PCI Passthrough Archives - The Passthrough POST

How can I get vfio-pci to bind before my GPU drivers?

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 12:53:42 +0000

There are actually two methods for this, starting with the preferred method, for the tools that your distribution uses. Method one, module order (preferred): mkinitcpio: In your base configuration (/etc/mkinitcpio.conf), make sure that the vfio modules precede the GPU driver module, as well as ensuring that modconf is present in your hooks, for example: MODULES=(... [...]

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What hardware is recommended?

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 04:41:26 +0000

For IOMMU groupings, modern (x99+) Intel chipsets work nearly flawlessly. Modern (A300+) AMD chipsets work similarly well. If you are planning on passing a GPU to a guest, and are using a CPU that lacks integrated graphics (without onboard video), the common recommendation is an Nvidia gt710, which is single slot, passively cooled, and can [...]

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What’s the best distro to use as host?

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 04:07:09 +0000

The best distro to use for host is the one that you are familiar with, as long as the distro has kernel version 2.6.20 or higher, it will be able to run guests via KVM.

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How do I enable looking glass?

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 04:01:51 +0000

To use looking glass, you need to enable IVSHMEM as follows: Open your xml in an editor: # virsh edit {guest} Include qemu's XML namespace declaration in the 'domain' root element: In the domain element, add IVSHMEM: Start the [...]

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What is performance vs baremetal?

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 03:38:10 +0000

Nearly identical, if you refer to this spreadsheet, compiled by user GrayBoltWolf on level1techs forums, you can see performance data comparisons. Link to the full thread here.

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What do I need for PCI passthrough?

Thu, 14 Dec 2017 03:13:23 +0000

The requirements for PCI passthrough are as follows: A CPU with support hardware virtualization (Intel VT-d and VT-x, or AMD-V) A motherboard (and CPU) with support for IOMMU If passing a GPU, it must have a UEFI ROM.

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What is PCI passthrough used for?

Sebastiaan — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:47:02 +0000

PCI Passthrough is most commonly used to pass a dedicated video card from a Linux host to a Windows guest. This way, the Windows virtual machine can handle any graphically-intensive content, like games, rendering- and media editing software, at close-to-baremetal performance. Many people want to switch to Linux as their main operating system, but don't [...]

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What is PCI passthrough?

Sebastiaan — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 21:41:08 +0000

In short: PCI passthrough (sometimes called VFIO or GPU passthrough) is the act of passing a PCI device directly into a virtual machine. This allows the virtual machine to directly access the PCI device without having to go through any overhead-causing virtualization layers. Essentially, it allows the virtual machine to use the PCI device with [...]

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