Experimental VT-d support - need feedback
Dear Users,
One of the feature in Parallels Server 3.0 Beta is experimental Intel VT-d support. You are able to dedicate physical PCI device to particular VM and work with it within VM using its native drivers with almost no overhead. This feature need Intel VT-d enabled hardware and available only for host Windows.
Did anyone tried this out? Could you provide a feedback into this thread please?
Best Regards,
Andrew @ Parallels
BTW, the Peryon-based Mac Pro and MacBooks have VT-d support.
can't try vt-d, because single machine i have access install pci devices have not HVS and VM just not work on it.
i'm sorry, there no machines with VT-d support, i have acces to (
Gosh I'd love to but...
I can't even get Transporter working to convert a real machine into a virtual one. See my other post called "Creating a virtual machine and hdd from a real Mac". Fix that problem for me, the end user, and maybe then I can help you with yours.
Want to
I have an early 2008 mac pro with vt-d support, and I actually waited for this technology to come out to buy it so that I could virtualize one of my PCI-x video cards. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get it working. Any time I try to add a "Intel VT-d PCI..." it is grayed out and when I roll over, it says "You cannot add such devices to this virtual machine."
Do I need to disable the second video card in Leopard before I try it? I am not sure how to proceed.
Preferably, I would like to run Leopard with two of my monitors and give my second video card to windows to use for two more screens (and 4 of my 8 cores). Since I am running on Apple hardware though, it would be within the license agreement to run windows with a Leopard Server virtualized, if that's what it takes.
I have a license for it as I am an ADC member.
not working for me yet
I built a new system a few months ago specifically for the purpose of testing vt-d. I am using the Intel BLKDQ35JOE, and I imagine you guys probably are as well since it was one of the to have vt-d support.
The first problem I encountered seems to be more related to this motherboard than your software; I haven't figure out a way to enable both the onboard video and my nVidia card. So I only see the nVidia card in the list of vt-d devices to add unless I tell the bios to use the onboard video, in which case I only see the onboard video in the list.
I went ahead and told it to use the nVidia card, and found the next problem - it cannot find prl_vtdhook_32.sys in the parallels drivers directory. I found it under the windows directory.
Then it wants to install a new driver for the nvidia card, fine.
Then it says it can't start because hardware virtualization is disabled, but I just checked in my bios: VT and VT-d are both on.
VT-d support, where?
I am using Beta3 build 1873 now, x86-64 bare-metal install with a Stoakley system (ASUS DSEBDG 1003 with E5420.) VT-d is enabled in the system BIOS. With either WXP-SP2 32b or WXP-SP1 x64, I cannot add a VT-d device. The VT-d option is inactive, the message "You cannot add such devices to this virtual machine" appears as "Vertigo" reported on 03/20.
I find it somewhat disingenuous that you should solicit feedback for VT-d experience in this thread and offer no response whatsoever when it is given.
I'm about to buy an Asus P5E-VM DO motherboard with Intel VT-d capabilities. I was hoping to utilize Parallels Server Beta on Linux and allow a Windows guest direct access to my TV tuner cards. Will Parallels be adding VT-d support for linux host systems? If not, my only option will be Xen which obviously supports VT-d on linux Dom0.
BTW, searching for the term VT-d in the forum search doesn't come up with anything.
Has anybody had any luck with VT-d?
I wonder if VT-d has to be enabled in EFI for us Mac Pro users. Parallels shows my VMs as using VT-x, not VT-d.
After no response from Parallels, I just concentrated on Xensource. I managed to get VT-d working in Xen. It's actually very stable and working without problems in my application.
Dear Beta-testers,
Please keep in mind that in the current public Beta version of Parallels Server experimental VT-d support is only available on Parallels Server for Windows version. Bare Metal, Linux and Mac versions don't have VT-d support so far.
If that is true, then why will it still not install under Linux?
"The software require the hardware virtualization technology (VTx or AMD-V)."
I've posted in several different threads but have yet to see a definitive answer as to why I haven't been able to use any of the builds since beta 1.
Your host system must support VT-x feature if Intel CPU is used (don't confuse with the VT-d mentioned above) or AMD-V feature if you are running on AMD. Generally both of these features are called hardware virtualization technology. The support of this technology depends on your particular CPU model (all new CPUs have this feature) and your computer BIOS. If you are sure that your CPU supports hardware virtualization - you may need to enable it in BIOS or update the BIOS itself.
Originally Posted by fromans
I understand the cause, but I don't understand the reasoning behind this. Several my machines that do NOT have VT-x or VT-d were working just fine in Beta 1. They also work fine in Virtual Box, VMware Workstation, AND VMware Server without having VT-x/d. Why did Parallels break this functionality with Beta 2 and each release since?
VT-d test
I am testing VT-d on HP dc7800(Q35 chipset) using evaluation license.
However, Parallels Server is very expensive for me.
Please support VT-d on Parallels Workstation and/or Parallels Desktop.
Last edited by toshi3; Jul 14, 2008 at 05:26 AM.
Hello, toshi3.
The following thread may provide you with useful information.
If you have already known it, I'm sorry...
http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=108040
With Best Regards.
Thanks,Flippers.
I hope next iMac/MacBook Pro supports VT-d. :-)
The PS beta 6 period is very very long.
Is there any news for next beta(or final version)?
Currently, I'm testing VT-d on KVM and Xen.
The VT-d support of PS beta6 is unstable.
So, I will evaluate it again when beta7 is released.
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