[Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Hi all,
We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in last Sep. XenGT is a full GPU virtualization solution with mediated pass-through, on Intel Processor Graphics. A virtual GPU instance is maintained for each VM, with part of performance critical resources directly assigned. The capability of running native graphics driver inside a VM, without hypervisor intervention in performance critical paths, achieves a good balance among performance, feature, and sharing capability. Though we only support Xen on Intel Processor Graphics so far, the core logic can be easily ported to other hypervisors.

The update consists of:

Linux-vgt:
    Rebased to kernel 3.11.6 
    Lots of stability fixes
    Improved sharing quality of render engine and display engine
    Multi-monitors (clone/extended) support for VGA, HDMI, DP and eDP types
    Support VMs with different resolutions
    Improved monitor hotplug handling
    Preliminary support for GPU recovery

Xen-vgt:
    Rebased to Xen 4.3.1
    >8 bytes MMIO emulation

Qemu-vgt:
    Included VT-d GPU pass-through logic for comparison
    Grub2 graphics mode works now

Please refer to the attached new setup guide:
https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel/blob/master/XenGT_Setup_Guide.pdf
It provides step-to-step details about building/configuring/running XenGT.

The new source codes are available at the updated github repos:
Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git

More information about XenGT's background, architecture, etc can be found at:
http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/XenGT-Xen%20Summit-v7.pdf
https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt

Appreciating your comments!

Thanks,
-- Dexuan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org
> [mailto:xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org] On Behalf Of Shan, Haitao
> Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 8:46 PM
> To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Cc: Tian, Kevin; White, Michael L; Dong, Eddie; Li, Susie; Cowperthwaite,
> David J; Haron, Sandra
> Subject: [Xen-devel] [RFC] XenGT - An Mediated Graphics Passthrough
> Solution from Intel
> 
> Hi, Xen Experts,
> 
> This email is aimed at a first time disclosure of project XenGT, which is
> a Graphics virtualization solution based on Xen.
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see, requirements for GPU to be sharable among virtual machines
> have been constantly rising. The targeted usage model might be
> accelerating tasks ranging from gaming, video playback, fancy GUIs,
> high-performance computing (GPU-based). This trend is observed on both
> client and cloud. Efficient GPU virtualization is required to address the
> increasing demands.
> 
> 
> We have developed XenGT - a prototype based on a mediated passthrough
> architecture. We support running a native graphics driver in multiple VMs
> to achieve high performance. A specific mediator owns the scheduling and
> sharing hardware resources among all the virtual machines. By saying
> mediated pass-through, we actually divide graphics resource to two
> categories: performance critical and others. We partition performance
> critical resources for VM's direct access like pass-through, while save
> and restore others.
> 
> 
> 
> XenGT implements the mediator in dom0, called vgt driver. This avoids
> adding complex device knowledge to Xen, and also permits a more flexible
> release model. In the meantime, we want to have a unified architecture to
> mediate all the VMs, including dom0. Thus, We developed a deprivileged
> dom0 mode, which essentially trapped Dom0's access to selected resources
> (graphics resources in XenGT case) and forwarded to vgt driver (which is
> also in Dom0) for processing.
> 
> 
> Right now, we support 4 accelerated VMs: Dom0 + 3 HVM DomUs. We've
> conducted verifications based on Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04. Tests conducted
> in VM include but are not limited to 3D gaming, media playbacks, 2D
> accelerations.
> 
> We believe the architecture itself can be general so that different GPUs
> can all use this mediated passthrough concept. However, we only developed
> codes based on Intel 4th Core Processor with integrated Graphics.
> 
> If you have interests in trying, you can refer to the attached setup
> guide, which provides step-to-step details on building/configuring/running
> XenGT.
> 
> Source code is made available at github:
> Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
> Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
> Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git
> 
> Any comments are welcome!
> 
> 
> Special note: We are making this code available to general public since we
> take community's involvement and feedbacks seriously. However, while
> we've
> tested our solution with various workloads, the code is only at pre-alpha
> stage. Hangs might happen, so please don't try it on the system that
> hosting critical data for you.
> 
> Shan Haitao

