Bug 215679

Summary: Can't use PV-on-HVM driver for the previous linux(like as RHEL4 U2 or U4)
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Reporter: Hidetoshi Nishi <nishi.hidetoshi>
Component: xenpv-kmodAssignee: Don Dutile (Red Hat) <ddutile>
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX QA Contact:
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: high    
Version: 4.4CC: tao, xen-maint
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2008-05-06 17:45:16 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On:    
Bug Blocks: 246139, 246258, 276501, 296411    

Description Hidetoshi Nishi 2006-11-15 04:45:55 UTC
Description of problem:
 The user of previous linux(RHEL4 U2 or U4) for guest domain can't use PV-on-
HVM driver. So they can't get the high I/O performance.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
 RHEL5

How reproducible:
 Always

Steps to Reproduce:
 Use current VTx or VTi with previous Linux(RHEL4 U2 or U4)
  
Actual results:
 poor I/O performance on VTx and VTi

Expected results:
 high I/O performance on VTx and VTi

Additional info:

Comment 1 Chris Lalancette 2006-11-27 14:53:09 UTC
I'm pretty sure this is meant to be for x86/64, since bug 215672 is exactly the
same but specifically mentions IPF.  I'm going to change the architecture here.

Comment 3 RHEL Program Management 2007-03-21 23:41:17 UTC
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for inclusion in a Red
Hat Enterprise Linux maintenance release.  Product Management has requested
further review of this request by Red Hat Engineering, for potential
inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Update release for currently deployed
products.  This request is not yet committed for inclusion in an Update
release.

Comment 6 Issue Tracker 2007-08-16 18:36:58 UTC
Due to capacity issues, this update has slipped to probable release some
time after the release of RHEL5.1. We're investigating the possibility of
delivering it asynchronously so it won't need to wait until the release of
5.2.


This event sent from IssueTracker by gcase 
 issue 107480

Comment 8 RHEL Program Management 2007-09-07 20:02:08 UTC
This request was previously evaluated by Red Hat Product Management
for inclusion in the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux release, but
Red Hat was unable to resolve it in time.  This request will be
reviewed for a future Red Hat Enterprise Linux release.

Comment 11 Brian Stein 2007-11-14 16:41:32 UTC
- Does RHEL 5.1 resolve the issue reported?
- Have you tested the beta PV HVM drivers for RHEL on a RHEL 5.1 host?

Comment 13 Chris Lalancette 2008-02-27 01:39:03 UTC
Has Fujitsu now tested the released PV-on-HVM drivers?  And are they sufficient
to close out this bug?

Thanks,
Chris Lalancette

Comment 14 Keiichiro Tokunaga 2008-02-28 19:59:29 UTC
Chris,

Tetsu is out of the office for the rest of the week for a training in CA, but he
sent the following messages to Brian before he left.

> Fujitsu xen team has tested the updated pv-on-hvm driver for RHEL4/ia64,
> and confirmed that the vnif problem is fixed and it can communicate with
> no problem.

Comment 15 RHEL Program Management 2008-03-11 19:47:05 UTC
This request was previously evaluated by Red Hat Product Management
for inclusion in the current Red Hat Enterprise Linux release, but
Red Hat was unable to resolve it in time.  This request will be
reviewed for a future Red Hat Enterprise Linux release.

Comment 16 Keve Gabbert 2008-03-11 20:27:18 UTC
what is the issue with fixing this in RHEL 5.2?
What more is needed?

Comment 17 Don Dutile (Red Hat) 2008-03-11 20:49:06 UTC
First, the fix(es) would have to go into the xenpv package for rhel4
(xenpv/RHEL-4-kmod), not rhel5.  I'm not sure why this bz is tagged to rhel5;
maybe because the guest is running on rhel5 ???.

Anyhow...

There are 2 known problems with pre-U5 (maybe pre-U4):
 -- kzalloc() & wait_for_completion_timeout() are used in the code, and it
exists in the rhel4 kernel (and exported) in U5 & above, but not in U4 & earlier.

So, in order for a single, rhel4 binary rpm to support U2->U6, it would have to
have its own, private kzalloc() (let's call it pv_kzalloc()) and its own,
private wait_for_completion_timeout() (let's call it
pv_wait_for_completion_timeout()).

Now, a private kzalloc is fairly trivial, and it's fairly safe to assume it's
functionality wouldn't have to change for its lifetime to match the kernel version.
But, a private wait_for_completion_timeout() is quite a bit more of a stretch,
and if the kernel changed that implementation, then the pv_ version would have
to be changed as well, and if the kernel changed & the xenpv-kmod didn't, in
lock step, there could potentially be problems.

So, for kernel <-> async-driver compatibility, this request is deemed a high
risk.  Simple solution is to upgrade to later revs of rhel4 and use the xenpv
package that is compatible with these latter rhel4U[x] updates.
Likewise, if upgrading to later versions of rhel4 is deemed a (customer)
problem, the customer can take the source rpm, and re-enable the ifdef's in
 unmodified_drivers/linux-2.6/compat-include/xen/platform-compat.h   and
 unmodified_drivers/linux-2.6/platform-pci/platform-compat.c
to add the local functions back into the xen-platform-pci.ko module.





Comment 18 Issue Tracker 2008-03-18 17:27:04 UTC
Should we adjust this BZ and the ITs associated with it to read RHEL4.x
instead of RHEL5? As you mentioned, this really is a RHEL4 issue.

Internal Status set to 'Waiting on Engineering'

This event sent from IssueTracker by gcase 
 issue 107480

Comment 19 Don Dutile (Red Hat) 2008-03-18 20:57:56 UTC
Yes, please adjust the BZ & ITs associated with it to read RHEL4.u2,u4 instead
of RHEL5

Comment 21 Chris Snook 2008-03-25 17:58:12 UTC
Changing to RHEL 4 at customer request, as the driver itself runs on RHEL 4.

Comment 22 Daniel Riek 2008-05-06 17:16:01 UTC
At this point there are no plans to support the para-virt drivers for older
minor releases of RHEL than 4.6.

It should be well-known, that Minor Releases are the primary vehicle to enable
new functionality and that we generally do not provide maintenance for older
releases (this will somewhat change with the upcoming EUS offering, but even
there, new features would not be included). The pv-drivers require functionality
provided by 4.6.

So a customer who wants to make use of the paravirt-drivers, they have to move
to 4.6.


Comment 23 RHEL Program Management 2008-05-06 17:45:16 UTC
Product Management has reviewed and declined this request.  You may appeal this
decision by reopening this request.