The virtual channel subsystem

QEMU implements a virtual channel subsystem with subchannels, (mostly functionless) channel paths, and channel devices (virtio-ccw, 3270, and devices passed via vfio-ccw). It supports multiple subchannel sets (MSS) and multiple channel subsystems extended (MCSS-E).

All channel devices support the devno property, which takes a parameter in the form <cssid>.<ssid>.<device number>.

The default channel subsystem image id (<cssid>) is 0xfe. Devices in there will show up in channel subsystem image 0 to guests that do not enable MCSS-E. Note that devices with a different cssid will not be visible if the guest OS does not enable MCSS-E (which is true for all supported guest operating systems today).

Supported values for the subchannel set id (<ssid>) range from 0-3. Devices with a ssid that is not 0 will not be visible if the guest OS does not enable MSS (any Linux version that supports virtio also enables MSS). Any device may be put into any subchannel set, there is no restriction by device type.

The device number can range from 0-0xffff.

If the devno property is not specified for a device, QEMU will choose the next free device number in subchannel set 0, skipping to the next subchannel set if no more device numbers are free.

QEMU places a device at the first free subchannel in the specified subchannel set. If a device is hotunplugged and later replugged, it may appear at a different subchannel. (This is similar to how z/VM works.)

Examples

  • a virtio-net device, cssid/ssid/devno automatically assigned:

    -device virtio-net-ccw

    In a Linux guest (without default devices and no other devices specified prior to this one), this will show up as 0.0.0000 under subchannel 0.0.0000.

    The auto-assigned-properties in QEMU (as seen via e.g. info qtree) would be dev_id = "fe.0.0000" and subch_id = "fe.0.0000".

  • a virtio-rng device in subchannel set 0:

    -device virtio-rng-ccw,devno=fe.0.0042

    If added to the same Linux guest as above, it would show up as 0.0.0042 under subchannel 0.0.0001.

    The properties for the device would be dev_id = "fe.0.0042" and subch_id = "fe.0.0001".

  • a virtio-gpu device in subchannel set 2:

    -device virtio-gpu-ccw,devno=fe.2.1111

    If added to the same Linux guest as above, it would show up as 0.2.1111 under subchannel 0.2.0000.

    The properties for the device would be dev_id = "fe.2.1111" and subch_id = "fe.2.0000".

  • a virtio-mouse device in a non-standard channel subsystem image:

    -device virtio-mouse-ccw,devno=2.0.2222

    This would not show up in a standard Linux guest.

    The properties for the device would be dev_id = "2.0.2222" and subch_id = "2.0.0000".

  • a virtio-keyboard device in another non-standard channel subsystem image:

    -device virtio-keyboard-ccw,devno=0.0.1234

    This would not show up in a standard Linux guest, either, as 0 is not the standard channel subsystem image id.

    The properties for the device would be dev_id = "0.0.1234" and subch_id = "0.0.0000".