OpenBSD as Xen domU

[NetOne - Doychin Dokov]

I'm looking to replace a Linux domU with a BSD one, preferably OpenBSD.
Anyone any success running stable OpenBSD (FreeBSD would also suffice)
as domU in a Xen system? If so, willing to share config / how-to /
experience?

Kind regards,
Doichin

[Julien Cabillot-2]

It's work but I had really bad performances with the network (timeout on
the interface re).
Dmesg: http://www.openbsd-france.org/ml/archives/msg02494.html


On jeu, 2008-02-07 at 00:29 +0200, NetOne - Doichin Dokov wrote:
> I'm looking to replace a Linux domU with a BSD one, preferably OpenBSD.
> Anyone any success running stable OpenBSD (FreeBSD would also suffice)
> as domU in a Xen system? If so, willing to share config / how-to /
> experience?
>
> Kind regards,
> Doichin

[John Jackson-7]

OpenBSD as DomU works using hardware virtualization for me.  There's
the occasional lockup that I haven't looked into too much.  You can
launch vncviewer to get a console.  My working config is at the bottom.

John

On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 11:55:05PM +0100, Julien Cabillot wrote:
> It's work but I had really bad performances with the network (timeout on
> the interface re).
> Dmesg: http://www.openbsd-france.org/ml/archives/msg02494.html
>

I found that setting the vif interface to 'model=ne2k_pci' helps with
the timeouts.

>
> On jeu, 2008-02-07 at 00:29 +0200, NetOne - Doichin Dokov wrote:
> > I'm looking to replace a Linux domU with a BSD one, preferably OpenBSD.
> > Anyone any success running stable OpenBSD (FreeBSD would also suffice)
> > as domU in a Xen system? If so, willing to share config / how-to /
> > experience?
> >
> > Kind regards,
> > Doichin
>

Here's a working Xen config:
=================================================================
import os, re
arch = os.uname()[4]
if re.search('64', arch):
    arch_libdir = 'lib64'
else:
    arch_libdir = 'lib'
kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
builder='hvm'
memory = 256
name = "obsd"
pae=0
vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:7d:be:ef, model=ne2k_pci' ]
disk = [ 'file:/disk/homer.disk,hda,w','file:/disk/obsd42_amd64.iso,ioemu:hdc:cdrom,r' ]
device_model = '/usr/' + arch_libdir + '/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
boot='cd'
sdl=0
vnc=1
vncviewer=0
nographic=0
stdvga=0
serial='pty'
ne2000=1
audio=0
localtime=1
=================================================================

[ropers]

You can use Christoph Egger's OpenBSD/Xen port. No need to go
HVM-only. Unfortunately, my own website is down right now and I
haven't gotten around to fixing that, but the Wayback Machine has the
relevant page:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070403174105/http://ropersonline.com/openbsd/xen/

Also, search the misc archives. This question crops up fairly
regularly. and each time most people don't seem to know of Christoph
Egger's port (and each time I then try to tell people about it again
-- if I catch the message, but I don't always do and sometimes things
fall through the cracks here).

Thanks and regards,
--ropers

On 07/02/2008, John Jackson <openbsd@...> wrote:

> OpenBSD as DomU works using hardware virtualization for me.  There's
> the occasional lockup that I haven't looked into too much.  You can
> launch vncviewer to get a console.  My working config is at the bottom.
>
> John
>
> On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 11:55:05PM +0100, Julien Cabillot wrote:
> > It's work but I had really bad performances with the network (timeout on
> > the interface re).
> > Dmesg: http://www.openbsd-france.org/ml/archives/msg02494.html
> >
>
> I found that setting the vif interface to 'model=ne2k_pci' helps with
> the timeouts.
>
> >
> > On jeu, 2008-02-07 at 00:29 +0200, NetOne - Doichin Dokov wrote:
> > > I'm looking to replace a Linux domU with a BSD one, preferably OpenBSD.
> > > Anyone any success running stable OpenBSD (FreeBSD would also suffice)
> > > as domU in a Xen system? If so, willing to share config / how-to /
> > > experience?
> > >
> > > Kind regards,
> > > Doichin
> >
>
> Here's a working Xen config:
> =================================================================
> import os, re
> arch = os.uname()[4]
> if re.search('64', arch):
>     arch_libdir = 'lib64'
> else:
>     arch_libdir = 'lib'
> kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
> builder='hvm'
> memory = 256
> name = "obsd"
> pae=0
> vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:7d:be:ef, model=ne2k_pci' ]
> disk = [ 'file:/disk/homer.disk,hda,w','file:/disk/obsd42_amd64.iso,ioemu:hdc:cdrom,r' ]
> device_model = '/usr/' + arch_libdir + '/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
> boot='cd'
> sdl=0
> vnc=1
> vncviewer=0
> nographic=0
> stdvga=0
> serial='pty'
> ne2000=1
> audio=0
> localtime=1
> =================================================================
>
>

