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91a390f072
Split some of the core hypervisor details out of the virtualisation document and present in a simpler fashion for new users. Fixes: #1063. Signed-off-by: James O. D. Hunt <james.o.hunt@intel.com>
69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
# Hypervisors
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* [Hypervisors](#hypervisors)
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* [Introduction](#introduction)
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* [Types](#types)
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* [Determine currently configured hypervisor](#determine-currently-configured-hypervisor)
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* [Choose a Hypervisor](#choose-a-hypervisor)
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## Introduction
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Kata Containers supports multiple hypervisors. This document provides a very
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high level overview of the available hypervisors, giving suggestions as to
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which hypervisors you may wish to investigate further.
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> **Note:**
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>
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> This document is not prescriptive or authoritative:
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>
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> - It is up to you to decide which hypervisors may be most appropriate for
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> your use-case.
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> - Refer to the official documentation for each hypervisor for further details.
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## Types
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Since each hypervisor offers different features and options, Kata Containers
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provides a separate
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[configuration file](/src/runtime/README.md#configuration)
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for each. The configuration files contain comments explaining which options
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are available, their default values and how each setting can be used.
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> **Note:**
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>
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> The simplest way to switch between hypervisors is to create a symbolic link
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> to the appropriate hypervisor-specific configuration file.
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| Hypervisor | Written in | Architectures | Type | Configuration file |
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[ACRN] | C | `x86_64` | Type 1 (bare metal) | `configuration-acrn.toml` |
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[Cloud Hypervisor] | rust | `aarch64`, `x86_64` | Type 2 ([KVM]) | `configuration-clh.toml` |
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[Firecracker] | rust | `aarch64`, `x86_64` | Type 2 ([KVM]) | `configuration-fc.toml` |
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[QEMU] | C | all | Type 2 ([KVM]) | `configuration-qemu.toml` |
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## Determine currently configured hypervisor
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```bash
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$ kata-runtime kata-env | awk -v RS= '/\[Hypervisor\]/' | grep Path
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```
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## Choose a Hypervisor
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The table below provides a brief summary of some of the differences between
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the hypervisors:
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| Hypervisor | Summary | Features | Limitations | Container Creation speed | Memory density | Use cases | Comment |
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[ACRN] | Safety critical and real-time workloads | | | excellent | excellent | Embedded and IOT systems | For advanced users |
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[Cloud Hypervisor] | Low latency, small memory footprint, small attack surface | Minimal | | excellent | excellent | High performance modern cloud workloads | |
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[Firecracker] | Very slimline | Extremely minimal | Doesn't support all device types | excellent | excellent | Serverless / FaaS | |
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[QEMU] | Lots of features | Lots | | good | good | Good option for most users | | All users |
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For further details, see the [Virtualization in Kata Containers](design/virtualization.md) document and the official documentation for each hypervisor.
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[ACRN]: https://projectacrn.org
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[Cloud Hypervisor]: https://github.com/cloud-hypervisor/cloud-hypervisor
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[Firecracker]: https://github.com/firecracker-microvm/firecracker
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[KVM]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel-based_Virtual_Machine
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[QEMU]: http://www.qemu-project.org
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