XPCI(4) BSD/xen Kernel Interfaces Manual XPCI(4)
NAME
xpci -- Xen frontend paravirtualized PCI pass-through driver
SYNOPSIS
xpci* at xenbus?
pci* at xpci?
DESCRIPTION
The xpci driver is the frontend part of the PCI pass-through functionality that can be used by Xen guest domains to communicate with PCI
devices.
From a guest point of view, xpci is similar to a pci(4) bus, except that the guest talks with the PCI backend driver instead of the real
physical device directly.
When the host domain is NetBSD, the xpci driver is backed by a pciback(4) driver within the dom0.
SEE ALSO
pci(4), pciback(4), xenbus(4)
HISTORY
The xpci driver first appeared in NetBSD 5.1.
AUTHORS
The xpci driver was written by Manuel Bouyer <bouyer@NetBSD.org>.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
As PCI passthrough offers the possibility for guest domains to send arbitrary PCI commands to a physical device, this has direct impact on
the overall stability and security of the system. For example, in case of erroneous or malicious commands, the device could overwrite physi-
cal memory portions, via DMA.
BSD
January 8, 2011 BSD
