Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH] migration: Don't activate block devices if using -S

[Dr. David Alan Gilbert]

* Kevin Wolf (address@hidden) wrote:
> Am 10.04.2018 um 10:45 hat Dr. David Alan Gilbert geschrieben:
> > * Kevin Wolf (address@hidden) wrote:
> > > Am 10.04.2018 um 09:36 hat Jiri Denemark geschrieben:
> > > > On Mon, Apr 09, 2018 at 15:40:03 +0200, Kevin Wolf wrote:
> > > > > Am 09.04.2018 um 12:27 hat Dr. David Alan Gilbert geschrieben:
> > > > > > It's a fairly hairy failure case they had; if I remember correctly 
> > > > > > it's:
> > > > > >   a) Start migration
> > > > > >   b) Migration gets to completion point
> > > > > >   c) Destination is still paused
> > > > > >   d) Libvirt is restarted on the source
> > > > > >   e) Since libvirt was restarted it fails the migration (and hence 
> > > > > > knows
> > > > > >      the destination won't be started)
> > > > > >   f) It now tries to resume the qemu on the source
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > (f) fails because (b) caused the locks to be taken on the 
> > > > > > destination;
> > > > > > hence this patch stops doing that.  It's a case we don't really 
> > > > > > think
> > > > > > about - i.e. that the migration has actually completed and all the 
> > > > > > data
> > > > > > is on the destination, but libvirt decides for some other reason to
> > > > > > abandon migration.
> > > > > 
> > > > > If you do remember correctly, that scenario doesn't feel tricky at 
> > > > > all.
> > > > > libvirt needs to quit the destination qemu, which will inactivate the
> > > > > images on the destination and release the lock, and then it can 
> > > > > continue
> > > > > the source.
> > > > > 
> > > > > In fact, this is so straightforward that I wonder what else libvirt is
> > > > > doing. Is the destination qemu only shut down after trying to continue
> > > > > the source? That would be libvirt using the wrong order of steps.
> > > > 
> > > > There's no connection between the two libvirt daemons in the case we're
> > > > talking about so they can't really synchronize the actions. The
> > > > destination daemon will kill the new QEMU process and the source will
> > > > resume the old one, but the order is completely random.
> > > 
> > > Hm, okay...
> > > 
> > > > > > Yes it was a 'block-activate' that I'd wondered about.  One 
> > > > > > complication
> > > > > > is that if this now under the control of the management layer then 
> > > > > > we
> > > > > > should stop asserting when the block devices aren't in the expected
> > > > > > state and just cleanly fail the command instead.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Requiring an explicit 'block-activate' on the destination would be an
> > > > > incompatible change, so you would have to introduce a new option for
> > > > > that. 'block-inactivate' on the source feels a bit simpler.
> > > > 
> > > > As I said in another email, the explicit block-activate command could
> > > > depend on a migration capability similarly to how pre-switchover state
> > > > works.
> > > 
> > > Yeah, that's exactly the thing that we wouldn't need if we could use
> > > 'block-inactivate' on the source instead. It feels a bit wrong to
> > > design a more involved QEMU interface around the libvirt internals,
> > 
> > It's not necessarily 'libvirt internals' - it's a case of them having to
> > cope with recovering from failures that happen around migration; it's
> > not an easy problem, and if they've got a way to stop both sides running
> > at the same time that's pretty important.
> 
> The 'libvirt internals' isn't that it needs an additional state where
> neither source nor destination QEMU own the images, but that it has to
> be between migration completion and image activation on the destination
> rather than between image inactivation on the source and migration
> completion. The latter would be much easier for qemu, but apparently it
> doesn't work for libvirt because of how it works internally.

I suspect this is actually a fundamental requirement to ensuring that we
don't end up with a QEMU running on both sides rather than how libvirt is
structured.

> But as I said, I'd just implement both for symmetry and then management
> tools can pick whatever makes their life easier.
> 
> > > but
> > > as long as we implement both sides for symmetry and libvirt just happens
> > > to pick the destination side for now, I think it's okay.
> > > 
> > > By the way, are block devices the only thing that need to be explicitly
> > > activated? For example, what about qemu_announce_self() for network
> > > cards, do we need to delay that, too?
> > > 
> > > In any case, I think this patch needs to be reverted for 2.12 because
> > > it's wrong, and then we can create the proper solution in the 2.13
> > > timefrage.
> > 
> > what case does this break?
> > I'm a bit wary of reverting this, which fixes a known problem, on the
> > basis that it causes a theoretical problem.
> 
> It breaks the API. And the final design we're having in mind now is
> compatible with the old API, not with the new one exposed by this patch,
> so that switch would break the API again to get back to the old state.
> 
> Do you know all the scripts that people are using around QEMU? I don't,
> but I know that plenty of them exist, so I don't think we can declare
> this API breakage purely theoretical.
> 
> Yes, the patch fixes a known problem, but also a problem that is a rare
> corner case error that you can only hit with really bad timing. Do we
> really want to risk unconditionally breaking success cases for fixing a
> mostly theoretical corner case error path (with the failure mode that
> the guest is paused when it shouldn't be)?

Hmm; having chatted to Jiri I'm OK with reverting it, on the condition
that I actually understand how this alternative would work first.

I can't currently see how a block-inactivate would be used.
I also can't see how a block-activate unless it's also with the
change that you're asking to revert.

Can you explain the way you see it working?

Dave

> Kevin
--
Dr. David Alan Gilbert / address@hidden / Manchester, UK