[Libvir] Error when paravirtualization domain starts with virsh.

[Daniel P. Berrange]

On Mon, Mar 05, 2007 at 11:19:03AM +0100, Michel Gauthier wrote:
> With the RHEL5 RC  distribution on our IA64 platform (4 CPUs), when we use 
> virsh to start a paravirtuailzation domain, we've got the following:
> 
> virsh # list
> Id Name                 State
> ----------------------------------
>  0 Domain-0             running
> 
> virsh # create hndom2
> Failed to get devices for domain hndom2
> error: Failed to create domain from hndom2
> 
> virsh # list
> Id Name                 State
> ----------------------------------
>  0 Domain-0             running
> 24 Domain-24            paused
> 
> In spite of an error message, a domain named Domain-Id is created instead 
> of the hndom2 domain.

Yeah, that's a bug in libvirt - we failed to tear down the 'still born'
domain when something goes wrong during creation. 

> If the <currentMemory> tag is suppressed from the XML configuration file, 
> all is OK.

Sounds like a bug in Xen ia64 to me - the <currentMemory> is used to set
the initial boot RAM, while the <memory> tag is used to set the maximum
reservation. If you omit <currentMemory> then both will be set to the same
value. It sounds like Xen ia64 is not able to cope with the memory < maxmem
situation.

    memory=200
    maxmem=500

> This behaviour appears with the libvirt version 0.1.8 released with the 
> RHEL5 RC, and also with the libvirt version 0.1.10.
> Are you aware of this problem?

No - we don't do much (any) testing on ia64 due to lack of any suitable
hardware for testing, so we pretty much rely on community/vendors to 
identify ia64 problems.

> If you want some complementary infos (xend log), we can send it to you.

See if you can reproduce it with a regular Xen config file using config
options like

    memory=200
    maxmem=500

Which should simlute presece of '<currentMemory>' element. If you can
reproduce it there, its a Xen bug.

Regards,
Dan.
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