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Virtualization

In this section, we cover discussion of Fedora virtualization technologies on the @fedora-virt list.

Contributing Writer: Dale Bewley

Fedora Virtualization List

This section contains the discussion happening on the fedora-virt list.

KVM and Paravirtualization

The Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine is a form of hardware assisted virtualization[1] as opposed to software-only or paravirtualization. This means the underlying hardware must have CPU features like Intel-VT or AMD-V. While common in the last few years, there are still many servers in operation which lack these extensions.

Giovanni Tirloni asked[2] about the state of paravirtualization support in KVM, and asked about a set of KVM patches[3].

Dor Laor answered[4] there is no plan to support non-VT hardware with KVM. While Xen is not supported on Fedora, it is still a paravirtualization for such hardware option under Redhat 5.

  1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware-assisted_virtualization
  2. ↑ http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-October/msg00090.html
  3. ↑ http://people.redhat.com/mingo/kvm-paravirt-patches/
  4. ↑ http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-October/msg00092.html

Installing Virtio Drivers in Windows XP Setup

Richard Hughes posted[1] the following directions for installing VirtIO drivers[2] during Windows XP setup.

  • create a 1.44Mb image file
  • mount it by loopback
  • format it with vfat
  • copy the Install/Xp/x86/viostor.sys, Install/Xp/x86/wnet.inf, and the txtsetup.oem file below to the root of the mounted image
  • umount the loop device
  • attach the floppy image as a floppy storage element in the VM's details pane
  • boot the VM
  • remember to press F6 when booting the windows xp setup and select the VirtoIO device.

File txtsetup.oem: 

[Disks]
d1 = "Viostor SCSI driver disk",\disk1.tag,\

[Defaults]
SCSI = viostor

[SCSI]
viostor = "Viostor SCSI Controller"

[Files.SCSI.viostor]
driver = d1,viostor.sys,viostor
inf = d1,wnet.inf

[HardwareIds.scsi.viostor]
id = "PCI\VEN_1AF4&DEV_1001","viostor"

Richard added "I'm still unable to install XP using ide, scsi or virtio drivers as it gives the message "Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk maybe damaged." -- any ideas welcome."

  1. ↑ http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-virt/2009-October/msg00101.html
  2. ↑ http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers

Other Sources

Using Kernel Samepage Merging with KVM

An upcoming feature of Fedora 12 is KSM[1]. "Kernel SamePage Merging is a recent linux kernel feature which combines identical memory pages from multiple processes into one copy on write memory region." Haydn Solomon described[2] how KSM and KVM work together.

  1. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/KSM
  2. ↑ http://www.linux-kvm.com/content/using-ksm-kernel-samepage-merging-kvm

Virtualization Tools List

This section contains the discussion happening on the virt-tools-list list.

libosinfo Revisited

Arjun Roy revived[1] discussion of a library to track details of OS distributions for use by tools such as Package-x-generic-16.pngpython-virtinst and virt-inspector. LibOSinfo was first proposed[2] by Cole Robinson.

  1. ↑ http://www.redhat.com/archives/virt-tools-list/2009-October/msg00091.html
  2. ↑ http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue180#libosinfo:_Library_for_Virt_OS.2Fdistro_Metadata
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