menu to boot into hypervisor mode.
7. Develop and run applications just as you would with a normal host and real-time system.

©National Instruments Corporation 7 NI Real-Time Hypervisor 2.10 Quick Start Guide
Communicating Between Operating Systems
The NI Real-Time Hypervisor includes a virtual RT console, a virtual Ethernet connection, and
a shared memory feature that you can use to communicate between the general-purpose OS and
the LabVIEW Real-Time OS (NI ETS).
Note The following sections reference the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help. To open
the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help, select Help»NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help
from LabVIEW or the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager. You can launch the NI
Real-Time Hypervisor Manager while booted into the general-purpose OS only.
Using the Virtual RT Console
Use the virtual RT console to view configuration and troubleshooting information for the
NI Real-Time Hypervisor. For example, you can use the virtual RT console to determine the RT
target IP address. Refer to the Connecting to the Virtual RT Console topic of the NI Real-Time
Hypervisor Help for more information.
Using the Virtual Ethernet Connection
Use the virtual Ethernet connection to communicate between your general-purpose OS and
NI ETS with remote communication methods. Refer to the Transferring Data Between
Operating Systems topic of the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help for more information.
Using Shared Memory
You can share up to 95 MB of system memory between the OSes on your NI Real-Time
Hypervisor system. Use shared memory to transfer data between OSes if remote communication
methods are inefficient. Refer to the Transferring Data Between Operating Systems topic of the
NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help for more information.
Restoring Your System
(Windows) Refer to the Restoring Your NI Real-Time Hypervisor System topic on the Contents
tab in the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help for instructions to restore your system.
(Linux) Refer to the Installing the NI Real-Time Hypervisor for Linux section above to reinstall
the NI Real-Time Hypervisor on your system.
Where to Go from Here
Refer to the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help for complete documentation of the NI Real-Time
Hypervisor, including an introduction to virtualization and techniques for communicating
between your general-purpose OS and the LabVIEW Real-Time OS (NI ETS). To open the NI
Real-Time Hypervisor Help, select Help»NI Real-Time Hypervisor Help from LabVIEW or
the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager. You can launch the NI Real-Time Hypervisor Manager
while booted into the general-purpose OS only.

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Refer to ni.com/info and enter the Info Code NIRTHVKI to access known issues for the
NI Real-Time Hypervisor 2.1.
Refer to ni.com/info and enter the Info Code HV_Devices for information about
unsupported hardware devices and drivers.
Where to Go for Support
The National Instruments Web site is your complete resource for technical support. At
ni.com/support you have access to everything from troubleshooting and application
development self-help resources to email and phone assistance from NI Application Engineers.
National Instruments corporate headquarters is located at 11500 North Mopac Expressway,
Austin, Texas, 78759-3504. National Instruments also has offices located around the world to
help address your support needs. For telephone support in the United States, create your service
request at ni.com/support and follow the calling instructions or dial 512 795 8248. For
telephone support outside the United States, visit the Worldwide Offices section of ni.com/
niglobal to access the branch office Web sites, which provide up-to-date contact information,
support phone numbers, email addresses, and current events.