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Ravindra Kumar Bundela 5fa6f95842 docs: fix spelling of 'receiver' and 'receiving' in libxc-migration-stream 
Signed-off-by: Ravindra Kumar Bundela <ravindrarkb1205@gmail.com>
Acked-by: Michal Orzel <michal.orzel@amd.com>
2026-06-01 10:36:15 +02:00

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% libxenctrl (libxc) Domain Image Format
% David Vrabel <<david.vrabel@citrix.com>>
Andrew Cooper <<andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>>
Wen Congyang <<wency@cn.fujitsu.com>>
Yang Hongyang <<hongyang.yang@easystack.cn>>
% Revision 3
Introduction
============
Purpose
-------
The _domain save image_ is the context of a running domain used for
snapshots of a domain or for transferring domains between hosts during
migration.
There are a number of problems with the format of the domain save
image used in Xen 4.4 and earlier (the _legacy format_).
* Dependant on toolstack word size. A number of fields within the
image are native types such as `unsigned long` which have different
sizes between 32-bit and 64-bit toolstacks. This prevents domains
from being migrated between hosts running 32-bit and 64-bit
toolstacks.
* There is no header identifying the image.
* The image has no version information.
A new format that addresses the above is required.
ARM does not yet have have a domain save image format specified and
the format described in this specification should be suitable.
Not Yet Included
----------------
The following features are not yet fully specified and will be
included in a future draft.
* Page data compression.
* ARM
Overview
========
The image format consists of two main sections:
* _Headers_
* _Records_
Headers
-------
There are two headers: the _image header_, and the _domain header_.
The image header describes the format of the image (version etc.).
The _domain header_ contains general information about the domain
(architecture, type etc.).
Records
-------
The main part of the format is a sequence of different _records_.
Each record type contains information about the domain context. At a
minimum there is a END record marking the end of the records section.
Fields
------
All the fields within the headers and records have a fixed width.
Fields are always aligned to their size.
Padding and reserved fields are set to zero on save and must be
ignored during restore.
Integer (numeric) fields in the image header are always in big-endian
byte order.
Integer fields in the domain header and in the records are in the
endianness described in the image header (which will typically be the
native ordering).
\clearpage
Headers
=======
Image Header
------------
The image header identifies an image as a Xen domain save image. It
includes the version of this specification that the image complies
with.
Tools supporting version _V_ of the specification shall always save
images using version _V_. Tools shall support restoring from version
_V_. If the previous Xen release produced version _V_ - 1 images,
tools shall supported restoring from these. Tools may additionally
support restoring from earlier versions.
The marker field can be used to distinguish between legacy images and
those corresponding to this specification. Legacy images will have at
one or more zero bits within the first 8 octets of the image.
Fields within the image header are always in _big-endian_ byte order,
regardless of the setting of the endianness bit.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
| marker |
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
| id | version |
+-----------+-----------+-------------------------+
| options | (reserved) |
+-----------+-------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- --------------------------------------------------------
marker 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
id 0x58454E46 ("XENF" in ASCII).
version 0x00000003. The version of this specification.
options bit 0: Endianness. 0 = little-endian, 1 = big-endian.
bit 1-15: Reserved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The endianness shall be 0 (little-endian) for images generated on an
i386, x86_64, or arm host.
\clearpage
Domain Header
-------------
The domain header includes general properties of the domain.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-----------------------+-----------+-------------+
| type | page_shift| (reserved) |
+-----------------------+-----------+-------------+
| xen_major | xen_minor |
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- --------------------------------------------------------
type 0x0000: Reserved.
0x0001: x86 PV.
0x0002: x86 HVM.
0x0003 - 0xFFFFFFFF: Reserved.
page_shift Size of a guest page as a power of two.
i.e., page size = 2 ^page_shift^.
xen_major The Xen major version when this image was saved.
xen_minor The Xen minor version when this image was saved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The legacy stream conversion tool writes a `xen_major` version of 0, and sets
`xen_minor` to the version of itself.