--
www.ropersonline.com

[NetOne - Doychin Dokov]

ropers P=P0P?P8Q
P0:

> You can use Christoph Egger's OpenBSD/Xen port. No need to go
> HVM-only. Unfortunately, my own website is down right now and I
> haven't gotten around to fixing that, but the Wayback Machine has the
> relevant page:
> http://web.archive.org/web/20070403174105/http://ropersonline.com/openbsd/xen/
>
> Also, search the misc archives. This question crops up fairly
> regularly. and each time most people don't seem to know of Christoph
> Egger's port (and each time I then try to tell people about it again
> -- if I catch the message, but I don't always do and sometimes things
> fall through the cracks here).
>
> Thanks and regards,
> --ropers
>
> On 07/02/2008, John Jackson <openbsd@...> wrote:
>  
>> OpenBSD as DomU works using hardware virtualization for me.  There's
>> the occasional lockup that I haven't looked into too much.  You can
>> launch vncviewer to get a console.  My working config is at the bottom.
>>
>> John
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 11:55:05PM +0100, Julien Cabillot wrote:
>>    
>>> It's work but I had really bad performances with the network (timeout on
>>> the interface re).
>>> Dmesg: http://www.openbsd-france.org/ml/archives/msg02494.html
>>>
>>>      
>> I found that setting the vif interface to 'model=ne2k_pci' helps with
>> the timeouts.
>>
>>    
>>> On jeu, 2008-02-07 at 00:29 +0200, NetOne - Doichin Dokov wrote:
>>>      
>>>> I'm looking to replace a Linux domU with a BSD one, preferably OpenBSD.
>>>> Anyone any success running stable OpenBSD (FreeBSD would also suffice)
>>>> as domU in a Xen system? If so, willing to share config / how-to /
>>>> experience?
>>>>
>>>> Kind regards,
>>>> Doichin
>>>>        
>> Here's a working Xen config:
>> =================================================================
>> import os, re
>> arch = os.uname()[4]
>> if re.search('64', arch):
>>     arch_libdir = 'lib64'
>> else:
>>     arch_libdir = 'lib'
>> kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
>> builder='hvm'
>> memory = 256
>> name = "obsd"
>> pae=0
>> vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:7d:be:ef, model=ne2k_pci' ]
>> disk = [ 'file:/disk/homer.disk,hda,w','file:/disk/obsd42_amd64.iso,ioemu:hdc:cdrom,r' ]
>> device_model = '/usr/' + arch_libdir + '/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
>> boot='cd'
>> sdl=0
>> vnc=1
>> vncviewer=0
>> nographic=0
>> stdvga=0
>> serial='pty'
>> ne2000=1
>> audio=0
>> localtime=1
>> ================================================================
>>    

I'm trying to use Christopher's work, but I get the following errors
when i try to make depend a xenU kernel:

In file included from
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/machdep.c:129:
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/dev/isa/isavar.h:138:33:
machine/isa_machdep.h: No such file or directory
In file included from /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/npx.c:66:
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/dev/isa/isavar.h:138:33:
machine/isa_machdep.h: No such file or directory

