Re: [Xen-users] Best dom0 for GPU pass through?

[David Erickson <halcyon1981@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Casey!  I decided to give Ubuntu 12.04 server a go, it was
actually a shockingly straightforward process.  I recompiled the
kernel to set CONFIG_XEN_PCIDEV_BACKEND to be statically built in (not
a module), installed the xen-hypervisor-4.1, hid my video card (ATI
7750) and usb hub from dom0, passed both through to win 7 and it just
worked.  There is one minor problem I am having with the video being
messed up on the onboard card after Windows starts, going to post
about that in another thread.

-David

On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 6:28 PM, Casey DeLorme <cdelorme@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi David,
>
> It sounds like you will want to go with the packaged Xen, it is available
> for both Debian and Ubuntu, you may find Ubuntu's process a bit easier.  The
> GUI experience would be libvirt and the xm toolstack that comes with the
> packaged Xen.  The xm and xl toolstacks are quite similar to xe, so if you
> are not scared of terminal then it can't hurt to investigate or give them a
> try.
>
> I chose Debian for its size, smaller than Ubuntu and I had no need of a GUI
> or multimedia services on the server control system.  Also, I compiled my
> own kernel, so stock kernel has very little to do with it.  VGA Passthrough
> is still quite new, so thoughts on stability don't exactly apply (the usual
> reason one might pick Debian).  I had a lot of trouble the pciback module
> myself and found compiling the kernel to be an easy solution.
>
> The xm toolstack has been deprecated for the xl toolstack, which has a very
> similar command set and is currently maintained.  Having read that much I
> walked the tougher path of compiling Xen 4.2 unstable with my kernel and
> using the xl toolstack have had great success with VGA Passthrough to
> Windows 7.  As far as I know, there is no port of libvirt for the xl
> toolstack yet, so you would be working with command line options, thankfully
> I only use maybe 3 commands regularly, to start and stop my virtual machine.
> The configuration is a text file, easy enough to construct if you find the
> "Xen Man Pages".  I believe the xe toolstack exists as part of the XCP
> package, I have never used it though.
>
> If you want to compile the latest kernel, I suggest this guide:
> http://vanilja.org/kernel/
>
> His instructions are short and simple, but don't point out everything you
> may want specific to Xen.
>
> If you are not in a rush I am putting together a comprehensive tutorial that
> hopefully will be completed within the next month.
>
>
> Hope that helps, and best of luck with whichever you choose.
>
> ~Casey
>
> PS - Hardware selection can be rough, I recommend thorough research if you
> haven't already purchased.  As for performance, I use a Core i7 2600 and it
> powers the debian wheezy host, a pfSense route, Debian Squeeze nginx web
> server and Windows 7 multimedia PC (4 vcores and 6GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD
> 6870).  The media center scores 7.8 for graphics and performance is better
> than I anticipated.
>
> On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 3:39 PM, David Erickson <halcyon1981@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all-
>> I've been working with XenServer for years but have decided to build a
>> home server running the latest version of Xen to do GPU pass through
>> to a Win 7 x64 Media Center.  What is the best dom0 OS to install to
>> enable this?  I've seen lots of people using Debian Squeeze, but I
>> wonder why that is being chosen rather than say Ubuntu 12.04 which has
>> a much newer stock kernel?  Does anyone have a pointer for a great
>> guide to get the latest kernel and Xen versions running? (Presumably I
>> am going to need to compile them from scratch)
>>
>> I've also been spoiled with XenCenter for management (although I've
>> used 'xe' a lot), is there anything available of similar quality for
>> just Xen base?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> David
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xen-users mailing list
>> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://lists.xen.org/xen-users
>
>

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