KVM and 32-bit hosts -- still supposed to work?

KVM and 32-bit hosts -- still supposed to work?

[Duck]

I'm on 32-bit Linux, kernel 2.6.27.7-smp. When I moved from kvm-83 to 
kvm-87 plus kvm-kmod-devel-87, my Linux host VMs ran fine. But my XP0 host 
simply ran too slowly to be useable at all, and my Windows 7 host wouldn't 
boot -- just crashed and restarted early in the boot process.

Seeing the module version "-devel-87" I tried kvm-87 with the old kvm-83 
kernel module (I have no idea whether this is supposed to work) and my XP 
image worked better, but a task such as opening Device Manager (to see if 
any hardware has changed) took several _minutes_ (it should take a second 
or so)) and still didn't work correctly.

Kvm-87 with the -83 kernel module also persuaded Windows 7 to boot, to 
report "new devices installed', and thereafter to work with kvm-87 plus 
kvm-kmod-devel-87. (Don't you love Windows's driver inflexibility :-)

So I presume that this is all down to virtual hardware changes since -83.

Before I rebuild my tired old XP0 image, however, and adopt kvm-87 for 
evermore, I just want to know if it's _supposed_ to work on 32-bit (Avi's 
post about the broken 32-bit compile of -87 due to no 32-bit test build 
system seemed to imply that 32-bit hosts are considered passe).

Or should I stick with the older kvm until I upgrade my OS to 64-bit?

Re: KVM and 32-bit hosts -- still supposed to work?

[Avi Kivity]

On 07/01/2009 08:57 AM, Duck wrote:
> I'm on 32-bit Linux, kernel 2.6.27.7-smp. When I moved from kvm-83 to 
> kvm-87 plus kvm-kmod-devel-87, my Linux host VMs ran fine. But my XP0 
> host simply ran too slowly to be useable at all, and my Windows 7 host 
> wouldn't boot -- just crashed and restarted early in the boot process.

Are you sure kvm was loaded?  "too slowly" often means qemu is emulating.

Check 'info kvm' in the monitor.

> Seeing the module version "-devel-87" I tried kvm-87 with the old 
> kvm-83 kernel module (I have no idea whether this is supposed to work) 
> and my XP image worked better, but a task such as opening Device 
> Manager (to see if any hardware has changed) took several _minutes_ 
> (it should take a second or so)) and still didn't work correctly.
>
> Kvm-87 with the -83 kernel module also persuaded Windows 7 to boot, to 
> report "new devices installed', and thereafter to work with kvm-87 
> plus kvm-kmod-devel-87. (Don't you love Windows's driver inflexibility 
> :-)
>
> So I presume that this is all down to virtual hardware changes since -83.
>
> Before I rebuild my tired old XP0 image, however, and adopt kvm-87 for 
> evermore, I just want to know if it's _supposed_ to work on 32-bit 
> (Avi's post about the broken 32-bit compile of -87 due to no 32-bit 
> test build system seemed to imply that 32-bit hosts are considered 
> passe).
>
> Or should I stick with the older kvm until I upgrade my OS to 64-bit?

kvm is supported on 32-bit hosts.  Unfortunately since moving to 
kvm-autotest I no longer test on 32-bit, I'll try to improve the 
situation there.

If someone has spare cycles and can run kvm-autotest on their hardware, 
that would improve kvm quality measurably.

-- 
error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function

Re: KVM and 32-bit hosts -- still supposed to work?

[Alexander Graf]

On 01.07.2009, at 11:05, Avi Kivity <avi@redhat.com> wrote:

> On 07/01/2009 08:57 AM, Duck wrote:
>> I'm on 32-bit Linux, kernel 2.6.27.7-smp. When I moved from kvm-83  
>> to kvm-87 plus kvm-kmod-devel-87, my Linux host VMs ran fine. But  
>> my XP0 host simply ran too slowly to be useable at all, and my  
>> Windows 7 host wouldn't boot -- just crashed and restarted early in  
>> the boot process.
>
> Are you sure kvm was loaded?  "too slowly" often means qemu is  
> emulating.
>
> Check 'info kvm' in the monitor.
>
>> Seeing the module version "-devel-87" I tried kvm-87 with the old  
>> kvm-83 kernel module (I have no idea whether this is supposed to  
>> work) and my XP image worked better, but a task such as opening  
>> Device Manager (to see if any hardware has changed) took several  
>> _minutes_ (it should take a second or so)) and still didn't work  
>> correctly.
>>
>> Kvm-87 with the -83 kernel module also persuaded Windows 7 to boot,  
>> to report "new devices installed', and thereafter to work with  
>> kvm-87 plus kvm-kmod-devel-87. (Don't you love Windows's driver  
>> inflexibility :-)
>>
>> So I presume that this is all down to virtual hardware changes  
>> since -83.
>>
>> Before I rebuild my tired old XP0 image, however, and adopt kvm-87  
>> for evermore, I just want to know if it's _supposed_ to work on 32- 
>> bit (Avi's post about the broken 32-bit compile of -87 due to no 32- 
>> bit test build system seemed to imply that 32-bit hosts are  
>> considered passe).
>>
>> Or should I stick with the older kvm until I upgrade my OS to 64-bit?
>
> kvm is supported on 32-bit hosts.  Unfortunately since moving to kvm- 
> autotest I no longer test on 32-bit, I'll try to improve the  
> situation there.
>
> If someone has spare cycles and can run kvm-autotest on their  
> hardware, that would improve kvm quality measurably.

Can't you just run the tests in a 32 bit VM? :)

Alex

>
> -- 
> error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function
>
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Re: KVM and 32-bit hosts -- still supposed to work?

[Avi Kivity]

On 07/01/2009 02:38 PM, Alexander Graf wrote:
>> kvm is supported on 32-bit hosts.  Unfortunately since moving to 
>> kvm-autotest I no longer test on 32-bit, I'll try to improve the 
>> situation there.
>>
>> If someone has spare cycles and can run kvm-autotest on their 
>> hardware, that would improve kvm quality measurably.
>
> Can't you just run the tests in a 32 bit VM? :)

I'm afraid.  I don't know what I'm more afraid of: that it won't work, 
or that it will work.

-- 
error compiling committee.c: too many arguments to function