[Qemu-devel] USB 2.0 printer passthrough very slow

[Qemu-devel] USB 2.0 printer passthrough very slow

[Reeted]

Hello all,
I have virtualized a Windows 2000 machine, using usb-passthrough as in:

http://fossies.org/unix/privat/qemu-1.0.1.tar.gz:a/qemu-1.0.1/docs/usb2.txt

in companion controller mode, i.e. specifying "bus=ehci.0" for both 1.1 
devices and 2.0 devices.

I used "companion mode" because in my tests I had problems with two 
separate busses: attaching a 1.1 device to the emulated ehci bus was 
notifying errors of incompatible speed and would not work, while 
attaching it to the emulated 1.1 bus had another problem which I don't 
remember exactly... I think either it was not possible or qemu was 
crashing. But with companion mode it appeared to work.

In my early tests I did notice that ehci emulation was rather slow: 
reading an USB flash key sequentially was yelding 6.5MB/sec (from the 
host it was much faster like 20MB/sec afair), but I guessed that would 
be enough for an USB printer. I have not actually tested if 
non-companion mode would be faster, maybe I could have tried that... If 
you think it would be faster please tell.

After virtualizing Windows 2000 the problem became very apparent in 
printing!
My canon IP4700 now takes 3 to 4 minutes for a print job to execute and 
clear from the queue. That's almost unusable.

Note that the speed is normal once the actual printing initiates, I can 
print 10 pages in a row (in a single job) at normal speed, but it's very 
slow during the phase of submitting a new print job to the queue, and 
removing it from the queue, or submitting a "go-poweroff" command to the 
queue, or changing anything about printer state.

I am guessing that maybe when the stream of data is mainly one way, it 
performs reasonably, while things like handshake with many 
message/response it probably goes very slow.

Note that I have blacklisted usblp module in the host and noone is 
claiming the printer from the host.

Dmesg since connecting the printer: (only 3 messages)
[ 6870.292017] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
[ 6872.676028] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
[ 6873.144032] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd

Qemu version is: Ubuntu Precise's qemu-kvm 1.0+noroms-0ubuntu6

info usbhost:
   Bus 1, Addr 3, Port 3, Speed 480 Mb/s
     Class 00: USB device 04a9:10d2, iP4700 series
   Auto filters:
     Bus 1, Addr *, Port 5, ID *:*
     Bus 1, Addr *, Port 4, ID *:*
     Bus 1, Addr *, Port 3, ID *:*
     Bus 4, Addr *, Port 1, ID *:*
     Bus 3, Addr *, Port 2, ID *:*
     Bus 3, Addr *, Port 1, ID *:*

info usb:
   Device 0.2, Port 1, Speed 12 Mb/s, Product QEMU USB Tablet
   Device 1.0, Port 1, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
   Device 1.0, Port 2, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
   Device 1.1, Port 3, Speed 480 Mb/s, Product iP4700 series
   Device 1.0, Port 4, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
   Device 1.0, Port 5, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
   Device 1.2, Port 6, Speed 12 Mb/s, Product QEMU USB Hub
   Device 1.0, Port 6.1, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device

Note I am also using usb tablet... I might remove that if you say that 
an ehci-only setup is likely to go faster.

Libvirt usb part:
<qemu:commandline>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg value='ich9-usb-ehci1,id=ehci,addr=1d.7,multifunction=on'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg 
value='ich9-usb-uhci1,id=uhci-1,addr=1d.0,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=0'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg 
value='ich9-usb-uhci2,id=uhci-2,addr=1d.1,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=2'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg 
value='ich9-usb-uhci3,id=uhci-3,addr=1d.2,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=4'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=5'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=4'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=3'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=4,hostport=1'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=2'/>
<qemu:arg value='-device'/>
<qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=1'/>
</qemu:commandline>

