Virtualization-XEN - Revision history

Kamran: /* References */

Kamran — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:50:48 GMT

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:50, 14 March 2011
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	*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results		*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results
	*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html		*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html
-
-	~~==References==~~
-	* XEN unable to get DomU Login screen: http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2009-04/msg00152.html
-	* http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/Xen?highlight=%28Console%20handling%29
-	* http://www.nikhef.nl/pub/projects/grid/gridwiki/index.php/Serial_Consoles

Kamran: /* XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows */

Kamran — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:49:04 GMT

XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:49, 14 March 2011
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	*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results		*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results
	*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html		*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html
		+
		+	==References==
		+	* XEN unable to get DomU Login screen: http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2009-04/msg00152.html
		+	* http://wiki.centos.org/TipsAndTricks/Xen?highlight=%28Console%20handling%29
		+	* http://www.nikhef.nl/pub/projects/grid/gridwiki/index.php/Serial_Consoles

Kamran: /* APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:54:22 GMT

APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller)

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:54, 3 May 2010
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	====APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller)====		====APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller)====
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Programmable_Interrupt_Controller		* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Programmable_Interrupt_Controller
		+
	In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) than Intel's original types such as the 8259A. APIC devices permit more complex priority schemata, and Advanced IRQ (Interrupt Request) management.		In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) than Intel's original types such as the 8259A. APIC devices permit more complex priority schemata, and Advanced IRQ (Interrupt Request) management.

	One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.		One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.
		+
		+
		+	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_APIC_Architecture
		+
		+	There are two components in the Intel APIC system, the Local APIC (LAPIC) and the I/O APIC. There is one LAPIC in each CPU in the system. There is typically one I/O APIC for each peripheral bus in the system. In original system designs, LAPICs and I/O APICs were connected by a dedicated APIC bus. Newer systems use the system bus for communication between all APIC components.
		+
		+	=====Operating System Issues with APIC=====
		+	It can be a cause of system failure, as some versions of some operating systems do not support it properly. If this is the case, disabling I/O APIC may cure the problem. This is done in the following manner:
		+
		+	* For Linux, 'noapic nolapic' kernel parameters
		+	* For FreeBSD, the 'hint.apic.0.disabled' kernel environment variable
		+	* For NetBSD, using userconf ("boot -c" from the boot prompt) command "disable ioapic"
		+
		+	In NetBSD with nforce chipsets from Nvidia, having IOAPIC support enabled in the kernel can cause "nfe0: watchdog timeout" errors.
		+
		+	In Linux, problems with I/O APIC are one of several causes of error messages concerning "spurious 8259A interrupt: IRQ7.". It is also possible that I/O APIC causes problems with network interfaces based on via-rhine driver, causing a transmission time out. Uniprocessor kernels with APIC enabled can cause spurious interrupts to be generated.

	===XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows===		===XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows===

Kamran: /* APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:45:19 GMT

APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller)

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:45, 3 May 2010
Line 296:		Line 296:

	One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.		One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.
		+
		+	===XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows===
		+	Important links / help sites:
		+	*http://www.pvwindrivers.org/win2k3.html
		+	*http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenWindowsGplPv
		+	*http://docs.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/4.0.1/guest/ch03s02.html
		+	*http://old.nabble.com/Paravirtual-Windows-Driver-Binaries--td17343879.html
		+	*http://southbrain.com/south/2009/08/xen-drivers-for-windows-2003-m.html
		+	*http://www.jolokianetworks.com/70Knowledge/Virtualization/Open_Source_Windows_Paravirtualization_Drivers_for_Xen
		+	*http://www.meadowcourt.org/downloads/
		+	*http://www.virtuatopia.com/index.php/Installing_and_Running_Windows_XP_or_Vista_as_a_Xen_HVM_domainU_Guest
		+	*http://markmail.org/thread/abwgslqw6n66vk52#query:+page:1+mid:wm7n3sw6wbgybvx5+state:results
		+	*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results
		+	*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html

