pci passthru rh5 guest os on Oracle linux 6 host

[hdj]

Hi All,

I have a Dell T7400 with hw VT and Direct I/O VT technologies turned on running Oracle linux 6 (Linux YYY.XXX.ca 2.6.39-400.24.1.el6uek.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed May 15 11:46:52 PDT 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux). I am using the kernel boot option intel_iommu=on which appears to be acknowledged during the boot cycle:

ftrace: allocating 21285 entries in 84 pages
DMAR: Host address width 38
DMAR: DRHD base: 0x000000fe710000 flags: 0x0
IOMMU 0: reg_base_addr fe710000 ver 1:0 cap 900000c2f0462 ecap e01
DMAR: DRHD base: 0x000000fe714000 flags: 0x0
IOMMU 1: reg_base_addr fe714000 ver 1:0 cap 900000c2f0462 ecap e01
DMAR: DRHD base: 0x000000fe719000 flags: 0x0
IOMMU 2: reg_base_addr fe719000 ver 1:0 cap 900000c2f0462 ecap e01
DMAR: DRHD base: 0x000000fe718000 flags: 0x1
IOMMU 3: reg_base_addr fe718000 ver 1:0 cap 900000c2f0462 ecap e01
DMAR: RMRR base: 0x000000bfe61000 end: 0x000000bfe6ffff
DMAR: No ATSR found
..TIMER: vector=0x30 apic1=0 pin1=2 apic2=-1 pin2=-1
CPU0: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5405 @ 2.00GHz stepping 0a
Performance Events: PEBS fmt0+, Core2 events, Intel PMU driver.

lspci shows the Tesla as follows:

01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT200 [Tesla C1060] (rev a1)

After attaching the Tesla using this command: vboxmanage modifyvm rh5_geostereo --pciattach 01:00.0

The command vboxheadless --startvm computer results in the following screen output:

Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.2.12
(C) 2008-2013 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

VRDE server is listening on port 3389.
Error: failed to start machine. Error message: PCI passthrough requires nested paging (VERR_PCI_PASSTHROUGH_NO_NESTED_PAGING)

I realize this is an experimental technology but I was hoping someone could see some obvious mistakes that might make this work.

Below is the relevant bits of showvminfo I think:

vboxmanage showvminfo computer
Name: computer
Groups: /
Guest OS: Red Hat (64 bit)
UUID: b5463d5e-ba0b-48bf-92cf-cff2c624d735
Config file: /net/home/hugh/VirtualBox VMs/computer/computer.vbox
Snapshot folder: /net/home/hugh/VirtualBox VMs/computer/Snapshots
Log folder: /net/home/hugh/VirtualBox VMs/computer/Logs
Hardware UUID: b5463d5e-ba0b-48bf-92cf-cff2c624d735
Memory size: 8192MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 8MB
CPU exec cap: 100%
HPET: off
Chipset: ich9
Firmware: BIOS
Number of CPUs: 4
Synthetic Cpu: off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): DVD
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: on
PAE: on
Time offset: 0ms
RTC: local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging: on
Large Pages: on
VT-x VPID: on
State: powered off (since 2013-06-13T16:06:27.000000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled: off
Allow Tracing to Access VM: off
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled: off
Autostart Delay: 0
Storage Controller Name (0): LSILogicSAS
Storage Controller Type (0): unknown
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 8
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 8
Storage Controller Bootable (0): on
Storage Controller Name (1): IDE
Storage Controller Type (1): PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (1): 2
Storage Controller Bootable (1): on
LSILogicSAS (0, 0): /vbox/computer.vdi (UUID: af09be69-9b4f-465a-a660-cd0e1d8bc97e)
IDE (0, 0): /vbox/install_iso/rhel_5_x86_64.iso (UUID: 90b0db86-4a79-48c5-8002-28fd163fe0ea)
NIC 1: MAC: 08002753696D, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'eth0', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
.
.
.
.
Attached physical PCI devices:

Host device host01:00.0 at 01:00.0 attached as 01:00.0
Host device host02:00.0 at 02:00.0 attached as 02:00.0

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Hugh

[Perryg]

Post the guests log file (as an attachment)
See Online Users Manual for the location of the file.

[hdj]

uploaded.

Thanks for any help you can give

[Perryg]

http://ark.intel.com/products/33079

According to Intel your processor does not support VT-d nor EPT which the error message is telling you (nested paging) is missing.
The nested feature is enabled by default but not used if not available.

Can you verify that your Processor in fact has support for VT-d and EPT?

[hdj]

Okay,

The BIOS has something it calls VT Direct I/O which is enabled. But it does not mention anything about EPT. It does not use the term VT-d.

I have attached a picture of the bios screen. Maybe what Dell is describing is of limited extent. The system is fairly old.

Hugh

[Perryg]

Type the following in the hosts terminal and post the results.

Code: Select all

cat /proc/cpuinfo

[hdj]

Here you go

[Perryg]

According to this list your processor does not seem to have it, and I don't see the flag in your cpuinfo either.
http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced?VTD=true

Given that VT-d is included in most but not all Nehalem-based processors, and yours is even older I don't know what more to tell you.
Even if you do have it available by some miracle you still need nested paging, and that is the error massage.

[hdj]

okay. Thanks for your help