Re: [Xen-users] Very Basic Question

[Mark Williamson <mark.williamson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Sidequestion: You can actually tell xen to make certain cards (basing on
> their pci addresses) to not be seen by dom0. Thus they can be used *by one*
> (am I right?) domU. So what if I don't show dom0 the video-card?

That might work.  I can say I've ever tried booting Linux without a video 
card, though.

> Depending on the dom0-OS, it may even work that dom0 can still show up
> stuff (totally unsure, I am have not yet begun reading VGA-specs or alike
> ;-) ) however, just a sitenote.

Probably depends on the version of Xen too - I think Xen 3.0 is a bit stricter 
about IO privileges.

> I actually started to setup my Xen-puter with two VGA-cards, so that'd be
> another possibility basing on the above assumption(s).

A few people have been trying to get a second graphics card (and USB keyboard, 
mouse) running in a second domain.  They haven't managed it (AFAIK - please 
let us know if you have) yet but hopefully they'll get it working some time.  
It's certainly something we'd like to see.

> But now that is all a bit hackish, it would be interesting to see a real
> hardware-API here; virtual-soundcards, virtual video-devices, and so on
> and so forth.

With Intel's LaGrande security tech (AMD have a similar thing but I can't 
remember the name) we'll be able to regulate things much better so that we 
don't have to trust domains with direct hardware access.  We'll be able t 
control where they may DMA to, etc.  This also implies most fault-resistant 
driver domains will be possible.

Cheers,
Mark

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