[kata-dev] About the future kata rootfs, qcow2 or nfs/vsock

Dr. David Alan Gilbert dgilbert at redhat.com
Mon Sep 24 16:14:01 UTC 2018


* Qixuan Wu (qixuan.wu at linux.alibaba.com) wrote:
> 
> 
> 于 2018/9/24 下午11:53, Dr. David Alan Gilbert 写道:
> > * Qixuan Wu (qixuan.wu at linux.alibaba.com) wrote:
> > > > We're currently experimenting with something a bit different;
> > > > we've got a setup that uses a modified version of the FUSE protocol
> > > > running over vhost-user;  it's:
> > > >     a) Got the filesystem access split out of qemu into a separate daemon
> > > >         - that's just a modified version of a normal FUSE filesystem daemon
> > > >         with the nice bit being that since it's a separate process you
> > > >         can do whatever isolation on it you want.
> > > >     b) But the latency is low because vhost-user means the daemon can read
> > > >        the request queue straight out of the guest memory
> > > >     c) We've got a setup with DAX so that the files are mapped straight
> > > >        into guest address space, so the overhead is very low for large
> > > >        files.
> > > That's so cool. I guess it will not use virtio. And this way maybe the new
> > > para-virtualization method, it's specific about the file system for the data
> > > shared between guest and host.
> > 
> > It does use virtio!  It's basically just the existing FUSE protocol
> > carried over virtio; it's got some tweaks to allow the direct mappings
> > and to deal with some difference sin the setup.
> > It uses the existing vhost-user implementation of virtio (just like
> > vhost-user for network does virtio for dpdk).
> > 
> > > >     d) We've got a caching scheme for metadata, which again removes a lot
> > > >        of latency.
> > > >     e) We've got some patches to use it in KATA; I can start a basic KATA
> > > >        guest with it.
> > > > 
> > > > This is the first public mention of it because I didn't want you waiting
> > > > for a reply; but our code is still rather messy and experimental; give
> > > > us a few weeks and as soon as it survives some smoke tests we'll make
> > > > the code public.
> > > > 
> > > > Because we're reusing both FUSE and vhost-user the kernel changes are
> > > > quite small, as are the qemu changes.
> > > > 
> > > > I realise that's not much detail yet; we're starting to write some of it
> > > > up; feel free to ask any specifics.
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > Thank for the replay. Seems that the file data are mmapping direct, but the
> > > control plane, like metadata are still using some other simple protocal,
> > > maybe new protocal ?
> > 
> > The control plane again is basically just the existing FUSE protocol;
> > but we've got a shared mmap'd region for a fast lookup for some of the
> > metadata.
> > 
> > > Because 9p and nfs are very complex, they are not
> > > developed for the file sharing between guest and host. I always hope there
> > > is a simple file sharing protocal. I am very looking forward for the code.
> > > :-).
> > 
> > Glad you like the sound of it;  we'll try and get it out ASAP.
> > 
> 
> Though has some doubts about it, anyway, seems like it's faster and simpler
> than 9pfs and nfs+vsock. It's a good news for kata user.

Please ask about your doubts; I'd like to make sure we have good
answers to them.

Dave

> Thanks & Regards
> Qixuan.
--
Dr. David Alan Gilbert / dgilbert at redhat.com / Manchester, UK



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