Status of bhyve

[Andrea Venturoli]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 10:46:34 +0100, Harry Schmalzbauer  wrote:

> Hello,
> it depends on the features you need.

Not much, really.
Running SQL Server Express (for now) with decent performance.



> · virtio-blk and jumbo frames (e1000 works with jumbo frames but
> performance is not comparaable with ESXi e1000(e))
> https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=215737

I don't think the underlying network equipment will support Jumbo Frames :(




> · PCI-Passthru is very picky. If you have a card with BAR memorysize < |
> != pagesize, byhve(4) won't accept it.
 >
 > · device(9) as block storage backend (virtio-blk, ahci-hd) doesn't work
 > if you use any PCI-passthru device
 > https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=215740

I don't think I'd need PCI passthrough (I'm fine with a disk and a 
network card).




> · virtio-blk isn't virtio-win (Windows driver) compatible, guest will crash!
>
> · virtio-net doesn't work with latest Windows drivers, which is not a
> bhyve(4) problem as far as I can tell. Version 0.1.118 works, newer ones
> are known to have problems on other hypervisors too.

Good to know.




> · See if_bridge(4) for some limitations (all members need to have
> exactly the same MTU, uplink gets checksum offloading disabled).
> Generally, soft-switching capabilities ar not comparable with those of
> ESXi, especially not the performace (outside netmap world).

This is a good point. :(



> Other than that, it's rock solid for me
>  ...
>> How well does it run Windows?
>> Would I better run W7 instead of W10 (or the other way round)?

Fine.



>> Should I use a dedicated disk (or disk mirror) for better speed?
>> Or should I use a dedicated partition on the host's disk/disk mirror?
>> Will a ZFS volume perform as good as a partition?
>
> ZVOL is the best option offering great performance (depending on your
> pool setup of yourse) as long as there is the PCI-passthru bug mentioned
> above.

Thanks again.



  bye
	av.