intrepid guest install with virtio net doesn't work

[Mathias Gug]

Binary package hint: kvm

While trying to install one of the intrepid alpha4 candidate isos on a hardy host, the installation isn't able to detect the network card if the guest is setup to use virtio as the model.

Using the default model (ie remove the line <model type='virtio'/>) the install detects the network card correctly.

[Mathias Gug (mathiaz)]

still an issue with alpha5.

[Mathias Gug (mathiaz)]

still an issue with alpha6.

[Soren Hansen (soren)]

This needs fixing in the kernel package.. I need to talk to cjwatson about a few things first, though.

[Mathias Gug (mathiaz)]

To start a kvm process that uses virtio for the network interface, use the following option:

-net nic,macaddr=52:54:00:20:d1:ce,vlan=0,model=virtio

You'd have to update the macadd and vlan options.

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

I'm working on this. It appears to be a problem in the installer, as runtime seems to work well.

:-Dustin

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

is this similar/related to bug 205013?

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

15:50 <soren> cjwatson: I've previously had a bit of a talk with BenC about which modules belong in which udebs... What sparked the discussion is the fact that it's currently not possible to netboot if you're using virtio nic's, because not all the required modules are available in a netboot environment.
15:50 <soren> cjwatson: He suggested I talk to you about it.
16:34 <cjwatson> soren: is it just a matter of including virtio-modules in the netboot initrd, then?
16:35 <cjwatson> hmm, although that has the block device too
16:36 <soren> cjwatson: virtio-net, virtio-pci, and virtio-ring, iirc.
16:37 <cjwatson> soren: personally I think I'd prefer virtio_blk to move to block-modules, virtio_net to move to nic-modules, and both of those udebs to depend on virtio-modules
16:37 <soren> They used to be in... err... nic-modules, I think, but BenC removed them to reduce the size of the udebs.
16:37 <cjwatson> I wish BenC would ask me about this stuff
16:37 <cjwatson> 'cos I'd have said "they're tiny, don't bother"
16:37 <soren> cjwatson: Heh :)
16:37 <cjwatson> every time he rearranges udebs, it means more complicated deltas for me to track in debian-installer's list files
16:37 <soren> cjwatson: It seems virtio-net is already in nic-modules.
16:38 <cjwatson> <cjwatson@riva ~>$ dpkg -c /mirror/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux/virtio-modules-2.6.27-4-generic-di_2.6.27-4.6_i386.udeb | grep virtio_net
16:38 <cjwatson> -rw-r--r-- root/root 23836 2008-09-24 04:16 ./lib/modules/2.6.27-4-generic/kernel/drivers/net/virtio_net.ko
16:38 <cjwatson> huh, so it is. How did he manage to convince kernel-wedge to do that?
16:38 <soren> s/$/ also./
16:38 <cjwatson> that's a bug.
16:38 <soren> It's listed in both nic-modules and virtio-modules.
16:38 <cjwatson> modules shouldn't be in more than one udeb
16:38 <cjwatson> if necessary, one udeb should simply depend on another
16:39 <soren> Certainly.
16:39 <soren> it didn't used to be in nic-modules, that's for sure.
16:39 <soren> It's a recent chance.
16:39 <soren> change.
16:39 <soren> For some reason, gitweb only shows me the last couple of days worth of history :/
16:39 <soren> *days'
16:40 * soren has a bed spelling day
16:40 <soren> Err... bad.
16:40 <cjwatson> I'd suggest http://paste.ubuntu.com/50526/
16:41 * soren nods
16:41 <cjwatson> could you take that up with Ben?
16:41 <soren> cjwatson: Are the list of udebs to be included in the netboot image hardcoded somewhere or is it perhaps based on their priority or something?
16:41 <cjwatson> they are hardcoded
16:41 <cjwatson> (and dependency-expanded)
16:42 <cjwatson> priority is used to decide what anna pulls in at runtime by default
16:42 <cjwatson> we can't use priority for the initrds since different installation methods need different udebs
16:42 <cjwatson> and, honestly, for the most part we'd rather control it in the installer than have to upload the kernel to change it :)
16:43 <soren> Ok.
16:43 <soren> i was just wondering since virtio-modules was priority: extra.
16:44 <soren> while plip-modules is standard. I like to think that virtio is less esoteric than plip :)
16:44 <cjwatson> we could change that (in fact, I will), but that wouldn't help with the in...

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

I just downloaded the latest daily iso, including Colin's fix.

67aca2a9b4186ec7d2a506f508ca6433 intrepid-server-amd64.iso

The virtio disk is once again detected by the installer. That's good.

The installation proceeds without incident, and completes successfully.

However, the installed system is unbootable (either as a virtio
device, or regular disk). This looks to be an issue with the
bootloader.

I'm attaching a debug /var/log/syslog. I don't see anything obvious
in here yet. I'm going to run grub-installer by hand and inject some
debug information next.

:-Dustin

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Sorry, I posted that to the wrong bug. That comment should have gone
to Bug #279754. I will copy those over there now.

I have yet to test the virtio network yet.

:-Dustin

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

http://kernel.ubuntu.com/git?p=ubuntu/ubuntu-intrepid.git;a=commit;h=ee9f8ae0cbcb0fc6507dcd25e5376b7a5b041c79

[Mathias Gug (mathiaz)]

Using the -server 20081009.1 iso and a virtio network interface the installation is successful.

[Dustin Kirkland  (kirkland)]

Testing the latest Ubuntu Server iso, I can see that the proper
modules are loaded:
 * virtio
 * virtio_net
 * virtio_pci
 * virtio_ring

However, networking autodetected with my current setup, using:
 * kvm -m 256 -net nic,macaddr=52:54:00:25:84:fa,vlan=0,model=virtio
-hda foo3.img -cdrom intrepid-server-amd64.is

Talking to Anthony Ligouri, he mentioned that virtio net using 'slirp'
was broken upstream, and he recommended following this howto:
 * http://kvm.qumranet.com/kvmwiki/AnthonyLiguori/Networking

And then using:
 * kvm with -net tap,vlan=0 -net nic,....

I will try that next.

:-Dustin

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux - 2.6.27-7.11

---------------
linux (2.6.27-7.11) intrepid; urgency=low

  [ Amit Kucheria ]

  * STABLE queue: mac80211: fix two issues in debugfs
    - LP: #275227
  * SAUCE: Adds support for COMPAL JHL90 webcam

  [ Ben Collins ]

  * SAUCE: (no-up) x86: Quiet "Kernel alive" messages
    - LP: #39985
  * SAUCE: (no-up) Modularize vesafb
  * build/config: Enable vesafb module
  * build: Switch to vesafb as preferred.

  [ Leann Ogasawara ]

  * Add Dell Dimension 9200 reboot quirk
    - LP: #271370

  [ Michael Haas ]

  * SAUCE: Revert aufs changes from AppArmor merge

  [ Tim Gardner ]

  * fix virtio udeb layout
    - LP: #257739
  * Enabled CONFIG_EXT4DEV_FS=m
  * Changed default TCP congestion algorithm to 'cubic'
    - LP: #278801
  * SAUCE: ipw2200: change default policy for auto-associate
    - LP: #264104

  [ Upstream Kernel Changes ]

  * x86, early_ioremap: fix fencepost error
    - LP: #263543

 -- Tim Gardner <email address hidden> Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:07:42 -0600