Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:59:43 -0800 From: Andrew Thompson <thompsa@FreeBSD.org> To: Ivan Voras <ivoras@FreeBSD.org> Cc: svn-src-head@freebsd.org, svn-src-all@freebsd.org, src-committers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: svn commit: r186252 - head/sys/kern Message-ID: <20081217195943.GB45764@citylink.fud.org.nz> In-Reply-To: <200812171957.mBHJvCO2013765@svn.freebsd.org> References: <200812171957.mBHJvCO2013765@svn.freebsd.org>
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On Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 07:57:12PM +0000, Ivan Voras wrote: > Author: ivoras > Date: Wed Dec 17 19:57:12 2008 > New Revision: 186252 > URL: http://svn.freebsd.org/changeset/base/186252 > > Log: > Introduce a sysctl kern.vm_guest that reflects what the kernel knows about > it running under a virtual environment. This also introduces a globally > accessible variable vm_guest that can be used where appropriate in the > kernel to inspect this environment. > > To make it easier for the long run, an enum VM_GUEST is also introduced, > which could possibly be factored out in a header somewhere (but the > question is where - vm/vm_param.h? sys/param.h?) so it eventually becomes > a part of the standard KPI. In any case, it's a start. > > The purpose of all this isn't to absolutely detect that the OS is running > under a virtual environment (cf. "redpill") but to allow the parts of the > kernel and the userland that care about this particular aspect and can do > something useful depending on it to have a standardised interface. Reducing > kern.hz is one example but there are other things that could be done like > avoiding context switches, not using CPU instructions that are known to be > slow in emulation, possibly different strategies in VM (memory) allocation, > CPU scheduling, etc. > > It isn't clear if the JAILS/VIMAGE functionality should also be exposed > by this particular mechanism (probably not since they're not "full" > virtual hardware environments). Sometime in the future another sysctl and > a variable could be introduced to reflect if the kernel supports any kind > of virtual hosting (e.g. VMWare VMI, Xen dom0). > > Reviewed by: silence from src-commiters@, virtualization@, kmacy@ > Approved by: gnn (mentor) > Security: Obscurity doesn't help. > > Modified: > head/sys/kern/subr_param.c Sorry for chiming in late but should the sysctl be a string? 1,2,3 arent all that useful. Andrew
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