RHBA-2012:0195 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

An updated xenpv-win package that fixes various bugs is now available for Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Description

The xenpv-win package contains installation images for para-virtualized drivers
for guests running Windows XP or later on Red Hat Enterprise Linux hosts.
Para-virtualized drivers provide significant network and disk I/O performance
improvements for fully virtualized guests over the same guests running with
fully virtualized drivers.

This updated package provides CD-ROM images containing the para-virtualized
network and disk drivers for instances of Windows XP or later, running on a Red
Hat Enterprise Linux host.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Due to different requirements imposed by Linux and Windows on the

implementation of checksum offloading, Windows Server 2003 guests running with
para-virtualized drivers previously experienced many TCP retransmissions and
showed poor network performance. With this update, checksum offloading has been
disabled in the drivers and TCP sessions on Windows Server 2003 guests no longer
exhibit problematic behavior. (BZ#718329)

• Previously, the para-virtualized Xen network driver did not report when it

consumed packets. As a result, when using traffic control on virtual networks,
Windows virtual machines dropped packets. Now, the driver correctly implements
the "rx-notify" feature, packet consumption is reported promptly to the network
back end running on domain 0, and traffic control does not cause unexpected
packet drops. (BZ#697999)

• Para-virtualized Xen drives did not handle properly the "MODE SENSE" command.

Consequently, Windows guests failed to initialize a mirror or a striped dynamic
volume that included a para-virtualized Xen drive, leaving the volume in a
failed state. With this update, the "MODE SENSE" command implementation has been
fixed and dynamic volumes now work properly with para-virtualized Xen drives.
(BZ#692961)

• A variable was not reset to NULL when Windows XP sent a ScsiStopAdapter

control message to the RHELSCSI driver. Consequently, when running the debug
version of the drivers on Windows XP, an assertion failure was reported during
hibernation. Now, the stored device extension is reset to NULL when the adapter
is stopped and the assertion failure no longer occurs. (BZ#685049)

• Previously, Windows guests did not acknowledge the "xm shutdown -H" command

run from a host. Consequently, attempting to turn off a Windows virtual machine
with "xm shutdown -H" failed. Furthermore, it prevented "xm shutdown" from
working until the virtual machine was rebooted. Now, the para-virtualized Xen
network driver triggers a shutdown of a virtual machine when "xm shutdown -H" is
sent, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#725342)

• Due to different requirements imposed by Linux and Windows on the

implementation of checksum offloading, Windows guests running with
para-virtualized drivers were unable to communicate with other guests running on
the same host. With this update, checksum offloading has been disabled in the
drivers and communication between Windows guests running on the same host now
works correctly. (BZ#657540)

• Para-virtualized Xen drives did not handle properly the "READ CAPACITY(16)"

command. Consequently, the "SCSI compliance test" in the Windows Logo Kit
failed. Now, the "READ CAPACITY(16)" command implementation has been fixed and
the compliance tests for it no longer fail.

Note that this bug does not cause any known problem in normal operation.
(BZ#734813)

All users of xenpv-win are advised to upgrade to this updated package, which
fixes these bugs.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 657540 - xenpv-win net driver can not do tcp with other guests on the same hyperhost.
• BZ - 685049 - XP-32 get BSOD when run "Plug and Play Driver Test" for BLK WHQL testing
• BZ - 692961 - Windows PV driver does not work with software raid
• BZ - 725342 - xm shutdown -H option dose not work for windows hvm guest

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)