VM Start Timeout

aarcane

Renowned Member
Jul 28, 2015
35
3
73
So some of my VMs take longer to start than others. Typically if I either pass in a PCIE device or use a lot of memory, but most frequently when I do both. Example output is below, but the key error is: failed: got timeout.
If I run the command manually, it always works out and loads eventually. The timeout is the bug. I've opened a ticket on the bug tracker. Kindly, if you've ever experienced this, go add a vote to the bug in the tracker system!

https://bugzilla.proxmox.com/show_bug.cgi?id=4013

qm start 100
start failed: command '/usr/bin/kvm -id 100 -name ingot -no-shutdown -chardev 'socket,id=qmp,path=/var/run/qemu-server/100.qmp,server=on,wait=off' -mon 'chardev=qmp,mode=control' -chardev 'socket,id=qmp-event,path=/var/run/qmeventd.sock,reconnect=5' -mon 'chardev=qmp-event,mode=control' -pidfile /var/run/qemu-server/100.pid -daemonize -smbios 'type=1,uuid=ad97603d-eaaf-4525-8dc0-64c98bde6242' -drive 'if=pflash,unit=0,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/share/pve-edk2-firmware//OVMF_CODE.fd' -drive 'if=pflash,unit=1,format=raw,id=drive-efidisk0,size=131072,file=/dev/zvol/zfs-ssd/vm-100-disk-2' -global 'ICH9-LPC.acpi-pci-hotplug-with-bridge-support=off' -smp '4,sockets=1,cores=4,maxcpus=4' -nodefaults -boot 'menu=on,strict=on,reboot-timeout=1000,splash=/usr/share/qemu-server/bootsplash.jpg' -vnc 'unix:/var/run/qemu-server/100.vnc,password=on' -cpu kvm64,+aes,enforce,+kvm_pv_eoi,+kvm_pv_unhalt,+lahf_lm,+pcid,+sep -m 32768 -object 'memory-backend-ram,id=ram-node0,size=32768M' -numa 'node,nodeid=0,cpus=0-3,memdev=ram-node0' -object 'iothread,id=iothread-virtio1' -readconfig /usr/share/qemu-server/pve-q35-4.0.cfg -device 'vmgenid,guid=a5e19863-9125-439e-af0f-e8a49548ef6b' -device 'usb-tablet,id=tablet,bus=ehci.0,port=1' -device 'vfio-pci,host=0000:04:00.0,id=hostpci0,bus=ich9-pcie-port-1,addr=0x0' -device 'virtio-vga,id=vga,bus=pcie.0,addr=0x1' -chardev 'socket,path=/var/run/qemu-server/100.qga,server=on,wait=off,id=qga0' -device 'virtio-serial,id=qga0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x8' -device 'virtserialport,chardev=qga0,name=org.qemu.guest_agent.0' -iscsi 'initiator-name=iqn.1993-08.org.debian:01:859be10c0b7' -drive 'file=/dev/zvol/zfs-ssd/vm-100-disk-0,if=none,id=drive-virtio0,discard=on,format=raw,cache=none,aio=io_uring,detect-zeroes=unmap' -device 'virtio-blk-pci,drive=drive-virtio0,id=virtio0,bus=pci.0,addr=0xa,bootindex=100' -drive 'file=/dev/zvol/zfs-ssd/vm-100-disk-1,if=none,id=drive-virtio1,discard=on,format=raw,cache=none,aio=io_uring,detect-zeroes=unmap' -device 'virtio-blk-pci,drive=drive-virtio1,id=virtio1,bus=pci.0,addr=0xb,iothread=iothread-virtio1' -netdev 'type=tap,id=net0,ifname=tap100i0,script=/var/lib/qemu-server/pve-bridge,downscript=/var/lib/qemu-server/pve-bridgedown,vhost=on' -device 'virtio-net-pci,mac=A2:66:31:8A:1D:88,netdev=net0,bus=pci.0,addr=0x12,id=net0,bootindex=101' -machine 'type=q35+pve0'' failed: got timeout
 
Typically if I either pass in a PCIE device or use a lot of memory, but most frequently when I do both. Example output is below, but the key error is: failed: got timeout.

Using hugepages (if supported by the hardware) for those VMs can prevent this and also should give you a better memory performance on top.

Under the VM Configuration page, under the "options" tab, add an option "VM Startup Timeout" that defaults to whatever the current global startup timeout is, but allows entering a value in seconds at least as high as 3600, and preferably with no limit.

Could be a nice to have feature/option anyway.
 
When PCI(e) passthrough is used, all VM memory needs to be pinned into action host RAM. Sound like your system takes a long time to gather enough free memory when starting the VM. How much RAM does your Proxmox host system have?
 
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When PCI(e) passthrough is used, all VM memory needs to be pinned into action host RAM. Sound like your system takes a long time to gather enough free memory when starting the VM. How much RAM does your Proxmox host system have?
Hi there, I have a 8GB RAM VM with PCIe passthrough suffered similar issues. Starting from the PVE console always timed out though I can start from PVE shell.

Any suggestion how to lower start up time?
 
Using hugepages (if supported by the hardware) for those VMs can prevent this and also should give you a better memory performance on top.



Could be a nice to have feature/option anyway.
Similar issues here, you meant setting hugepages on the host? or in the VM?
 

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