[Xen-users] Re: [Xen-devel] Kernel modules errors and weird xl behavior with Xen 4.1

[Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 02:28:23PM +0300, Claudiu CurcÄ wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm using Gentoo Linux amd64 with the 2.6.34-xen-r4 kernel from portage.
> I've been successfully using Xen 4.0 for almost a year, but now it
> seems that with the dawn of Xen 4.1, the package maintainers have
> forces unstable users to upgrade from 4.0 to 4.1
> 
> Looking forward to try the new xl interface, I installed it, but there
> seem to be a few problems with xen-4.1
> 
> First off, xl seems to behave weird. For example, I have the following
> domU config:
> 
> builder = "linux"
> bootloader = "/usr/bin/pygrub"
> vcpus = 1
> memory = 512
> name = "centos5_vm1"
> root = "/dev/xvda1 ro"
> disk = [ "file:/storage/xen/images/centos5-vm1.img,xvda,w" ]
> vif = [ "ip = 172.18.0.225, mac = 00:16:3e:00:00:25" ]
> vfb = [ "type = vnc, vncdisplay = 25, vnclisten = 172.18.0.1" ]
> 
> There are two issues if I start the domain using "xl create". The
> first issue is that the machine has no network connectivity at all.
> The second one is that the VNC session is not started. If I try to
> connect to 172.18.0.1:5925, I get a "connection refused" error, and
> netstat doesn't show anyone listening at that location. The domain
> shows up in "xl list" as running. These problems do not show up if
> using the old-fashion "xm create". A minor inconvenience, compared to
> what's to come.

That just looks like a bug.
> 
> The big showstopper for this were some kernel problems. Regardless if
> I start any domain, or even xencommons/xend, at some random time (at
> most 5 minutes), random hardware components will fail.
> 
> For reference, here's the setup:
> 
> MB: Intel S5520HCV Motherboard
> CPUs: 2x Intel Xeon E5520
> RAM: 16GB DDR3
> Networking: 2x Intel Gigabit (eth1+eth2 using igb kernel driver) and
> 1x Linksys Fast PCI Ethernet Adapter (eth0 using tulip kernel driver)
> Storage: 3ware 9650SE-8ML RAID controller (using 3w-9xxx kernel driver)

OK. Try 'x2apic=off'

and please attach your /proc/interrupts before and after the failure.
> 
> eth0 is the internet adapter, eth1 is the LAN adapter (bridged to
> xenbr0) and eth2 is another LAN adapter on a different network,
> unbridged.
> 
> For example, this kills my network connection on eth0 (external
> connection): http://pastebin.com/x8E9bxUT
> Sometimes, the RAID controller would randomly stop working:
> 
> Apr 10 05:16:07 localhost kernel: [  646.720086] sd 4:0:0:0: WARNING:
> (0x06:0x002C): Command (0x28) timed out, resetting card.
> Apr 10 05:16:45 localhost kernel: [  684.816086] 3w-9xxx: scsi4:
> WARNING: (0x06:0x0037): Character ioctl (0x108) timed out, resetting
> card.
> 
> One last issue, which is also quite annoying... in Xen 4.1, if I start
> a VM via xm create, then shut it down, when Xen is deleting the vif,
> it somehow makes dhcpcd (I use it on eth0 to get the internet IP)
> start on all interfaces (even peth1, other vif interfaces and those
> who already have a static IP assigned to them), obviously causing the
> machine to lose connectivity, as it gets 169.254.x.y autoassigned IPs
> on those interfaces. Is this intended, or is is a bug?

That looks like a bug with your distro. Somehow it is listening on the
udev and firring off the dhcpd daemon whenever it detects the device
going on/off.

> 
> None of these issues occur with xen-4.0
> 
> Has anyone else experienced such things with xen-4.1? At the moment
> I've reverted to xen-4.0 using some older ebuilds in order to keep the
> machine in a working state, but I am willing to do more tests in the
> following days, if anyone wants to help me debug these things.
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel

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