Kamran: /* XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:45:07 GMT

XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:45, 3 May 2010
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	* It is normally quite helpful to disable un-necessary services, depending on your requirements. I normally disable sendmail, cups, bluetooth, etc, on my servers.		* It is normally quite helpful to disable un-necessary services, depending on your requirements. I normally disable sendmail, cups, bluetooth, etc, on my servers.
	* It is important to know that while creating para-virtual machines, you cannot use the ISO image of your Linux distribution, stored on physical host, trying to use it as install media for the VMs being created. When you need to create PV machines, you will need an exploded version of the install CD or RHEL/CENTOS 4.5 or higher, accessible to this physical host. Normally this is done by storing the exploded tree of the installation CD/DVD on the hard disk of the physical host and making it available through NFS, HTTP or FTP. Therefore you must cater for this additional disk space requirement, when you are installing base OS on the physical host.		* It is important to know that while creating para-virtual machines, you cannot use the ISO image of your Linux distribution, stored on physical host, trying to use it as install media for the VMs being created. When you need to create PV machines, you will need an exploded version of the install CD or RHEL/CENTOS 4.5 or higher, accessible to this physical host. Normally this is done by storing the exploded tree of the installation CD/DVD on the hard disk of the physical host and making it available through NFS, HTTP or FTP. Therefore you must cater for this additional disk space requirement, when you are installing base OS on the physical host.
-	~~===XEN Para Virtual (PV) Drivers for windows===~~
-	~~Important links / help sites:~~
-	*http://www.pvwindrivers.org/win2k3.html
-	*http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenWindowsGplPv
-	*http://docs.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/4.0.1/guest/ch03s02.html
-	*http://old.nabble.com/Paravirtual-Windows-Driver-Binaries--td17343879.html
-	*http://southbrain.com/south/2009/08/xen-drivers-for-windows-2003-m.html
-	*http://www.jolokianetworks.com/70Knowledge/Virtualization/Open_Source_Windows_Paravirtualization_Drivers_for_Xen
-	*http://www.meadowcourt.org/downloads/
-	*http://www.virtuatopia.com/index.php/Installing_and_Running_Windows_XP_or_Vista_as_a_Xen_HVM_domainU_Guest
-	*http://markmail.org/thread/abwgslqw6n66vk52#query:+page:1+mid:wm7n3sw6wbgybvx5+state:results
-	*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results
-	*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html
	===Performance issues with windows HVMs (windows HVM consumes a lot of CPU according to xm top)===		===Performance issues with windows HVMs (windows HVM consumes a lot of CPU according to xm top)===

Kamran: /* APIC */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:44:42 GMT

APIC

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:44, 3 May 2010
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	ACPI aims to consolidate and improve upon existing power and configuration standards for hardware devices. It provides a transition from existing standards to entirely ACPI-compliant hardware, with some ACPI operating systems already removing support for legacy hardware. With the intention of replacing Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification (MPS) and the Plug and Play (PnP) BIOS Specification, the standard brings power management into operating system control (OSPM), as opposed to the previous BIOS central system, which relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policy.		ACPI aims to consolidate and improve upon existing power and configuration standards for hardware devices. It provides a transition from existing standards to entirely ACPI-compliant hardware, with some ACPI operating systems already removing support for legacy hardware. With the intention of replacing Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification (MPS) and the Plug and Play (PnP) BIOS Specification, the standard brings power management into operating system control (OSPM), as opposed to the previous BIOS central system, which relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policy.

-	====APIC====	+	====APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller)====
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Programmable_Interrupt_Controller		* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Programmable_Interrupt_Controller
	In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) than Intel's original types such as the 8259A. APIC devices permit more complex priority schemata, and Advanced IRQ (Interrupt Request) management.		In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) than Intel's original types such as the 8259A. APIC devices permit more complex priority schemata, and Advanced IRQ (Interrupt Request) management.

	One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.		One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.

