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From: Anthony Liguori <anthony@codemonkey.ws>
To: jdsw2002@yahoo.com
Cc: KVM List <kvm@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: KVM Management : Migration
Date: Sat, 09 Aug 2008 10:48:48 -0500	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <489DBC60.40405@codemonkey.ws> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <218687.89390.qm@web35807.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

jd wrote:
> Hi 
>   For migration to work, it is recommended to start the VM with exact same params as the original VM. Can some one clarify the minimum set that should be the same.. while if others like VNC port Or default bridge can be different. (as the target machine may have vnc port already used.)
>   

Anything that affects the hardware exposed to the guest must be the 
same.  -vnc, -net tap, -monitor, etc. have no effect on the hardware 
exposed to the guest so they can be modified.

>  Also, if there are any compatibility checks for migration that needed to be done for predicting successful migration
>   

Note that a primary design goal of migration is that failure will never 
result in a lost VM so it is generally safe to try a migration even if 
there's a chance it may fail.

>    -- KVM version  ? Same... similar.. any other way to find if they are 'compatible' ? (As KVM is released frequently)
>   

The format should be backwards compatible so version checking isn't 
necessary.

>    -- Processor  same / similar ? Do we have a good compatibility matrix somewhere ? I am assuming that there is nothing specific to KVM but would like to confirm.
>   

We do our best to expose only a common subset of features for guests.  
Practically speaking, it's a trade-off.  It is only "safe" to migrate to 
absolutely identical CPUs otherwise you risk the guest miscalibrating 
the TSC.

In general, modern Linux guests can detect the TSC screwing up and as 
long as your going from a slower to faster system, it should be okay (or 
perhaps vice versa).

>    -- Memory availability : How to compute availability of "enough" memory ? Free physical memory ? Or some weight on available virtual memory/swap ? weave in some knowledge of ballooning details.
>   

KVM supports memory overcommit so it simplifies and complicates things.  
A migration should always succeed regardless of memory on the system but 
performance may suffer because of swapping.  So choosing the best 
migration target will have to take into account available free memory, 
how many VMs are on the system already (the potential memory use for the 
future), etc.

Regards,

Anthony Liguori

>    Any other checks ? 
>
> Thanks
> /Jd
>
>
>       
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>   


  reply	other threads:[~2008-08-09 15:49 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 3+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2008-08-09  2:22 KVM Management : Migration jd
2008-08-09 15:48 ` Anthony Liguori [this message]
2008-08-09 21:33   ` jd

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