Re: [Xen-devel] Generic Xen

[Mark Williamson <Mark.Williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Well! This is both interesting and new to me!

The VT support is in the tree right now, so you can take a look at it.

> It makes my question moot, 
> but I have another. When I think of VM, VM370  is what comes to mind.
> My impression of Xen is that it does not follow the model of VM370.
> Is that correct?

It is similar in that it runs on the bare metal, with virtual machines 
multiplexed on top (as opposed to taking a "hosted" approach (like UML, 
VMWare workstation, etc.) where the VMM runs on top of an OS that controls 
the hardware).  VMWare ESX server also runs on bare metal.

Xen 2.0 differs in that the actual devices are controlled by one or more 
special domains, rather than by the VMM.  IBM's VM370, VMWare ESX and Xen 1.x 
all run drivers in the VMM itself.

> If it is correct, what made the designers of Xen move
> in the direction they have taken?

Running device drivers in one or more domains allows better hardware support 
than running them in the VMM, with less effort (don't have to port device 
drivers).  It can also provide better isolation of (potentially buggy) device 
drivers, and lets us do cool things like live restarts / upgrades of device 
drivers.

HTH,
Mark

> Thanks,
> Dave Feustel
>
>
>
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