generated command line:
/usr/bin/kvm -S -M pc-1.0 -enable-kvm -m 2048 -smp 
2,sockets=2,cores=1,threads=1 -name windows_cl3_v3.1 -uuid 
0779e165-b11a-6d1c-fa92-f60ec5bdd9a7 -nodefconfig -nodefaults -chardev 
socket,id=charmonitor,path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/windows_cl3_v3.1.monitor,server,nowait 
-mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control -rtc 
base=2012-04-02T20:37:15 -no-shutdown -boot order=c,menu=on -drive 
file=/dev/mapper/vg1-lv_cl3_v3.1,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-0,format=raw,cache=writethrough,aio=native 
-device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-0-0,id=ide0-0-0 
-drive 
file=/home/virtual_machines/ISO/ubuntu-11.10-desktop-amd64.iso,if=none,media=cdrom,id=drive-ide0-1-0,readonly=on,format=raw,cache=writethrough,aio=native 
-device ide-drive,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-1-0,id=ide0-1-0 
-netdev tap,fd=18,id=hostnet0 -device 
virtio-net-pci,event_idx=off,netdev=hostnet0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:12:45:88,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3 
-chardev pty,id=charserial0 -device 
isa-serial,chardev=charserial0,id=serial0 -usb -device 
usb-tablet,id=input0 -vnc 127.0.0.1:0 -vga cirrus -device 
virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x4 -device 
ich9-usb-ehci1,id=ehci,addr=1d.7,multifunction=on -device 
ich9-usb-uhci1,id=uhci-1,addr=1d.0,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=0 
-device 
ich9-usb-uhci2,id=uhci-2,addr=1d.1,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=2 
-device 
ich9-usb-uhci3,id=uhci-3,addr=1d.2,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=4 
-device usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=5 -device 
usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=4 -device 
usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=3 -device 
usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=4,hostport=1 -device 
usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=2 -device 
usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=1


Is this kind of performance to be expected with current status of ehci 
emulation in 1.0? Are there patches already I can backport to 1.0 (or 
use qemu development branch) to get higher speed?

Thanks for any help
R.

Re: [Qemu-devel] USB 2.0 printer passthrough very slow

[Erik Rull]

Hi,

please try to use the .cfg file from the docs/ directory, using this file, 
the USB printer speed is really good on my systems. Well it is still an 
emulation so you'll never get native speed, but it is far better than the 
USB 1.x emulation we had in 0.1x versions.
Best thing to test the approx. transfer speed: Plug in a fast usb key, copy 
some larger data chunks and measure the time - on the same port where you 
attach the printer.

Printing e.g. the Windows XP test page takes not really more time than on a 
native system.

