Cyberus Technology has opened the code for the VirtualBox KVM backend, which allows you to use the KVM hypervisor built into the Linux kernel in the VirtualBox virtualization system instead of the vboxdrv kernel module supplied in VirtualBox. The backend ensures that virtual machines are executed by the KVM hypervisor while fully maintaining the traditional management model and VirtualBox interface. It is supported to run existing virtual machine configurations created for VirtualBox in KVM. The code is written in C and C++ and is distributed under the GPLv3 license.
Key advantages of running VirtualBox over KVM:
- Ability to run VirtualBox and virtual machines created for VirtualBox simultaneously with QEMU/KVM and virtualization systems that use KVM, such as Cloud Hypervisor. For example, isolated services that require a special level of protection can run using Cloud Hypervisor, while Windows guests can run in the more user-friendly VirtualBox environment.
- Support for working without loading the VirtualBox kernel driver (vboxdrv), which allows you to organize work on top of certified and verified builds of the Linux kernel, which do not allow loading third-party modules.
- The ability to use advanced hardware virtualization acceleration mechanisms supported in KVM, but not used in VirtualBox. For example, in KVM, you can use the APICv extension to virtualize the interrupt controller, which can reduce interrupt latency and improve I/O performance.
- The presence in KVM of capabilities that increase the security of Windows systems running in virtualized environments.
- Runs on systems with Linux kernels not yet supported in VirtualBox. KVM is built into the kernel, while vboxdrv is separately ported for each new kernel.
VirtualBox KVM claims stable operation in Linux-based host environments on x86_64 systems with Intel processors. Support for AMD processors is present, but is still marked as experimental.
Source: opennet.ru