Hi,

the ongoing merge of OpenVZ-based lightweight virtualization into
mainline Linux seems to be progressing nicely and I have a few questions
about it:
- How usable will net namespaces be in 2.6.25? I'm especially interested
in assigning a real hardware ethernet device to a VE.
- Will there be an OpenVZ patch or against 2.6.25?
- Do you expect net namespace/virtualization work to be completely
merged in 2.6.26?
- Which OpenVZ features will not make it to mainline in the 2.6.26
timeframe?

Some of the questions above probably can't be answered without guessing,
but a good guess is better than no information and I'd appreciate any
status update newer than the OpenVZ blog entry from 2008-01-26.

Thanks,
Carl-Daniel

Pavel,

Please correct/enlarge me if there's anything missing/incorrect.

Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
> Hi,
>
> the ongoing merge of OpenVZ-based lightweight virtualization into
> mainline Linux seems to be progressing nicely and I have a few questions
> about it:
> - How usable will net namespaces be in 2.6.25? I'm especially interested
> in assigning a real hardware ethernet device to a VE.
>   

I guess some network namespace stuff is NOT completed in upcoming 2.6.25 
(a lot of stuff done, but not finished)

For 2.6.26, it will be more-or-less working, with just a few exceptions 
such as conntracks and IPv6 -- maybe.

> - Will there be an OpenVZ patch or against 2.6.25?
>   

As of now we do not plan to have one. Porting to each mainstream version 
is too much work to do -- instead we concentrate on
(1) merging stuff to mainstream
(2) supporting our stable kernels
(3) stabilizing 2.6.24 (for now)

> - Do you expect net namespace/virtualization work to be completely
> merged in 2.6.26?
>   

As said before, we guess that network namespaces will be more or less 
useable in 2.6.26.

> - Which OpenVZ features will not make it to mainline in the 2.6.26
> timeframe?
>   

A lot. Network namespaces is just one piece of a pie.

To paint in big strokes: resource management and live migration are 
still on our todo list.

Resource management: some stuff is in -mm kernel, need to add much more. 
Will work on that after finishing with net namespaces.

Live migration: this is much more far perspective, we haven't even 
started to discuss that seriously on containers@ list.
> Some of the questions above probably can't be answered without guessing,
> but a good guess is better than no information and I'd appreciate any
> status update newer than the OpenVZ blog entry from 2008-01-26.
>
> Thanks,
> Carl-Daniel

Kir Kolyshkin wrote:
> Pavel,
> 
> Please correct/enlarge me if there's anything missing/incorrect.
> 
> Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> the ongoing merge of OpenVZ-based lightweight virtualization into
>> mainline Linux seems to be progressing nicely and I have a few questions
>> about it:
>> - How usable will net namespaces be in 2.6.25? I'm especially interested
>> in assigning a real hardware ethernet device to a VE.
>>   
> 
> I guess some network namespace stuff is NOT completed in upcoming 2.6.25 
> (a lot of stuff done, but not finished)
> 
> For 2.6.26, it will be more-or-less working, with just a few exceptions 
> such as conntracks and IPv6 -- maybe.
> 
>> - Will there be an OpenVZ patch or against 2.6.25?
>>   
> 
> As of now we do not plan to have one. Porting to each mainstream version 
> is too much work to do -- instead we concentrate on
> (1) merging stuff to mainstream
> (2) supporting our stable kernels
> (3) stabilizing 2.6.24 (for now)

2.6.26 will be the next kernel we will port on.

>> - Do you expect net namespace/virtualization work to be completely
>> merged in 2.6.26?
>>   
> 
> As said before, we guess that network namespaces will be more or less 
> useable in 2.6.26.
> 
>> - Which OpenVZ features will not make it to mainline in the 2.6.26
>> timeframe?
>>   
> 
> A lot. Network namespaces is just one piece of a pie.
> 
> To paint in big strokes: resource management and live migration are 
> still on our todo list.
> 
> Resource management: some stuff is in -mm kernel, need to add much more. 
> Will work on that after finishing with net namespaces.

Memory management will change with 2.6.26. API will be kept, but
we'll have a per-ve swapout and (probably) drop privvmpages accounting.

> Live migration: this is much more far perspective, we haven't even 
> started to discuss that seriously on containers@ list.
>> Some of the questions above probably can't be answered without guessing,
>> but a good guess is better than no information and I'd appreciate any
>> status update newer than the OpenVZ blog entry from 2008-01-26.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Carl-Daniel

On 13.03.2008 14:20, Pavel Emelyanov wrote:
> Kir Kolyshkin wrote:
>   
>> Pavel,
>>
>> Please correct/enlarge me if there's anything missing/incorrect.
>>
>> Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote:
>>     
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> the ongoing merge of OpenVZ-based lightweight virtualization into
>>> mainline Linux seems to be progressing nicely and I have a few questions
>>> about it:
>>> - How usable will net namespaces be in 2.6.25? I'm especially interested
>>> in assigning a real hardware ethernet device to a VE.
>>>   
>>>       
>> I guess some network namespace stuff is NOT completed in upcoming 2.6.25 
>> (a lot of stuff done, but not finished)
>>
>> For 2.6.26, it will be more-or-less working, with just a few exceptions 
>> such as conntracks and IPv6 -- maybe.
>>     

Do you have an overview of the current 2.6.26 state?


>>> - Will there be an OpenVZ patch or against 2.6.25?
>>>   
>>>       
>> As of now we do not plan to have one. Porting to each mainstream version 
>> is too much work to do -- instead we concentrate on
>> (1) merging stuff to mainstream
>> (2) supporting our stable kernels
>> (3) stabilizing 2.6.24 (for now)
>>     
>
> 2.6.26 will be the next kernel we will port on.
>   

Yes, I saw the new tree on git.openvz.org. I hope to use a 2.6.26-based
OpenVZ kernel in the near future when 2.6.26 is officially released.


>>> - Do you expect net namespace/virtualization work to be completely
>>> merged in 2.6.26?
>>>   
>>>       
>> As said before, we guess that network namespaces will be more or less 
>> useable in 2.6.26.
>>     

It would be cool if you can give some pointers on how to use the merged
part of network namespaces (with OpenVZ tools or any other tool).


>>> - Which OpenVZ features will not make it to mainline in the 2.6.26
>>> timeframe?
>>>   
>>>       
>> A lot. Network namespaces is just one piece of a pie.
>>
>> To paint in big strokes: resource management and live migration are 
>> still on our todo list.
>>
>> Resource management: some stuff is in -mm kernel, need to add much more. 
>> Will work on that after finishing with net namespaces.
>>     
>
> Memory management will change with 2.6.26. API will be kept, but
> we'll have a per-ve swapout and (probably) drop privvmpages accounting.
>
>   
>> Live migration: this is much more far perspective, we haven't even 
>> started to discuss that seriously on containers@ list.
>>     

That's unfortunate, but I can understand concentrating on a few features
to get them merged completely.


Regards,
Carl-Daniel