Revision e35bdc123a4ace9f4d3fccaaf88907014e2438cd authored by Kevin Wolf on 05 October 2018, 16:57:40 UTC, committed by Kevin Wolf on 05 November 2018, 14:09:55 UTC
If a management application builds the block graph node by node, the
protocol layer doesn't inherit its read-only option from the format
layer any more, so it must be set explicitly.

Backing files should work on read-only storage, but at the same time, a
block job like commit should be able to reopen them read-write if they
are on read-write storage. However, without option inheritance, reopen
only changes the read-only option for the root node (typically the
format layer), but not the protocol layer, so reopening fails (the
format layer wants to get write permissions, but the protocol layer is
still read-only).

A simple workaround for the problem in the management tool would be to
open the protocol layer always read-write and to make only the format
layer read-only for backing files. However, sometimes the file is
actually stored on read-only storage and we don't know whether the image
can be opened read-write (for example, for NBD it depends on the server
we're trying to connect to). This adds an option that makes QEMU try to
open the image read-write, but allows it to degrade to a read-only mode
without returning an error.

The documentation for this option is consciously phrased in a way that
allows QEMU to switch to a better model eventually: Instead of trying
when the image is first opened, making the read-only flag dynamic and
changing it automatically whenever the first BLK_PERM_WRITE user is
attached or the last one is detached would be much more useful
behaviour.

Unfortunately, this more useful behaviour is also a lot harder to
implement, and libvirt needs a solution now before it can switch to
-blockdev, so let's start with this easier approach for now.

Instead of adding a new auto-read-only option, turning the existing
read-only into an enum (with a bool alternate for compatibility) was
considered, but it complicated the implementation to the point that it
didn't seem to be worth it.

Signed-off-by: Kevin Wolf <kwolf@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Eric Blake <eblake@redhat.com>
1 parent eeae6a5
Raw File
qemu.sasl
# If you want to use VNC remotely without TLS, then you *must*
# pick a mechanism which provides session encryption as well
# as authentication.
#
# If you are only using TLS, then you can turn on any mechanisms
# you like for authentication, because TLS provides the encryption
#
# If you are only using UNIX sockets then encryption is not
# required at all.
#
# NB, previously DIGEST-MD5 was set as the default mechanism for
# QEMU VNC. Per RFC 6331 this is vulnerable to many serious security
# flaws as should no longer be used. Thus GSSAPI is now the default.
#
# To use GSSAPI requires that a QEMU service principal is
# added to the Kerberos server for each host running QEMU.
# This principal needs to be exported to the keytab file listed below
mech_list: gssapi

# If using TLS with VNC, or a UNIX socket only, it is possible to
# enable plugins which don't provide session encryption. The
# 'scram-sha-1' plugin allows plain username/password authentication
# to be performed
#
#mech_list: scram-sha-1

# You can also list many mechanisms at once, and the VNC server will
# negotiate which to use by considering the list enabled on the VNC
# client.
#mech_list: scram-sha-1 gssapi

# Some older builds of MIT kerberos on Linux ignore this option &
# instead need KRB5_KTNAME env var.
# For modern Linux, and other OS, this should be sufficient
#
# This file needs to be populated with the service principal that
# was created on the Kerberos v5 server. If switching to a non-gssapi
# mechanism this can be commented out.
keytab: /etc/qemu/krb5.tab

# If using scram-sha-1 for username/passwds, then this is the file
# containing the passwds. Use 'saslpasswd2 -a qemu [username]'
# to add entries, and 'sasldblistusers2 -f [sasldb_path]' to browse it
#sasldb_path: /etc/qemu/passwd.db
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