\clearpage
Records
=======
A record has a record header, type specific data and a trailing
footer. If `body_length` is not a multiple of 8, the body is padded
with zeroes to align the end of the record on an 8 octet boundary.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
| type | body_length |
+-----------+-----------+-------------------------+
| body... |
...
| | padding (0 to 7 octets) |
+-----------+-------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- -------------------------------------------------------
type 0x00000000: END
0x00000001: PAGE_DATA
0x00000002: X86_PV_INFO
0x00000003: X86_PV_P2M_FRAMES
0x00000004: X86_PV_VCPU_BASIC
0x00000005: X86_PV_VCPU_EXTENDED
0x00000006: X86_PV_VCPU_XSAVE
0x00000007: SHARED_INFO
0x00000008: X86_TSC_INFO
0x00000009: HVM_CONTEXT
0x0000000A: HVM_PARAMS
0x0000000B: TOOLSTACK (deprecated)
0x0000000C: X86_PV_VCPU_MSRS
0x0000000D: VERIFY
0x0000000E: CHECKPOINT
0x0000000F: CHECKPOINT_DIRTY_PFN_LIST (Secondary -> Primary)
0x00000010: STATIC_DATA_END
0x00000011: X86_CPUID_POLICY
0x00000012: X86_MSR_POLICY
0x00000013 - 0x7FFFFFFF: Reserved for future _mandatory_
records.
0x80000000 - 0xFFFFFFFF: Reserved for future _optional_
records.
body_length Length in octets of the record body.
body Content of the record.
padding 0 to 7 octets of zeros to pad the whole record to a multiple
of 8 octets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Records may be _mandatory_ or _optional_. Optional records have bit
31 set in their type. Restoring an image that has unrecognised or
unsupported mandatory record must fail. The contents of optional
records may be ignored during a restore.
The following sub-sections specify the record body format for each of
the record types.
\clearpage
END
----
An end record marks the end of the image, and shall be the final record
in the stream.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
The end record contains no fields; its body_length is 0.
\clearpage
PAGE_DATA
---------
The bulk of an image consists of many PAGE_DATA records containing the
memory contents.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
| count (C) | (reserved) |
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
| pfn[0] |
+-------------------------------------------------+
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
| pfn[C-1] |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| page_data[0]... |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
| page_data[N-1]... |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- --------------------------------------------------------
count Number of pages described in this record.
pfn An array of count PFNs and their types.
Bit 63-60: XEN_DOMCTL_PFINFO_* type (from
`public/domctl.h` but shifted by 32 bits)
Bit 59-52: Reserved.
Bit 51-0: PFN.
page_data page_size octets of uncompressed page contents for each
page set as present in the pfn array.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Count is strictly > 0. N is strictly <= C and it is possible for there
to be no page_data in the record if all pfns are of invalid types.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PFINFO type Value Description
------------- --------- ------------------------------------------
NOTAB 0x0 Normal page.
L1TAB 0x1 L1 page table page.
L2TAB 0x2 L2 page table page.
L3TAB 0x3 L3 page table page.
L4TAB 0x4 L4 page table page.
0x5-0x8 Reserved.
L1TAB_PIN 0x9 L1 page table page (pinned).
L2TAB_PIN 0xA L2 page table page (pinned).
L3TAB_PIN 0xB L3 page table page (pinned).
L4TAB_PIN 0xC L4 page table page (pinned).
BROKEN 0xD Broken page.
XALLOC 0xE Allocate only.
XTAB 0xF Invalid page.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Table: XEN_DOMCTL_PFINFO_* Page Types.
PFNs with type `BROKEN`, `XALLOC`, or `XTAB` do not have any
corresponding `page_data`.
The saver uses the `XTAB` type for PFNs that become invalid in the
guest's P2M table during a live migration[^2].
Restoring an image with unrecognised page types shall fail.
[^2]: In the legacy format, this is the list of unmapped PFNs in the
tail.
\clearpage
X86_PV_INFO
-----------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-----+-----+-----------+-------------------------+
| w | ptl | (reserved) |
+-----+-----+-----------+-------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- ---------------------------------------------------
guest_width (w) Guest width in octets (either 4 or 8).
pt_levels (ptl) Number of page table levels (either 3 or 4).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
X86_PV_P2M_FRAMES
-----------------
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------------------------+
| p2m_start_pfn (S) | p2m_end_pfn (E) |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------------------------+
| p2m_pfn[p2m frame containing pfn S] |
+-------------------------------------------------+
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
| p2m_pfn[p2m frame containing pfn E] |
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
------------- ---------------------------------------------------
p2m_start_pfn First pfn index in the p2m_pfn array.
p2m_end_pfn Last pfn index in the p2m_pfn array.
p2m_pfn Array of PFNs containing the guest's P2M table, for
the PFN frames containing the PFN range S to E
(inclusive).