Best regards,

Erik


Reeted wrote:
> Hello all,
> I have virtualized a Windows 2000 machine, using usb-passthrough as in:
>
> http://fossies.org/unix/privat/qemu-1.0.1.tar.gz:a/qemu-1.0.1/docs/usb2.txt
>
> in companion controller mode, i.e. specifying "bus=ehci.0" for both 1.1
> devices and 2.0 devices.
>
> I used "companion mode" because in my tests I had problems with two
> separate busses: attaching a 1.1 device to the emulated ehci bus was
> notifying errors of incompatible speed and would not work, while attaching
> it to the emulated 1.1 bus had another problem which I don't remember
> exactly... I think either it was not possible or qemu was crashing. But
> with companion mode it appeared to work.
>
> In my early tests I did notice that ehci emulation was rather slow: reading
> an USB flash key sequentially was yelding 6.5MB/sec (from the host it was
> much faster like 20MB/sec afair), but I guessed that would be enough for an
> USB printer. I have not actually tested if non-companion mode would be
> faster, maybe I could have tried that... If you think it would be faster
> please tell.
>
> After virtualizing Windows 2000 the problem became very apparent in printing!
> My canon IP4700 now takes 3 to 4 minutes for a print job to execute and
> clear from the queue. That's almost unusable.
>
> Note that the speed is normal once the actual printing initiates, I can
> print 10 pages in a row (in a single job) at normal speed, but it's very
> slow during the phase of submitting a new print job to the queue, and
> removing it from the queue, or submitting a "go-poweroff" command to the
> queue, or changing anything about printer state.
>
> I am guessing that maybe when the stream of data is mainly one way, it
> performs reasonably, while things like handshake with many message/response
> it probably goes very slow.
>
> Note that I have blacklisted usblp module in the host and noone is claiming
> the printer from the host.
>
> Dmesg since connecting the printer: (only 3 messages)
> [ 6870.292017] usb 1-3: new high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
> [ 6872.676028] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
> [ 6873.144032] usb 1-3: reset high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
>
> Qemu version is: Ubuntu Precise's qemu-kvm 1.0+noroms-0ubuntu6
>
> info usbhost:
> Bus 1, Addr 3, Port 3, Speed 480 Mb/s
> Class 00: USB device 04a9:10d2, iP4700 series
> Auto filters:
> Bus 1, Addr *, Port 5, ID *:*
> Bus 1, Addr *, Port 4, ID *:*
> Bus 1, Addr *, Port 3, ID *:*
> Bus 4, Addr *, Port 1, ID *:*
> Bus 3, Addr *, Port 2, ID *:*
> Bus 3, Addr *, Port 1, ID *:*
>
> info usb:
> Device 0.2, Port 1, Speed 12 Mb/s, Product QEMU USB Tablet
> Device 1.0, Port 1, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
> Device 1.0, Port 2, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
> Device 1.1, Port 3, Speed 480 Mb/s, Product iP4700 series
> Device 1.0, Port 4, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
> Device 1.0, Port 5, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
> Device 1.2, Port 6, Speed 12 Mb/s, Product QEMU USB Hub
> Device 1.0, Port 6.1, Speed 1.5 Mb/s, Product USB Host Device
>
> Note I am also using usb tablet... I might remove that if you say that an
> ehci-only setup is likely to go faster.
>
> Libvirt usb part:
> <qemu:commandline>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg value='ich9-usb-ehci1,id=ehci,addr=1d.7,multifunction=on'/>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg
> value='ich9-usb-uhci1,id=uhci-1,addr=1d.0,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=0'/>
>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg
> value='ich9-usb-uhci2,id=uhci-2,addr=1d.1,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=2'/>
>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg
> value='ich9-usb-uhci3,id=uhci-3,addr=1d.2,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=4'/>
>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=5'/>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=4'/>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=3'/>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=4,hostport=1'/>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=2'/>
> <qemu:arg value='-device'/>
> <qemu:arg value='usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=1'/>
> </qemu:commandline>
>
> generated command line:
> /usr/bin/kvm -S -M pc-1.0 -enable-kvm -m 2048 -smp
> 2,sockets=2,cores=1,threads=1 -name windows_cl3_v3.1 -uuid
> 0779e165-b11a-6d1c-fa92-f60ec5bdd9a7 -nodefconfig -nodefaults -chardev
> socket,id=charmonitor,path=/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/windows_cl3_v3.1.monitor,server,nowait
> -mon chardev=charmonitor,id=monitor,mode=control -rtc
> base=2012-04-02T20:37:15 -no-shutdown -boot order=c,menu=on -drive
> file=/dev/mapper/vg1-lv_cl3_v3.1,if=none,id=drive-ide0-0-0,format=raw,cache=writethrough,aio=native
> -device ide-drive,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-0-0,id=ide0-0-0 -drive
> file=/home/virtual_machines/ISO/ubuntu-11.10-desktop-amd64.iso,if=none,media=cdrom,id=drive-ide0-1-0,readonly=on,format=raw,cache=writethrough,aio=native
> -device ide-drive,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0-1-0,id=ide0-1-0 -netdev
> tap,fd=18,id=hostnet0 -device
> virtio-net-pci,event_idx=off,netdev=hostnet0,id=net0,mac=52:54:00:12:45:88,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3
> -chardev pty,id=charserial0 -device
> isa-serial,chardev=charserial0,id=serial0 -usb -device usb-tablet,id=input0
> -vnc 127.0.0.1:0 -vga cirrus -device
> virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x4 -device
> ich9-usb-ehci1,id=ehci,addr=1d.7,multifunction=on -device
> ich9-usb-uhci1,id=uhci-1,addr=1d.0,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=0
> -device
> ich9-usb-uhci2,id=uhci-2,addr=1d.1,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=2
> -device
> ich9-usb-uhci3,id=uhci-3,addr=1d.2,multifunction=on,masterbus=ehci.0,firstport=4
> -device usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=5 -device
> usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=4 -device
> usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=1,hostport=3 -device
> usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=4,hostport=1 -device
> usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=2 -device
> usb-host,bus=ehci.0,hostbus=3,hostport=1
>
>
> Is this kind of performance to be expected with current status of ehci
> emulation in 1.0? Are there patches already I can backport to 1.0 (or use
> qemu development branch) to get higher speed?
>
> Thanks for any help
> R.
>

Re: [Qemu-devel] USB 2.0 printer passthrough very slow

[Reeted]

On 04/03/12 15:33, Erik Rull wrote:
> Hi,
>
> please try to use the .cfg file from the docs/ directory, 

The ich9-ehci-uhci.cfg ? Yes it's the same thing I am using.
If you look at the <qemu:commandline> section I have replicated that 
file exactly.
I had access rights problem using the .cfg file, that's why I replicated 
it in the commandline, but it's the same thing really.