Re: [Xen-devel] [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Pasi Kärkkäinen]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
> Hi all,
> We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in last Sep. XenGT is a full GPU virtualization solution with mediated pass-through, on Intel Processor Graphics. A virtual GPU instance is maintained for each VM, with part of performance critical resources directly assigned. The capability of running native graphics driver inside a VM, without hypervisor intervention in performance critical paths, achieves a good balance among performance, feature, and sharing capability. Though we only support Xen on Intel Processor Graphics so far, the core logic can be easily ported to other hypervisors.
> 
> The update consists of:
> 
> Linux-vgt:
>     Rebased to kernel 3.11.6 
>     Lots of stability fixes
>     Improved sharing quality of render engine and display engine
>     Multi-monitors (clone/extended) support for VGA, HDMI, DP and eDP types
>     Support VMs with different resolutions
>     Improved monitor hotplug handling
>     Preliminary support for GPU recovery
> 
> Xen-vgt:
>     Rebased to Xen 4.3.1
>     >8 bytes MMIO emulation
> 
> Qemu-vgt:
>     Included VT-d GPU pass-through logic for comparison
>     Grub2 graphics mode works now
> 
> Please refer to the attached new setup guide:
> https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel/blob/master/XenGT_Setup_Guide.pdf
> It provides step-to-step details about building/configuring/running XenGT.
> 
> The new source codes are available at the updated github repos:
> Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
> Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
> Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git
> 
> More information about XenGT's background, architecture, etc can be found at:
> http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/XenGT-Xen%20Summit-v7.pdf
> https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt
> 
> Appreciating your comments!
> 

First of all: Very nice, thanks a lot for sharing this! 

Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be released soon(ish),
so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then.. 

Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a requirement in the Setup Guide PDF.. 
will there be support for SNB/IVB GPUs aswell? 


Thanks,

-- Pasi

> Thanks,
> -- Dexuan
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org
> > [mailto:xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org] On Behalf Of Shan, Haitao
> > Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 8:46 PM
> > To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> > Cc: Tian, Kevin; White, Michael L; Dong, Eddie; Li, Susie; Cowperthwaite,
> > David J; Haron, Sandra
> > Subject: [Xen-devel] [RFC] XenGT - An Mediated Graphics Passthrough
> > Solution from Intel
> > 
> > Hi, Xen Experts,
> > 
> > This email is aimed at a first time disclosure of project XenGT, which is
> > a Graphics virtualization solution based on Xen.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > As you can see, requirements for GPU to be sharable among virtual machines
> > have been constantly rising. The targeted usage model might be
> > accelerating tasks ranging from gaming, video playback, fancy GUIs,
> > high-performance computing (GPU-based). This trend is observed on both
> > client and cloud. Efficient GPU virtualization is required to address the
> > increasing demands.
> > 
> > 
> > We have developed XenGT - a prototype based on a mediated passthrough
> > architecture. We support running a native graphics driver in multiple VMs
> > to achieve high performance. A specific mediator owns the scheduling and
> > sharing hardware resources among all the virtual machines. By saying
> > mediated pass-through, we actually divide graphics resource to two
> > categories: performance critical and others. We partition performance
> > critical resources for VM's direct access like pass-through, while save
> > and restore others.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > XenGT implements the mediator in dom0, called vgt driver. This avoids
> > adding complex device knowledge to Xen, and also permits a more flexible
> > release model. In the meantime, we want to have a unified architecture to
> > mediate all the VMs, including dom0. Thus, We developed a deprivileged
> > dom0 mode, which essentially trapped Dom0's access to selected resources
> > (graphics resources in XenGT case) and forwarded to vgt driver (which is
> > also in Dom0) for processing.
> > 
> > 
> > Right now, we support 4 accelerated VMs: Dom0 + 3 HVM DomUs. We've
> > conducted verifications based on Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04. Tests conducted
> > in VM include but are not limited to 3D gaming, media playbacks, 2D
> > accelerations.
> > 
> > We believe the architecture itself can be general so that different GPUs
> > can all use this mediated passthrough concept. However, we only developed
> > codes based on Intel 4th Core Processor with integrated Graphics.
> > 
> > If you have interests in trying, you can refer to the attached setup
> > guide, which provides step-to-step details on building/configuring/running
> > XenGT.
> > 
> > Source code is made available at github:
> > Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
> > Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
> > Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git
> > 
> > Any comments are welcome!
> > 
> > 
> > Special note: We are making this code available to general public since we
> > take community's involvement and feedbacks seriously. However, while
> > we've
> > tested our solution with various workloads, the code is only at pre-alpha
> > stage. Hangs might happen, so please don't try it on the system that
> > hosting critical data for you.
> > 
> > Shan Haitao
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> http://lists.xen.org/xen-devel

