Cyberus Technology has opened the code for the VirtualBox KVM backend, which allows the use of the built-in kernel in the VirtualBox virtualization system. Linux The KVM hypervisor replaces the vboxdrv kernel module supplied with VirtualBox. The backend enables virtual machine execution using the KVM hypervisor while fully preserving the traditional VirtualBox management model and interface. Existing virtual machine configurations created for VirtualBox can be run in KVM. The code is written in C and C++ and is distributed under the GPLv3 license.
Key benefits of running VirtualBox on top of KVM:
- Ability to run VirtualBox and virtual machines, created for VirtualBox, along with QEMU/KVM and KVM-based virtualization systems, such as Cloud Hypervisor. For example, isolated services requiring a special level of security can be run using Cloud Hypervisor, while guest systems with Windows — in a more user-friendly VirtualBox environment.
- Support for work without loading the VirtualBox kernel driver (vboxdrv), which allows for work on top of certified and verified kernel assemblies Linux, in which loading third-party modules is not allowed.
- 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.
- KVM has security enhancing features Windows-systems running in virtualized environments.
- Running on systems with kernels Linux, which are not yet supported in VirtualBox. KVM is built into the kernel, while vboxdrv is separately ported for each new kernel.
VirtualBox KVM claims to work stably in host environments based on Linux On x86_64 systems with Intel processors. Support for AMD processors is present, but is currently marked as experimental.
Source: opennet.ru
