Alex, I think Misha is referring to what we're now more correctly  
terming "PCI-E direct I/O", where we will in fact make an I/O leaf  
device available to any guest domain.  In that case, this does in fact  
make that guest an I/O domain, and it can choose to either use the  
device itself, or export it as a virtual device to other guests.

Hybrid I/O, on the other hand, will be used with specific devices that  
include resources like DMA engines which can be allocated to guest  
domains.  This model operates exactly as Alex describes.

-Eric

On Mar 13, 2008, at 8:34 PM, Alexandre Chartre wrote:

>
> With hybrid I/O, the guest can not really be qualified as an I/O  
> domain
> because it will not owned the I/O device. The guest domain will just  
> be
> given some resources (like a DMA channel) it can use to directly  
> access
> the device, but it does not entirely own the device.
>
> alex.
>
> Misha Chawla Shanker wrote:
>> Thanks for the clarification.
>> Follow-up question:
>> Looks like the initial support for Hybrid I/O will allow individual  
>> HBAs (or PCI-E slots) to get assigned to guests, so all devices  
>> visible via that HBA will be directly attached to the guest. Does  
>> this guest now classify as an I/O domain, can it be used as an I/O  
>> path for virtual devices attached to other guests?
>> Or are those devices just for consumption by this particular guest?
>> Regards,
>> Misha.
>> On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 7:18 AM, Eric Sharakan  
>> <eric.sharakan at sun.com <mailto:eric.sharakan at sun.com>> wrote:
>>    Hi, hybrid I/O (in this context, more correctly termed PCI-E  
>> direct
>>    I/O) is the ability to assign individual PCI-E cards to a domain.
>>     It is planned for an upcoming release of LDoms.  Actual date &
>>    release vehicle are still TBD, but it is a priority for us to get
>>    this done, and then to follow on with PCI-E IOV support, so we can
>>    assign individual virtual functions to a domain.
>>    -Eric
>>    --
>>    This message was posted from opensolaris.org <http://opensolaris.org 
>> >
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