3.x: Two identical hosts, VMs work only on the former

cosmos

Renowned Member
Apr 1, 2013
125
4
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I initially deployed proxmox 2.x on one system. Not server grade, an Asus P5G41T-M LX2/GB/LPT motherboard hosting an Intel E6500. Upgraded BIOS to latest version, enabled Intel virtualization in BIOS, thrown in and enabled a couple of VMs (XPs) and been running happily after. Then I wanted to make another host. Got another motherboard, installed PVE 3.1 and created a Windows 7VM for it. Tried to start it only to find out that I did not check whether BIOS/CPU supported the Intel virtualization extensions. So I kept the hard disks (PVE base, plus a couple I intended to use for LVM storage). I found an exact same motherboard and CPU as the one I have been happily working with, just added an extra Intel etherexpress NIC. Flashed latest BIOS, enabled Intel virtualization. For the disks I just reinstalled the existing ones, after making some configuration changes for udev to "see" the new onboard NIC. Disabled the enterprise repository and updated to the latest versions. And here is where trouble started. Created a single Win7 32-bit guest. Tried to start it to avail. Also tried with a Windows XP guest. Same results:
pvedaemon[3934]: start failed: command '/usr/bin/kvm -id 100 -chardev 'socket,id=qmp,path=/var/run/qemu-server/100.qmp,server,nowait' - mon 'chardev=qmp,mode=control' -vnc unix:/var/run/qemu-server/100.vnc,x509,password -pidfile /var/run/qemu-server/100.pid -daemonize -name antivirus -smp 'so ckets=1,cores=1' -nodefaults -boot 'menu=on' -vga std -no-hpet -cpu 'kvm64,hv_spinlocks=0xffff,hv_relaxed,+x2apic,+sep' -k en-us -m 1024 -cpuunits 1000 -devi ce 'piix3-usb-uhci,id=uhci,bus=pci.0,addr=0x1.0x2' -device 'usb-tablet,id=tablet,bus=uhci.0,port=1' -device 'virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x 3' -drive 'file=/var/lib/vz/template/iso/Windows_7_32bit_SP1.ISO,if=none,id=drive-ide2,media=cdrom,aio=native' -device 'ide-cd,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=drive-i de2,id=ide2,bootindex=200' -drive 'file=/var/lib/vz/images/100/vm-100-disk-1.raw,if=none,id=drive-ide1,format=raw,aio=native,cache=none' -device 'ide-hd,bus= ide.0,unit=1,drive=drive-ide1,id=ide1' -netdev 'type=tap,id=net0,ifname=tap100i0,script=/var/lib/qemu-server/pve-bridge' -device 'e1000,mac=8E:7B:52:01:E4:8D ,netdev=net0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x12,id=net0,bootindex=300' -rtc 'driftfix=slew,base=localtime' -global 'kvm-pit.lost_tick_policy=discard'' failed: exit code 1 [...] pvedaemon[4334]: end task UPID:pve-1:00001195:000727E2:52FDCEAF:qmstart:101:root@pam: start failed: command '/usr/bin/kvm -id 101 -chardev 'socket,id=qmp,path=/var/run/qemu-server/101.qmp,server,nowait' -mon 'chardev=qmp,mode=control' -vnc unix:/var/run/qemu-server/101.vnc,x509,password -pidfile /var/run/qemu-server/101.pid -daemonize -name xptest -smp 'sockets=1,cores=1' -nodefaults -boot 'menu=on' -vga cirrus -cpu kvm64,+x2apic,+sep -k en-us -m 512 -cpuunits 1000 -device 'piix3-usb-uhci,id=uhci,bus=pci.0,addr=0x1.0x2' -device 'usb-tablet,id=tablet,bus=uhci.0,port=1' -device 'virtio-balloon-pci,id=balloon0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x3' -drive 'if=none,id=drive-ide2,media=cdrom,aio=native' -device 'ide-cd,bus=ide.1,unit=0,drive=drive-ide2,id=ide2,bootindex=200' -drive 'file=/var/lib/vz/images/101/vm-101-disk-1.qcow2,if=none,id=drive-ide0,format=qcow2,aio=native,cache=none' -device 'ide-hd,bus=ide.0,unit=0,drive=drive-ide0,id=ide0,bootindex=100' -netdev 'type=tap,id=net0,ifname=tap101i0,script=/var/lib/qemu-server/pve-bridge' -device 'e1000,mac=AA:7C:62:E2:60:08,netdev=net0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x12,id=net0,bootindex=300' -rtc 'driftfix=slew,base=localtime'' failed: exit code 1
Now, here is the funny thing. Checking the configuration of each VM, there is the KVM hardware virtualization option, which was enabled. After disabling it, I was able to start the VMs!!!! But on the exactly same older system I am running guests with KVM hw virtualization enabled! What gives? What should I be looking for?
 
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Checking the configuration of each VM, there is the KVM hardware virtualization option, which was enabled. After disabling it, I was able to start the VMs!!!! But on the exactly same older system I am running guests with KVM hw virtualization enabled! What gives? What should I be looking for?

see http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/FAQ#Supported_CPU_chips

if you feel bios is ok, and it should work, try also to stop the server, remove the power cord, wait a bit, then retry. it happened to me once. It seems that sometimes bios virt features are not really enabled until power is really off.

Marco
 

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