Re: [win-pv-devel] Windows 10 domU is unstable with PV Bus Driver

[Paul Durrant <Paul.Durrant@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: win-pv-devel [mailto:win-pv-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Michel D'HOOGE
> Sent: 07 November 2017 16:03
> To: Paul Durrant <Paul.Durrant@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: win-pv-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [win-pv-devel] Windows 10 domU is unstable with PV Bus Driver
> 
> Paul,
> 
> Thanks for your quick reply.
> 
> 
> > Sounds like it is xenvbd that's probably interacting badly with your storage
> backend. If you leave don't install xenvbd, but install the rest (xenvif, 
> xennet
> and xeniface) do you see any instability?
> 
> I'll try that when I don't need my domU for a couple of hours ;-)
> BTW, if that fails again, is there a mean to "disable" the domU PV
> drivers from outside (i.e. prevent them to activate)?

Michel,

There's no override from outside other than not creating the PV backends (and 
just passing the necessary runes to qemu via your config file to create the 
emulated devices alone).

> And is it better to reboot each time it is requested? Or can I stack
> all installs before rebooting?

You can stack all installs before rebooting.

> 
> 
> > What storage backend are you using?
> 
> I'm not sure to know what you expect :-/  Here's my config:
> 
> boot = "c"
> builder="hvm"
> disk = [ '/dev/vg_sda/lv_win10,raw,hda,w' ]

That means libxl should fire up blkback as your backend, in which case you may 
well end up with things like multi-page rings cranked up to the max and 
indirect descriptors turned on. I suggest you turn up the number of grant 
frames allocated to your guest... it may well be running out of grant 
references which would very much explain your stability issues. If you are 
running a bleeding edge Xen then you can set the number of frames on a 
per-guest basis. If not then you'll need to set it globally on the xen command 
line (e.g. add gnttab_max_frames=128 to the line).

> keymap = "fr"
> localtime=1
> memory = 3800
> name = "win10"
> on_crash="preserve"
> on_poweroff="preserve"
> on_reboot="preserve"
> on_soft_reset="preserve"
> on_watchdog="preserve"
> usb = 1
> usbctrl = [ 'type=devicemodel,version=3' ]
> usbdevice = [ 'tablet' ]
> vcpus = 4
> vif = [ 'script=vif-openvswitch,bridge=ovsbr0,mac=00:16:3e:35:fd:24' ]
> vnc = 1
> vncpasswd = "X"
> 
> As you may guess from its name, the storage is a raw LVM logical volume.
> 
> 
> # xl info
> host                   : vd-msi
> release                : 4.13.11-1-ARCH
> version                : #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Nov 2 10:25:56 CET 2017
> machine                : x86_64
> nr_cpus                : 8
> max_cpu_id             : 7
> nr_nodes               : 1
> cores_per_socket       : 4
> threads_per_core       : 2
> cpu_mhz                : 2592
> hw_caps                :
> bfebfbff:77faf3bf:2c100800:00000121:0000000f:009c6fbf:00000000:00000100
> virt_caps              : hvm hvm_directio
> total_memory           : 8099
> free_memory            : 45
> sharing_freed_memory   : 0
> sharing_used_memory    : 0
> outstanding_claims     : 0
> free_cpus              : 0
> xen_major              : 4
> xen_minor              : 9
> xen_extra              : .0
> xen_version            : 4.9.0
> xen_caps               : xen-3.0-x86_64 xen-3.0-x86_32p hvm-3.0-x86_32
> hvm-3.0-x86_32p hvm-3.0-x86_64
> xen_scheduler          : credit
> xen_pagesize           : 4096
> platform_params        : virt_start=0xffff800000000000
> xen_changeset          :
> xen_commandline        : console=vga dom0_mem=4096M,max:4096M
> dom0_max_vcpus=4 iommu=dom0-passthrough,no-igfx loglvl
> =all
> cc_compiler            : gcc (GCC) 7.2.0
> cc_compile_by          : aur
> cc_compile_date        : Mon Oct  2 10:41:47 CEST 2017
> build_id               : 2f5516ca767af60cacbdf6e625675540
> xend_config_format     : 4
> 
> 
> > Also, can you get hold of your VM's QEMU log? It might have some clues.
> 
> Can you point me to a doc for how to do that?
> 

To get logging from PV drivers you'll need start qemu with an events file. 
Create a file with the following single-line content:

xen_platform_log

and then add the following line to your VM config:

device_model_args=[ "-trace", "events=<path to file>" ]

Then you should see logging from the PV drivers appear in a file called:

/var/log/xen/qemu-dm-win10.log

> 
> > Also, I'm curious as to why version 8.2.1 was not working for you.
> 
> Well, first, I have the "Welcome to the Device Driver Installation
> Wizard". Then Windows complains about not being able to verify the
> editor. And finally it fails with the status "Install failed"...
> 

That sounds very weird. I assume you've already turned test signing on in your 
VM (otherwise you would not be able to install the master builds either). 
Windows 10 requires signed drivers unless you do that and your symptom sounds 
awfully like a signature check failure and the 8.2.1 drivers are not yet signed.

Cheers,

  Paul

> 
> Thanks again
> Michel
> 
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