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
X86_PV_VCPU_BASIC, EXTENDED, XSAVE, MSRS
----------------------------------------
The format of these records are identical. They are all binary blobs
of data which are accessed using specific pairs of domctl hypercalls.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
| vcpu_id | (reserved) |
+-----------------------+-------------------------+
| context... |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- ----------------------------------------------------
vcpu_id The VCPU ID.
context Binary data for this VCPU.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Record type Accessor hypercalls
----------------------- ----------------------------------------
X86_PV_VCPU_BASIC XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}vcpucontext
X86_PV_VCPU_EXTENDED XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}\_ext_vcpucontext
X86_PV_VCPU_XSAVE XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}vcpuextstate
X86_PV_VCPU_MSRS XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}\_vcpu_msrs
---------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
SHARED_INFO
-----------
The content of the Shared Info page.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
| shared_info |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- ---------------------------------------------------
shared_info Contents of the shared info page. This record
should be exactly 1 page long.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
X86_TSC_INFO
------------
Domain TSC information, as accessed by the
XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}tscinfo hypercall sub-ops.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+------------------------+------------------------+
| mode | khz |
+------------------------+------------------------+
| nsec |
+------------------------+------------------------+
| incarnation | (reserved) |
+------------------------+------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- ---------------------------------------------------
mode TSC mode, TSC_MODE_* constant.
khz TSC frequency, in kHz.
nsec Elapsed time, in nanoseconds.
incarnation Incarnation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
HVM_CONTEXT
-----------
HVM Domain context, as accessed by the
XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}hvmcontext hypercall sub-ops.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
| hvm_ctx |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- ---------------------------------------------------
hvm_ctx The HVM Context blob from Xen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
HVM_PARAMS
----------
HVM Domain parameters, as accessed by the
HVMOP_{get,set}\_param hypercall sub-ops.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+------------------------+------------------------+
| count (C) | (reserved) |
+------------------------+------------------------+
| param[0].index |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| param[0].value |
+-------------------------------------------------+
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
| param[C-1].index |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| param[C-1].value |
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- ---------------------------------------------------
count The number of parameters contained in this record.
Each parameter in the record contains an index and
value.
param index Parameter index.
param value Parameter value.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
TOOLSTACK (deprecated)
----------------------
> *This record was only present for transitionary purposes during
> development. It is should not be used.*
An opaque blob provided by and supplied to the higher layers of the
toolstack (e.g., libxl) during save and restore.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+------------------------+------------------------+
| data |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
----------- ---------------------------------------------------
data Blob of toolstack-specific data.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
VERIFY
------
A verify record indicates that, while all memory has now been sent, the sender
shall send further memory records for debugging purposes.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
The verify record contains no fields; its body_length is 0.
\clearpage
CHECKPOINT
----------
A checkpoint record indicates that all the preceding records in the stream
represent a consistent view of VM state.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
The checkpoint record contains no fields; its body_length is 0
If the stream is embedded in a higher level toolstack stream, the
CHECKPOINT record marks the end of the libxc portion of the stream
and the stream is handed back to the higher level for further
processing.
The higher level stream may then hand the stream back to libxc to
process another set of records for the next consistent VM state
snapshot. This next set of records may be terminated by another
CHECKPOINT record or an END record.
\clearpage
CHECKPOINT_DIRTY_PFN_LIST
-------------------------
A checkpoint dirty pfn list record is used to convey information about
dirty memory in the VM. It is an unordered list of PFNs. Currently only
applicable in the backchannel of a checkpointed stream. It is only used
by COLO, more detail please reference README.colo.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
| pfn[0] |
+-------------------------------------------------+
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
| pfn[C-1] |
+-------------------------------------------------+
The count of pfns is: record->length/sizeof(uint64_t).
\clearpage
STATIC_DATA_END
---------------
A static data end record marks the end of the static state. I.e. state which
is invariant of guest execution.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
The end record contains no fields; its body_length is 0.
