| |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
xen-users
[Xen-users] PCI Passthrough
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Hello everyone,
I am currently in the planning phase for a new HTPC system, I want to
set up and there are several questions related to Xen that I was not
able to find answers to. The goal of that system in the long run is
to replace not only my server and TV receiver, but also my primary
desktop and access point for several LAN and Wifi clients. Though
this might sound rather simple, the solution I am hoping for has to
separate all these tasks in virtual machines, leaving the Dom0
strictly as a controller for those and only accessible by SSH from
one virtual machine (probably the Desktop). This would ensure that I
can work on one instance (which might need tinkering with the kernel
for example) while all other services are still available and it
would help me sandbox all the components, so none of them directly
influences the other. The system would be an AMD Athlon X2 4850e CPU
on an Asus M3A-H mainboard (AMD 780G chipset).
The questions I have now are:
1. Is it possible to successfully pass through a graphics adapter, in
this case probably an onboard ATI HD 3200 PCIe (currently only
supported with the non-free fglrx driver), so that the Desktop/TV
virtual machine has exclusive use of the hardware including (future)
3D support? I would also like to try other systems that can not be
paravirtualized, while the other services have to still be running.
In some of these systems I would like to have 3D hardware
acceleration support (Desktop VM would have to be shut down as I
understand it), since they heavily depend on it (like Vista or maybe
Mac OS X). Is that possible? I already read that it is rather
problematic to pass through the primary VGA adapter, because Xen
itself will always claim it for console output at boot time, but
wouldn't it be possible to use a serial port for that instead? Are
there any other pitfalls that will not permit me to achieve this?
2. Is it possible to have a virtual machine hosting a MythTV backend,
that has exclusive use of a PCI(e) or PCMCIA DVB-T/S/S2 adapter. This
backend should not run in the Desktop instance, because I would
prefer it if the Desktop doesn't have to be running for other clients
to use it. This would also come in handy, because not running a full
blown desktop while using the MythTV backend from another client
could possibly save a bit on the energy bill (and the whole system is
supposed to help me reduce that at least a bit)
3. I would like to pass 3 NICs (HP 4 port gbit switch pci card, D-
Link 4x T100Base card and a Ralink pci 802.11n draft 2.0 adapter)
directly to an AP/Router virtual maschine, so the Dom0 is not
connected directly to the network, but only to the Desktop VM by a
separate bridge and the onboard gbit adapter (for backups/failover).
Is that possible and am I really gaining security for the whole
system or is this just my imagination and doesn't make any sense at
all? How about the performance, especially for the graphics adapter,
do I have to factor in bigger losses there (maybe because PCI
passthrough doesn't support the full PCIe 16x speed)? Has anyone
tried something similar yet or am I the first to think this might be
a good idea?
I hope someone can give me an answer or at least a hint on how far I
am from reality.
Thanks,
Paul.
- --
Paul Schulze
avlex@xxxxxxx
Public Key: http://solaris-net.dyndns.org/keys/key_avlex.asc
"Making mistakes is human,
but to really fuck things up you need Computers"
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (Darwin)
iD8DBQFIN4QuYDWOGtiChoARAn2yAJ9RsIf7zLpGWhHQ1JJcb+cX739jAQCeNgRg
tP8MXF4wMjaauElDH/oboz8=
=LHN/
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
|
|
|
| |
|
Home