Re: [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Pasi Kärkkäinen]

On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
> Hi all,
> We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in last Sep. XenGT is a full GPU virtualization solution with mediated pass-through, on Intel Processor Graphics. A virtual GPU instance is maintained for each VM, with part of performance critical resources directly assigned. The capability of running native graphics driver inside a VM, without hypervisor intervention in performance critical paths, achieves a good balance among performance, feature, and sharing capability. Though we only support Xen on Intel Processor Graphics so far, the core logic can be easily ported to other hypervisors.
> 
> The update consists of:
> 
> Linux-vgt:
>     Rebased to kernel 3.11.6 
>     Lots of stability fixes
>     Improved sharing quality of render engine and display engine
>     Multi-monitors (clone/extended) support for VGA, HDMI, DP and eDP types
>     Support VMs with different resolutions
>     Improved monitor hotplug handling
>     Preliminary support for GPU recovery
> 
> Xen-vgt:
>     Rebased to Xen 4.3.1
>     >8 bytes MMIO emulation
> 
> Qemu-vgt:
>     Included VT-d GPU pass-through logic for comparison
>     Grub2 graphics mode works now
> 
> Please refer to the attached new setup guide:
> https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel/blob/master/XenGT_Setup_Guide.pdf
> It provides step-to-step details about building/configuring/running XenGT.
> 
> The new source codes are available at the updated github repos:
> Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
> Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
> Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git
> 
> More information about XenGT's background, architecture, etc can be found at:
> http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/XenGT-Xen%20Summit-v7.pdf
> https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt
> 
> Appreciating your comments!
> 

First of all: Very nice, thanks a lot for sharing this! 

Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be released soon(ish),
so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then.. 

Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a requirement in the Setup Guide PDF.. 
will there be support for SNB/IVB GPUs aswell? 


Thanks,

-- Pasi

> Thanks,
> -- Dexuan
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org
> > [mailto:xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org] On Behalf Of Shan, Haitao
> > Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 8:46 PM
> > To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> > Cc: Tian, Kevin; White, Michael L; Dong, Eddie; Li, Susie; Cowperthwaite,
> > David J; Haron, Sandra
> > Subject: [Xen-devel] [RFC] XenGT - An Mediated Graphics Passthrough
> > Solution from Intel
> > 
> > Hi, Xen Experts,
> > 
> > This email is aimed at a first time disclosure of project XenGT, which is
> > a Graphics virtualization solution based on Xen.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > As you can see, requirements for GPU to be sharable among virtual machines
> > have been constantly rising. The targeted usage model might be
> > accelerating tasks ranging from gaming, video playback, fancy GUIs,
> > high-performance computing (GPU-based). This trend is observed on both
> > client and cloud. Efficient GPU virtualization is required to address the
> > increasing demands.
> > 
> > 
> > We have developed XenGT - a prototype based on a mediated passthrough
> > architecture. We support running a native graphics driver in multiple VMs
> > to achieve high performance. A specific mediator owns the scheduling and
> > sharing hardware resources among all the virtual machines. By saying
> > mediated pass-through, we actually divide graphics resource to two
> > categories: performance critical and others. We partition performance
> > critical resources for VM's direct access like pass-through, while save
> > and restore others.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > XenGT implements the mediator in dom0, called vgt driver. This avoids
> > adding complex device knowledge to Xen, and also permits a more flexible
> > release model. In the meantime, we want to have a unified architecture to
> > mediate all the VMs, including dom0. Thus, We developed a deprivileged
> > dom0 mode, which essentially trapped Dom0's access to selected resources
> > (graphics resources in XenGT case) and forwarded to vgt driver (which is
> > also in Dom0) for processing.
> > 
> > 
> > Right now, we support 4 accelerated VMs: Dom0 + 3 HVM DomUs. We've
> > conducted verifications based on Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04. Tests conducted
> > in VM include but are not limited to 3D gaming, media playbacks, 2D
> > accelerations.
> > 
> > We believe the architecture itself can be general so that different GPUs
> > can all use this mediated passthrough concept. However, we only developed
> > codes based on Intel 4th Core Processor with integrated Graphics.
> > 
> > If you have interests in trying, you can refer to the attached setup
> > guide, which provides step-to-step details on building/configuring/running
> > XenGT.
> > 
> > Source code is made available at github:
> > Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
> > Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
> > Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git
> > 
> > Any comments are welcome!
> > 
> > 
> > Special note: We are making this code available to general public since we
> > take community's involvement and feedbacks seriously. However, while
> > we've
> > tested our solution with various workloads, the code is only at pre-alpha
> > stage. Hangs might happen, so please don't try it on the system that
> > hosting critical data for you.
> > 
> > Shan Haitao
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> http://lists.xen.org/xen-devel

