From owner-freebsd-virtualization@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Nov 12 21:07:55 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-virtualization@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 7D29FDE7 for ; Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:07:55 +0000 (UTC) Received: from na01-bl2-obe.outbound.protection.outlook.com (mail-bl2lp0211.outbound.protection.outlook.com [207.46.163.211]) (using TLSv1 with cipher AES128-SHA (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 2BA9726A5 for ; Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:07:54 +0000 (UTC) Received: from BL2PR03MB210.namprd03.prod.outlook.com (10.255.230.144) by BL2PR03MB209.namprd03.prod.outlook.com (10.255.230.140) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 15.0.820.5; Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:07:43 +0000 Received: from BL2PR03MB210.namprd03.prod.outlook.com ([169.254.1.22]) by BL2PR03MB210.namprd03.prod.outlook.com ([169.254.1.22]) with mapi id 15.00.0820.005; Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:07:43 +0000 From: "Abhishek Gupta (LIS)" To: Michael Dexter , "freebsd-virtualization@freebsd.org" Subject: RE: Use of Floppy Drive with FreeBSD Virtual Machines Thread-Topic: Use of Floppy Drive with FreeBSD Virtual Machines Thread-Index: Ac7fCkvDb2LXFSnUTum9MIIqNVfZtgABb40AAAE77pAAFlK4gAAfLjBw Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:07:41 +0000 Message-ID: References: <528128E2.6000006@callfortesting.org> <8c6f3f012fc94908bf6a40cdd0d235d7@BL2PR03MB210.namprd03.prod.outlook.com> <5281C6F9.8040109@callfortesting.org> In-Reply-To: <5281C6F9.8040109@callfortesting.org> Accept-Language: en-US Content-Language: en-US X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: x-originating-ip: [2001:4898:80e8:ed31::2] x-forefront-prvs: 00286C0CA6 x-forefront-antispam-report: SFV:NSPM; SFS:(51694002)(199002)(189002)(13464003)(377454003)(51914003)(24454002)(479174003)(51704005)(43784003)(19580395003)(85306002)(83072001)(74316001)(63696002)(81686001)(74706001)(51856001)(74662001)(47446002)(74502001)(54356001)(31966008)(53806001)(59766001)(77982001)(80976001)(54316002)(79102001)(76482001)(65816001)(80022001)(81816001)(74876001)(85806002)(56776001)(19580405001)(83322001)(81342001)(74366001)(69226001)(87266001)(87936001)(2656002)(47736001)(49866001)(47976001)(50986001)(33646001)(4396001)(81542001)(76796001)(76576001)(46102001)(77096001)(76786001)(56816003)(3826001)(24736002); DIR:OUT; SFP:; SCL:1; SRVR:BL2PR03MB209; H:BL2PR03MB210.namprd03.prod.outlook.com; CLIP:2001:4898:80e8:ed31::2; FPR:; RD:InfoNoRecords; A:1; MX:1; LANG:en; Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 X-OriginatorOrg: microsoft.com X-BeenThere: freebsd-virtualization@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.16 Precedence: list List-Id: "Discussion of various virtualization techniques FreeBSD supports." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 21:07:55 -0000 Thanks for the response Michael! I understand now. Just wanted to let you k= now that Hyper-V Gen2 VMs do not have a virtual FDD. Not that we have FreeB= SD supported on it yet but the scenarios you describe may not work on Gen2 = FreeBSD virtual machines today. Thanks again for the feedback. Abhishek -----Original Message----- From: Michael Dexter [mailto:editor@callfortesting.org]=20 Sent: Monday, November 11, 2013 10:13 PM To: Abhishek Gupta (LIS); freebsd-virtualization@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Use of Floppy Drive with FreeBSD Virtual Machines Hello Abhishek, On 11/11/13 11:37 AM, Abhishek Gupta (LIS) wrote: > Thanks so much for replying. Some follow up questions: >=20 > a) Is it not possible to use an ISO file to do the BIOS updates? I have not. > b) I did not quite understand your second comment on why PCI pass=20 > through may promote floppy disk use. Please could you elaborate a bit=20 > more? The scenario I see the most is a virtualized (HyperV, VMware etc.) FreeNAS = guest to which you pass a PCIe storage controller card to so that ZFS is gi= ven "bare metal" access to hardware disks yet has the benefit of the fast i= nternal backplane if you will for networking, rather than going over copper= or optical network interfaces. Because the FreeNAS guest may be one among many, it would not be desirable = to reboot the whole system and boot to a floppy to apply a BIOS update to a= PCIe controller card. Again, I have not tried anything like this but it is= a possible use case of what you describe. Also mind you I never want to se= e another floppy-based BIOS again but they are still out there. Michael