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7.264. virtio-win

Updated virtio-win packages that fix multiple bugs and add various enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
The virtio-win packages provide paravirtualized network drivers for most Microsoft Windows operating systems. Paravirtualized drivers are virtualization-aware drivers used by fully virtualized guests running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Fully virtualized guests using the paravirtualized drivers gain significantly better I/O performance than fully virtualized guests running without the drivers.

Bug Fixes

BZ#750421
Prior to this update, a Windows Server 2003 guest could become suspended when rebooting if the balloon size was changed before, due to a lack of free memory. This update releases the memory to the guest before processing the power management request.
BZ#760022
Prior to this update, the virtio-win floppy disk did not contain NDIS drivers for Windows XP and Windows 7 platforms due to a lack of free space on VFD media. This update modifies the underlying code and switches to 2.88 MB media instead of 1.44 MB.
BZ#768795
Prior to this update, the work items processed the inflate and deflate requests. As a consequence, a stop error could occur when several requests were executed simultaneously. This update uses a dedicated thread instead of work items to process the inflate and deflate requests in sequence.
BZ#805423
Prior to this update, the port surprise-removal handler did not stop and purge the write and read queues. As a consequence, requests could be send to already removed devices. This update modifies the underlying code to stop and purge the write and read queues as expected and requests are no longer sent to removed devices.
BZ#807967, BZ#875155
Prior to this update, the initialization sequence of the virtio-net driver did not work properly after disabling and enabling virtio-net, or when resetting the power management. As a consequence, the first packets that were sent through the DHCP client could, under certain circumstances, become suspended in the queue and the DHCP client did not receive the IP address. With this update, the initialization sequence has been fixed and virtio-net now works as expected in the described scenario.
BZ#814896
Prior to this update, the virtio queue was not correctly reinitialized during the resume routine. As a consequence, ports could not handle the read requests correctly. This update adds the correct virtual queue for re-initialization when resuming after hibernation.
BZ#815295
On Microsoft Windows 7 operating system, a driver disregarded platform requests to indicate only a certain number of packets during one DPC (Deferred Procedure Call). As a consequence, the Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) test failed and the platform did not moderate the driver workload for the RX path. This update modifies the underlying code to implement packet indication moderation and the WHQL certification now passes in the described scenario.
BZ#824814
Prior to this update, the viostor driver did not handle configuration change events as expected. Consequently, when a relevant image was resized on-line, viostor left it unattended. This update modifies the underlying code to reset the bus sequence when changing the configurations and the driver can now recognize that media has been resized.
BZ#831570
Prior to this update, the work items processed the inflate and deflate requests. As a consequence, the inflate and deflate requests could be executed simultaneously with PnP and Power management (PM) handlers. This update uses a dedicated thread instead of work items to process the PnP and PM requests only after all other pending requests are completed.
BZ#839143
Prior to this update, the balloon driver failed to keep the current balloon size between hibernation-resume cycles and restarts. This update keeps the current balloon size between restarts and hibernation-resume cycles and adjusts the balloon size according to this value.

Enhancements

BZ#782268
This update introduces the vioscsi.sys driver to virtio-win packages to provide virtio-scsi functionality to Microsoft Windows platforms.
BZ#828275
This update adds support for the virtio control queue to offload RX filtering to the host.
BZ#834175
This update supports all possible offload combinations and offload parities between IPv4 and IPv6 for Windows certification 2012 and Windows 8 certification.
BZ#838005
This update adds offloads for IPv6 to virtio packages.
BZ#908163
This update adds virtual floppy drive drivers for Windows Server 2008 R2 guests to virtio packages.
Users of virtio-win are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs and add these enhancements.