Kamran: /* ACPI */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:44:16 GMT

ACPI

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:44, 3 May 2010
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	About ACPI and APIC from wikipedia (only extracts):		About ACPI and APIC from wikipedia (only extracts):

-	====ACPI====	+	====ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)====
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface		* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface
	ACPI aims to consolidate and improve upon existing power and configuration standards for hardware devices. It provides a transition from existing standards to entirely ACPI-compliant hardware, with some ACPI operating systems already removing support for legacy hardware. With the intention of replacing Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification (MPS) and the Plug and Play (PnP) BIOS Specification, the standard brings power management into operating system control (OSPM), as opposed to the previous BIOS central system, which relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policy.		ACPI aims to consolidate and improve upon existing power and configuration standards for hardware devices. It provides a transition from existing standards to entirely ACPI-compliant hardware, with some ACPI operating systems already removing support for legacy hardware. With the intention of replacing Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification (MPS) and the Plug and Play (PnP) BIOS Specification, the standard brings power management into operating system control (OSPM), as opposed to the previous BIOS central system, which relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policy.

Kamran: /* Performance issues with windows HVMs (windows HVM consumes a lot of CPU according to xm top) */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:43:36 GMT

Performance issues with windows HVMs (windows HVM consumes a lot of CPU according to xm top)

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:43, 3 May 2010
Line 300:		Line 300:
	About ACPI and APIC from wikipedia (only extracts):		About ACPI and APIC from wikipedia (only extracts):

		+	====ACPI====
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface		* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface
	ACPI aims to consolidate and improve upon existing power and configuration standards for hardware devices. It provides a transition from existing standards to entirely ACPI-compliant hardware, with some ACPI operating systems already removing support for legacy hardware. With the intention of replacing Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification (MPS) and the Plug and Play (PnP) BIOS Specification, the standard brings power management into operating system control (OSPM), as opposed to the previous BIOS central system, which relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policy.		ACPI aims to consolidate and improve upon existing power and configuration standards for hardware devices. It provides a transition from existing standards to entirely ACPI-compliant hardware, with some ACPI operating systems already removing support for legacy hardware. With the intention of replacing Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification (MPS) and the Plug and Play (PnP) BIOS Specification, the standard brings power management into operating system control (OSPM), as opposed to the previous BIOS central system, which relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policy.

		+	====APIC====
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Programmable_Interrupt_Controller		* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Programmable_Interrupt_Controller
	In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) than Intel's original types such as the 8259A. APIC devices permit more complex priority schemata, and Advanced IRQ (Interrupt Request) management.		In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) than Intel's original types such as the 8259A. APIC devices permit more complex priority schemata, and Advanced IRQ (Interrupt Request) management.

	One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.		One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.

Kamran: /* Performance issues with windows HVMs */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:42:38 GMT

Performance issues with windows HVMs

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:42, 3 May 2010
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	*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results		*http://markmail.org/thread/jqg5ndxvampmojkw#query:+page:1+mid:jqg5ndxvampmojkw+state:results
	*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html		*http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-users/2006-06/msg00599.html
-	===Performance issues with windows HVMs===	+	===Performance issues with windows HVMs (windows HVM consumes a lot of CPU according to xm top)===
		+
	After installing windows XP as an HVM, I saw that my windows VM was consuming a lot of XEN host CPU. It was staying at 98% CPU utilization!!! When I checked windows XP's task manager, I saw the XP's own CPU graphs to be idling around 20%-30%. This was confusing. After doing some research, it got cleared that the default HVM settings in XEN (and KVM ??) are setup be more to be on the fail-safe side, compared to the performance side. That means that the default XEN HVM config file has ACPI and APIC disabled. The following post helped clear the issue.		After installing windows XP as an HVM, I saw that my windows VM was consuming a lot of XEN host CPU. It was staying at 98% CPU utilization!!! When I checked windows XP's task manager, I saw the XP's own CPU graphs to be idling around 20%-30%. This was confusing. After doing some research, it got cleared that the default HVM settings in XEN (and KVM ??) are setup be more to be on the fail-safe side, compared to the performance side. That means that the default XEN HVM config file has ACPI and APIC disabled. The following post helped clear the issue.

