linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] add virtio disk geometry feature

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Date:	Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:37:38 -0500
From:	Ryan Harper <ryanh@...ibm.com>
To:	Anthony Liguori <aliguori@...ibm.com>
Cc:	Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>,
	Ryan Harper <ryanh@...ibm.com>,
	virtualization@...ts.linux-foundation.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, kvm-devel@...ts.sourceforge.net,
	Hollis Blanchard <hollisb@...ibm.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] add virtio disk geometry feature

* Anthony Liguori <aliguori@...ibm.com> [2008-04-16 16:33]:
> Rusty Russell wrote:
> >On Thursday 17 April 2008 04:56:37 Ryan Harper wrote:
> >  
> >>From: Ryan Harper <ryanh@...ibm.com>
> >>
> >>Rather than faking up some geometry, allow the backend to push the disk
> >>geometry via virtio pci config option.  Keep the old geo code around for
> >>compatibility.
> >>    
> >
> >Hi Ryan,
> >
> >   Looks good! Some brief review below.  Mainly just "how I would have done
> >things" stuff.  BTW, does this help in real life?  I assume something in
> >userspace wants it?
> >  
> 
> Boot loaders (like grub) query the geometry from the kernel to figure 
> out how to setup the stage1/stage2.  We've seen strange issues with grub 
> thinking it has crazy geometries when installed on a virtio disk (as 
> opposed to booting from virtio with an existing disk).
> 
> Ryan: have you tested a hardy install with your patches?  Does it help 
> when installing to virtio?  I could pretty reliably reproduce the 
> strangeness with a 20GB disk image FWIW.

I had tested out hardy with a 10G disk and saw nothing out of the
ordinary.  Disk size was the expected value and grub had no issues with
it.

-- 
Ryan Harper
Software Engineer; Linux Technology Center
IBM Corp., Austin, Tx
(512) 838-9253   T/L: 678-9253
ryanh@...ibm.com
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