Alpine Linux - User contributions [en]

Xen PCI Passthrough

2026-01-14T18:58:50Z

Statzitz: There was two 'the' on the second sentence of the page. I removed one of them

This guide is to show how to configure PCI Passthrough on Alpine.

First, use lspci to find the PCI-Address of the Device you want to Passthrough:
<pre>
node03:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C204 Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
03:03.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. MGA G200eW WPCM450 (rev 0a)
</pre>

In this example, I want to passthrough the SAS Controller. So the Address is 01:00.0

Make sure xen_pciback is in your /etc/modules:
<pre>
node03:~# grep pciback /etc/modules
xen_pciback
</pre>

Edit /etc/conf.d/xen-pci to add the device:
<pre>
node03:~# cat /etc/conf.d/xen-pci
# /etc/conf.d/xen-pci

# PCI devices that will be used by domUs
DEVICES="01:00.0"
</pre>

Add the xen-pci daemon to the default runlevel and reboot:
<pre>
rc-update add xen-pci default
</pre>

After rebooting, you should be able to verify the pci-device is using the pciback Kernelmodule and that it's visible to passthrough via xl:
<pre>
node03:~# lspci -k | grep -A2 '01:00.0'
01:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] (rev 03)
Subsystem: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic Device 3020
Kernel driver in use: pciback
node03:~# xl pci-assignable-list
0000:01:00.0
</pre>

Add the following line to your DomU's Config:
<pre>
pci = [ '01:00.0' ]
</pre>

====Known Issue with LSI Controllers====
As the Kernelmodule for LSI Controllers is built into the Alpine Initramfs, the real Module is loaded before the pciback Module can be assigned.
<BR>You'll need to blacklist the mpt2sas module in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and rebuild your initramfs.
<pre>
node03:~# grep sas /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist mpt2sas
node03:~# mkinitfs
==> initramfs: creating /boot/initramfs-grsec
11538 blocks
33641 blocks
</pre>

[[Category:Virtualization]]

Xen PCI Passthrough

2026-01-14T18:52:41Z

Statzitz: Use the xen-pci service to do a pci passthrough on alpine linux in /etc/conf.d/xen-pci

This guide is to show how to configure PCI Passthrough on Alpine.

First, use lspci to find the the PCI-Address of the Device you want to Passthrough:
<pre>
node03:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation C204 Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
01:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
03:03.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Electronics Systems Ltd. MGA G200eW WPCM450 (rev 0a)
</pre>

In this example, I want to passthrough the SAS Controller. So the Address is 01:00.0

Make sure xen_pciback is in your /etc/modules:
<pre>
node03:~# grep pciback /etc/modules
xen_pciback
</pre>

Edit /etc/conf.d/xen-pci to add the device:
<pre>
node03:~# cat /etc/conf.d/xen-pci
# /etc/conf.d/xen-pci

# PCI devices that will be used by domUs
DEVICES="01:00.0"
</pre>

Add the xen-pci daemon to the default runlevel and reboot:
<pre>
rc-update add xen-pci default
</pre>

After rebooting, you should be able to verify the pci-device is using the pciback Kernelmodule and that it's visible to passthrough via xl:
<pre>
node03:~# lspci -k | grep -A2 '01:00.0'
01:00.0 Serial Attached SCSI controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic SAS2008 PCI-Express Fusion-MPT SAS-2 [Falcon] (rev 03)
Subsystem: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic Device 3020
Kernel driver in use: pciback
node03:~# xl pci-assignable-list
0000:01:00.0
</pre>

Add the following line to your DomU's Config:
<pre>
pci = [ '01:00.0' ]
</pre>

====Known Issue with LSI Controllers====
As the Kernelmodule for LSI Controllers is built into the Alpine Initramfs, the real Module is loaded before the pciback Module can be assigned.
<BR>You'll need to blacklist the mpt2sas module in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and rebuild your initramfs.
<pre>
node03:~# grep sas /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist mpt2sas
node03:~# mkinitfs
==> initramfs: creating /boot/initramfs-grsec
11538 blocks
33641 blocks
</pre>

[[Category:Virtualization]]