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[[Category:Virtualization]] <!-- do not copy into FWN issue -->


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== Virtualization ==
== Virtualization ==
In this section, we cover discussion of Fedora virtualization technologies on the
In this section, we cover discussion of Fedora virtualization technologies on the
@fedora-virt and @virt-tools lists..
@fedora-virt and @libvirt-list lists.


Contributing Writer: [[User:Dale | Dale Bewley]]
Contributing Writer: [[User:Dale | Dale Bewley]]
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"A high ratio of pages_sharing to pages_shared indicates good sharing, but
"A high ratio of pages_sharing to pages_shared indicates good sharing, but
a high ratio of pages_unshared to pages_sharing indicates wasted effort."
a high ratio of pages_unshared to pages_sharing indicates wasted effort."
<references />
=== Libvirt List ===
This section contains the discussion happening on the
[http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/libvir-list libvir-list].
==== Rewrite the QEMU monitor handling ====
[[DanielBerrange|Daniel Berrange]]
posted<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2009-October/msg00644.html</ref> a
"patch series [which] rewrites the QEMU monitor handling almost completely.
The key theme here is to move from a totally synchronous way of
interacting with the monitor, to a totally asynchronous way. This
allows " {{package|libvirt}} " to handle receipt & dispatch of asychronous events from
QEMU. For example a notification of a disk-full error, or VM state
change.  In the process of doing this re-factoring I have also
dropped in basic support/infrastructure for the JSON based monitor."
<references />
==== Node device enumeration with udev ====
[[DaveAllan|Dave Allan]]
posted<ref>http://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/2009-October/msg00731.html</ref>
"a fully functional version of the node device udev<ref>http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html</ref> based backend, incorporating all the feedback from earlier revisions." "...I have also included a patch removing the DevKit backend."
Also see FWN#146 <ref>http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FWN/Issue146#Host_Device_Enumeration_API</ref> for some coverage of the host device enumeration API.


<references />
<references />

Revision as of 04:34, 2 November 2009


Virtualization

In this section, we cover discussion of Fedora virtualization technologies on the @fedora-virt and @libvirt-list lists.

Contributing Writer: Dale Bewley

Fedora Virtualization List

This section contains the discussion happening on the fedora-virt list.

KSM Tuning in Fedora 12

Mark McLoughlin described[1] the default state of KSM[2] on Fedora systems. "For Fedora 13, it'll be off by default in the kernel and the recommended way of switching it on is with 'chkconfig ksm on'" "For Fedora 12, it's on by default in the kernel, 'chkconfig ksm on' just changes max pages and the only way of disabling it is by manually writing zero to /sys/kernel/mm/ksm/run."

At release of Fedora 12 the kernel will default to a maximum of 2000 merged memory pages. A future F12 kernel update to 2.6.32 will likely disable KSM by default. To take advantage of KSM in Fedora 12, the ksm service must be enabled:

sudo chkconfig ksm on

Mark McLoughlin also noted[3] The maximum number of pages which may be merged defaults to half of the system memory, and may also be manually defined in /etc/sysconfig/ksm. "Here's the logic we have in the init script[4]:"

  # unless KSM_MAX_KERNEL_PAGES is set, let ksm munch up to half of total memory.
  default_max_kernel_pages () {
      local total pagesize
      total=`awk '/^MemTotal:/ {print $2}' /proc/meminfo`
      pagesize=`getconf PAGESIZE`
      echo $[total * 1024 / pagesize / 2]
  }

Justin Forbes points out[5] "The limit to half of total memory is because ksm pages are unswappable at this time. To be fixed in a future kernel."

A second service, ksmtuned, may also be enabled. Ksmtuned regulates how aggressively the system will attempt to merge pages. Parameters such as how many pages to scan before sleeping and how long to sleep may be configured in /etc/ksmtuned.conf.

Memory pages must be flagged as mergable before KSM will scan them looking for duplicates. At present only Qemu pages will be marked as such. As described in the kernel docs[6], the effect of KSM system memory may be examined in /sys/kernel/mm/ksm. "A high ratio of pages_sharing to pages_shared indicates good sharing, but a high ratio of pages_unshared to pages_sharing indicates wasted effort."

Libvirt List

This section contains the discussion happening on the libvir-list.

Rewrite the QEMU monitor handling

Daniel Berrange posted[1] a "patch series [which] rewrites the QEMU monitor handling almost completely.

The key theme here is to move from a totally synchronous way of interacting with the monitor, to a totally asynchronous way. This allows " Package-x-generic-16.pnglibvirt " to handle receipt & dispatch of asychronous events from QEMU. For example a notification of a disk-full error, or VM state change. In the process of doing this re-factoring I have also dropped in basic support/infrastructure for the JSON based monitor."

Node device enumeration with udev

Dave Allan posted[1] "a fully functional version of the node device udev[2] based backend, incorporating all the feedback from earlier revisions." "...I have also included a patch removing the DevKit backend."

Also see FWN#146 [3] for some coverage of the host device enumeration API.