Linux guest has time issues

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Solaris hosts.
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budy
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Jul 2010, 17:51
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: MacOS, Linux

Linux guest has time issues

Post by budy »

Hi,

today I installed a OEL 5.5 inside a guest on my OSol host and I am experiencing a really weird issue: one second inside the guests spans approx 7s in real time. So, when the guest starts up, there are several times when the boot process seems to have stalled, which is mainly when something is waiting for x seconds, before continuing - e.g. udev or ping. the date command also shows this behaviour. It seems to have something to do with the internal clock that seems to run extremely slow.

This is the config of that guest:

Code: Select all

Oracle VM VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.2.8
(C) 2005-2010 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Name:            beehivedb
Guest OS:        Red Hat (64 bit)
UUID:            d82a22e9-3309-44ba-bba0-027fc6aef1b0
Config file:     /root/.VirtualBox/Machines/beehivedb/beehivedb.xml
Hardware UUID:   d82a22e9-3309-44ba-bba0-027fc6aef1b0
Memory size:     4096MB
Page Fusion:     off
VRAM size:       8MB
HPET:            off
Number of CPUs:  2
Synthetic Cpu:   off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode:  message and menu
Boot Device (1): HardDisk
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI:            on
IOAPIC:          on
PAE:             on
Time offset:     0 ms
RTC:             local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging:   on
Large Pages:     off
VT-x VPID:       on
State:           running (since 2010-08-29T18:32:52.949000000)
Monitor count:   1
3D Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address: 
Teleporter Password: 
Storage Controller Name (0):            SATA Controller
Storage Controller Type (0):            IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0):  30
Storage Controller Port Count (0):      30
Storage Controller Name (1):            IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (1):            PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1):  2
Storage Controller Port Count (1):      2
SATA Controller (0, 0): /opt/VirtualBoxHDDs/beehivedb.vmdk (UUID: 81b02955-ba9f-45f4-8966-f9b420fac382)
IDE Controller (0, 1): /opt/VirtualBox/additions/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso (UUID: de6bb104-651e-41ef-bf20-2553aba9cb69)
NIC 1:           MAC: 080027B3E3C0, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'e1000g0', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 1000 Mbps, Boot priority: 0
NIC 2:           disabled
NIC 3:           disabled
NIC 4:           disabled
NIC 5:           disabled
NIC 6:           disabled
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1:          disabled
UART 2:          disabled
Audio:           disabled
Clipboard Mode:  Bidirectional
Video mode:      720x400x0
VRDP:            enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 3389, MultiConn: off, ReuseSingleConn: off, Authentication type: null)
VRDP port:       3389
Video redirection: disabled
USB:             disabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Available remote USB devices:

<none>

Currently Attached USB Devices:

<none>

Shared folders:  <none>
I have another guest running using Mac OS X Server on that host and this guest doesn't show this behaviour at all. I seem to cannot find out, what is causing this behaviour on my OEL guest - can anyone else imagine what is going on here?

Thanks,
budy
Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: Linux guest has time issues

Post by Ramshankar »

Is the guest running with the PIT at 1000Hz? Please upload a VBox.log for the VM.
Oracle Corp.
budy
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Jul 2010, 17:51
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: MacOS, Linux

Re: Linux guest has time issues

Post by budy »

Hi,

thanks - I have attached the latest Vbox.log.

Cheers,
budy
Attachments
Vbox.log.zip
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Ramshankar
Oracle Corporation
Posts: 793
Joined: 7. Jan 2008, 16:17

Re: Linux guest has time issues

Post by Ramshankar »

The guest seems to be requesting 1000Hz clock somewhere down the line.

Try adding "divider=10" in the grub command line while booting the guest. If that works you can add it to your grub config file, sample screenshot: http://img.skitch.com/20100104-putwrm5j ... hp2q4f.png
Oracle Corp.
budy
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Jul 2010, 17:51
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: MacOS, Linux

Re: Linux guest has time issues

Post by budy »

Hi,

I have tried that, but that leads to the guest stalling after loading initrd:

..MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC
WARNING calibrate_APIC_clock: the APIC timer calibration may be wrong.
_


Kernel alive
kernel direct mapping tables up to 120000000 @ 10000-16000

Cheers,
budy

P.S. It would be probably a good idea to attach another VBox.log :D
Attachments
Vbox.log.zip
(8.17 KiB) Downloaded 109 times
budy
Posts: 31
Joined: 1. Jul 2010, 17:51
Primary OS: OpenSolaris 11
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: MacOS, Linux

Re: Linux guest has time issues

Post by budy »

Seems that the following setting have solved this issue for me:

ioapic=off
divider=10

If I leave ioapic=on while providing the divider option to the kernel, I am getting the message about the MP BIOS bug, but otherwise my OEL guest just runs fine.

Cheers,
budy
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