Slow performance on multipass list expected?

[jcrben]

I've been getting started using multipass on a Windows 11 device. Below I've included output from fastfetch - I'm using a reasonably new and powerful Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X

One thing I've noticed is that a relatively common command - multipass list - takes 40 seconds to return.

I typically use "git-bash" on Windows, but I also tried powershell. Both take the same amount of time.

In our modern world of short attention spans and immediate feedback, 40 seconds without a spinner is where people can start getting frustrated and just hitting ctrl+c.

UPDATE 3 - resolved after deleting "primary" instance

Since the primary was unreachable, it seems the network was waiting for a timeout before returning. After deleting it, my multipass list is fast.

UPDATE 2- fast when primary is suspended

Right now I'm querying multipassd from my local windows git-bash shell - I have a specific address but it's local - and it's fast (less than a second). Then I tried to run primary and it failed, and also multipass list became slow again.

ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ time MULTIPASS_SERVER_ADDRESS=172.31.240.1:51001 multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
primary                 Suspended         --               Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
lawful-mandrill         Running           172.27.250.52    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

real    0m0.475s
user    0m0.015s
sys     0m0.000s
ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ MULTIPASS_SERVER_ADDRESS=172.31.240.1:51001 multipass shell primary
start failed: The following errors occurred:
primary: timed out waiting for response
ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ time MULTIPASS_SERVER_ADDRESS=172.31.240.1:51001 multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
primary                 Running           N/A              Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
lawful-mandrill         Running           172.27.250.52    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

real    0m40.518s
user    0m0.000s
sys     0m0.015s


ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ ping primary.mshome.net

Pinging primary.mshome.net [172.21.135.55] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 172.17.20.254: Destination net unreachable.
Reply from 172.17.20.254: Destination net unreachable.
Reply from 172.17.20.254: Destination net unreachable.

Ping statistics for 172.21.135.55:
    Packets: Sent = 3, Received = 3, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Control-C

UPDATE 1: remote results of multipass list from WSL2 client

Following the instructions at https://multipass.run/docs/how-to-use-multipass-remotely-a-preview#heading--windows I ran multipass list from WSL2 as a client with basically the same results. Steps that I used to set this up, in case anyone is curious - and some of these steps may not be necessary:

• install a plain WSL2 instance using wsl --install - this got me Ubuntu 22.04
• inside the WSL2 instance, run this: cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep nameserver | awk '{print $2}' - save the resulting ip address - in my case 172.31.240.1
• in powershell, execute & 'C:\windows\System32\services.msc' and look for Multipass Service - select the properties for it
• stop the multipassd service. also shut down mutlipass.gui.exe using CTRL+ALT_DELETE
• as noted in the multipass docs above, pass the address to the start command - in my case: --address 172.31.240.1:51001 and click start
• (maybe unnecessary) I opened a new terminal and ran the multipass.gui.exe from a git-bash shell on windows like this: MULTIPASS_SERVER_ADDRESS=172.31.240.1:51001 multipass.gui.exe - you can send it to the background if you want
• the gui should pop up and it should accurately show your multipass instances
• from WSL2, execute this: MULTIPASS_SERVER_ADDRESS=172.31.240.1:51001 multipass list

Unfortunately it takes about the same amount of time, altho it seemed fast for a moment.

Fastfetch results

ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ fastfetch
/////////////////  /////////////////    ben@lenovo-legion
/////////////////  /////////////////    -----------------
/////////////////  /////////////////    OS: Windows 11 (Pro) x86_64
/////////////////  /////////////////    Host: 82V2 (Slim 7 ProX 14ARH7)
/////////////////  /////////////////    Kernel: 10.0.22631.3593 (23H2)
/////////////////  /////////////////    Uptime: 19 hours, 11 mins
/////////////////  /////////////////    Packages: 35 (scoop)
/////////////////  /////////////////    Shell: bash 5.2.26
                                        Display (CSO1410): 3072x1920 @ 60Hz (as 1536x960) [Built-in]
/////////////////  /////////////////    DE: Fluent
/////////////////  /////////////////    WM: Desktop Window Manager
/////////////////  /////////////////    WM Theme: Aero - Blue (System: Light, Apps: Light)
/////////////////  /////////////////    Font: Segoe UI (12pt) [Caption / Menu / Message / Status]
/////////////////  /////////////////    Cursor: Windows Default (32px)
/////////////////  /////////////////    Terminal: Windows Terminal 1.19.11213.0
/////////////////  /////////////////    Terminal Font: Cascadia Mono (12pt)
/////////////////  /////////////////    CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS Creator Edition (16) @ 4.92 GHz
                                        GPU 1: AMD Radeon(TM) Graphics (3.97 GiB) [Discrete]
                                        GPU 2: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU (3.88 GiB) [Discrete]
                                        Memory: 13.32 GiB / 27.69 GiB (48%)
                                        Swap: 81.42 MiB / 6.00 GiB (1%)
                                        Disk (C:\): 188.18 GiB / 953.14 GiB (20%) - NTFS
                                        Local IP (Wi-Fi): 192.168.1.136/24 *
                                        Battery: 50% [Discharging]
                                        Locale: en-US

Timed commands

"Git-bash"

ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
primary                 Running           N/A              Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
lawful-mandrill         Running           172.27.250.52    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
primary                 Running           N/A              Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
lawful-mandrill         Running           172.27.250.52    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ time multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
primary                 Running           N/A              Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
lawful-mandrill         Running           172.27.250.52    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

real    0m40.720s
user    0m0.000s
sys     0m0.000s
ben@lenovo-legion packer-jammy-box [add-packer-ubuntu]$ time multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
primary                 Running           N/A              Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
lawful-mandrill         Running           172.27.250.52    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

real    0m40.709s
user    0m0.000s
sys     0m0.015s

Powershell

PS C:\Users\ben> multipass list
Name                    State             IPv4             Image
primary                 Running           N/A              Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
lawful-mandrill         Running           172.27.250.52    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
PS C:\Users\ben> Measure-Command { multipass list }

Days              : 0
Hours             : 0
Minutes           : 0
Seconds           : 40
Milliseconds      : 709
Ticks             : 407095383
TotalDays         : 0.000471175211805556
TotalHours        : 0.0113082050833333
TotalMinutes      : 0.678492305
TotalSeconds      : 40.7095383
TotalMilliseconds : 40709.5383

PS C:\Users\ben> Measure-Command { multipass list }

Days              : 0
Hours             : 0
Minutes           : 0
Seconds           : 40
Milliseconds      : 440
Ticks             : 404405028
TotalDays         : 0.000468061375
TotalHours        : 0.011233473
TotalMinutes      : 0.67400838
TotalSeconds      : 40.4405028
TotalMilliseconds : 40440.5028

[jcrben]

Since the primary was unreachable for unknown reasons, it seems the network was waiting for a timeout before returning. After deleting it, my multipass list is fast.