> using this file, the USB printer speed is really good on my systems. 
> Well it is still an emulation so you'll never get native speed, but it 
> is far better than the USB 1.x emulation we had in 0.1x versions.
> Best thing to test the approx. transfer speed: Plug in a fast usb key, 
> copy some larger data chunks and measure the time - on the same port 
> where you attach the printer.

I had tested that on a linux guest and it was 6.5MB/sec (dd streaming of 
the device! Not file copy) as I said, but you are right, it's better if 
I try it on the real windows guest. I won't have a chance to test it 
until the weekened though.

>
> Printing e.g. the Windows XP test page takes not really more time than 
> on a native system.

And if you send a second job it follows the first one right away or it 
takes minutes in between?

What printer?

What qemu version?

Any chance you could post here your commandline? (from ps aux )

What's the guest setting in device management, is it ACPI Uniprocessor
http://www.neowin.net/forum/uploads/post-9158-1134631266.png
or ACPI Multiprocessor or Standard PC or other?
Mine is ACPI Multiprocessor with 2vCPU. Other settings were almost twice 
slower in booting the system.

(Sorry for the many questions :-) )

Thanks for your help
R.

Re: [Qemu-devel] USB 2.0 printer passthrough very slow

[Reeted]

On 04/03/12 14:26, Reeted wrote:
> ....
> My canon IP4700 now takes 3 to 4 minutes for a print job to execute 
> and clear from the queue. That's almost unusable.
> ....

I am seeing new patches in qemu master branch (i.e. newer than 1.0.1), 
related to the pipelining of ehci commands by Gerd Hoffmann.

Is that going to increase speed significantly like at least 2x ?

Thank you

Re: [Qemu-devel] USB 2.0 printer passthrough very slow

[Erik Rull]

Hi,

Reeted wrote:
> On 04/03/12 15:33, Erik Rull wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> please try to use the .cfg file from the docs/ directory,
>
> The ich9-ehci-uhci.cfg ? Yes it's the same thing I am using.
> If you look at the <qemu:commandline> section I have replicated that file
> exactly.
> I had access rights problem using the .cfg file, that's why I replicated it
> in the commandline, but it's the same thing really.

You're right.

>> using this file, the USB printer speed is really good on my systems. Well
>> it is still an emulation so you'll never get native speed, but it is far
>> better than the USB 1.x emulation we had in 0.1x versions.
>> Best thing to test the approx. transfer speed: Plug in a fast usb key,
>> copy some larger data chunks and measure the time - on the same port
>> where you attach the printer.
>
> I had tested that on a linux guest and it was 6.5MB/sec (dd streaming of
> the device! Not file copy) as I said, but you are right, it's better if I
> try it on the real windows guest. I won't have a chance to test it until
> the weekened though.
>
>>
>> Printing e.g. the Windows XP test page takes not really more time than on
>> a native system.
>
> And if you send a second job it follows the first one right away or it
> takes minutes in between?

Hm, I didn't have an eye on that, but I don't see any reasons why the USB 
speed should slow down the Windows Printing Queue.

> What printer?

Tested with an EPSON USB 2.0 and a HP with USB 1.1.

> What qemu version?

I'm not sure which version is the oldest where it worked, but the current 
git master seems to be fine...
If you have no chance to get direct GIT access you can download the master 
from the git web interface as .tgz.

> Any chance you could post here your commandline? (from ps aux )

Currently not - the system is not available this week - sorry.

> What's the guest setting in device management, is it ACPI Uniprocessor
> http://www.neowin.net/forum/uploads/post-9158-1134631266.png
> or ACPI Multiprocessor or Standard PC or other?
> Mine is ACPI Multiprocessor with 2vCPU. Other settings were almost twice
> slower in booting the system.

Standard PC - I don't think that this is related to your issue.
Best thing would be to test it on a native system.
Well - Speeding up the system with a second core should increase the speed :-)

> (Sorry for the many questions :-) )
>
> Thanks for your help
> R.
>

Best regards,

Erik