oxidecomputer / oxidecomputer/propolis
Migration out doesn't destroy the second (and later) VMs to be instantiated in a Propolis process
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- Dominant language
- Rust
- Stars
- 270
- Forks
- 42
- Avg merge
- 4d 5h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 6
Description
Repro steps:
- Create two Propolis processes, A and B
- Start a VM in A
- Migrate A -> B -> A -> B
Expected: After the last migration, A's instance state is Destroyed and no bhyve VMM exists for it
Observed: A's instance is Stopped and its bhyve VMM is around. Issuing a "stop" API request to A fails with a "no instance" error. If you migrate B -> A again, A drops the old VMM and creates a new one, but now B is in the stopped-but-not-destroyed state.
This is probably a reference counting bug where creating an instance inside a Propolis that previously had one causes someone to hold on to the new instance's VmController for too long, but does so in such a way that they drop it if a new VM gets created. The TracingArc from #380 might help with this.
Triage: Unscheduled; not needed for MVP because Omicron doesn't reuse Propolis processes in this way.
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First steps
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- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Trace instance creation and migration lifecycle ownership in Propolis, focusing on how each VmController is retained and released when a process instantiates a later VM. Review the TracingArc work from #380 and reproduce the A → B → A → B sequence. Done means A and B reach Destroyed after migration out, with no lingering bhyve VMM or failed stop request.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- rust
- Domain
- operating-systems
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 30/100