KVM

QEMU / KVM CPU model configuration

Enable AES in CPU flags. Default KVM64 CPU doesn't expose AES flag. Simple openssl benchmark:

openssl speed -evp aes-128-cbc aes-256-cbc aes-256-ecb
 
# Without AES
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes  16384 bytes
aes-256 cbc     185216.65k   190818.37k   191588.35k   193247.23k   193489.58k   193353.05k
aes-128-cbc     220375.57k   245515.09k   249103.70k   254411.43k   255770.62k   255393.79k
 
 
# With AES
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes  16384 bytes
aes-256 cbc     183729.40k   191020.12k   190906.71k   193176.58k   193333.93k   194065.47k
aes-128-cbc     587427.84k  1272103.38k  1317980.93k  1329665.71k  1332060.16k  1332663.64k

Fastest method: create Proxmox machine and import vbox hard discs to newly created Proxmox VM.

No VirtualBox preparation, no IDE drivers. Just import discs to new machine.

• Create new Proxmox machine with similar parameters to old one
  • Windows 10 guest best practices
  • Do not remove created Hard Disc (scsi0) - it will be used to trigger Windows to install SCSI drivers.
• Import disc images (repeat for all VDI discs)
  • As RAW images with all benefits (compression, thin provisioning, snapshots) of local-zfs storage:

    qm importdisk 701 WIN7_C.vdi local-zfs

    • 21743 MB VDI compacted file occupied 15,2G on ZFS with compression ratio 1.24x
  • As QCOW2 files on every file storage:

    qm importdisk 701 WIN7_C.vdi local -format qcow2

• Connect new discs into machine:

  • qm set 701 --scsi<N> local-zfs:vm-701-disk-<N>,discard=on,size=64G

  • NOTE: discard=on should be enabled for thin provisioned storage to reclaim unused space
• Edit config file to change just connected discs from SCSI to IDE. Remember to update CDROM IDE number to do not be in conflict with new discs.

  • sed -i 's/scsi/ide/g' /etc/pve/qemu-server/702.conf

  • /etc/pve/qemu-server/702.conf

    ide0: local-zfs:vm-702-disk-1,discard=on,size=64G
    ide1: local-zfs:vm-702-disk-2,discard=on,size=64g
    ide2: local-zfs:vm-702-disk-3,discard=on,size=8G
    ide3: nas326-ISOs:iso/virtio-win-0.1.173.iso,media=cdrom,size=384670K
    scsi0: local-zfs:vm-702-disk-0,discard=on,size=32G
    scsihw: virtio-scsi-pci

• Setup correct boot order
• Start Windows 10
  • Windows should load correctly
  • Go to Device Manager and install missing drivers. See Virtio drivers
  • Shutdown system
• Edit config file to change IDE discs to SCSI
• Setup correct boot order
• Start Windows 10
• ERROR: Windows stuck during booting when VirtIO SCSI driver.
  • It is known KVM issue with VirtIO SCSI driver when more than 1 CPU core is used!
    • https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1670673
    • Driver version 61.77.104.17200 2019-06-07 from virtio iso v 1.1.172
    • Update to latest 61.80.104.17300 2019-08-12 (not stable) virtio iso v1.1.173 doesn't help
  • Changing CPU to 1 core solves problem.
  • It works with odd number of cores (1,3,5)

• Windows will crash (becasue storage driver is not supported). Windows will reboot into repair mode.
• Provide virtio drivers in virtual cd-rom (latest 1.1.173 was used)
• Select Start-up Repair

• Switch SCSI to IDE:

  sed -i 's/scsi/ide/g' /etc/pve/qemu-server/701.conf

  • Manually correct numbering conflict with CD-ROM ide drive
  • Setup correct boot order
• Add one dummy (small size) hard disc to SCSI controller
• Enable QEMU Guest Agent
• Boot Windows, go to Device Manager and install missing drivers:

…

• Shutdown machine
• Switch disc controller from IDE to SCSI. Edit /etc/pve/qemu-server/701.conf
  • Setup correct boot order

sed -i 's/ide/scsi/g' /etc/pve/qemu-server/701.conf