Error: "PCI-DMA: Out of SW-IOMMU space" with Xen kernel

This document (7000060) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

Situation

XEN virtualization and system with less than 3 GB of memory

An ERROR: PCI-DMA: Out of SW-IOMMU space is reported by the kernel, possibly in combination with other error messages from device drivers which use DMA, for example

Jan 1 16:55:32 srvr kernel: PCI-DMA: Out of SW-IOMMU space for 16384 bytes at device 0000:06:01.0
Jan 1 16:55:32 srvr kernel: 3w-9xxx: scsi1: ERROR: (0x06:0x001C): Failed to map scatter gather list.

Resolution

This is a specific instance of a problem discussed in detail in TID 3692489 - Xen fails to boot or hangs; refer to that TID for resolution steps.

Disclaimer

This Support Knowledgebase provides a valuable tool for SUSE customers and parties interested in our products and solutions to acquire information, ideas and learn from one another. Materials are provided for informational, personal or non-commercial use within your organization and are presented "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.