RE: [Xen-devel] [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in
>> last Sep.
> 
> Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
> released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
> future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
Hi Pasi,
We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.

> Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a requirement in
> the Setup Guide PDF..
> will there be support for SNB/IVB GPUs aswell?
There is no plan for SNB/IVB.

Thanks,
-- Dexuan

Re: [Xen-devel] [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in
>> last Sep.
> 
> Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
> released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
> future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
Hi Pasi,
We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.

> Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a requirement in
> the Setup Guide PDF..
> will there be support for SNB/IVB GPUs aswell?
There is no plan for SNB/IVB.

Thanks,
-- Dexuan

Re: [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in
>> last Sep.
> 
> Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
> released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
> future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
Hi Pasi,
We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.

> Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a requirement in
> the Setup Guide PDF..
> will there be support for SNB/IVB GPUs aswell?
There is no plan for SNB/IVB.

Thanks,
-- Dexuan

Re: [Xen-devel] [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Pasi Kärkkäinen]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 02:22:11AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
> Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
> > On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
> >> Hi all,
> >> We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in
> >> last Sep.
> > 
> > Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
> > released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
> > future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
> Hi Pasi,
> We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.
> 

Ok. Would you like to post an article on the Xen blog about XenGT ?
I think that would be a good thing to do to get more visibility for this feature.


> > Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a requirement in
> > the Setup Guide PDF..
> > will there be support for SNB/IVB GPUs aswell?
> There is no plan for SNB/IVB.
> 

Is that because of some hardware limitation on earlier GPU generations,
or just a matter of amount of work needed to support XenGT on earlier GPUs?

Thanks,

-- Pasi

Re: [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Pasi Kärkkäinen]

On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 02:22:11AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
> Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
> > On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
> >> Hi all,
> >> We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in
> >> last Sep.
> > 
> > Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
> > released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
> > future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
> Hi Pasi,
> We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.
> 

Ok. Would you like to post an article on the Xen blog about XenGT ?
I think that would be a good thing to do to get more visibility for this feature.


> > Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a requirement in
> > the Setup Guide PDF..
> > will there be support for SNB/IVB GPUs aswell?
> There is no plan for SNB/IVB.
> 

Is that because of some hardware limitation on earlier GPU generations,
or just a matter of amount of work needed to support XenGT on earlier GPUs?

Thanks,

-- Pasi

RE: [Xen-devel] [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-22:
> On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 02:22:11AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>> Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
>>> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>>>> Hi all, We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first
>>>> disclosure in last Sep.
>>> 
>>> Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
>>> released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
>>> future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
>> Hi Pasi,
>> We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.
>> 
> 
> Ok. Would you like to post an article on the Xen blog about XenGT ?
> I think that would be a good thing to do to get more visibility for this feature.
As I mentioned in the previous mail, we already have a blog article, which
can be easily found by googling xengt: :-)
https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt

>>> Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a
>>> requirement in the Setup Guide PDF.. will there be support for SNB/IVB
>>> GPUs aswell?
>> There is no plan for SNB/IVB.
>> 
> 
> Is that because of some hardware limitation on earlier GPU generations,
> or just a matter of amount of work needed to support XenGT on earlier
> GPUs?
> -- Pasi
No HW limitation on earlier GPUs -- actually you can even see some unused
codes about earlier generations in the linux-vgt.patch.
At present we'd like to focus on HSW (and newer generation in future).

