RHEA-2009:1583 - Product Enhancement Advisory

Topic

An updated xenpv-win package, which contains installation images for
para-virtualized drivers for fully-virtualized Windows(r) guests running on
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 or later hosts, and which provides several bug
fixes and enhancements, is now available.

Description

The xenpv-win package contains installation images for para-virtualized
drivers for fully-virtualized Windows guests running on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux hosts. Para-virtualized drivers are virtualization-aware drivers used
by fully-virtualized guests running on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 or
later. Fully-virtualized guests using the para-virtualized drivers gain
significant I/O performance over fully-virtualized guests running with
fully-virtualized drivers.

This updated package provides CD-ROM images containing the para-virtualized
network and disk drivers for fully-virtualized guest instances of Windows
XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, running on
the x86, AMD64 or Intel 64 architectures.

To use the drivers, install them on a fully-virtualized Windows XP, Windows
Server 2003, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 guest running on a Red
Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 (or later) host.

Installation involves exporting the installation CD-ROM image from the Red
Hat Enterprise Linux host to the virtualized guest. For information
regarding the installation, configuration and troubleshooting of these
drivers, refer to the documentation included in the
/usr/share/doc/xenpv-win-[version]/ directory once the xenpv-win package is
installed. In addition, the same documentation is included in the CD-ROM
image for ease-of-consultation from within the guest.

There are a few known issues with this release, which are fully documented
in the README.txt file included in the aforementioned documentation.

Important: QCOW images do not work with the Windows para-virtualized
drivers. If you create a QCOW disk image and then add it to the
configuration of a guest running the para-virtualized drivers, the guest
will no longer be able to boot. (known issue: BZ#452299)

This updated xenvp-win package fixes several issues present in xenpv-win
version 0.97.4, which was provided as part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3.
The following bugs have been fixed:

• detaching a hard drive from within a Windows 2008 guest which was using

the xenpv-win drivers could have resulted in data loss or corruption.
(BZ#518509)

• attaching and/or detaching network or block devices multiple times in

sequence could have caused the guest operating system to become
unresponsive with 100% virtual CPU utilization, or possibly caused a
critical system error in the guest OS. (BZ#527453)

• adding a network device to a Windows guest after installing the xenpv-win

drivers could have resulted in the unnecessary creation of an extra network
interface in the guest. (BZ#438748)

• Windows guests could only be shut down or rebooted from within the guest

operating system; attempting to do so using the virsh command or with
VirtManager had no effect. With this update, Windows guests can now be
rebooted or shut down through virsh and VirtManager. (BZ#473121)

In addition to newly-added support for Windows Vista and Windows 2008 guest
operating systems, these updated xenpv-win packages provide the following
enhancements:

• 32-bit Windows guests using these updated xenpv-win drivers are now able

to use greater than 4GB of RAM. (BZ#469767)

• these xenpv-win drivers now support up to 254 paravirtualized drives.

However, the host operating system may impose stricter limits on the
maximum number of paravirtualized drives. (BZ#515352)

All users who are running fully-virtualized instances of Windows XP,
Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5.3 (and later) hosts, and who are interested in improved
I/O and network performance, should install these updated packages.

Solution

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

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

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for x86_64 - Extended Update Support 5.4 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 for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 469767 - 32 bit Windows guests with 4GB of RAM and PV drivers installed will not boot.
• BZ - 473121 - Windows PV drivers do not support shutdown through libvirt or XM
• BZ - 483768 - Xen Windows PV drivers need a new version number.
• BZ - 515352 - Expand PV Driver SCSI disk support for Windows guests
• BZ - 518509 - Data loss/corruption when removing disks from Windows guests
• BZ - 518599 - Win2008/Vista domU IDE controller not disabled after installation
• BZ - 523090 - Win2008: PV Driver Installer Issues
• BZ - 527453 - Windows PV drv: domU 'freeze' on device attach

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)