In my experiments with setting up a NAS as a VM, I can only successfully import three drives; the root drive, the cd and one more. However, I have plenty that I want to use: disk=[''file:/vserver/vm_disks/Patch.disk.xm,hda,w'', ''phy:/dev/sda,ioemu:hdd,w'', ''phy:/dev/sdb,ioemu:hde,w'', ''phy:sdc,ioemu:hdf,w'', ''phy:sdd,ioemu:hdg,w'', ''phy:sdg,ioemu:hdh,w'', ''phy:sdh,ioemu:hdi,w'', ''file:/vserver/FreeNAS-amd64-LiveCD-0.69RC2.4083.iso,hdc:cdrom,r''] I have tried both with and without "ioemu" and changing the order does not make any significant difference. Pointers anyone? Thanks, /Chris _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? As far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, and it only supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. -Nick>>> <christoffer@lindak.se> 2009/01/18 07:38 >>>In my experiments with setting up a NAS as a VM, I can only successfully import three drives; the root drive, the cd and one more. However, I have plenty that I want to use: disk=[''file:/vserver/vm_disks/Patch.disk.xm,hda,w'', ''phy:/dev/sda,ioemu:hdd,w'', ''phy:/dev/sdb,ioemu:hde,w'', ''phy:sdc,ioemu:hdf,w'', ''phy:sdd,ioemu:hdg,w'', ''phy:sdg,ioemu:hdh,w'', ''phy:sdh,ioemu:hdi,w'', ''file:/vserver/FreeNAS-amd64-LiveCD-0.69RC2.4083.iso,hdc:cdrom,r''] I have tried both with and without "ioemu" and changing the order does not make any significant difference. Pointers anyone? Thanks, /Chris This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. If this email is not intended for you, or you are not responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR) Privileged/Proprietary Information. In such a case, you are strictly prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox. Information contained in this message that does not relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to SEAKR. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
> > I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using?As> far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, and it only > supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. >PV drivers will allow you to have more drives. James _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Thank you both - I was unaware of that limitation. Guess I''ll have to check out those PV drivers everyone are talking about - I always wondered what they are... =) P.S. Im running packaged Xen (3.2-1? I''m terrible on numbers) on Lenny and yes it''s HVM, which I forgot to mention. =(>> >> I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? > As >> far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, and it only >> supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. >> > > PV drivers will allow you to have more drives. > > James >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 02:45:06PM -0700, Nick Couchman wrote:> I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? > As far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, > and it only supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. >Hi. Afaik Qemu supports SCSI disk/adapter emulation nowadays too.. SCSI disk support is not yet implemented in Xen (version of Qemu)? -- Pasi _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
As far as I know, the current Qemu implementation in Xen for HVM support does not support SCSI. As James pointed out, though, if you use the GPL PV drivers, you can assign as many devices as you want to the HVM domU. The catch to that is that if you ever have to boot with /nogplpv (to disable the GPL PV drivers), you'll lose everything except disk devices hda-hdd. -Nick -----Original Message----- From: Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@iki.fi> To: Nick Couchman <Nick.Couchman@seakr.com> Cc: christoffer@lindak.se, xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:03:43 +0200 On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 02:45:06PM -0700, Nick Couchman wrote:> I assume you're running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? > As far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, > and it only supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. >Hi. Afaik Qemu supports SCSI disk/adapter emulation nowadays too.. SCSI disk support is not yet implemented in Xen (version of Qemu)? -- Pasi This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. If this email is not intended for you, or you are not responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR) Privileged/Proprietary Information. In such a case, you are strictly prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox. Information contained in this message that does not relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to SEAKR. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
