WARNING - OLD ARCHIVES

This is an archived copy of the Xen.org mailing list, which we have preserved to ensure that existing links to archives are not broken. The live archive, which contains the latest emails, can be found at http://lists.xen.org/
   
 
 
Xen 
 
Home Products Support Community News
 
   
 

xen-devel

RE: [Xen-devel] RE: [Xen-users] (Xenlinux) gentoo-xen-kernel patches que

To: <jeremy@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: [Xen-devel] RE: [Xen-users] (Xenlinux) gentoo-xen-kernel patches questions?
From: Mike Viau <viaum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 16:17:12 -0400
Cc: xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, andrew.lyon@xxxxxxxxx, xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, daniel.stodden@xxxxxxxxxx
Delivery-date: Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:18:20 -0700
Envelope-to: www-data@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Importance: Normal
List-help: <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-id: Xen user discussion <xen-users.lists.xensource.com>
List-post: <mailto:xen-users@lists.xensource.com>
List-subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
List-unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-users>, <mailto:xen-users-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
Sender: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mon, 5 Apr 2010 11:17:09 -0700 <jeremy@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 04/02/2010 11:03 AM, Mike Viau wrote:
> > >>Hi,
> > >>
> > >>I noticed that the Xenlinux 2.6.33 patches are tagged as being
> > "Deprecated" but the 2.6.31 are not.
> > >>
> > >>May I ask why?
> > >>
> > >>http://code.google.com/p/gentoo-xen-kernel/downloads/list?can=1&q=&colspec=Filename+Summary+Uploaded+Size+DownloadCount
> > >>
> > >>
> > > Fri, 2 Apr 2010 13:15:09 -0400 <konrad.wilk@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >
> > > No idea. But those patches are pursuing an entirely different method of
> > > getting Linux to work in privileged state (Dom0). The current
> > > development is with the pv-ops one:
> > >
> > > http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenParavirtOps
> > >
> >
> > I am currently using the unstable version of debain's pvops xen kernel.
> >
> > http://packages.debian.org/sid/linux-image-2.6.32-4-xen-amd64
> >
> > It appears to have functioning networking and block devices which is
> > nice, but I have experienced some instabilities such as kernel dumping
> > on reboots. Unfortunately I do not have a console setup to log kernel
> > messages for this machine.
>
> That would be interesting to see. I have also seen oops messages on
> reboot, if you reboot while domains are still running. For me, at
> least, it appears to be a bug in blktap2. It would be useful if you
> could confirm that's what your crashes are, or if its something else.

Just paid for another term at school, so when I get some more cash I plan to go pickup an add-in serial card for my server and setup kernel logging to capture the messages on my laptop.

>
> > Would compiling the pv_ops kernel from the git repository produce any
> > additional stability?
>
> I'm not really sure what the Debian image is built from, so its hard to
> say. I'm getting the impression that their build is pretty closely
> tracking xen.git now. Are you seeing any other stability problems?

Firstly I am still in the process of testing but....

I don't have figures (benchmark results) on this however on my setup I noticed a decreasing disk IO responsiveness as uptime increased. The disk access returned to near native performance after a reboot though. 

On that note about rebooting, the machine seemed to reboot fine when only the Domian 0 was left running. Since I have not tested any DomUs without networking it is possible that is due to a bug in blktap2.


> Because, honestly, a crash while rebooting is annoying and should be
> fixed, it doesn't really count as a stability problem if you're
> rebooting anyway ;). (Unless it either prevents the reboot from
> working, or causes data-corruption on disk.)
>

Agreed, though I would tend to be more worried if I didn't have physical access to the box, which in this home scaled project I thankfully do.

Lastly, I must thank you Jeremy for all your hard work and contribution made to the Xen community :)


> > It was my understanding that one could run a stable Xen systems today
> > with a Xenlinux kernel, as pv_ops was still in development. I've read
> > on the XenParavirtsOps page that there are features available to Xen
> > but are not yet available in the pv_ops kernel (perhaps this wiki has
> > not been updated as I understand Xen 4.0 release is just around the
> > corner!):
>
> I'm pretty sure the Debian kernel is pvops based, so any caveats or
> limitations of one apply to the other.
>
> J
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

-M


Got a phone? Get Hotmail & Messenger for mobile!
_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users