pciback(4) - NetBSD Manual Pages

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PCIBACK(4)            NetBSD/xen Kernel Interfaces Manual           PCIBACK(4)


NAME

     pciback -- Xen backend paravirtualized PCI pass-through driver


SYNOPSIS

     pciback* at pci?


DESCRIPTION

     The pciback driver is the backend part of the PCI pass-through function-
     ality that can be used by the Xen dom0 to export pci(4) devices to a
     guest domain.  To export a PCI device to a guest domain, the device has
     to be attached to pciback in the dom0.

     When the guest domain is NetBSD, the device attached to the pciback
     driver will attach to a xpci(4) bus inside the guest domain.


EXAMPLES

     To attach a device to the pciback driver, follow these steps:
           1.   look for the device PCI ID, via pcictl(8).
           2.   edit boot.cfg(5) and add the PCI ID to the list of PCI IDs
                that you want to attach to pciback, in bus:device.function
                notation.  The list is passed to dom0 module via the
                pciback.hide parameter:
                      pciback.hide=(bus:dev.fun)(bus:dev.func)(...)
                See also boot(8).
           3.   reboot dom0.
           4.   add the PCI ID to the list of PCI devices in the domain con-
                figuration file:
                      pci = ['bus:dev.fun', '...']
           5.   start the guest domain.


SEE ALSO

     pci(4), xpci(4), boot(8), pcictl(8)


HISTORY

     The pciback driver first appeared in NetBSD 5.1.


AUTHORS

     The pciback driver was written by Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@NetBSD.org>.


CAVEATS

     Currently, to attach a device to the pciback backend, this procedure has
     to be performed at boot(8) time.  In the future, it will be possible to
     do it without requiring a dom0 reboot.


SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

     As PCI passthrough offers the possibility for guest domains to send arbi-
     trary PCI commands to a physical device, this has direct impact on the
     overall stability and security of the system.  For example, in case of
     erroneous or malicious commands, the device could overwrite physical mem-
     ory portions, via DMA.

NetBSD 6.0                      January 8, 2011                     NetBSD 6.0