OK, that post puts me in the minority, and I haven’t searched or tested to verify this, but I thought the only problem with SCSI emulation in Xen on HVMs was that the QEMU BIOS wouldn’t boot to a SCSI drive. My understanding is that the drives will be emulated, but you would need drivers for them in order to use them. I would also go as far as to swear up and down that I have seen SCSI drivers for Xen HVMs more than once (once they weren’t for HDs, but I think they were the other time). Regardless, emulating SCSI shouldn''t provide any performance increase once using PV drivers anyway. Dustin From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Nick Couchman Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 10:02 To: pasik@iki.fi Cc: christoffer@lindak.se; xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? As far as I know, the current Qemu implementation in Xen for HVM support does not support SCSI. As James pointed out, though, if you use the GPL PV drivers, you can assign as many devices as you want to the HVM domU. The catch to that is that if you ever have to boot with /nogplpv (to disable the GPL PV drivers), you''ll lose everything except disk devices hda-hdd. -Nick -----Original Message----- From: Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@iki.fi> To: Nick Couchman <Nick.Couchman@seakr.com> Cc: christoffer@lindak.se, xen-users@lists.xensource.com Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:03:43 +0200 On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 02:45:06PM -0700, Nick Couchman wrote:> I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? > As far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, > and it only supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. >Hi. Afaik Qemu supports SCSI disk/adapter emulation nowadays too.. SCSI disk support is not yet implemented in Xen (version of Qemu)? -- Pasi ________________________________________ This e-mail may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient. If this email is not intended for you, or you are not responsible for the delivery of this message to the intended recipient, please note that this message may contain SEAKR Engineering (SEAKR) Privileged/Proprietary Information. In such a case, you are strictly prohibited from downloading, photocopying, distributing or otherwise using this message, its contents or attachments in any way. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this e-mail and delete the message from your mailbox. Information contained in this message that does not relate to the business of SEAKR is neither endorsed by nor attributable to SEAKR. _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 12:34:15PM -0500, Dustin Henning wrote:> OK, that post puts me in the minority, and I haven???t searched > or tested to verify this, but I thought the only problem with > SCSI emulation in Xen on HVMs was that the QEMU BIOS wouldn???t boot to a SCSI drive. > My understanding is that the drives will be emulated, but you would > need drivers for them in order to use them. I would also go as far as > to swear up and down that I have seen SCSI drivers for Xen HVMs more than > once (once they weren???t for HDs, but I think they were the other time). > Regardless, emulating SCSI shouldn''t provide any performance increase once using PV drivers anyway.Yep, PV drivers are the best choise. I just meant that if you''re not able to use PV drivers for some reason then emulated SCSI should be faster than emulated IDE. If Qemu BIOS can''t boot from SCSI drives then that''s obviously a problem.. and leaves IDE as an only choise HVM guests (without PV drivers). -- Pasi> Dustin > > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Nick Couchman > Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 10:02 > To: pasik@iki.fi > Cc: christoffer@lindak.se; xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? > > As far as I know, the current Qemu implementation in Xen for HVM support does not support SCSI. As James pointed out, though, if you use the GPL PV drivers, you can assign as many devices as you want to the HVM domU. The catch to that is that if you ever have to boot with /nogplpv (to disable the GPL PV drivers), you''ll lose everything except disk devices hda-hdd. > > -Nick > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@iki.fi> > To: Nick Couchman <Nick.Couchman@seakr.com> > Cc: christoffer@lindak.se, xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? > Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:03:43 +0200 > > On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 02:45:06PM -0700, Nick Couchman wrote: > > I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? > > As far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, > > and it only supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. > > > > Hi. > > Afaik Qemu supports SCSI disk/adapter emulation nowadays too.. > SCSI disk support is not yet implemented in Xen (version of Qemu)? > > -- Pasi_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Well, I understand your point, but mine was that I believe it is possible to use virtual SCSI to add more drives as well (the OP wanted to go beyond 4 drives, not