It does complete, though. But when i try to make the kernel, I get
*lots* of errors, starting with these:
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s: Assembler messages:
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:334: Error: suffix or
operands invalid for `push'
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:335: Error: suffix or
operands invalid for `popf'
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:472: Error: `(((1+2)*
(1<<12)))(%esi,%ecx,4)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:479: Error: `(%ebx)'
is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:485: Error:
`(0x00000001|0x00000002)(%edx)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:486: Error: `(%ebx)'
is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:491: Error: `(%ebx)'
is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:501: Error: `(%ebx)'
is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:506: Error: `(%ebx)'
is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
/usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:515: Error: `(((0)*
(1<<12))+832*4)(%esi)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
....
(and many more not in this file only, but also in vector.s, spl.s, mutex.S)

Anyone any hints? Is it meant to be run on -current (I see the last
changes in the hg are from 8 months ago, but...)? Or do I need to
compile it under an i386 kernel (I'm currently trying with an amd64 one)?
# uname -a
OpenBSD border2.net1.cc 4.2 GENERIC.MP#1 amd64

Any help MUCH appreciated!

Kind regards,
Doichin

[NetOne - Doychin Dokov]

NetOne - Doichin Dokov P=P0P?P8Q
P0:

> ropers P=P0P?P8Q
P0:
>> You can use Christoph Egger's OpenBSD/Xen port. No need to go
>> HVM-only. Unfortunately, my own website is down right now and I
>> haven't gotten around to fixing that, but the Wayback Machine has the
>> relevant page:
>> http://web.archive.org/web/20070403174105/http://ropersonline.com/openbsd/xen/ 
>>
>>
>> Also, search the misc archives. This question crops up fairly
>> regularly. and each time most people don't seem to know of Christoph
>> Egger's port (and each time I then try to tell people about it again
>> -- if I catch the message, but I don't always do and sometimes things
>> fall through the cracks here).
>>
>> Thanks and regards,
>> --ropers
>>
>> On 07/02/2008, John Jackson <openbsd@...> wrote:
>>  
>>> OpenBSD as DomU works using hardware virtualization for me.  There's
>>> the occasional lockup that I haven't looked into too much.  You can
>>> launch vncviewer to get a console.  My working config is at the bottom.
>>>
>>> John
>>>
>>> On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 11:55:05PM +0100, Julien Cabillot wrote:
>>>    
>>>> It's work but I had really bad performances with the network
>>>> (timeout on
>>>> the interface re).
>>>> Dmesg: http://www.openbsd-france.org/ml/archives/msg02494.html
>>>>
>>>>      
>>> I found that setting the vif interface to 'model=ne2k_pci' helps with
>>> the timeouts.
>>>
>>>    
>>>> On jeu, 2008-02-07 at 00:29 +0200, NetOne - Doichin Dokov wrote:
>>>>      
>>>>> I'm looking to replace a Linux domU with a BSD one, preferably
>>>>> OpenBSD.
>>>>> Anyone any success running stable OpenBSD (FreeBSD would also
>>>>> suffice)
>>>>> as domU in a Xen system? If so, willing to share config / how-to /
>>>>> experience?
>>>>>
>>>>> Kind regards,
>>>>> Doichin
>>>>>        
>>> Here's a working Xen config:
>>> =================================================================
>>> import os, re
>>> arch = os.uname()[4]
>>> if re.search('64', arch):
>>>     arch_libdir = 'lib64'
>>> else:
>>>     arch_libdir = 'lib'
>>> kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
>>> builder='hvm'
>>> memory = 256
>>> name = "obsd"
>>> pae=0
>>> vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:7d:be:ef, model=ne2k_pci' ]
>>> disk = [
>>> 'file:/disk/homer.disk,hda,w','file:/disk/obsd42_amd64.iso,ioemu:hdc:cdrom,r'
>>> ]
>>> device_model = '/usr/' + arch_libdir + '/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
>>> boot='cd'
>>> sdl=0
>>> vnc=1
>>> vncviewer=0
>>> nographic=0
>>> stdvga=0
>>> serial='pty'
>>> ne2000=1
>>> audio=0
>>> localtime=1
>>> ================================================================
>>>    
> I'm trying to use Christopher's work, but I get the following errors
> when i try to make depend a xenU kernel:
>
> In file included from
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/machdep.c:129:
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/dev/isa/isavar.h:138:33:
> machine/isa_machdep.h: No such file or directory
> In file included from /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/npx.c:66:
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/dev/isa/isavar.h:138:33:
> machine/isa_machdep.h: No such file or directory
>
> It does complete, though. But when i try to make the kernel, I get
> *lots* of errors, starting with these:
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s: Assembler messages:
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:334: Error: suffix
> or operands invalid for `push'
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:335: Error: suffix
> or operands invalid for `popf'
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:472: Error:
> `(((1+2)* (1<<12)))(%esi,%ecx,4)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index
> expression
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:479: Error:
> `(%ebx)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:485: Error:
> `(0x00000001|0x00000002)(%edx)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index
> expression
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:486: Error:
> `(%ebx)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:491: Error:
> `(%ebx)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:501: Error:
> `(%ebx)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:506: Error:
> `(%ebx)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
> /usr/src/openbsd-xen-sys.hg/arch/xen/i386/locore.s:515: Error: `(((0)*
> (1<<12))+832*4)(%esi)' is not a valid 64 bit base/index expression
> ....
> (and many more not in this file only, but also in vector.s, spl.s,
> mutex.S)
>
> Anyone any hints? Is it meant to be run on -current (I see the last
> changes in the hg are from 8 months ago, but...)? Or do I need to
> compile it under an i386 kernel (I'm currently trying with an amd64 one)?
> # uname -a
> OpenBSD border2.net1.cc 4.2 GENERIC.MP#1 amd64
>
> Any help MUCH appreciated!
>
> Kind regards,
> Doichin
>

