I've got xen-3.0.3-105.el5_5.5 running on Centos 5.5 and all is running smooth but I notice that any VMs running under it only have access to Realtek RTL8139C at 100 Mbps nics. We have 4 x 1G nics configured in a port channel so I'd really like to be able to give my VMs 1000Mbps nics. Does anyone know if this is possible and how to do it? If not, does KVM support faster nics because at this point it would be fairly simple to change.
Thanx,
Russell Smithies
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I notice that any VMs running under it only have access to Realtek RTL8139C
at 100 Mbps nics.
In kvm, you have the option to use e1000 or the pv drivers. You can probably specify another nic in xen, but you'll have to research which it supports.
Just make sure you retain the mac address, or the OS will see it as a new nic..
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 2:34 PM, Smithies, Russell Russell.Smithies@agresearch.co.nz wrote:
I’ve got xen-3.0.3-105.el5_5.5 running on Centos 5.5 and all is running smooth but I notice that any VMs running under it only have access to Realtek RTL8139C at 100 Mbps nics.
In general, don't bother. Let the virtualization server handle all the cute features of the network interfaces, because it's going to *anyway* as part of its role translating the kernel operations of the virtualized driver into real hardware interactions with the NIC you actually use.
We have 4 x 1G nics configured in a port channel so I’d really like to be able to give my VMs 1000Mbps nics.
Actually test the performance, and if possible, use a para-virtualized kernel. You should see surprisingly good performance.
Does anyone know if this is possible and how to do it?
If not, does KVM support faster nics because at this point it would be fairly simple to change.
See above. In reality, I'll be surprised if you don't easily outperform a physical RealTek device.
I'm using the gplpv passthru driver now so it's using my nic directly rather than a virtual Realtek 100Mbps one and I'm getting much better transfer speeds - a recommendation from the Xen mailing list. Regularly getting 120Mbps drag and drop to a file share on a 2k8R2 server a thousand miles away. Was getting 25Mbps with the virtual Realtek.
--Russell
-----Original Message----- From: centos-bounces@centos.org [mailto:centos-bounces@centos.org] On Behalf Of Nico Kadel-Garcia Sent: Wednesday, 16 February 2011 3:42 p.m. To: CentOS mailing list Subject: Re: [CentOS] Virtualization supporting 1000Mbps nics?
On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 2:34 PM, Smithies, Russell Russell.Smithies@agresearch.co.nz wrote:
I've got xen-3.0.3-105.el5_5.5 running on Centos 5.5 and all is
running
smooth but I notice that any VMs running under it only have access to Realtek RTL8139C at 100 Mbps nics.
In general, don't bother. Let the virtualization server handle all the cute features of the network interfaces, because it's going to *anyway* as part of its role translating the kernel operations of the virtualized driver into real hardware interactions with the NIC you actually use.
We have 4 x 1G nics configured in a port channel so I'd really like
to be
able to give my VMs 1000Mbps nics.
Actually test the performance, and if possible, use a para-virtualized kernel. You should see surprisingly good performance.
Does anyone know if this is possible and how to do it?
If not, does KVM support faster nics because at this point it would
be
fairly simple to change.
See above. In reality, I'll be surprised if you don't easily outperform a physical RealTek device. _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
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compdoc -
Nico Kadel-Garcia -
Smithies, Russell