Bug 517938

Summary: Cannot install KVM guests over NFS (rtl8139 emulation)
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Reporter: Gary Case <gcase>
Component: kvmAssignee: Eduardo Habkost <ehabkost>
Status: CLOSED WONTFIX QA Contact: Lawrence Lim <llim>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 5.4CC: kelvin.zhao, mnovacek, tburke, tools-bugs, virt-maint, ykaul
Target Milestone: rcKeywords: Reopened
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2010-04-30 19:17:57 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: 580948    
Attachments:
Description Flags
virsh dumpxml 1 from system RHEL5.4 system exhibiting NFS mount problem
none
visrh dumpxml 1 from RHEL5.5 beta system that works correctly none

Description Gary Case 2009-08-18 02:50:02 UTC 
Description of problem:
For some reason, KVM install attempts of RHEL5.4 on RHEL5.4 will not succeed if an NFS mount is used as the install source. 

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
RHEL5.4 x86_64 -162 kernel
kvm-83-105.el5

How reproducible:
Every time

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Run virt-manager
2. Install a new KVM guest
3. Use NFS URL as install source 
4. Wait for a very very long time with no installed system
  
Actual results:
on screen F4, these messages repeated over and over again
server $SERVERNAME not responding, till trying
server $SERVERNAME not responding, till trying
server $SERVERNAME OK
server $SERVERNAME OK
server $SERVERNAME OK
server $SERVERNAME not responding, till trying
server $SERVERNAME not responding, till trying
server $SERVERNAME not responding, till trying
server $SERVERNAME OK
server $SERVERNAME not responding, till trying

Expected results:
Normal install

Additional info:
I have a machine that can reproduce this easily.
Comment 2 Dor Laor 2009-10-29 22:14:02 UTC 
Did you suffer from network issues? Does it still happen?
It's a very common use case so I doubt it happens now.
Comment 3 RHEL Program Management 2009-10-29 22:26:59 UTC 
Development Management has reviewed and declined this request.  You may appeal
this decision by reopening this request.
Comment 8 Eduardo Habkost 2010-02-11 14:12:23 UTC 
sorry for taking too long to reply (again).

This bug seems to be related to virt-manager not using virtio by default when installing RHEL. The change to use virtio for RHEL-5.4+ was addressed at: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=547380

Have you seen this issue recently, or there's some time since the last time you tested NFS installs? Do you see this issue if you make sure virtio is used for networking, when installing the guest?
Comment 9 Gary Case 2010-02-11 19:39:23 UTC 
I've just tried again with the latest 5.4 bits (yum update from RHN) and the problem still occurs. Lots of

<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME OK
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME OK
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying
<5>nfs: server $SERVERNAME not responding, still trying

with no data appearing on the ctrl-alt-F1 console. I'm installing 5.5 beta now and will let you know how that behaves.
Comment 10 Eduardo Habkost 2010-02-11 19:46:21 UTC 
Are you using virtio-net on the failing setup? Could you show the 'vish dumpxml' output for the failing guest?
Comment 11 Gary Case 2010-02-11 20:17:47 UTC 
The RHEL 5.5 beta does not have this problem. I chose the "RHEL5.4 or later" option when setting up the guest (also RHEL5.5 beta) through virt-manager. I don't see any NFS errors on any consoles. Do you want me to probe further into the failing 5.4 installs?
Comment 12 Eduardo Habkost 2010-02-11 20:57:31 UTC 
If it works on 5.5 beta, it's good news. However, the problem may be still present when non-virtio network device emulation is used. Having virtio working may make the bug have lower priority, but it would be interesting to investigate and fix it for the benefit of users that have guests without virtio support.

Could you show the 'virsh dumpxml' output for the guest on the failing setup?
Comment 13 Eduardo Habkost 2010-02-11 21:02:09 UTC 
Actually, 'virsh dumpxml' for both cases (working and non-working setup) is interesting, so I can be sure it's failing because of missing virtio support.

Thanks for the help.
Comment 15 Gary Case 2010-02-12 18:54:19 UTC 
Created attachment 390557 [details]
virsh dumpxml 1 from system RHEL5.4 system exhibiting NFS mount problem

Attaching virsh dumpxml 1 output from RHEL5.4 system experiencing the bug
Comment 16 Gary Case 2010-02-12 20:35:07 UTC 
Created attachment 390581 [details]
visrh dumpxml 1 from RHEL5.5 beta system that works correctly
Comment 17 Eduardo Habkost 2010-04-09 21:17:06 UTC 
The system that works correctly us using virtio, the buggy system is using the default (rtl8139). Using rtl8139 emulation is not recommended unless the guest system doesn't have support for virtio or e1000. Lowering priority and severity.