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Bug 738444 - Use virtio-scsi rather than virtio-blk
Use virtio-scsi rather than virtio-blk
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: gnome-boxes
Classification: Applications
Component: installer
3.15.x
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: --
Assigned To: GNOME Boxes maintainer(s)
GNOME Boxes maintainer(s)
: 685032 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2014-10-13 11:39 UTC by David Jaša
Modified: 2018-01-11 10:11 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 3.7/3.8



Description David Jaša 2014-10-13 11:39:15 UTC
Description of problem:
gnome-boxes by default uses virtio-blk disks backed by qcow2 files stored in home directories. It would be nice to use virtio-scsi disks by default with "<driver ... discard='unmap'/>" option tuned on for guests that support virtio-scsi (IIRC RHEL >= 6.4, RHEL 7, Windows >= 7 with virtio drivers). That way, valuable space in user's home can be conserved:

## backing file usage on host
$ du -sm .local/share/gnome-boxes/images/rhel7.0 
8820	.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/rhel7.0
## run fstrim in the guest:
[root@rhel7 ~]# fstrim -v /
/: 2.4 GiB (2528993280 bytes) trimmed
## backing file usage after guest's fstrim
[djasa@cihla ~]$ du -sm .local/share/gnome-boxes/images/rhel7.0 
6768	.local/share/gnome-boxes/images/rhel7.0

Note that Windows 7 by default issue discards without user intervention, in RHEL (and IIRC Fedora as well), you either have to set up a cron job for fstrim or add "discards" to mount options


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
gnome-boxes-3.8.3-9.el7.x86_64

How reproducible:
always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. install a guest that supports virtio-scsi
2. inspect domain xml for the VM
3.

Actual results:
virtio-blk is used

Expected results:
virtio-scsi with discard='unmap' is configured

Additional info:
Comment 1 Zeeshan Ali 2014-10-13 11:48:21 UTC
Hmm.. I didn't know of virtio-scsi. Thanks for filing this. I should look into it.
Comment 2 Zeeshan Ali 2014-10-13 11:51:26 UTC
Would this be a duplication of bug#685032?
Comment 3 Marc-Andre Lureau 2014-10-13 13:16:10 UTC
(In reply to comment #2)
> Would this be a duplication of bug#685032?

I think #685032 is more generic, it discusses different approaches for image compressions. This bug is specifical about TRIM/unmap
Comment 4 Zeeshan Ali 2014-10-13 13:24:04 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> (In reply to comment #2)
> > Would this be a duplication of bug#685032?
> 
> I think #685032 is more generic, it discusses different approaches for image
> compressions. This bug is specifical about TRIM/unmap

Yeah, thats what I was thinking but if we act on this bug, do we really need more generic solutions?
Comment 5 Zeeshan Ali 2014-10-13 13:25:19 UTC
(In reply to comment #4)
> (In reply to comment #3)
> > (In reply to comment #2)
> > > Would this be a duplication of bug#685032?
> > 
> > I think #685032 is more generic, it discusses different approaches for image
> > compressions. This bug is specifical about TRIM/unmap
> 
> Yeah, thats what I was thinking but if we act on this bug, do we really need
> more generic solutions?

Being more specific, makes it much more likely for me (or anyone) to act on it. :) You can see how long  bug#685032 has been open w/o any patches.
Comment 6 Marc-Andre Lureau 2014-10-13 15:17:13 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> Being more specific, makes it much more likely for me (or anyone) to act on it.
> :) You can see how long  bug#685032 has been open w/o any patches.

I agree with you, I wouldn't mind if you close it as dup.
Comment 7 Zeeshan Ali 2014-10-13 15:27:16 UTC
*** Bug 685032 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 GNOME Infrastructure Team 2018-01-11 10:11:49 UTC
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message --

This bug has been migrated to GNOME's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity.

You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-boxes/issues/35.