[SGVLUG] 'x86 boxes with hardware virtualization

[Michael Proctor-Smith]

On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 9:59 PM, John E. Kreznar <jek at ininx.com> wrote:
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> In a posting purporting to be from Eric Theis <erictheis at yahoo.com>
> but lacking a digital signature, it is written:
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>> On Saturday 09 May 2009 11:10:29 pm matti wrote:
>
>>> > Have 'x86 boxes with hardware virtualization begun to be numerous
>>> > on the used computer market?
>
>>> in terms of systems w/chips which has "Hardware support", yes they
>>> are quite a few out there in the used market place.
>
>>> so YES you will be able to find used systems which support
>>> it. (especially as some companies get dismantled during this down
>>> turn, expect to see a few newer systems recycled.. )
>
>>> however, there still are LOTs of non-supporting chips ( even some
>>> of the newer intel core2 chips don't have the hardware
>>> support.. many of those chips are still being put into new
>>> systems.)
>
>>> THUS, I would expect you will need to consult the listings.
>
>>> I took a closer look at the list and was surprised that some of the
>>> Intel Quad processors aren't even "VT-x", sigh, so you will
>>> definitely have to look closely at what chip is in the system.
>
>>> > [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization
>
>> Saw a thread a couple days ago that mentioned that even an Intel
>> chip that supports VT-x will be disabled by the OEM.  You may need
>> to keep that list handy and be ready to do plenty of research.
>
> My "plenty of research" has not yet been enough.  Either I'm using
> poor search keys, or hardware virtualization is not yet something that
> the vendors are advertising very much.
>
> I've pretty much given up on the idea of finding a used box, and also
> on Intel because it's just too complicated to verify that hardware
> virtualization can be enabled in an Intel box.
>
> I'm ready to buy a new AMD 64 box (many have AMD Virtual), but I don't
> even know how to do this.  I'm afraid that if I do a RFQ and identify
> enabling hardware virtualization as the key requirement, vendors will
> either shy away from it or make me pay for my "custom requirement".
>
> Anyone have a suggestion?

So the reason it is confusing is that there are about 3 levels of
hardware virtualization support and five virtualization technologies
that support different feature sets. Also most people looking to do it
are looking to do it for servers and so have a built in level of
expertise, or are buying from a vendor who has no real interest in
sharing there "secret sauce".

So maybe I missed it in the reast of the thread what level of
virtualization support are you looking for?

Just off the cuff there are several levels of suppot
1.) CPU does not really support it but software can still do it
(slowest full emulation, or paravirt).

2.) CPU supports software virtualization [paravirt(faster), or
unmodified OS(slower)].

3.) CPU support second level of virtualization, but now chipset must
support IO-MMU(Allows you to give hardware to guess OSs even
unmodified OSs).


The even more confusing part is that BIOSes must support any of the
above features and in fact some motherboard/computer vendors disable
the virtualization features of CPUs and chipsets that support the
above feature sets.

Sense it is you John I am guessing that you do not want to run
windows, so almost anything will work for you sense most the the Free
OSs have paravirt support. Other then that there is always the Dell
outlet store for used/refurbed "new" hardware.

> - --
>  John E. Kreznar jek at ininx.com 9F1148454619A5F08550 705961A47CC541AFEF13
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