hv-kvp-daemon-init incompatible with kernel 3.11

[Samuel Leslie]

The /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon script installed by the hv-kvp-daemon-init package currently fails to find the hv_kvp_daemon binary for the running kernel when running under a 3.11 release (as per a reasonably up-to-date Ubuntu 12.04 installation). Ironically, the hv_kvp_daemon script installed by linux-tools-common package works fine, however, it is diverted by the package ending up at /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon.hv-kvp-daemon-init. It is thus never actually called by the hv-kvp-daemon init script.

The hv-kvp-daemon-init package is still required as it installs various other support utilities as well as the init script itself used to start the KVP (Key-Value Pair) daemon. I believe this issue has arisen as the /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon script was presumably not included until the linux-tools-common releases associated with the 3.11 series of kernels and has not been updated to reflect this.

A simple workaround for now is to remove the divert and restore the script installed by linux-tools-common:
sudo dpkg-divert --remove /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon
sudo mv /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon.bak
sudo mv /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon.hv-kvp-daemon-init /usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon
sudo service hv-kvp-daemon-init start
ps -ef | grep kvp # Verify the daemon is actually running

For the unaware, the daemon is non-critical from the guest OS's perspective, however, it is used by the Hyper-V host to exchange information with the guest OS instance, such as IP addressing and system state information. When not running various information usually accessible to the hypervisor won't be which can impact scripting tasks as well as in some cases system functions (e.g. some backup types may be affected where they rely on the daemon to communicate with the host).

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: hv-kvp-daemon-init 0.3ubuntu4~12.04.0 [modified: usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-20.35~precise1-generic 3.11.10.6
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-20-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: ksplice_ttt6czy9_floppy_new ksplice_ttt6czy9 ksplice_hxl9iy0x_vmlinux_new ksplice_hxl9iy0x ksplice_arnypzmc_vmlinux_new ksplice_arnypzmc
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.6
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat May 17 21:08:42 2014
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04.4 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20140204)
MarkForUpload: True
SourcePackage: hv-kvp-daemon-init
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Samuel Leslie (sdl)]

I'll clarify in advance that the "modified: usr/sbin/hv_kvp_daemon" is due to me inserting a hack in the original script to make it work. The stock unmodified script is broken as per the bug report.

[Samuel Leslie (sdl)]

Closing as the issue only affects a Hardware Enablement Stack which is now End-of-Life. However, have opened bug #1345059 which is similar but far more serious as it affects the new Trusty HWE which is supported for the next three years and there is no current workaround.