[Blog] My Journey migrating from windows to Linux

[eousphoros]

<domain xmlns:qemu="http://libvirt.org/schemas/domain/qemu/1.0" type="kvm">
  <name>win11</name>
  <uuid>82f3f58e-ffe0-4ece-9f14-0bc076b3c0c8</uuid>
  <metadata>
    <libosinfo:libosinfo xmlns:libosinfo="http://libosinfo.org/xmlns/libvirt/domain/1.0">
      <libosinfo:os id="http://microsoft.com/win/11"/>
    </libosinfo:libosinfo>
  </metadata>
  <memory unit="KiB">128000000</memory>
  <currentMemory unit="KiB">128000000</currentMemory>
  <vcpu placement="static" cpuset="16-23,48-55">16</vcpu>
  <iothreads>1</iothreads>
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu="0" cpuset="16"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="1" cpuset="48"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="2" cpuset="17"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="3" cpuset="49"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="4" cpuset="18"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="5" cpuset="50"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="6" cpuset="19"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="7" cpuset="51"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="8" cpuset="20"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="9" cpuset="52"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="10" cpuset="21"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="11" cpuset="53"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="12" cpuset="22"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="13" cpuset="54"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="14" cpuset="23"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="15" cpuset="55"/>
    <emulatorpin cpuset="16-23,48-55"/>
    <iothreadpin iothread="1" cpuset="16-23"/>
  </cputune>
  <numatune>
    <memory mode="strict" nodeset="1"/>
  </numatune>
  <os firmware="efi">
    <type arch="x86_64" machine="pc-q35-8.2">hvm</type>
    <firmware>
      <feature enabled="yes" name="enrolled-keys"/>
      <feature enabled="yes" name="secure-boot"/>
    </firmware>
    <loader readonly="yes" secure="yes" type="pflash">/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.ms.fd</loader>
    <nvram template="/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.ms.fd">/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram/win11_VARS.fd</nvram>
    <boot dev="hd"/>
    <smbios mode="host"/>
  </os>
  <features>
    <acpi/>
    <apic/>
    <hyperv mode="custom">
      <relaxed state="on"/>
      <vapic state="on"/>
      <spinlocks state="on" retries="8191"/>
    </hyperv>
    <vmport state="off"/>
    <smm state="on"/>
  </features>
  <cpu mode="host-passthrough" check="none" migratable="off">
    <topology sockets="1" dies="1" cores="8" threads="2"/>
    <cache mode="passthrough"/>
    <feature policy="require" name="topoext"/>
    <numa>
      <cell id="0" cpus="0-15" memory="128000000" unit="KiB"/>
    </numa>
  </cpu>
  <clock offset="localtime">
    <timer name="rtc" tickpolicy="catchup"/>
    <timer name="pit" tickpolicy="delay"/>
    <timer name="hpet" present="no"/>
    <timer name="hypervclock" present="yes"/>
  </clock>
  <on_poweroff>destroy</on_poweroff>
  <on_reboot>restart</on_reboot>
  <on_crash>destroy</on_crash>
  <pm>
    <suspend-to-mem enabled="no"/>
    <suspend-to-disk enabled="no"/>
  </pm>
  <devices>
    <emulator>/usr/bin/qemu-system-x86_64</emulator>
    <disk type="file" device="disk">
      <driver name="qemu" type="raw" cache="none" io="io_uring" discard="unmap"/>
      <source file="/mnt/virtual/win11.img"/>
      <target dev="sdb" bus="scsi"/>
      <address type="drive" controller="0" bus="0" target="0" unit="0"/>
    </disk>
    <controller type="usb" index="0" model="qemu-xhci" ports="15">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x02" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="0" model="pcie-root"/>
    <controller type="pci" index="1" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="1" port="0x10"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="2" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="2" port="0x11"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="3" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="3" port="0x12"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="4" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="4" port="0x13"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="5" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="5" port="0x14"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="6" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="6" port="0x15"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="7" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="7" port="0x16"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x6"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="8" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="8" port="0x17"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x02" function="0x7"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="9" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="9" port="0x18"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x0" multifunction="on"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="10" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="10" port="0x19"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x1"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="11" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="11" port="0x1a"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="12" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="12" port="0x1b"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x3"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="13" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="13" port="0x1c"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x4"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="pci" index="14" model="pcie-root-port">
      <model name="pcie-root-port"/>
      <target chassis="14" port="0x1d"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x03" function="0x5"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="virtio-serial" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x03" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="scsi" index="0" model="virtio-scsi">
      <driver queues="8" iothread="1"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1a" function="0x0"/>
    </controller>
    <controller type="sata" index="0">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1f" function="0x2"/>
    </controller>
    <interface type="network">
      <mac address="52:54:00:bc:48:8a"/>
      <source network="default"/>
      <model type="virtio"/>
      <driver name="vhost" queues="256"/>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x01" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </interface>
    <channel type="spicevmc">
      <target type="virtio" name="com.redhat.spice.0"/>
      <address type="virtio-serial" controller="0" bus="0" port="1"/>
    </channel>
    <input type="mouse" bus="ps2"/>
    <input type="keyboard" bus="ps2"/>
    <tpm model="tpm-tis">
      <backend type="emulator" version="2.0"/>
    </tpm>
    <graphics type="spice" autoport="yes">
      <listen type="address"/>
      <image compression="off"/>
    </graphics>
    <sound model="ich9">
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x00" slot="0x1b" function="0x0"/>
    </sound>
    <audio id="1" type="spice"/>
    <video>
      <model type="none"/>
    </video>
    <hostdev mode="subsystem" type="pci" managed="yes">
      <source>
        <address domain="0x0000" bus="0xe1" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
      </source>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x05" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </hostdev>
    <hostdev mode="subsystem" type="pci" managed="yes">
      <source>
        <address domain="0x0000" bus="0xe1" slot="0x00" function="0x1"/>
      </source>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x06" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </hostdev>
    <redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="2"/>
    </redirdev>
    <redirdev bus="usb" type="spicevmc">
      <address type="usb" bus="0" port="3"/>
    </redirdev>
    <watchdog model="itco" action="reset"/>
    <memballoon model="none"/>
    <rng model="virtio">
      <backend model="random">/dev/urandom</backend>
      <address type="pci" domain="0x0000" bus="0x04" slot="0x00" function="0x0"/>
    </rng>
  </devices>
  <qemu:commandline>
    <qemu:arg value="-device"/>
    <qemu:arg value="{&quot;driver&quot;:&quot;ivshmem-plain&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;shmem0&quot;,&quot;memdev&quot;:&quot;looking-glass&quot;}"/>
    <qemu:arg value="-object"/>
    <qemu:arg value="{&quot;qom-type&quot;:&quot;memory-backend-file&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;looking-glass&quot;,&quot;mem-path&quot;:&quot;/dev/kvmfr0&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:268435456,&quot;share&quot;:true}"/>
  </qemu:commandline>
</domain>

Discovered <cache mode="passthrough"/> today which had a pretty noticeable performance impact on my win11 virtual machine which has me wondering if there are any other settings I might be missing.

—Default config mode—

—Passthrough config mode—