Z800 (E5620) vt-d & vt-x (reopening case)

[henZZ]

Hi,

I am setting up a Xen server upon a debian Linux on a Z800 workstation.
I have seen previous people giving up on this task.

          https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Z800-E5620-vt-d-am...
My question:
      is it possible to get a workaround to make it work (sth on bios or card or whatever prevent execution ) ?
I guess some bios patch from HP should solve it but..

here output from XL dmesg:

----

xxxx@xxxx:~$ sudo xl dmesg
(XEN) parameter "placeholder" unknown!
(XEN) Xen version 4.11.2-pre (Debian 4.11.1+92-g6c33308a8d-2) (pkg-xen-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org) (gcc (Debian 8.3.0-7) 8.3.0) debug=n Mon Jun 24 10:10:11 UTC 2019
(XEN) Bootloader: GRUB 2.02+dfsg1-20
(XEN) Command line: placeholder dom0_mem=8192M,max:8192M iommu=verbose
(XEN) Xen image load base address: 0xda200000
(XEN) Video information:
(XEN) VGA is text mode 80x25, font 8x16
(XEN) VBE/DDC methods: none; EDID transfer time: 0 seconds
(XEN) EDID info not retrieved because no DDC retrieval method detected
(XEN) Disc information:
(XEN) Found 2 MBR signatures
(XEN) Found 2 EDD information structures
(XEN) Xen-e820 RAM map:
(XEN) 0000000000000000 - 0000000000095800 (usable)
(XEN) 0000000000095800 - 00000000000a0000 (reserved)
(XEN) 00000000000e8000 - 0000000000100000 (reserved)
(XEN) 0000000000100000 - 00000000dafa5800 (usable)
(XEN) 00000000dafa5800 - 00000000dc000000 (reserved)
(XEN) 00000000f0000000 - 00000000f8000000 (reserved)
(XEN) 00000000fec00000 - 00000000fed40000 (reserved)
(XEN) 00000000fed45000 - 0000000100000000 (reserved)
(XEN) 0000000100000000 - 0000000424000000 (usable)
(XEN) ACPI: RSDP 000E9010, 0024 (r2 HPQOEM)
(XEN) ACPI: XSDT DAFB88E8, 006C (r1 HPQOEM SLIC-WKS 20180305 0)
(XEN) ACPI: FACP DAFB8A88, 00F4 (r3 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: DSDT DAFB9457, AB16 (r1 COMPAQ DSDT_PRJ 1 MSFT 100000E)
(XEN) ACPI: FACS DAFB8800, 0040
(XEN) ACPI: APIC DAFB8B7C, 0194 (r1 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: ASF! DAFB8D10, 0063 (r32 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: MCFG DAFB8D73, 003C (r1 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: TCPA DAFB8DAF, 0032 (r1 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: HPET DAFB8F57, 0038 (r1 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: DMAR DAFB8F8F, 01B8 (r1 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: SRAT DAFB915F, 02F8 (r2 HPQOEM TYLSBURG 1 0)
(XEN) ACPI: SSDT DAFC544F, 2244 (r1 INTEL PPM RCM 80000001 INTL 20061109)
(XEN) System RAM: 16367MB (16760040kB)
(XEN) Domain heap initialised DMA width 32 bits
(XEN) IOAPIC[0]: apic_id 1, version 32, address 0xfec00000, GSI 0-23
(XEN) IOAPIC[1]: apic_id 2, version 32, address 0xfec10000, GSI 24-47
(XEN) IOAPIC[2]: apic_id 3, version 32, address 0xfec20000, GSI 48-71
(XEN) Enabling APIC mode: Flat. Using 3 I/O APICs
(XEN) [VT-D]Host address width 40
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_DRHD:
(XEN) [VT-D] dmaru->address = df100000
(XEN) [VT-D]drhd->address = df100000 iommu->reg = ffff82c00021d000
(XEN) [VT-D]cap = c90780106f0462 ecap = f02076
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:40:03.0 start=40 sec=42 sub=42
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:40:07.0 start=40 sec=60 sub=60
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:40:09.0 start=40 sec=41 sub=41
(XEN) [VT-D] IOAPIC: 0000:40:13.0
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_DRHD:
(XEN) [VT-D] dmaru->address = fed90000
(XEN) [VT-D]drhd->address = fed90000 iommu->reg = ffff82c00021f000
(XEN) [VT-D]cap = c90780106f0462 ecap = f02076
(XEN) [VT-D] IOAPIC: 0000:00:1f.7
(XEN) [VT-D] IOAPIC: 0000:00:13.0
(XEN) [VT-D] flags: INCLUDE_ALL
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1d.7
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1a.7
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1d.0
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1d.1
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1d.2
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1a.0
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1a.1
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_RMRR:
(XEN) [VT-D] endpoint: 0000:00:1a.2
(XEN) [VT-D]found ACPI_DMAR_ATSR:
(XEN) [VT-D] atsru->all_ports: 0
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:00:01.0 start=0 sec=3 sub=3
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:00:03.0 start=0 sec=f sub=f
