Yes, definitely TooMuchInformation. I hope that single hardware test kit VHD download imports into xen, runs, and gives us a starting point and clear work items.
On Sat, Jul 24, 2021 at 9:47 PM Xentrigued <[email protected]> wrote: > First and foremost, many thanks for your thoughtful and thorough response > and also for providing a multitude of genuinely helpful information! > > > > Secondly: Wow, that’s quite a homework assignment!! > > > > I will absolutely begin to work my way through the resources you cited and > will report back once some of those tests have been completed. You’ve > given me an excellent starting point for further inquiry. > > > > To be very honest, I wasn’t sure where to turn next in the event that no > member of this august body had anything to say about this. (It’s kind of > intimidating and not unlike going before the Wizard of Oz.) > > > > So again, thank you so much for all of the good information and also for > your kindness in reaching out. > > > > *From:* Rob Townley <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Saturday, July 24, 2021 9:33 PM > *To:* Xentrigued <[email protected]> > *Cc:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: Nested Virtualization of Hyper-V on Xen Not Working > > > > I encourage you to run the Windows Hardware Lab Kit 11/02/2018 > <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/hlk/> or HLK or > maybe try the VHLK. The VHLK > <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/hlk/getstarted/getstarted-vhlk>is > a free VHD file download of win2016 that has all the tests necessary > built-in. So you could manually download the test kit on your existing > Windows VM or attempt the VHD. "*Default login credentials are > HLKAdminUser with password Testpassword,1" * > > > > Please post the results. Citrix 8.1 and 8.2 are listed as validated > <https://www.windowsservercatalog.com/results.aspx?&bCatID=1521&cpID=2185&avc=0&ava=0&avt=0&avq=0&OR=1&PGS=25> > and so would be very interesting to see any differences in test results > running XCP-ng 8.2 and Citrix 8.2. > > > > Why run the hardware lab kit in a virtualized environment and directly on > the underlying hardware? Because those tests are used to validate for the > SVVP <https://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvp.htm>. > Microsoft has something similar to their Hardware Compatibility List, aka > HCL. SVVP > <https://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvp.htm> is > Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program. SVVP validates that > Windows Operating Systems and APPS run on top of other hypervisors and once > validated will receive technical support. SVVP has been around for over a > decade but has of course changed over the years. Recently, it has been > making news because Win11 / Win2022 requires a TPM 2.0 chip, but XCP-NG > XEN does not yet support that <https://github.com/xcp-ng/xcp/issues/471>. > If the hypervisor is SVVP certified, then running MS Hyper-V Windows on > top of any validated hypervisor would be much more likely to work and > possibly supported directly by MS and tsanet.org. Canonical and RedHat > are in tsanet, but would like to see the Linux Foundation or Vates itself. > > > > Microsoft server software and supported virtualization > environments 09/08/2020 6 minutes to read > <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/virtualization/microsoft-server-software-support-policy> > Support partners for non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software > <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/virtualization/non-microsoft-hardware-virtualization-software> > > WindowsServerCatalog.com and then click on SVVP in the upper right and > then Products > <https://www.windowsservercatalog.com/results.aspx?&bCatID=1521&cpID=0&avc=0&ava=0&avq=0&OR=1&PGS=25> > > > > <https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/virtualization/non-microsoft-hardware-virtualization-software> > > Design Session - Alternative vTPM 2.0 Backend to Comply with Upcoming SVVP > Changes <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abkRRcoYWCQ> > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abkRRcoYWCQ > > > > Enabling UEFI Secure Boot on Xen - Robert Eshleman, Vates SAS > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_IhKjK7EgA> > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_IhKjK7EgA&t=388s > Support vTPM for guests #471 https://github.com/xcp-ng/xcp/issues/471 > <https://github.com/xcp-ng/xcp/issues/471> > > https://github.com/xcp-ng/xcp/issues/471 > > https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/hlk/ > > > > On Tue, Jul 20, 2021 at 11:12 PM Xentrigued <[email protected]> > wrote: > > RATIONALE: Features in recent versions of Windows now REQUIRE Hyper-V > support to work. In particular, Windows Containers, Sandbox, Docker > Desktop > and the Windows Subsystem for Linux version 2 (WSL2). Running Windows in a > VM as a development and test platform is currently a common requirement for > various user segments and will likely become necessary for production in > the > future. Nested virtualization of Hyper-V currently works on VMware ESXi, > Microsoft Hyper-V and KVM-based hypervisors. This puts Xen and its > derivatives at a disadvantage when choosing a hypervisor. > > WHAT IS NOT WORKING? Provided the requirements set forth in: > https://wiki.xenproject.org/wiki/Nested_Virtualization_in_Xen have been > met, > an hvm guest running Windows 10 PRO Version 21H1 x64 shows that all four > requirements for running Hyper-V are available using the msinfo32.exe or > systeminfo.exe commands. More granular knowledge of the CPU capabilities > exposed to the guest can be observed using the Sysinternals Coreinfo64.exe > command. CPUID flags present appear to mirror those on other working > nested > hypervisor configurations. > > Enabling Windows Features for Hyper-V, Virtual Machine Platform, etc. all > appear to work without error. However, after the finishing reboot, Hyper-V > is simply not active. This--despite the fact that vmcompute.exe (Hyper-V > host compute service) is running and there are no errors in the logs. In > addition, all four Hyper-V prerequisites continue to show as available. > > By contrast, after the finishing reboot of an analogous Windows VM running > on ESXi, the four prerequisites are reversed: hypervisor is now active; > vmx, ept and urg (unrestricted guest) are all off as viewed with the > Coreinfo64.exe -v command. Furthermore, all functions requiring Hyper-V > are > now active and working as expected. > > This deficiency has been observed in two test setups running Xen 4.15 from > source and XCP-ng 8.2, both running on Intel with all of the latest, > generally available patches. We presume that the same behavior is present > on Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 as well. > > SUMMATION: > Clearly, much effort has already been expended to support the Viridian > enlightenments that optimize running Windows on Xen. It also looks like a > significant amount of effort has been put forth to advance nested > virtualization in general. > > Therefore, if it would be helpful, I am willing to perform testing and > provide feedback and logs as appropriate in order to help get this working. > > While my day job is managing a heterogeneous collection of systems running > on various hypervisors, I have learned the rudiments of integrating patches > and rebuilding Xen from source so could no doubt be useful in assisting you > with this worthwhile endeavor. > > >
