Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

graysky · 2009-07-04 11:45:44

I'm running an XP Pro guest OS on my Archx86_64 host and have observed some really quirky behaviors with SMP enabled. Mainly, the guest OS is very choppy and takes much longer to accomplish tasks with 2, 3, or 4 CPUs enabled than it does with just 1. Even booting takes 2-3x longer

My host machine is an X3360 (Xeon quad). I don't think SMP is ready for primetime use just yet but wanted to soliciate some feedback from others. Please post your experiences using SMP under VB 3.0.0 here.

cinan · 2009-07-04 11:56:32

virtualbox 3 is incredibly slow and unstable. With more than 1 CPUs is even more slower. Downgrade to version 2...

Last edited by cinan (2009-07-04 11:57:08)

kjon · 2009-07-04 13:31:40

Same over here.
Core2Duo E4500@2.2Ghz, 320HDD, 2GB, GF7100GS, WinXP Guest.

unfortunately I had to rollback to vmware. I _do need_ stability and vbox started to let me down since 2.2.

R00KIE · 2009-07-04 13:45:22

I have reported about that in AUR (and requested the maintainer for a 2.2.4 pkgbuild which the maintainer kindly provided) and other thread here on the forum.

Virtualbox 3 is still too unstable for serious work as of yet, they have introduced many new things in this new version, just stick with vbox 2 for a while and keep giving vbox 3 a go until you don't have problems and can keep it.

graysky · 2009-07-04 14:10:49

@Rookie - yeah, I kept the PKGBUILD from 2.2.4 as well and have downgraded to it.

agapito · 2009-07-04 14:31:18

Works fine here.

max.bra · 2009-07-04 16:01:31

i can confirm the flakness

from documentation:

Chapter 13. Known limitations
The following section describes some issues that are known not to work in VirtualBox 3.0.0. Unless marked otherwise these issues are planned to be fixed in later releases.
* The following Guest SMP (multiprocessor) limitations exist:
o Bad performance with 32-bit guests on AMD CPUs. This affects mainly Windows and Solaris guests, but possibly also some Linux kernel revisions.
o 64-bit guests on 32-bit hosts do not support SMP yet (except on Mac OS X).
* 64-bit guests on some 32-bit host systems with VT-x can cause instabilities to your system. If you experience this, do not attempt to execute 64-bit guests. Refer to the VirtualBox user forum for additional information.

mmmh...

Arch64 on intel core here with 32bit guest. a pain with anything else than 1 processor.
I think there is more problems than those issued in chapter 13. maybe only on cases of different architecture host-guest?

graysky · 2009-07-05 09:49:49

graysky wrote:

@Rookie - yeah, I kept the PKGBUILD from 2.2.4 as well and have downgraded to it.

http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=27853

archP4 · 2010-07-06 21:20:22

Hello all, I have sucessfully removed VirtualBox v3 but then when I try and install VirtualBox v2 I get the following error about the Kernel module.

VirtualBox has been installed successfully, but the kernel module could not
be built.  When you have fixed the problems preventing this, execute
  /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
as administrator to build it.

I am running an x86-64 in KDEMod. I have obtained the v2 from the VirtualBox website under other OS

Can anyone assist please? Thanks

tomk · 2010-07-06 23:07:34

archP4 - this thread is a year old. Are you experiencing the issue reported by the OP with the most recent Virtualbox release i.e. 3.2.6?

graysky · 2010-07-06 23:51:36

FYI - 3.2.6 is great for SMP.

sand_man · 2010-07-07 01:44:36

...and to build the kernel module you need the package 'kernel26-headers' installed.
You should probably read the wiki rather than resurrect old and irrelevant threads.

archP4 · 2010-07-07 10:51:58

I followed the instructions in this thread so thought it would make sense to bump it, rather than start the whole discussion again.

sandman - it builds the kernel OK for version 3 but not 2. This is not an issue covered in the Wiki

litemotiv · 2010-07-07 11:44:52

archP4 wrote:

I followed the instructions in this thread so thought it would make sense to bump it, rather than start the whole discussion again.

you say you are trying to build a version from the 'other OS' section on the virtualbox website, so you didn't follow the instructions in this thread since nobody advised you to do so.

this topic is about flaky smp performance under virtualbox 3.0.0, is that exactly what you are experiencing?

sandman - it builds the kernel OK for version 3 but not 2. This is not an issue covered in the Wiki

as graysky said, version 3.2.6 can't be compared to 3.0.0. then, if you really want to build 2.x, start by trying one of the aur packages and report there if you have build problems.

archP4 · 2010-07-07 14:13:08

litemotiv wrote:

archP4 wrote:
I followed the instructions in this thread so thought it would make sense to bump it, rather than start the whole discussion again.
you say you are trying to build a version from the 'other OS' section on the virtualbox website, so you didn't follow the instructions in this thread since nobody advised you to do so.

You're being pedantic.

The link in the instructions is to the i686 version and I have already advised I am using x86-64

I will seek assistance elsewhere

litemotiv · 2010-07-07 14:25:41

archP4 wrote:

You're being pedantic.

and you're being a smartass

The link in the instructions is to the i686 version

no it isn't

tomk · 2010-07-07 14:56:59

ArchP4 - people are trying to help you here, but they will stop doing so if you don't answer their questions. For example, you still haven't answered my question in post #10 above.

You should also note that as this is the Arch forum, it is strongly recommended that you do things the Arch way - in this case, that means building an Arch package for Virtualbox with makepkg, and installing that package with pacman.

litemotiv - don't insult people in this forum. If you encounter behaviour that you believe is unacceptable, report it to the moderator team.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-04 11:45:44

Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#2 2009-07-04 11:56:32

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#3 2009-07-04 13:31:40

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#4 2009-07-04 13:45:22

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#5 2009-07-04 14:10:49

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#6 2009-07-04 14:31:18

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#7 2009-07-04 16:01:31

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#8 2009-07-05 09:49:49

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#9 2010-07-06 21:20:22

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#10 2010-07-06 23:07:34

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#11 2010-07-06 23:51:36

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#12 2010-07-07 01:44:36

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#13 2010-07-07 10:51:58

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#14 2010-07-07 11:44:52

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#15 2010-07-07 14:13:08

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#16 2010-07-07 14:25:41

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

#17 2010-07-07 14:56:59

Re: Virtualbox 3.0.0 SMP support flaky... anyone else confirm?

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