Re: Can I xc_await_suspend() for a suspend event caused by another application?

[Razvan Cojocaru <rcojocaru@bitdefender.com>]

> I've noticed that the xc_suspend_evtchn_init() functions in xenguest.h
> connect the client application to a guest suspend event channel, and
> that it's possible to subscribe to these events, in theory even if you
> never signal the channel (i.e. even if you don't issue a suspend request).
> 
> But all the in-tree examples I've read seem to first signal the channel
> and then wait on the same channel for the confirmation that the guest is
> suspending.
> 
> Can the event channel be used solely to inform a monitoring application
> that _another_ application (for example, xl) has requested a suspend?

Looking at the code and what documentation I could find, it turns out
that not only xc_suspend_evtchn_init() has not been designed to do what
I am after, but it additionally only works for (some) PV guests.

I've also looked into monitoring writes to ~/control/shutdown, but that
of course also only applies to PV domains.

What I need is to be able to know that any domain (but mostly HVMs) is
about to be suspended, so that I can do some hooks cleanup in the guest
while it's still running, and I'm looking for a way to do that without
modifying Xen at all, otherwise I'd need to send out a new kind of
vm_event or something similar, and obviously simpler is better. Could
maybe someone kindly point out a reliable way to do that with the
current Xen code, if it exists and I just haven't been able to find it?


Thanks,
Razvan