Guess that counts for cross-compilings, so the answer is yes - i need an
i386 kernel to compile this. Sorry for the fuzz...

[NetOne - Doychin Dokov]

ropers NAPISA:

> On 07/02/2008, NetOne - Doichin Dokov <root@...> wrote:
>  
>> NetOne - Doichin Dokov NAPISA:
>>    
>>> I'm trying to use Christopher's work, but I get the following errors
>>> when i try to make depend a xenU kernel:
>>> (...)
>>> Anyone any hints? Is it meant to be run on -current (I see the last
>>> changes in the hg are from 8 months ago, but...)? Or do I need to
>>> compile it under an i386 kernel (I'm currently trying with an amd64 one)?
>>> # uname -a
>>> OpenBSD border2.net1.cc 4.2 GENERIC.MP#1 amd64
>>>
>>> Any help MUCH appreciated!
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Doichin
>>>
>>>      
>> Guess that counts for cross-compilings, so the answer is yes - i need an
>> i386 kernel to compile this. Sorry for the fuzz...
>>    
>
> Yes. The port is i386 and sadly it never got much traction within the
> OpenBSD project, which --this is just my hunch-- may have led
> Christoph to unfortunately focus on other stuff instead of keeping
> current a port that the project seems to be lukewarm for at best. I'm
> not sure what OpenBSD version the currently available revision of the
> port targets -- possibly 4.0 or 4.1. If you want to go anywhere with
> this it would probably be best to google Christoph Egger's email
> address (it's out there). He can give you the real deal straight from
> the horse's mouth. If you use Christoph's port, I would be very
> interested in hearing about it. -- Maybe others, too. Maybe you could
> post to misc@?
>
> Thanks and regards,
> --ropers
>  

Yup, I have successfully compiled the XENU kernel, I neither now which
version it is, but it's 8 months old, I believe it was based on -current.
The bad thing is that - when I try to run it with Xen, i get this:
[root@dom0 xen]# xm create -c /etc/xen/net1-obsd.xm
Using config file "/etc/xen/net1-obsd.xm".
Error: (22, 'Invalid argument')

As far as I went with googling info about this error, it's something PAE
related - my Xen dom0 is PAE enabled I think (I'm not very much into
linux, but i have HIGHMEM_64G defined, also PAE is present in
/proc/cpuinfo).
Seems like the OpenBSD XENU kernel is not (or the vice versa - dom0 is
non-PAE, and the OpenBSD kernel is PAE-enabled). In FreeBSD, there's a
PAE option in the kernel config, but I don't find such one in the
OpenBSD configs (I did not have enough time to investigate this, though,
so I might have overlooked it).