-- Dexuan

Re: [Xen-devel] [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-22:
> On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 02:22:11AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>> Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
>>> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>>>> Hi all, We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first
>>>> disclosure in last Sep.
>>> 
>>> Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
>>> released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
>>> future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
>> Hi Pasi,
>> We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.
>> 
> 
> Ok. Would you like to post an article on the Xen blog about XenGT ?
> I think that would be a good thing to do to get more visibility for this feature.
As I mentioned in the previous mail, we already have a blog article, which
can be easily found by googling xengt: :-)
https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt

>>> Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a
>>> requirement in the Setup Guide PDF.. will there be support for SNB/IVB
>>> GPUs aswell?
>> There is no plan for SNB/IVB.
>> 
> 
> Is that because of some hardware limitation on earlier GPU generations,
> or just a matter of amount of work needed to support XenGT on earlier
> GPUs?
> -- Pasi
No HW limitation on earlier GPUs -- actually you can even see some unused
codes about earlier generations in the linux-vgt.patch.
At present we'd like to focus on HSW (and newer generation in future).

-- Dexuan

Re: [Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-22:
> On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 02:22:11AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>> Pasi Kärkkäinen wrote on 2014-02-21:
>>> On Thu, Feb 20, 2014 at 07:59:04AM +0000, Cui, Dexuan wrote:
>>>> Hi all, We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first
>>>> disclosure in last Sep.
>>> 
>>> Are you going to work on upstreaming this stuff? Xen 4.4 will be
>>> released soon(ish), so the Xen 4.5 development window starts in the near
>>> future and hopefully this stuff can be upstreamed then..
>> Hi Pasi,
>> We do plan to upstream but not give a timeframe so far.
>> 
> 
> Ok. Would you like to post an article on the Xen blog about XenGT ?
> I think that would be a good thing to do to get more visibility for this feature.
As I mentioned in the previous mail, we already have a blog article, which
can be easily found by googling xengt: :-)
https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt

>>> Also: Haswell ("4th generation Intel core CPU") is listed as a
>>> requirement in the Setup Guide PDF.. will there be support for SNB/IVB
>>> GPUs aswell?
>> There is no plan for SNB/IVB.
>> 
> 
> Is that because of some hardware limitation on earlier GPU generations,
> or just a matter of amount of work needed to support XenGT on earlier
> GPUs?
> -- Pasi
No HW limitation on earlier GPUs -- actually you can even see some unused
codes about earlier generations in the linux-vgt.patch.
At present we'd like to focus on HSW (and newer generation in future).

-- Dexuan

[Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Jike Song]

Hi all,

We're pleased to announce an update to Intel Graphics Virtualization Technology (Intel GVT-g, formerly known as XenGT). Intel GVT-g is a complete vGPU solution with mediated pass-through, supported today on 4th generation Intel Core(TM) processors with Intel Graphics processors. A virtual GPU instance is maintained for each VM, with part of performance critical resources directly assigned. The capability of running native graphics driver inside a VM, without hypervisor intervention in performance critical paths, achieves a good balance among performance, feature, and sharing capability. Though we only support Xen on Intel Processor Graphics so far, the core logic can be easily ported to other hypervisors.

The news of this update:

	- Project code name is "XenGT", now official name is Intel Graphics Virtualization Technology (Intel GVT-g)
	- Currently Intel GVT-g supports Intel Processor Graphics built into 4th generation Intel Core processors - Haswell platform
	- Moving forward, XenGT will change to quarterly release cadence. Next update will be around early October, 2014.

This update consists of:

	- Stability fixes, e.g. stable DP support
	- Display enhancements, e.g. virtual monitor support. Users can define a virtual monitor type with customized EDID for virtual machines, not necessarily the same as physical monitors.
	- Improved support for GPU recovery
	- Experimental Windows HVM support. To download the experimental version, see setup guide for details
	- Experimental Hardware Media Acceleration for decoding.


Please refer to the new setup guide, which provides step-to-step details about building/configuring/running Intel GVT-g:

	https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel/blob/master/XenGT_Setup_Guide.pdf


The new source codes are available at the updated github repos:

	Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
	Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
	Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git


More information about Intel GVT-g background, architecture, etc can be found at:

	https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc14/technical-sessions/presentation/tian
	http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/XenGT-Xen%20Summit-v7_0.pdf
	https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt

The previous update can be found here:

	http://lists.xen.org/archives/html/xen-devel/2014-02/msg01848.html

Appreciate your comments!




