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From: David Scott <dave.scott@citrix.com>
To: xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org
Cc: ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com, David Scott <dave.scott@citrix.com>,
	wei.liu2@citrix.com, ian.campbell@citrix.com,
	stefano.stabellini@eu.citrix.com
Subject: [PATCH v2] implement libvirt-like 'channels' via PV consoles
Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 10:49:49 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <1402912195-24732-1-git-send-email-dave.scott@citrix.com> (raw)

Several libvirt applications (e.g. oVirt, CloudStack) make use of 'channels':
low-bandwidth private host <-> guest communication links which resemble serial
ports. Typical uses include:

  * initial VM configuration without using the network: read the config data
    directly from the channel on boot

  * controlling a guest agent: signal shutdown reqests, exchange clipboard data,
    trigger resolution changes

This patch set re-uses the existing PV console protocol implemented by qemu
to provide this service.

If you declare a channel in your .xl file as follows:

  channel = [ "type=socket,path=/tmp/mysock,name=guest-agent" ]

then an extra PV console will be added to your guest. This console has the
extra key in the frontend

  name = guest-agent

which allows udev scripts in the VM to create a named device in a well-known
location (e.g. /dev/xen-channels/guest-agent, similar to the KVM /dev/vports).
The qemu process in the backend domain will proxy the data to/from the named
Unix domain socket (in this case /tmp/mysock).

Note this mechanism is intended for low-bandwidth communication only. If an
application requires a high-bandwith connection then it should use a direct
vchan connection (and not proxy it via a qemu).

Changes since v1:

  * extend xl.cfg(5)
  * add docs/misc/channel.txt
  * libxl_types.idl: omit unnecessary init_val = 0
  * xl_cmdimpl.c: fixed over-long lines
  * xl_cmdimpl.c: use xrealloc (via ARRAY_EXTEND_INIT)
  * xl_cmdimpl.c: exit() on parse failure rather than ignore configuration
  * libxl_create.c: use libxl__device_console_init instead of memset
  * libxl_create.c: use libxl__strdup(NOGC rather than raw strdup
  * libxl.c: add name=<name> to console frontend
  * libxl.c: resolve the backend_domid from backend_domname
  * libxl_dm.c: channels[i].devid rather than i
  * libxl_dm.c: fix indentation
  * libxl_dm.c: use GCSPRINTF convenience macro

Signed-off-by: David Scott <dave.scott@citrix.com>

             reply	other threads:[~2014-06-16  9:50 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 21+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2014-06-16  9:49 David Scott [this message]
2014-06-16  9:49 ` [PATCH v2 1/6] libxl: add a list of abstract 'channels' to the domain config David Scott
2014-06-18 13:27   ` Ian Campbell
2014-06-18 14:05     ` Dave Scott
2014-06-18 14:38       ` Ian Campbell
2014-06-16  9:49 ` [PATCH v2 2/6] xl: add support for channels David Scott
2014-06-16  9:49 ` [PATCH v2 3/6] libxl: implement channels via PV console rings David Scott
2014-06-18 13:31   ` Ian Campbell
2014-06-16  9:49 ` [PATCH v2 4/6] libxl: spawn a qemu to implement channels David Scott
2014-06-18 13:32   ` Ian Campbell
2014-06-16  9:49 ` [PATCH v2 5/6] Add a section in xl.cfg(5) describing 'channels' David Scott
2014-06-18 13:38   ` Ian Campbell
2014-06-16  9:49 ` [PATCH v2 6/6] Add a general description of the channel mechanism to docs/misc/ David Scott
2014-06-18 13:41   ` Ian Campbell
2014-06-18 14:37     ` Dave Scott
2014-06-18 14:43       ` Ian Campbell
2014-06-18 15:00         ` Dave Scott
2014-06-16 13:34 ` [PATCH v2] implement libvirt-like 'channels' via PV consoles Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk
2014-06-16 13:49   ` Dave Scott
2014-06-16 13:52     ` Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk
2014-06-18 13:43       ` Ian Campbell

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