\clearpage
X86_CPUID_POLICY
----------------
CPUID policy content, as accessed by the XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}_cpu_policy
hypercall sub-ops.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
| CPUID_policy |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
------------ ---------------------------------------------------
CPUID_policy Array of xen_cpuid_leaf_t[]'s
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
X86_MSR_POLICY
--------------
MSR policy content, as accessed by the XEN_DOMCTL_{get,set}_cpu_policy
hypercall sub-ops.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 octet
+-------------------------------------------------+
| MSR_policy |
...
+-------------------------------------------------+
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Description
---------- ---------------------------------------------------
MSR_policy Array of xen_msr_entry_t[]'s
--------------------------------------------------------------------
\clearpage
Layout
======
The set of valid records depends on the guest architecture and type. No
assumptions should be made about the ordering or interleaving of
independent records. Record dependencies are noted below.
Some records are used for signalling, and explicitly have zero length. All
other records contain data relevant to the migration. Data records with no
content should be elided on the source side, as their presence serves no
purpose, but results in extra work for the restore side.
x86 PV Guest
------------
A typical save record for an x86 PV guest image would look like:
* Image header
* Domain header
* Static data records:
* X86_PV_INFO record
* X86_{CPUID,MSR}_POLICY
* STATIC_DATA_END
* X86_PV_P2M_FRAMES record
* Many PAGE_DATA records
* X86_TSC_INFO
* SHARED_INFO record
* VCPU context records for each online VCPU
* X86_PV_VCPU_BASIC record
* X86_PV_VCPU_EXTENDED record
* X86_PV_VCPU_XSAVE record
* X86_PV_VCPU_MSRS record
* END record
There are some strict ordering requirements. The following records must
be present in the following order as each of them depends on information
present in the preceding ones.
* X86_PV_INFO record
* X86_PV_P2M_FRAMES record
* PAGE_DATA records
* VCPU records
x86 HVM Guest
-------------
A typical save record for an x86 HVM guest image would look like:
* Image header
* Domain header
* Static data records:
* X86_{CPUID,MSR}_POLICY
* STATIC_DATA_END
* Many PAGE_DATA records
* X86_TSC_INFO
* HVM_PARAMS
* HVM_CONTEXT
* END record
HVM_PARAMS must precede HVM_CONTEXT, as certain parameters can affect
the validity of architectural state in the context.
Compatibility with older versions
=================================
v3 compat with v2
-----------------
A v3 stream is compatible with a v2 stream, but mandates the presense of a
STATIC_DATA_END record ahead of any memory/register content. This is to ease
the introduction of new static configuration records over time.
A v3-compatible receiver interpreting a v2 stream should infer the position of
STATIC_DATA_END based on finding the first X86_PV_P2M_FRAMES record (for PV
guests), or PAGE_DATA record (for HVM guests) and behave as if STATIC_DATA_END
had been sent.
Legacy Images (x86 only)
------------------------
Restoring legacy images from older tools shall be handled by
translating the legacy format image into this new format.
It shall not be possible to save in the legacy format.
There are two different legacy images depending on whether they were
generated by a 32-bit or a 64-bit toolstack. These shall be
distinguished by inspecting octets 4-7 in the image. If these are
zero then it is a 64-bit image.
Toolstack Field Value
--------- ----- -----
64-bit Bit 31-63 of the p2m_size field 0 (since p2m_size < 2^32^)
32-bit extended-info chunk ID (PV) 0xFFFFFFFF
32-bit Chunk type (HVM) < 0
32-bit Page count (HVM) > 0
Table: Possible values for octet 4-7 in legacy images
This assumes the presence of the extended-info chunk which was
introduced in Xen 3.0.
Future Extensions
=================
All changes to this specification should bump the revision number in
the title block.
All changes to the image or domain headers require the image version
to be increased.
The format may be extended by adding additional record types.
Extending an existing record type must be done by adding a new record
type. This allows old images with the old record to still be
restored.
The image header may only be extended by _appending_ additional
fields. In particular, the `marker`, `id` and `version` fields must
never change size or location.
Errata
======
1. For compatibility with older code, the receiving side of a stream should
tolerate and ignore variable sized records with zero content. Xen releases
between 4.6 and 4.8 could end up generating valid HVM_PARAMS or
X86_PV_VCPU_{EXTENDED,XSAVE,MSRS} records with zero-length content.
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