I'm using Xen 3.0.x, and my net1-obsd.xm config is:
=================
name = "net1-obsd"
memory = "256"
disk = [ 'phy:/dev/mirror/fc1,sda1,w' ]
vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:1b:04:c9, bridge=xenbr0' ]
vnc=1
vncunused=1
vcpus=2
kernel = "/boot/openbsd-xenu"
extra =
"boot_verbose,boot_single,vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/md0,kern.hz=100"
on_reboot   = 'restart'
on_crash    = 'restart'
==============

Maybe it's best to contact Christoph directly, but I don't know if he
still works on this project (the ng repository seems dead for the last 8
months), and I don't want to annoy him if not needed, so if anyone has
any ideas how to proceed with this, I would be grateful to receive their
opinion & knowledge.

Kind regards,
Doichin

[Anil Madhavapeddy-2]

On 8 Feb 2008, at 14:23, NetOne - Doichin Dokov wrote:

> Yup, I have successfully compiled the XENU kernel, I neither now  
> which version it is, but it's 8 months old, I believe it was based  
> on -current.
> The bad thing is that - when I try to run it with Xen, i get this:
> [root@dom0 xen]# xm create -c /etc/xen/net1-obsd.xm
> Using config file "/etc/xen/net1-obsd.xm".
> Error: (22, 'Invalid argument')
>
> As far as I went with googling info about this error, it's something  
> PAE related - my Xen dom0 is PAE enabled I think (I'm not very much  
> into linux, but i have HIGHMEM_64G defined, also PAE is present in /
> proc/cpuinfo).
> Seems like the OpenBSD XENU kernel is not (or the vice versa - dom0  
> is non-PAE, and the OpenBSD kernel is PAE-enabled). In FreeBSD,  
> there's a PAE option in the kernel config, but I don't find such one  
> in the OpenBSD configs (I did not have enough time to investigate  
> this, though, so I might have overlooked it).
>
> I'm using Xen 3.0.x, and my net1-obsd.xm config is:
> =================
> name = "net1-obsd"
> memory = "256"
> disk = [ 'phy:/dev/mirror/fc1,sda1,w' ]
> vif = [ 'mac=00:16:3e:1b:04:c9, bridge=xenbr0' ]
> vnc=1
> vncunused=1
> vcpus=2
> kernel = "/boot/openbsd-xenu"
> extra = "boot_verbose,boot_single,vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/
> md0,kern.hz=100"
> on_reboot   = 'restart'
> on_crash    = 'restart'
> ==============
>
> Maybe it's best to contact Christoph directly, but I don't know if  
> he still works on this project (the ng repository seems dead for the  
> last 8 months), and I don't want to annoy him if not needed, so if  
> anyone has any ideas how to proceed with this, I would be grateful  
> to receive their opinion & knowledge.

You can't intermix PAE and non-PAE enabled paravirtual guest kernels  
and dom0s.  Since most Xen distros use PAE by default these days, it  
just needs support added to the OpenBSD port to let you boot it.  
Until that happens, you will need to use a non-PAE dom0.

-anil

[Kent Watsen]

[Picking up on this old thread]

Question for those of you running OpenBSD HVM DomUs, does your IO
performance suck?

Description:

I have OpenBSD 4.3 DomU running HVM mode with 1x vcpu on top on
OpenSolaris b97 xVM Dom0, which pins down 2x vcpus (box is a quad-core
1.9GHz opteron with 8GB mem).  Like John (below), I also pass
"model=ne2k_pci" as part of the vif.   The system is reasonably
responsive over console when not doing any IO, especially disk, when the
performance tanks.  To put this in perspective, when I was installing
OpenBSD, it took 30+ mins for it to install the packages and thats not
including any of the X packages!  Likewise, a simple file-copy test gave
me these results:

    Copy large file from Desktop to Dom (using `scp`) :
        Dom0:   ~27136KB/s   (opensolaris b97)
        DomU:      ~322KB/s   (openbsd 4.3, hvm)                          

    Copy large file from Dom to Desktop (using `scp`):
        Dom0:  ~28441KB/s   (opensolaris b97)
        DomU:     ~662KB/s   (openbsd 4.3, hvm)


Finally, running `bonnie++` on the Dom0 in DomU gives:

_*Bonnie++ on Dom0*_

Version 1.03d     ------ Sequential Output ------    --- Sequential
Input ---    --Random-
                  -Per Char-  --Block--  -Rewrite-   --Per Char--  
--Block--    --Seeks--
Machine   Size    K/sec %CP   K/sec %CP  K/sec %CP     K/sec %CP    
K/sec %CP    K/sec %CP
san        8G     67051  85   166574 59  126454 63     71058  96    
362940 76    1645   11


                   ------ Sequential Create ------    -------- Random
Create --------
                   -Create--  --Read---  -Delete--    -Create--  
--Read---  -Delete--
         files     K/sec %CP  K/sec %CP  K/sec %CP    K/sec %CP  K/sec
%CP  K/sec %CP
           16      15815  99  +++++ +++  22903  99    15222  99  +++++
+++  22339  99



_*Bonnie++ in zvol-backed DomU  (openbsd 4.3, hvm)*_

Version 1.03      ------ Sequential Output ------    --- Sequential
Input ---    --Random-
                  -Per Char-  --Block--  -Rewrite-   --Per Char--  
--Block--    --Seeks--
Machine   Size    K/sec %CP   K/sec %CP  K/sec %CP     K/sec %CP    
K/sec %CP    K/sec %CP
puffy     300M      451   0     295   0    184   0       976   4    
1521   2     26.8   1


                   ------ Sequential Create ------    -------- Random
Create --------
                   -Create--  --Read---  -Delete--    -Create--  
--Read---  -Delete--
         files     K/sec %CP  K/sec %CP  K/sec %CP    K/sec %CP  K/sec
%CP  K/sec %CP
           16          8   1  +++++ +++     16   1        8   1  +++++
+++     10  0


I have already posted these results to the xVM mailing list and they
said that they have never seen the HVM performance this bad before
(where 30Mb/s is the norm) and also offered:

    If this was just disk or net then I'd suspect that the device
    emulation simply didn't match up well with the OpenBSD driver, but
    given that you're seeing both as slow it may well be a broader
    problem.


BTW, my networking performance is also not great - its about ~7 Mb/s -
over GE interfaces using Cat5e.  This is also slow as running the same
`iperf` test when openbsd is on the bare-metal gives ~534 Mb/s.  Just
the same, 7 Mb/s is way faster than my disk I/O (~0.5 Mb/s avg).

So, for those of you running OpenBSD HVM DomUs,  does your IO
performance suck this bad too?

Thanks,
Kent



John Jackson wrote:

> OpenBSD as DomU works using hardware virtualization for me.  There's
> the occasional lockup that I haven't looked into too much.  You can
> launch vncviewer to get a console.  My working config is at the bottom.
>
> John
>
> On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 11:55:05PM +0100, Julien Cabillot wrote:
>  
>> It's work but I had really bad performances with the network (timeout on
>> the interface re).
>> Dmesg: http://www.openbsd-france.org/ml/archives/msg02494.html
>>
>>    
>
> I found that setting the vif interface to 'model=ne2k_pci' helps with
> the timeouts.
>
>  
>> On jeu, 2008-02-07 at 00:29 +0200, NetOne - Doichin Dokov wrote:
>>    
>>> I'm looking to replace a Linux domU with a BSD one, preferably OpenBSD.
>>> Anyone any success running stable OpenBSD (FreeBSD would also suffice)
>>> as domU in a Xen system? If so, willing to share config / how-to /
>>> experience?
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>> Doichin
>>>      
>
> Here's a working Xen config:
> =================================================================
> import os, re
> arch = os.uname()[4]
> if re.search('64', arch):
>     arch_libdir = 'lib64'
> else:
>     arch_libdir = 'lib'
> kernel = "/usr/lib/xen/boot/hvmloader"
> builder='hvm'
> memory = 256
> name = "obsd"
> pae=0
> vif = [ 'type=ioemu, mac=00:16:3e:7d:be:ef, model=ne2k_pci' ]
> disk = [ 'file:/disk/homer.disk,hda,w','file:/disk/obsd42_amd64.iso,ioemu:hdc:cdrom,r' ]
> device_model = '/usr/' + arch_libdir + '/xen/bin/qemu-dm'
> boot='cd'
> sdl=0
> vnc=1
> vncviewer=0
> nographic=0
> stdvga=0
> serial='pty'
> ne2000=1
> audio=0
> localtime=1
> =================================================================