KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is the leading open source virtualisation technology for Linux. It installs natively on all Linux distributions and turns underlying physical servers into hypervisors so that they can host multiple, isolated virtual machines (VMs). KVM comes with no licenses, type-1 hypervisor capabilities and a variety of performance extensions which makes it an ideal candidate for virtualisation and cloud infrastructure implementation.
History
Avi Kivity began the development of KVM in mid-2006 at Qumranet, a technology startup company that was acquired by Red Hat in 2008. KVM surfaced in October, 2006 and was merged into the Linux kernel mainline in kernel version 2.6.20, which was released on 5 February 2007. KVM is maintained by Paolo Bonzini.
How does KVM work?
KVM converts Linux into a type-1 (bare-metal) hypervisor. All hypervisors need some operating system-level components—such as a memory manager, process scheduler, input/output (I/O) stack, device drivers, security manager, a network stack, and more—to run VMs. KVM has all these components because it’s part of the Linux kernel. Every VM is implemented as a regular Linux process, scheduled by the standard Linux scheduler, with dedicated virtual hardware like a network card, graphics adapter, CPU(s), memory, and disks.
KVM provides device abstraction but no processor emulation. It exposes the /dev/kvm interface, which a user mode host can then use to:
- Set up the guest VM’s address space. The host must also supply a firmware image (usually a custom BIOS when emulating PCs) that the guest can use to bootstrap into its main OS.
- Feed the guest simulated I/O.
- Map the guest’s video display back onto the system host.
Originally a forked version of QEMU was provided to launch guests and deal with hardware emulation that isn’t handled by the kernel. That support was eventually merged into the upstream project. There are now numerous Virtual Machine Monitors (VMMs) which can utilise the KVM interface including kvmtool, crosvm] and Firecracker and numerous specialised VMMs build with frameworks such as rust-vmm.
KVM features/Benefits
KVM is part of Linux. Linux is part of KVM. Everything Linux has, KVM has too. But there are specific features that make KVM an enterprise’s preferred hypervisor.
Security
KVM uses a combination of security-enhanced Linux (SELinux) and secure virtualization (sVirt) for enhanced VM security and isolation. SELinux establishes security boundaries around VMs. sVirt extends SELinux’s capabilities, allowing Mandatory Access Control (MAC) security to be applied to guest VMs and preventing manual labeling errors. Since KVM is part of the Linux kernel source code, it benefits from the world’s biggest open source community collaboration, rigorous development and testing process as well as continuous security patching.
Storage
KVM is able to use any storage supported by Linux, including some local disks and network-attached storage (NAS). Multipath I/O may be used to improve storage and provide redundancy. KVM also supports shared file systems so VM images may be shared by multiple hosts. Disk images support thin provisioning, allocating storage on demand rather than all up front.
Hardware support
KVM can use a wide variety of certified Linux-supported hardware platforms. Because hardware vendors regularly contribute to kernel development, the latest hardware features are often rapidly adopted in the Linux kernel.
Memory management
KVM inherits the memory management features of Linux, including non-uniform memory access and kernel same-page merging. The memory of a VM can be swapped, backed by large volumes for better performance, and shared or backed by a disk file.
Live migration
KVM supports live migration, which is the ability to move a running VM between physical hosts with no service interruption. The VM remains powered on, network connections remain active, and applications continue to run while the VM is relocated. KVM also saves a VM’s current state so it can be stored and resumed later.
Performance and scalability
KVM inherits the performance of Linux, scaling to match demand load if the number of guest machines and requests increases. KVM allows the most demanding application workloads to be virtualized and is the basis for many enterprise virtualization setups, such as datacenters and private clouds (via OpenStack®).
Scheduling and resource control
In the KVM model, a VM is a Linux process, scheduled and managed by the kernel. The Linux scheduler allows fine-grained control of the resources allocated to a Linux process and guarantees a quality of service for a particular process. In KVM, this includes the completely fair scheduler, control groups, network name spaces, and real-time extensions.
Lower latency and higher prioritization
The Linux kernel features real-time extensions that allow VM-based apps to run at lower latency with better prioritization (compared to bare metal). The kernel also divides processes that require long computing times into smaller components, which are then scheduled and processed accordingly.
Cost-efficiency
Last but not least, the cost is a driving factor for many organizations. Since KVM is open source and available as a Linux kernel module, it comes at zero cost out of the box. Businesses can optionally subscribe to various commercial programs, such as UA-I (Ubuntu Advantage for Infrastructure) to receive enterprise support for their KVM-based virtualization or cloud infrastructure.
