docs: Move virtio-net-failover.rst into the system manual

The virtio-net-failover documentation is currently orphan and
not included in any manual; move it into the system manual,
immediately following the general network emulation section.

Signed-off-by: Peter Maydell <peter.maydell@linaro.org>
Reviewed-by: Alex Bennée <alex.bennee@linaro.org>

2 files changed, 69 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/docs/system/index.rst b/docs/system/index.rst
index c0f685b818..d0613cd5f7 100644
--- a/docs/system/index.rst
+++ b/docs/system/index.rst
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Contents:
    monitor
    images
    net
+   virtio-net-failover
    usb
    ivshmem
    linuxboot
diff --git a/docs/system/virtio-net-failover.rst b/docs/system/virtio-net-failover.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6002dc5d96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/system/virtio-net-failover.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+======================================
+QEMU virtio-net standby (net_failover)
+======================================
+
+This document explains the setup and usage of virtio-net standby feature which
+is used to create a net_failover pair of devices.
+
+The general idea is that we have a pair of devices, a (vfio-)pci and a
+virtio-net device. Before migration the vfio device is unplugged and data flows
+through the virtio-net device, on the target side another vfio-pci device is
+plugged in to take over the data-path. In the guest the net_failover kernel
+module will pair net devices with the same MAC address.
+
+The two devices are called primary and standby device. The fast hardware based
+networking device is called the primary device and the virtio-net device is the
+standby device.
+
+Restrictions
+------------
+
+Currently only PCIe devices are allowed as primary devices, this restriction
+can be lifted in the future with enhanced QEMU support. Also, only networking
+devices are allowed as primary device. The user needs to ensure that primary
+and standby devices are not plugged into the same PCIe slot.
+
+Usecase
+-------
+
+  Virtio-net standby allows easy migration while using a passed-through fast
+  networking device by falling back to a virtio-net device for the duration of
+  the migration. It is like a simple version of a bond, the difference is that it
+  requires no configuration in the guest. When a guest is live-migrated to
+  another host QEMU will unplug the primary device via the PCIe based hotplug
+  handler and traffic will go through the virtio-net device.  On the target
+  system the primary device will be automatically plugged back and the
+  net_failover module registers it again as the primary device.
+
+Usage
+-----
+
+  The primary device can be hotplugged or be part of the startup configuration
+
+  -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=hostnet1,id=net1,mac=52:54:00:6f:55:cc, \
+    bus=root2,failover=on
+
+  With the parameter failover=on the VIRTIO_NET_F_STANDBY feature will be enabled.
+
+  -device vfio-pci,host=5e:00.2,id=hostdev0,bus=root1,failover_pair_id=net1
+
+  failover_pair_id references the id of the virtio-net standby device. This
+  is only for pairing the devices within QEMU. The guest kernel module
+  net_failover will match devices with identical MAC addresses.
+
+Hotplug
+-------
+
+  Both primary and standby device can be hotplugged via the QEMU monitor.  Note
+  that if the virtio-net device is plugged first a warning will be issued that it
+  couldn't find the primary device.
+
+Migration
+---------
+
+  A new migration state wait-unplug was added for this feature. If failover primary
+  devices are present in the configuration, migration will go into this state.
+  It will wait until the device unplug is completed in the guest and then move into
+  active state. On the target system the primary devices will be automatically hotplugged
+  when the feature bit was negotiated for the virtio-net standby device.