72 lines
2.3 KiB
Groff
72 lines
2.3 KiB
Groff
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.\" Copyright (c) 2018 VMware, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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.\"
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.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: (BSD-2-Clause AND GPL-2.0)
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.\"
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.\" $FreeBSD$
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.Dd February 10, 2018
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.Dt VMCI 4
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.Os
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.Sh NAME
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.Nm vmci
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.Nd VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface
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.Sh SYNOPSIS
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To compile this driver into the kernel,
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place the following line in your
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kernel configuration file:
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.Bd -ragged -offset indent
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.Cd "device vmci"
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.Ed
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.Pp
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Alternatively, to load the driver as a
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module at boot time, place the following line in
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.Xr loader.conf 5 :
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.Bd -literal -offset indent
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if_vmci_load="YES"
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.Ed
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.Sh DESCRIPTION
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The
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.Nm
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driver provides support for the VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface
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(VMCI) in virtual machines by VMware.
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.Pp
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VMCI allows virtual machines to communicate with host kernel modules and the
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VMware hypervisors.
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User level applications in a virtual machine can use VMCI through vSockets
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(also known as VMCI Sockets and not included in this kernel module), a socket
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address family designed to be compatible with UDP and TCP at the interface
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level.
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Today, VMCI and vSockets are used by various VMware Tools components inside
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the guest for zero-config, network-less access to VMware host services.
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In addition to this, VMware's users are using vSockets for various
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applications, where network access of the virtual machine is restricted
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or non-existent.
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Examples of this are VMs communicating with device proxies for proprietary
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hardware running as host applications and automated testing of applications
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running within virtual machines.
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.Pp
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In a virtual machine, VMCI is exposed as a regular PCI device.
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The primary communication mechanisms supported are a point-to-point
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bidirectional transport based on a pair of memory-mapped queues, and
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asynchronous notifications in the form of datagrams and doorbells.
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These features are available to kernel level components such as vSockets
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through the VMCI kernel API.
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In addition to this, the VMCI kernel API provides support for receiving
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events related to the state of the VMCI communication channels, and the
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virtual machine itself.
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.Sh SEE ALSO
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.Xr pci 9 ,
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.Xr socket 2
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.Rs
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.%T "VMware vSockets Documentation"
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.%U https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vmci-sdk/
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.Sh HISTORY
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The
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.Nm
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driver first appeared in
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.Fx 12.0 .
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.Sh AUTHORS
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The
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.Nm
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driver and man page were written by
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.An Vishnu Dasa Aq Mt vdasahar@gmail.com .
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