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RE: [Xen-users] AMD's VT for chipsets

To: "Mark Weinem" <mark.weinem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [Xen-users] AMD's VT for chipsets
From: "Petersson, Mats" <Mats.Petersson@xxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 15:48:21 +0200
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Thread-topic: [Xen-users] AMD's VT for chipsets
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
> Mark Weinem
> Sent: 03 October 2006 13:12
> To: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] AMD's VT for chipsets
> 
> Petersson, Mats:
> 
> > I'm not sure if it's part of the translation or some other sort of
> > misunderstanding, but chipsets (non-processor components) are not
> > necessary for the AMD-V technology (formerly Pacifica) to operate
> > correctly. It is available now in Opteron 1xxx, 2xxx and 8xxx;
> > Athlon64[x2][FX] and Turion X2 processors that have DDR2 memory
> > controller
> 
> Thanks for your reply Mats! I know this, but the article states, that 
> apart from the new processors. the integration of "AMD-V" 
> into chipsets 
> will make it possible to use  the full potential of hardware-based 
> Virtualization.
> 
> If this is true (I found the statement only in the german 
> article!), what 
> will these "full potentials" or "optimizations" be in 
> practical use? And 
> when will the new chipsets and mainboards  be available, this 
> year, next 
> year? And when - if ever - will Xen support them? 

Speculation (or factual based statements) on future products is not
encouraged by AMD. 

However, I think this is referring to IOMMU, which is going to be part
of chipsets in the future. It allows the virtual machine to have direct
hardware access even when it's fully-virtualized - by mapping the guest
physical view into a machine physical view. I can't say anything about
any release dates or such, because I simply don't know... 

As to if/when it will come as part of Xen - I guess it's a pretty useful
feature for a hypervisor to be able to give hardware access to the
guest, so it would surprise me a lot if Xen DIDN'T implement this prety
much to be ready for release of the hardware. But that's speculation on
someone elses product - which has a certain level of insecurity.

> 
> 
> > I'm not entirely sure what the author considers to be 
> "different from
> > Intel"
> 
> The difference is that Intel will not offer those chipsets.

Intel has announced support for IOMMU in some form, whether it's
identical, similar or different from the AMD one, I can't say. I think
AMD announced the IOMMU slightly earlier than Intel, so if the article
was written between one and the other's release, it may be the cause for
difference. IOMMU isn't that new - IBM already has one or two models
available. 

--
Mats
> 
> 
> Greetings, Mark Weinem
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
> 
> 
> 



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