--
Thanks,
Jike

[Announcement] Updates to XenGT - a Mediated Graphics Passthrough Solution from Intel

[Cui, Dexuan]

Hi all,
We're pleased to announce an update to XenGT since its first disclosure in last Sep. XenGT is a full GPU virtualization solution with mediated pass-through, on Intel Processor Graphics. A virtual GPU instance is maintained for each VM, with part of performance critical resources directly assigned. The capability of running native graphics driver inside a VM, without hypervisor intervention in performance critical paths, achieves a good balance among performance, feature, and sharing capability. Though we only support Xen on Intel Processor Graphics so far, the core logic can be easily ported to other hypervisors.

The update consists of:

Linux-vgt:
    Rebased to kernel 3.11.6 
    Lots of stability fixes
    Improved sharing quality of render engine and display engine
    Multi-monitors (clone/extended) support for VGA, HDMI, DP and eDP types
    Support VMs with different resolutions
    Improved monitor hotplug handling
    Preliminary support for GPU recovery

Xen-vgt:
    Rebased to Xen 4.3.1
    >8 bytes MMIO emulation

Qemu-vgt:
    Included VT-d GPU pass-through logic for comparison
    Grub2 graphics mode works now

Please refer to the attached new setup guide:
https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel/blob/master/XenGT_Setup_Guide.pdf
It provides step-to-step details about building/configuring/running XenGT.

The new source codes are available at the updated github repos:
Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git

More information about XenGT's background, architecture, etc can be found at:
http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/XenGT-Xen%20Summit-v7.pdf
https://01.org/xen/blogs/srclarkx/2013/graphics-virtualization-xengt

Appreciating your comments!

Thanks,
-- Dexuan

> -----Original Message-----
> From: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org
> [mailto:xen-devel-bounces@lists.xen.org] On Behalf Of Shan, Haitao
> Sent: Monday, September 09, 2013 8:46 PM
> To: xen-devel@lists.xen.org
> Cc: Tian, Kevin; White, Michael L; Dong, Eddie; Li, Susie; Cowperthwaite,
> David J; Haron, Sandra
> Subject: [Xen-devel] [RFC] XenGT - An Mediated Graphics Passthrough
> Solution from Intel
> 
> Hi, Xen Experts,
> 
> This email is aimed at a first time disclosure of project XenGT, which is
> a Graphics virtualization solution based on Xen.
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see, requirements for GPU to be sharable among virtual machines
> have been constantly rising. The targeted usage model might be
> accelerating tasks ranging from gaming, video playback, fancy GUIs,
> high-performance computing (GPU-based). This trend is observed on both
> client and cloud. Efficient GPU virtualization is required to address the
> increasing demands.
> 
> 
> We have developed XenGT - a prototype based on a mediated passthrough
> architecture. We support running a native graphics driver in multiple VMs
> to achieve high performance. A specific mediator owns the scheduling and
> sharing hardware resources among all the virtual machines. By saying
> mediated pass-through, we actually divide graphics resource to two
> categories: performance critical and others. We partition performance
> critical resources for VM's direct access like pass-through, while save
> and restore others.
> 
> 
> 
> XenGT implements the mediator in dom0, called vgt driver. This avoids
> adding complex device knowledge to Xen, and also permits a more flexible
> release model. In the meantime, we want to have a unified architecture to
> mediate all the VMs, including dom0. Thus, We developed a deprivileged
> dom0 mode, which essentially trapped Dom0's access to selected resources
> (graphics resources in XenGT case) and forwarded to vgt driver (which is
> also in Dom0) for processing.
> 
> 
> Right now, we support 4 accelerated VMs: Dom0 + 3 HVM DomUs. We've
> conducted verifications based on Ubuntu 12.04 and 13.04. Tests conducted
> in VM include but are not limited to 3D gaming, media playbacks, 2D
> accelerations.
> 
> We believe the architecture itself can be general so that different GPUs
> can all use this mediated passthrough concept. However, we only developed
> codes based on Intel 4th Core Processor with integrated Graphics.
> 
> If you have interests in trying, you can refer to the attached setup
> guide, which provides step-to-step details on building/configuring/running
> XenGT.
> 
> Source code is made available at github:
> Xen: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-xen.git
> Linux: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-kernel.git
> Qemu: https://github.com/01org/XenGT-Preview-qemu.git
> 
> Any comments are welcome!
> 
> 
> Special note: We are making this code available to general public since we
> take community's involvement and feedbacks seriously. However, while
> we've
> tested our solution with various workloads, the code is only at pre-alpha
> stage. Hangs might happen, so please don't try it on the system that
> hosting critical data for you.
> 
> Shan Haitao