Kamran: /* Performance issues with windows HVMs */

Kamran — Mon, 03 May 2010 20:41:16 GMT

Performance issues with windows HVMs

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:41, 3 May 2010
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	Interestingly, shutting down the XP VM, and changing the ACPI and APIC paramters inside the XEN config file for my winxp, did not help. The machine booted into the same state of using 98%+ of XEN host CPU. Checked the device manager in windows VM, and found out that the CPU of this machine is still MPS Processor. Therefore, I went through the eXtra Pain of installing XP again, which is one+ hour task. This time, what I did was, deleted the winxp VM's disk file, retained the config file, winxp, (of-course I made a backup copy). Then edited the winxp config file and changed ACPI and APIC both to enabled. Started the OS installation. This time, during installation, the CPU utilization was around 50% on average, and when it had finally installed and displayed that famous desktop, I noticed that the CPU utilization of the XEN host has dropped down to 01%-03% !!! Wow!!! Good to go. I noticed that when I shutdown this VM, using windows "Start->Shutdown", the machine stopped and shutdown itself properly. Before enabling these parameters/directives, when I used to shutdown the winxp VM, I used to get "It is not safe to shutdown your machine" screen. But, the CPU graph on XEN host used to remain on 99% of usage, until I "force shutdown" the winxp VM. This was solved by enabling ACPI and APIC both. I have shown this in a video on Virtualization with XEN series (video title ??) . The new processor detected in the new winxp VM installation is ACPI enabled processor. (screenshot ??)		Interestingly, shutting down the XP VM, and changing the ACPI and APIC paramters inside the XEN config file for my winxp, did not help. The machine booted into the same state of using 98%+ of XEN host CPU. Checked the device manager in windows VM, and found out that the CPU of this machine is still MPS Processor. Therefore, I went through the eXtra Pain of installing XP again, which is one+ hour task. This time, what I did was, deleted the winxp VM's disk file, retained the config file, winxp, (of-course I made a backup copy). Then edited the winxp config file and changed ACPI and APIC both to enabled. Started the OS installation. This time, during installation, the CPU utilization was around 50% on average, and when it had finally installed and displayed that famous desktop, I noticed that the CPU utilization of the XEN host has dropped down to 01%-03% !!! Wow!!! Good to go. I noticed that when I shutdown this VM, using windows "Start->Shutdown", the machine stopped and shutdown itself properly. Before enabling these parameters/directives, when I used to shutdown the winxp VM, I used to get "It is not safe to shutdown your machine" screen. But, the CPU graph on XEN host used to remain on 99% of usage, until I "force shutdown" the winxp VM. This was solved by enabling ACPI and APIC both. I have shown this in a video on Virtualization with XEN series (video title ??) . The new processor detected in the new winxp VM installation is ACPI enabled processor. (screenshot ??)
-


	(todo: update both paragraphs above with proper screenshots. )		(todo: update both paragraphs above with proper screenshots. )
		+
		+	About ACPI and APIC from wikipedia (only extracts):
		+
		+	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface
		+	ACPI aims to consolidate and improve upon existing power and configuration standards for hardware devices. It provides a transition from existing standards to entirely ACPI-compliant hardware, with some ACPI operating systems already removing support for legacy hardware. With the intention of replacing Advanced Power Management (APM), the MultiProcessor Specification (MPS) and the Plug and Play (PnP) BIOS Specification, the standard brings power management into operating system control (OSPM), as opposed to the previous BIOS central system, which relied on platform-specific firmware to determine power management and configuration policy.
		+
		+	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Programmable_Interrupt_Controller
		+	In computing, an Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) is a more complex Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC) than Intel's original types such as the 8259A. APIC devices permit more complex priority schemata, and Advanced IRQ (Interrupt Request) management.
		+
		+	One of the best known APIC architectures, the Intel APIC Architecture, has largely replaced the original 8259A PIC in newer x86 computers, starting with SMP systems when it replaced proprietary SMP solutions and on pretty much all PC compatibles since around late 2000 when Microsoft began encouraging PC vendors to enable it on uniprocessor systems and even made it a requirement of PC 2001 to enable it on desktop systems.