Xen Changes For Linux 4.11: Lands PVHv2 Guest Support

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Kernel on 21 February 2017 at 03:18 PM EST. Add A Comment
LINUX KERNEL
The latest pull request worth mentioning for the Linux 4.11 merge window are the Xen virtualization feature updates.

New to the Xen code with Linux 4.11 is adding support for booting Linux as a Xen PVH guest. PVHv2 support for unprivileged guests is the main feature addition for Linux 4.11 while there is also the streamlining the Xenbus driver, support for a new device model hypercall, and made small corrections.

Xen PVHv2 is also known as HVMLite. The impact of this work is further explained on the Xen.org Wiki, "in late 2015, we started an initiative to re-architect and simplify the PVH architecture, as the original implementation has some limitations. This effort has on the development list been dubbed as HVMLite or PVHv2. From a user's perspective, the PVH re-work will behave as PVH does, but implementation wise it uses much more of the HVM code execution path rather than the PV execution path (which is why developers dubbed it HVMLite on the mailing lists and in a few developer facing presentations). At this stage, we have not decided yet how to call the feature once it is complete, but most likely we will stick with PVH to avoid confusion, although on the mailing list you may still see references to HVMLite. Once complete, the original PVH implementation will still be available for a bit, but will eventually be replaced by the new version."

Those making use of Xen virtualization can learn more about its changes for Linux 4.11 via this pull request.
Related News
About The Author
Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

Popular News This Week