Xen users - Jan 2006 - Re[2]: setting up private networking between dom0 and domU?

Hello Mark,
>> What is known about Nvidia plans - do they plan to develop a dom0-only,
>> or maybe even a domU drivers as well?
> dom0 3D drivers are certainly easier (these should also work in a domU that
> has access to PCI graphics card, once PCI-passthrough is working again -
> someone will have to figure out how to make X behave correctly, tho).
Ooh, that sounds promising! Theoretically, if PCI-passthrough could be
enabled and disabled on-the-fly... Does PCI-express still has enough
backward-compatibility to direct PCI-passthrough to it?
> I''m not sure the patches to the ATI driver to make it behave
itself under Xen
> have been upstreamed yet.  Once Xen is in the mainline kernel and its 
> popularity becomes apparent, hopefully both manufacturers will decide its
> worth testing under Xen.
... though anyway the patched driver is Linux only. So it will help to
run Linux as host, and even, probably, to run Linux as guest, but to
run Windows utilizing all video features, the only way is to write
something generic - and the efforts of manufacturer driver developers
won''t much help here (as it helps with dom0), cause the solution
should be at XEN level - right?
>> Is sound card virtualization now working in any form (at least in
>> "3"-mode, by emulation)?
> I''d imagine that''s reasonably easy to make work for VT
guests.  Paravirt
> guests need to use network sound daemons at the moment, (artsd, esoundd, or
> use FreeNX if you can make it work).
Well, with Linux-as-guest it should be possible - but I think neither
of those network sound daemons can help with Windows-as-guest, right?
>> distribute Windows files over LVM?
> You''d want something like my XenFS for this.  It''ll be
quite a long time
> before a XenFS client for Windows is available, it''ll be
Linux-only to start
> with.
Well, but ntldr won''t boot from it, I guess. So well, let''s
stick to
disk images.

-- 
With best regards,
 Alexander                          mailto:maa_subscriptions@sinn.ru



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> > dom0 3D drivers are certainly easier (these should also work in a domU
> > that has access to PCI graphics card, once PCI-passthrough is working
> > again - someone will have to figure out how to make X behave
correctly,
> > tho).
>
> Ooh, that sounds promising! Theoretically, if PCI-passthrough could be
> enabled and disabled on-the-fly... Does PCI-express still has enough
> backward-compatibility to direct PCI-passthrough to it?
Whether you can do PCI passthrough on-the-fly is sticky.  The specs
don''t
necessary allow us to juggle PCI cards between domains...  I see this as more 
useful for someone who wants to install two graphics cards and use one for 
dom0, and one for a Windows domU (*maybe*, if certain issues can be sorted 
out).
> > I''m not sure the patches to the ATI driver to make it behave
itself under
> > Xen have been upstreamed yet.  Once Xen is in the mainline kernel and
its
> > popularity becomes apparent, hopefully both manufacturers will decide
its
> > worth testing under Xen.
>
> ... though anyway the patched driver is Linux only. So it will help to
> run Linux as host, and even, probably, to run Linux as guest, but to
> run Windows utilizing all video features, the only way is to write
> something generic - and the efforts of manufacturer driver developers
> won''t much help here (as it helps with dom0), cause the solution
> should be at XEN level - right?
Right.
> > I''d imagine that''s reasonably easy to make work for
VT guests.  Paravirt
> > guests need to use network sound daemons at the moment, (artsd,
esoundd,
> > or use FreeNX if you can make it work).
>
> Well, with Linux-as-guest it should be possible - but I think neither
> of those network sound daemons can help with Windows-as-guest, right?
For VT guests, it should be *reasonably* straightforward to make the SB16 
emulation from QEmu run as part of the HVM userspace device model under Xen.
> >> distribute Windows files over LVM?
> >
> > You''d want something like my XenFS for this.  It''ll
be quite a long time
> > before a XenFS client for Windows is available, it''ll be
Linux-only to
> > start with.
>
> Well, but ntldr won''t boot from it, I guess. So well,
let''s stick to
> disk images.
IIRC, it is *possible* to get Windows to boot from "weird" non-disk
root
filesystems, but I can''t remember how.  Filesystem sharing would much
more
likely want to be done for subtrees containing homedirs and apps, rather than 
the boot device.  CIFS/SMB sharing will be more practical for the forseeable 
future, anyhow.

Cheers,
Mark

-- 
Dave: Just a question. What use is a unicyle with no seat?  And no pedals!
Mark: To answer a question with a question: What use is a skateboard?
Dave: Skateboards have wheels.
Mark: My wheel has a wheel!

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