Re: [Xen-devel] 1 GPU multiple VMs

[Jacobs Jordi <Jordi.Jacobs@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://xen.org/products/xci_source.html
XCI (Xen Client Initiative)
XenClient from Citrix is also capable to share a GPU.
However the software doesn't support many GPUs, so that might be a downside.
(I have not yet analysed the repositories.)
________________________________________
From: Lv, Zhiyuan [zhiyuan.lv@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 12:47 AM
To: Pasi Kärkkäinen; Stefano Stabellini
Cc: Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Jacobs Jordi; Zaborowski, Andrew
Subject: RE: [Xen-devel] 1 GPU multiple VMs

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:xen-devel-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Pasi K?rkk?inen
> Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2012 2:23 AM
> To: Stefano Stabellini
> Cc: Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Jacobs Jordi
> Subject: Re: [Xen-devel] 1 GPU multiple VMs
>
> On Wed, Feb 08, 2012 at 08:18:47PM +0200, Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote:
> > On Wed, Feb 08, 2012 at 06:11:56PM +0000, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
> > > On Wed, 8 Feb 2012, Pasi K�rkk�inen wrote:
> > > > On Wed, Feb 08, 2012 at 05:20:31PM +0000, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
> > > > > On Fri, 3 Feb 2012, Jacobs Jordi wrote:
> > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I am wondering how GPU sharing could/should be implemented for the
> Xen Hypervisor.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I have come across several papers that explain many possibilities on
> GPU sharing for multiple VMs but I'm not sure wich
> > > > > > one would be the best solution for Xen.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > API remoting (gallium3D) (ex. Xen3D project)
> > > > > > Mediated passthrough (Multiplexing the GPU while maintaining the
> different contexts.)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Can you guys give me your idea on the matter?
> > > > > > Please also mention any existing projects you know that are related 
> > > > > > to
> this problem.
> > > > >
> > > > > My personal opinion is that the simplest thing to do is OpenGL
> > > > > remoting. Gallium remoting could also be OK but considering that many
> > > > > cards don't have Gallium drivers we would probably end up doing two
> > > > > conversions instead of one (DirectX->Gallium in the guest,
> > > > > Gallium->OpenGL in dom0).
> > > > > Mediated passthrough is very card specific so I am afraid you would 
> > > > > end
> > > > > up writing virtualization specific drivers for all the cards you want 
> > > > > to
> > > > > support. Not to mention that you might need to access some videocard
> > > > > interfaces that on Nvidia are not discosed.
> > > > >
> > > > > I believe that virtualbox already supports OpenGL remoting in a decent
> > > > > way, so I would start from there, port what they have to Xen, and
> > > > > improve it.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > I wonder if SPICE already supports OpenGL stuff..
> > > > I think it's at least supposed to be able to support OpenGL.
> > > >
> > > >
> (http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/spice-devel/2011-November/006018.ht
> ml)
> > >
> > > Not yet, but I think that they are working on it. Still very early days
> > > though.
> > > Also it would only work with HVM guests, while having a proper xen
> > > frontend/backend OpenGL remoting driver pair would work for both.
> >
> > Yep.
> >
> > There's also: http://sourceforge.net/projects/vmgl/
> >
> > "OpenGL apps running inside a VM use VMGL to obtain graphics hardware
> acceleration. VMGL supports VMware, Xen PV and HVM, qemu, and KVM VMs;
> X11-based OS such as Linux, FreeBSD and OpenSolaris; and ATI, Nvidia and Intel
> GPUs. "
> >
>
> And Chromium might have something related aswell:
> http://chromium.sourceforge.net/doc/index.html
>
Hello,

Another related work is as below:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2012-01/msg01027.html

Similar to VMGL, it is an API remoting approach but not based on chromium. 
Another difference is that it does not require X server extensions. Just for 
your reference. Thanks!

>
> -- Pasi
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel

_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel