Subject: xen: wifi drivers in linux-virt

From: Marc Göldner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:19:58 +0100

Hello,

I#m running a xen dom0 and domU on Alpine 3.11. The pci passthrough of 
the Intel wifi-device works fine. The device is assigned to the domU 
instance.

The problem is, that in the package linux-virt there are no wifi 
drivers, especially the iwlwifi module.

Is there a way or a package which provides the necessary drivers? Or did 
I miss something?

Regards
Marc

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From: Paul Zillmann <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:14:56 +0100

Hello Marc,

the module is not enabled in the virtual kernel's config. The linux-virt 
package is designed to run inside a virtual machine, which usually don't 
have a wireless NIC.
It is designed to be as slim as possible.

Try the linux-lts package and optional the linux-firmware-other package.

- Paul

Am 15.01.20 um 21:19 schrieb Marc Göldner:
> Is there a way or a package which provides the necessary drivers? Or 
> did I miss something?
>
> Regards
> Marc

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From: "Drew DeVault" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:15:39 -0500

Passing through all of the hardware from your host directly to the guest
negates the value of having a virt kernel in the first place, since at
that point the guest is hardly different from the host at all. You
should just use the stock lts kernel.

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From: Marc Göldner <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:40:01 +0100

Hello Paul,

I've tried installing the lts kernel. When I boot the domU from this
kernel I get a kernel panic. Do I have to add additional configuration
parameters?

In the grub "menu.lst" I just copied the entry of the virtual kernel and
adopted it for the lts.

As Drew stated

> since at
> that point the guest is hardly different from the host at all.

the purpose of this all is to put the access point with hostapd in a
confined area on the server, since it acts as a gateway, too. Same for 
dns, dhcp etc. But these service don't have special requirements.

Regards
Marc

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From: Natanael Copa <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2020 15:45:46 +0100

On Wed, 15 Jan 2020 22:40:01 +0100

> In the grub "menu.lst" I just copied the entry of the virtual kernel and

Can you file a bug of that? With detailed steps how to reproduce. Also
mention that it works with linux-virt.

https://gitlab.alpinelinux.org/alpine/aports/issues

It is possible you need to include an initramfs if you don't already do
that. Might be the xen console driver or similar is missing.

Thanks!

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From: PICCORO McKAY Lenz <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2020 18:13:50 -0400

> kernel I get a kernel panic. Do I have to add additional configuration

I have to added that this problem are happened to me also. i solved by
modify the root disk parameter..  but i'm talkin about a real machine, in
the grub i specify the rootfs .. sda1

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From: Paul Zillmann <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2020 13:55:54 +0100

Hello Marc,

> kernel I get a kernel panic. Do I have to add additional configuration

None that I am aware of. There could be multiple issues here, like the 
initramfs, /etc/mkinitfs/mkinitfs.conf or /etc/modules
Are you able to share with us the boot parameters for kernel and 
initramfs and also the context of the panic or any useful information 
from the serial console (if present)?

>> the module is not enabled in the virtual kernel's config. The 
>> linux-virt package is designed to run inside a virtual machine, which 
>> usually don't have a wireless NIC.

- Paul