Re: [Xen-devel] xci pci passthru video card flr etc

[Andrew Lyon <andrew.lyon@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 9:13 AM, Han, Weidong<weidong.han@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Andrew Lyon wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I want to try using pci passthru to give a windows 7 hvm access to a
>> dedicated video card, I've read all of the threads I can find about
>> video passthru but I still have some questions:
>>
>> I use rebased opensuse Xen patches to make the dom0 kernel, currently
>> running 2.6.29 as there are networking problems with gplpv and 2.6.30,
>> I believe it is necessary to use Function Level Reset to reset the
>> graphics card before the hvm domU boots, otherwise it will be
>> incorrectly initialized by the bios or dom0 ? and therefore will not
>> function correctly, I plan to rebase the following patches to
>> 2.6.29/30 to enable FLR:
>>
>> http://xenbits.xen.org/gitweb?p=xenclient/linux-2.6.27-pq.git;a=commit;h=50c08c0d3e499c5576e906ab5f0c9c234fba2493
>> http://xenbits.xen.org/gitweb?p=xenclient/linux-2.6.27-pq.git;a=commit;h=b631b9005cd72b0e2e859dd1fab557a3015c8b58
>> http://xenbits.xen.org/gitweb?p=xenclient/linux-2.6.27-pq.git;a=commit;h=36083d0755a740ed509ca9812db9576473bc4e8b
>>
>> Are all 3 patches required? are any other patches required? what about
>> patches to Xen?
>>
>> The http://xenbits.xen.org/gitweb?p=xenclient/linux-2.6.27-pq.git
>> patchqueue includes pull's from other trees, is there anything in them
>> that I need for FLR or other necessary new features?
>>
>> I am currently running Xen 3.4 but plan to upgrade to the latest
>> 3.4.1-rc before I try video passthru, I've already patched 3.4 to fix
>> the problem with viridian and windows 7, I assume that fix will be
>> included in 3.4.1 as it is in testing
>> (http://lists.xensource.com/archives/html/xen-changelog/2009-06/msg00119.html)
>>
>> My system currently has a 512mb 8600GT which I use with the nvidia
>> binary drivers driving a pair of 1920x1200 tft's, I think I can get
>> access to another identical 8600GT so I plan to drive one monitor with
>> each card, has anybody had success with passthru using nvidia cards?
>
> We observed that it needs vBAR = pBAR (1:1 map memories of video card in 
> guest and host) for some Nvidia cards, such as Geforce 8400 GS. But some 
> high-end Nvidia cards (e.g Quadro FX 3800) don't require that, they are more 
> virtualization friendly.
>
> Regards,
> Weidong
>
>

I thought the purpose of the vt-d iommu was to map the virtual
addresses to physical for just this reason?

I don't think I can run to £700 needed for a quadro just so that I can
run windows 7 aero on my 3rd monitor :-), has anybody else had success
with consumer nvidia cards?

I will get a ati card if necessary but I prefer to give my ££'s to
nvidia as they have historically provided better linux support.

Andy

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