necessarily boot from the higher ones), just not to use only virtual SCSI or to boot from it. Moreover, assuming it is possible to have virtual SCSI drives, one could potentially set up a small virtual IDE drive to use for booting and then have windows on a virtual SCSI drive. There are more catches to that scenario, though, one would first have to get floppy emulation to work, the drivers in question would have to be available in driver disk form, and then it might still not work, depending on whether or not the BIOS has anything to do with that phase of the boot process in Windows (the phase where the boot drive tells Windows to load from wherever it is installed). Regardless of all that, though, I''m not sure there would be any speed benefit to SCSI drivers, because the speed of the IDE allegedly isn''t limited to typical IDE speeds in a virtual environment anyway, much like speed of the NIC allegedly isn''t limited by the speed Windows says it is. In each of these cases, I say allegedly because 1) I have no system to provide HD performance beyond the capabilities alleged, and 2) while I have seen benchmarks for >1Gb virtual networking (with PV drivers), I don''t know whether those systems show the NIC as 1Gb or 10 (or if it is even possible to show it at 10 with said drivers). Dustin -----Original Message----- From: Pasi Kärkkäinen [mailto:pasik@iki.fi] Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 12:50 To: Dustin Henning Cc: ''Xen Users Mailing List'' Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 12:34:15PM -0500, Dustin Henning wrote:> OK, that post puts me in the minority, and I haven???t searched > or tested to verify this, but I thought the only problem with > SCSI emulation in Xen on HVMs was that the QEMU BIOS wouldn???t boot to aSCSI drive.> My understanding is that the drives will be emulated, but you would > need drivers for them in order to use them. I would also go as far as > to swear up and down that I have seen SCSI drivers for Xen HVMs more than > once (once they weren???t for HDs, but I think they were the other time).> Regardless, emulating SCSI shouldn''t provide any performance increase onceusing PV drivers anyway. Yep, PV drivers are the best choise. I just meant that if you''re not able to use PV drivers for some reason then emulated SCSI should be faster than emulated IDE. If Qemu BIOS can''t boot from SCSI drives then that''s obviously a problem.. and leaves IDE as an only choise HVM guests (without PV drivers). -- Pasi> Dustin > > From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com[mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Nick Couchman> Sent: Monday, January 19, 2009 10:02 > To: pasik@iki.fi > Cc: christoffer@lindak.se; xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? > > As far as I know, the current Qemu implementation in Xen for HVM supportdoes not support SCSI. As James pointed out, though, if you use the GPL PV drivers, you can assign as many devices as you want to the HVM domU. The catch to that is that if you ever have to boot with /nogplpv (to disable the GPL PV drivers), you''ll lose everything except disk devices hda-hdd.> > -Nick > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Pasi Kärkkäinen <pasik@iki.fi> > To: Nick Couchman <Nick.Couchman@seakr.com> > Cc: christoffer@lindak.se, xen-users@lists.xensource.com > Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Limited number of phy disks? > Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:03:43 +0200 > > On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 02:45:06PM -0700, Nick Couchman wrote: > > I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? > > As far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, > > and it only supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. > > > > Hi. > > Afaik Qemu supports SCSI disk/adapter emulation nowadays too.. > SCSI disk support is not yet implemented in Xen (version of Qemu)? > > -- Pasi_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Actually, I''m not using Windows in my HVM, but freeNAS (freeBSD) since I didn''t know how to install it any other way. I think I''ve read that it''s possible to convert an HVM guest to a PV guest someplace. Would that perhaps be a better solution to the problem? Perhaps running a NAS in domU is a bad idea in the first place? My thinking is to have as little as possible in dom0, exporting the phy drives to domU and do all storage management there. Also, I''ve seen plenty of references to where the PV drivers can be found - now that I need them I can''t seem to find them. A link would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, /Chris>> >> I assume you''re running as an HVM? What version of Xen are you using? > As >> far as I know, Xen only support IDE drives in HVM domUs, and it only >> supports a total of four drives - hda, hdb, hdc, and hdd. >> > > PV drivers will allow you to have more drives. > > James >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users