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:00:07.0 start=0 sec=28 sub=28
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:40:03.0 start=40 sec=42 sub=42
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:40:07.0 start=40 sec=60 sub=60
(XEN) [VT-D] bridge: 0000:40:09.0 start=40 sec=41 sub=41
(XEN) Speculative mitigation facilities:
(XEN) Hardware features: IBRS/IBPB STIBP
(XEN) Compiled-in support: INDIRECT_THUNK SHADOW_PAGING
(XEN) Xen settings: BTI-Thunk RETPOLINE, SPEC_CTRL: IBRS-, Other: IBPB
(XEN) L1TF: believed vulnerable, maxphysaddr L1D 44, CPUID 40, Safe address 10000000000
(XEN) Support for VMs: PV: MSR_SPEC_CTRL RSB EAGER_FPU, HVM: MSR_SPEC_CTRL RSB EAGER_FPU
(XEN) XPTI (64-bit PV only): Dom0 enabled, DomU enabled
(XEN) PV L1TF shadowing: Dom0 disabled, DomU enabled
(XEN) Using scheduler: SMP Credit Scheduler (credit)
(XEN) Platform timer is 14.318MHz HPET
(XEN) Detected 2397.668 MHz processor.
(XEN) Initing memory sharing.
(XEN) [VT-D]Disabling IOMMU due to Intel 5500/5520/X58 Chipset errata #47, #53
(XEN) I/O virtualisation disabled
(XEN) Enabled directed EOI with ioapic_ack_old on!
(XEN) ENABLING IO-APIC IRQs
(XEN) -> Using old ACK method
(XEN) Allocated console ring of 16 KiB.
(XEN) VMX: Supported advanced features:
(XEN) - APIC MMIO access virtualisation
(XEN) - APIC TPR shadow
(XEN) - Extended Page Tables (EPT)
(XEN) - Virtual-Processor Identifiers (VPID)
(XEN) - Virtual NMI
(XEN) - MSR direct-access bitmap
(XEN) - Unrestricted Guest
(XEN) HVM: ASIDs enabled.
(XEN) HVM: VMX enabled
(XEN) HVM: Hardware Assisted Paging (HAP) detected
(XEN) HVM: HAP page sizes: 4kB, 2MB, 1GB
(XEN) Brought up 8 CPUs
(XEN) Dom0 has maximum 840 PIRQs
(XEN) Xen kernel: 64-bit, lsb, compat32
(XEN) Dom0 kernel: 64-bit, PAE, lsb, paddr 0x1000000 -> 0x1f65000
(XEN) PHYSICAL MEMORY ARRANGEMENT:
(XEN) Dom0 alloc.: 0000000416000000->0000000418000000 (2086249 pages to be allocated)
(XEN) Init. ramdisk: 0000000423569000->0000000423fff6de
(XEN) VIRTUAL MEMORY ARRANGEMENT:
(XEN) Loaded kernel: ffffffff81000000->ffffffff81f65000
(XEN) Init. ramdisk: 0000000000000000->0000000000000000
(XEN) Phys-Mach map: 0000008000000000->0000008001000000
(XEN) Start info: ffffffff81f65000->ffffffff81f654b4
(XEN) Xenstore ring: 0000000000000000->0000000000000000
(XEN) Console ring: 0000000000000000->0000000000000000
(XEN) Page tables: ffffffff81f66000->ffffffff81f79000
(XEN) Boot stack: ffffffff81f79000->ffffffff81f7a000
(XEN) TOTAL: ffffffff80000000->ffffffff82000000
(XEN) ENTRY ADDRESS: ffffffff81d3d180
(XEN) Dom0 has maximum 8 VCPUs
(XEN) Initial low memory virq threshold set at 0x4000 pages.
(XEN) Scrubbing Free RAM on 2 nodes using 8 CPUs
(XEN) ..................done.
(XEN) Std. Loglevel: Errors and warnings
(XEN) Guest Loglevel: Nothing (Rate-limited: Errors and warnings)
(XEN) Xen is relinquishing VGA console.
(XEN) *** Serial input -> DOM0 (type 'CTRL-a' three times to switch input to Xen)
(XEN) Freed 472kB init memory

[DGroves]

unless using a hardware based programer, there is no known way to modify a hp workstation bios due to it's checksum check in the bios which prevents a modified bios from being installed

HP workstations (and other venders OEM workstations) are built and certified with specific software and addin hardware. The workstation maker then certifies the model(s) will work as stated with those software/hardware configurations and provides support for the stated period of time

the issue arises when you try to use newer software on a older system, or unsupported software/hardware. In these cases you are the one who needs to determine OS/Software/Hardware compatibility and in this case the citrix Xen OS makes hardware calls that the z800 does not appear to support due to the intel c series chipset revision used. this is not the fault of Intel or citrix as intel had/has no way of knowing that citrix Xen would be making these calls as this OS did not yet exist! and citrix wrote the Xen OS with newer chipsets/hardware in mind so it's not surprising that some older chipsets/systems are incompatible

since the z800 appears to be a no go, you might want to ask on the Xen forums or read the Xen notes on supported hardware and simply purchase hardware that is know to work with Xen

last, the free version of Xen is used to test/bug fix the Retail version and the free ver has limited/no support from citrix, however the retail version does have official support and if using the retail ver you might want to contact citrix and ask them