It's not possible to virtualize PCI cards to a PV with xcp-xapi @ saucy

[fnu]

It's greatly possible to set up a xcp-xapi server based on Saucy Salamander. XenCenter or OpenXenManager can connect succesfully to the this host and manage it. Linux based PVs can be set up and do run like a charm.

Except the possibility to virtualize PCI cards to a PV. I have two DVB cards, reserved for usage with "xen-pciback":

#/> lspci
...
02:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Micronas Semiconductor Holding AG nGene PCI-Express Multimedia Controller (rev 01)
03:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Micronas Semiconductor Holding AG nGene PCI-Express Multimedia Controller (rev 01)
...
#/> cat /proc/cmdline (on Dom0)
placeholder root=UUID=6016692f-e276-40da-be61-18e17a31ea8d ro apparmor=0 xen-pciback.permissive xen-pciback.hide=(02:00.0)(03:00.0) reassign_resources
...
#/> dmesg |grep pciback
[ 8.009910] pciback 0000:02:00.0: seizing device
[ 8.009919] pciback 0000:03:00.0: seizing device
[ 8.075002] xen_pciback: backend is vpc
...

I can map one of the cards to a Linux PV

#/> xe vm-param-set other-config:pci=0/0000:02:00.0 uuid=f75c681d-0038-b00d-4081-6a3db5ece56b

But it does not appear within this Linux PV, whereas the needed kernel switches has been set:

-- quiet pci=nomsi iommu=soft swiotlb=force irqpoll console=hvc0

Doing the same with XenServer 6.2.0 it does work perfectly, no matter if the hardware is VT-d capable or not. Xen has been designed to provide this even on whatever hardware with PVs, it even would not need VT-x ...