Xen users - Jun 2008 - Multiple NIC and ports in XEN source and XEN enterprise

Hi *

I am trying to figure out the current limitations of XENsource in
comparison  to XEn enterprise  with regard to the number of multiple and
ports supported by either XEN source and/or XEn enterprise in DOM0 and/
or DOMU .

Some time ago In the mailing lists it was mentioned the max number of
available usable ports is 6 but it was not mentioned whether it is for
the DOMU or DOM0 or both.

Cheers,
Dimitris
-- 
--
Dimitrios K. Kalogeras

Electrical Engineer, Ph.D.
Network Engineer
NTUA/GR-Net Network Management Center
_____________________________________
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fax:     +30-210-772 1866
e-mail: D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr
pub   1024D/0E421B50 2007-01-17 [expires: 2008-01-17] Dimitrios
Kalogeras (dkalo) <D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr>
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> From: Dimitrios Kalogeras <D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr>
> Subject: [Xen-users] Multiple NIC and ports in XEN source and XEN
>         enterprise
> To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> Message-ID: <485B97DA.6040309@noc.ntua.gr>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi *
>
> I am trying to figure out the current limitations of XENsource in
> comparison  to XEn enterprise  with regard to the number of multiple
> and
> ports supported by either XEN source and/or XEn enterprise in DOM0 and/
> or DOMU .
>
> Some time ago In the mailing lists it was mentioned the max number of
> available usable ports is 6 but it was not mentioned whether it is for
> the DOMU or DOM0 or both.
The latest Citrix XenServer enterprise version supports 6 physical NICs per host
(DOM0) and 7 VNICs per VM (DOMU).

I think open source Xen supports 3 VNICs per VM, but I don''t know of
any limits for physical NICs per host.


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Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
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I decided to assign a physical NIC to every DOMU, to minimize bottleneck,
since my app is a telephony softswitch, and depends on network IO. I have 8
NICS in the box and 8 softswitches.

The question is, how can I do that? Also, is there a way to measure the
network IO that each domu is generating, using dom0. I mean, without
installing any software on domu''s, only by looking at dom0?
I have also heavy network traffic between domu''s. How can I optimize
that?
Some of the domu''s are in different networks, and I noticed that the
packets
go out on the internet and come back, which is ridiculous. How can that path
be shortened? I imagined that since the mac addresses are local, XEN would
be able to send it directly to the destination, is that even possible?
Finally, what brands are there for Virtualization-aware NICs? Maybe I will
buy one.


-----Original Message-----
From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com
[mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Fischer, Anna
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 5:07 AM
To: D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr
Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Multiple NIC and ports in XEN source and XEN
enterprise
> From: Dimitrios Kalogeras <D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr>
> Subject: [Xen-users] Multiple NIC and ports in XEN source and XEN
>         enterprise
> To: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> Message-ID: <485B97DA.6040309@noc.ntua.gr>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Hi *
>
> I am trying to figure out the current limitations of XENsource in
> comparison  to XEn enterprise  with regard to the number of multiple
> and
> ports supported by either XEN source and/or XEn enterprise in DOM0 and/
> or DOMU .
>
> Some time ago In the mailing lists it was mentioned the max number of
> available usable ports is 6 but it was not mentioned whether it is for
> the DOMU or DOM0 or both.
The latest Citrix XenServer enterprise version supports 6 physical NICs per
host (DOM0) and 7 VNICs per VM (DOMU).

I think open source Xen supports 3 VNICs per VM, but I don''t know of
any
limits for physical NICs per host.


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> From: Venefax [mailto:venefax@gmail.com]
> Sent: 23 June 2008 12:12
> To: Fischer, Anna; D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr
> Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Multiple NIC and ports in XEN source and XEN
> enterprise
>
> I decided to assign a physical NIC to every DOMU, to minimize
> bottleneck,
> since my app is a telephony softswitch, and depends on network IO. I
> have 8
> NICS in the box and 8 softswitches.
>
> The question is, how can I do that?
A basic solution would be to create a bridge per physical NIC and then connect
the DomUs to those bridges. You could also use PCI passthrough - in that case
only the DomU would have access to the NICs and you would not see any traffic in
Dom0.
> Also, is there a way to measure the
> network IO that each domu is generating, using dom0. I mean, without
> installing any software on domu''s, only by looking at dom0?
> I have also heavy network traffic between domu''s. How can I
optimize
> that?
> Some of the domu''s are in different networks, and I noticed that
the
> packets
> go out on the internet and come back, which is ridiculous.
Not quite sure what you mean here... If you only do bridging in Dom0 and your
VMs are on different networks then packets may need to go out of Dom0 in order
to route them. But that depends on how you network is set up, it is not a Xen
issue. What setup do you run in your Dom0? Do you use the bridge?
> How can that
> path
> be shortened? I imagined that since the mac addresses are local, XEN
> would
> be able to send it directly to the destination, is that even possible?
Yes, for example, if all your guests are on the same networks then the bridge
would pass them directly to the correct destination. If you need to have the
guests on different networks then you could do routing in Dom0.
> Finally, what brands are there for Virtualization-aware NICs? Maybe I
> will
> buy one.
For example: Neterion X3100, Solarflare Solarstorm, Mellanox ConnectX EN.


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The situation is this: I have one VM with IP x.x.x.25, and another VM with
IP y.y.y.45
When I ping one from the other, the packets take 8 ms, because they go out
to the internet and come back. How can I ask Xen to recognize that the
target IP is sitting next on a VM do not send the packets to the default
gateway? Does this make sense?



-----Original Message-----
From: Fischer, Anna [mailto:anna.fischer@hp.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 4:03 AM
To: Venefax
Cc: D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr; xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Multiple NIC and ports in XEN source and XEN
enterprise
> From: Venefax [mailto:venefax@gmail.com]
> Sent: 23 June 2008 12:12
> To: Fischer, Anna; D.Kalogeras@noc.ntua.gr
> Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> Subject: RE: [Xen-users] Multiple NIC and ports in XEN source and XEN
> enterprise
>
> I decided to assign a physical NIC to every DOMU, to minimize
> bottleneck,
> since my app is a telephony softswitch, and depends on network IO. I
> have 8
> NICS in the box and 8 softswitches.
>
> The question is, how can I do that?
A basic solution would be to create a bridge per physical NIC and then
connect the DomUs to those bridges. You could also use PCI passthrough - in
that case only the DomU would have access to the NICs and you would not see
any traffic in Dom0.
> Also, is there a way to measure the
> network IO that each domu is generating, using dom0. I mean, without
> installing any software on domu''s, only by looking at dom0?
> I have also heavy network traffic between domu''s. How can I
optimize
> that?
> Some of the domu''s are in different networks, and I noticed that
the
> packets
> go out on the internet and come back, which is ridiculous.
Not quite sure what you mean here... If you only do bridging in Dom0 and
your VMs are on different networks then packets may need to go out of Dom0
in order to route them. But that depends on how you network is set up, it is
not a Xen issue. What setup do you run in your Dom0? Do you use the bridge?
> How can that
> path
> be shortened? I imagined that since the mac addresses are local, XEN
> would
> be able to send it directly to the destination, is that even possible?
Yes, for example, if all your guests are on the same networks then the
bridge would pass them directly to the correct destination. If you need to
have the guests on different networks then you could do routing in Dom0.
> Finally, what brands are there for Virtualization-aware NICs? Maybe I
> will
> buy one.
For example: Neterion X3100, Solarflare Solarstorm, Mellanox ConnectX EN.


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