[Xen-devel] Problems with xen 4.2

[Fantu <fantonifabio@xxxxxxxxxx>]

For many years we used virtualization systems based on xen.
Up to now we did quite well despite same issue we are trying to solve with
the new version.
The main issue that we found are about Windows domU performance and the thin
client interface with rdp is sometimes problematic.
We think a possible solution to solve current shortcomings could be qemu
upstream with spice, qxl and USB redirection.
We have started preparing a new test system based on Wheezy, the upstream
kernel and xen 4.2.
The current test system is:
Wheezy 64 bit with kernel from package linux-image-3.2.0-2-amd64 version
3.2.12-1, package blktap-dkms and all dependency packages for xen spice and
usb redirection.
-------------------------
/etc/modules
------------
loop max_loop=64
xenfs
xen-evtchn
blktap
-------------------------
hg clone http://xenbits.xen.org/xen-unstable.hg (last build changeset 25070)
vi Makefile # removed dist-kernel to not compile kernel
-------------------------
vi Config.mk # qemu upstream unstable and seabios unstable
------------
QEMU_UPSTREAM_URL ?= git://git.qemu.org/qemu.git
SEABIOS_UPSTREAM_URL ?= git://git.seabios.org/seabios.git
SEABIOS_UPSTREAM_TAG ?= master
QEMU_TAG ?= master
-------------------------
Added some patches:
- autoconf: add variable for pass arbitrary options to qemu upstream - my
patch to build spice and usbredirection on qemu upstream
- QEMU upstream need to kown the amount of RAM given to a guest. This patch
give
the correct value. - Anthony PERARD patch for try to solve ram/videoram
issue
- tools: specify datadir for qemu-xen build to fix firmware loading - Olaf
Hering patch for try to solve qxl issue
-------------------------
./configure QEMUU_ADD_PAR="--enable-spice --enable-usb-redir"
-------------------------
vi config/Tools.mk # workaround for libxl compilation problem
BISON               := bison
FLEX                := flex
-------------------------
make dist
./install.sh
insserv xencommons &&
insserv xendomains


Result:
Full PV domU work, just minimal tests done.
HVM domU with qemu traditional works but with qemu upstream some problem
encountered.
For now I didn't find a way to make Windows run on qemu upstream and nothing
on logs.
About Linux domU HVM I tried with Precise (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS).
Spice and usbrediction seem to be working in basic test done now, qxl not.

About qxl vga with qemu from xen repository (1.0.1) qemu hangs on start,
with qemu unstable it starts but with an allocation problem, on xorg log:
Out of video memory: Could not allocate 4198400 bytes
I tried to update also seabios to unstable but same problem.
Is the patch incomplete or is there videoram fixed limit to 4 MB? 

Current xl domU configuration file:
-----------------------------------
name='PRECISEHVM'
builder="hvm"
memory=1024
#maxmem=1536
vcpus=2
#hap=1
#pae=1
#acpi=1
#apic=1
#nx=1
vif=['bridge=xenbr0']
#vfb=['vnc=1,vncunused=1,vnclisten="0.0.0.0",keymap="it"']
#disk=['/mnt/vm/disks/PRECISEHVM.disk1.xm,raw,hda,rw',
'/dev/sr0,raw,hdb,ro,cdrom']
disk=['/mnt/vm/disks/PRECISEHVM.disk1.xm,raw,hda,rw']
boot='c'
xen_platform_pci=1
device_model_version='qemu-xen'
vnc=0
#vncunused=1
#vnclisten="0.0.0.0"
#keymap="it"
#stdvga=1
#sdl=0
spice=1
spicehost='0.0.0.0'
spiceport=6000
spicedisable_ticketing=1
#spicepasswd='test'
device_model_override="/usr/lib/xen/bin/qemu-debug.sh"
#device_model_args=["-vga qxl -global qxl-vga.vram_size=33554432"]
device_model_args=["-vga qxl"]
#device_model_args=["-usb -device usb-ehci"]
#on_crash='preserve'
videoram=128
#bios="ovmf"
#device_model_args=["-readconfig /etc/xen/ich9-ehci-uhci.cfg",
        "-chardev spicevmc,name=usbredir,id=usbredirchardev1 -device
usb-redir,chardev=usbredirchardev1,id=usbredirdev1,bus=ehci.0,debug=3",
        "-chardev spicevmc,name=usbredir,id=usbredirchardev2 -device
usb-redir,chardev=usbredirchardev2,id=usbredirdev2,bus=ehci.0,debug=3",
        "-chardev spicevmc,name=usbredir,id=usbredirchardev3 -device
usb-redir,chardev=usbredirchardev3,id=usbredirdev3,bus=ehci.0,debug=3"]
-----------------------------------

Can someone help to solve these issues?
Thanks for any reply.

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