xen discuss - Dec 2008 - opensolaris 2008/11 xen ( aka xvm) and pci passtrough

Hi,

quick question:

Does Solaris 20008/11 xen implementation support PCI passtrough ?

If yes, how would that be configured (

with parameter on grub kernel line or with the pciback module ?

If no, is there any plan to add this ?

Thanks

Frank

On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 08:28:41PM +0100, Frank Mueller
wrote:
> Does Solaris 20008/11 xen implementation support PCI passtrough ?
No.
> If no, is there any plan to add this ?
I have prototypes of both PV domU and PV dom0 parts. The domU part
works on a Linux dom0. The dom0 part somewhat works, but the guest
never gets interrupts for the device it has been assigned. I''m working
on this.

Allen Lu is working on the HVM dom0 parts. He is currently stalled
waiting for our Xen 3.3 merge to work.

So, we''re working on it, but not there yet.

Can you describe how you plan to use it? (Useful input for our
planning and testing.)

Hi Dave,

i run a digital videorecorder (debian easyvdr) domU currently on  
opensuse 10.3 dom0, the digital videorecoder uses a (actually two) PCI  
DigitalVideoBroadcast DVB-s card which is passed into the domU to  
record sat-tv.

I consider switching to opensolaris for the dom0.

Xen 3.3.1   currently seems to be  broken in regards to
pci-passtrough ( thats the version opensuse 11  using at the moment).

Regards

Frank



> On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 08:28:41PM +0100, Frank Mueller wrote:
>> Does Solaris 20008/11 xen implementation support PCI passtrough ?
>
> No.
>
>> If no, is there any plan to add this ?
>
> I have prototypes of both PV domU and PV dom0 parts. The domU part
> works on a Linux dom0. The dom0 part somewhat works, but the guest
> never gets interrupts for the device it has been assigned. I''m
working
> on this.
>
> Allen Lu is working on the HVM dom0 parts. He is currently stalled
> waiting for our Xen 3.3 merge to work.
>
> So, we''re working on it, but not there yet.
>
> Can you describe how you plan to use it? (Useful input for our
> planning and testing.)
>

On Monday 22 December 2008 13:08:21 Frank Mueller wrote:
> Hi Dave,
>
> i run a digital videorecorder (debian easyvdr) domU currently on
> opensuse 10.3 dom0, the digital videorecoder uses a (actually two)
> PCI DigitalVideoBroadcast DVB-s card which is passed into the domU
> to record sat-tv.
>
> I consider switching to opensolaris for the dom0.
>
> Xen 3.3.1   currently seems to be  broken in regards to
> pci-passtrough ( thats the version opensuse 11  using at the
> moment).
>
> Regards
>
> Frank
>
It''s exactly the kind of use I need pci passthrough  for: access to 
dvb cards. It would be very lovely to have

Hi:

On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 10:35, David Edmondson <dme@sun.com>
wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 21, 2008 at 08:28:41PM +0100, Frank Mueller wrote:
>> Does Solaris 20008/11 xen implementation support PCI passtrough ?
>
> No.
>
>> If no, is there any plan to add this ?
>
> I have prototypes of both PV domU and PV dom0 parts. The domU part
> works on a Linux dom0. The dom0 part somewhat works, but the guest
> never gets interrupts for the device it has been assigned. I''m
working
> on this.
>
> Allen Lu is working on the HVM dom0 parts. He is currently stalled
> waiting for our Xen 3.3 merge to work.
>
> So, we''re working on it, but not there yet.
>
> Can you describe how you plan to use it? (Useful input for our
> planning and testing.)
I''d l like to be able in the future to use a bunch of graphic cards
(using SLI, CrossFire, whatever...) and use a powerful enough
OpenSolaris/Xen host as a graphic server (ala SunRay, but more
powerful).


Kind regards.

-- 
Pablo Méndez Hernández

On Mon, Dec 22, 2008 at 05:59:36PM +0100, Pablo M?ndez Hern?ndez
wrote:
> I''d l like to be able in the future to use a bunch of graphic
cards
> (using SLI, CrossFire, whatever...) and use a powerful enough
> OpenSolaris/Xen host as a graphic server (ala SunRay, but more
> powerful).
Graphics cards are not a focus of our current efforts (mostly we want
this for NICs). Does something like this work today with a Linux dom0?

>Graphics cards are not a focus of our current efforts (mostly we want
>this for NICs).
Why would NICs be important? Isn''t already possible to do bridging? 
Being able to passthrough SCSI cards so that a domU can manage a tape 
library would be very useful. Right now, the only way is by using a 
Linux-based xen.
-- 

Maurice Volaski, mvolaski@aecom.yu.edu
Computing Support, Rose F. Kennedy Center
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University

On Fri, Dec 26, 2008 at 03:21:23PM -0500, Maurice Volaski
wrote:
>> Graphics cards are not a focus of our current efforts (mostly we want
>> this for NICs).
>
> Why would NICs be important? Isn''t already possible to do
bridging?
Getting high throughput and low latency to a guest is only possible
with pass through (ideally with SR-IOV).
> Being able to passthrough SCSI cards so that a domU can manage a tape  
> library would be very useful. Right now, the only way is by using a  
> Linux-based xen.
Host adaptors is second on the list :-)