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Add details to the README for `kata-manager` showing how to list available hypervisor configs (packaged and local), and switch between the configurations. Also, update the hypervisors page to show a lot more detail about the hypervisor configurations, including the "short name" used by `kata-manager` for switching hypervisor config. > **Note:** > > These changes only apply to the current default golang runtime. Signed-off-by: James O. D. Hunt <james.o.hunt@intel.com>
103 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
103 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
# Hypervisors
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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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| Hypervisor | Written in | Architectures | Type |
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|-|-|-|-|
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|[ACRN] | C | `x86_64` | Type 1 (bare metal) |
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|[Cloud Hypervisor] | rust | `aarch64`, `x86_64` | Type 2 ([KVM]) |
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|[Firecracker] | rust | `aarch64`, `x86_64` | Type 2 ([KVM]) |
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|[QEMU] | C | all | Type 2 ([KVM]) | `configuration-qemu.toml` |
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|[`Dragonball`] | rust | `aarch64`, `x86_64` | Type 2 ([KVM]) |
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|[StratoVirt] | rust | `aarch64`, `x86_64` | Type 2 ([KVM]) |
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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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|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|
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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 | |
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|[`Dragonball`] | Built-in VMM, low CPU and memory overhead| Minimal | | excellent | excellent | Optimized for most container workloads | `out-of-the-box` Kata Containers experience |
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|[StratoVirt] | Unified architecture supporting three scenarios: VM, container, and serverless | Extremely minimal(`MicroVM`) to Lots(`StandardVM`) | | excellent | excellent | Common container workloads | `StandardVM` type of StratoVirt for Kata is under development |
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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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## Hypervisor configuration files
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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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| Hypervisor | Golang runtime config file | golang runtime short name | golang runtime default | rust runtime config file | rust runtime short name | rust runtime default |
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| [ACRN] | [`configuration-acrn.toml`](../src/runtime/config/configuration-acrn.toml.in) | `acrn` | | | | |
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| [Cloud Hypervisor] | [`configuration-clh.toml`](../src/runtime/config/configuration-clh.toml.in) | `clh` | | [`configuration-cloud-hypervisor.toml`](../src/runtime-rs/config/configuration-cloud-hypervisor.toml.in) | `cloud-hypervisor` | |
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| [Firecracker] | [`configuration-fc.toml`](../src/runtime/config/configuration-fc.toml.in) | `fc` | | | | |
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| [QEMU] | [`configuration-qemu.toml`](../src/runtime/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in) | `qemu` | yes | [`configuration-qemu.toml`](../src/runtime-rs/config/configuration-qemu.toml.in) | `qemu` | |
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| [`Dragonball`] | | | | [`configuration-dragonball.toml`](../src/runtime-rs/config/configuration-dragonball.toml.in) | `dragonball` | yes |
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| [StratoVirt] | [`configuration-stratovirt.toml`](../src/runtime/config/configuration-stratovirt.toml.in) | `stratovirt` | | | | |
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> **Notes:**
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>
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> - The short names specified are used by the [`kata-manager`](../utils/README.md) tool.
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> - As shown by the default columns, each runtime type has its own default hypervisor.
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> - The [golang runtime](../src/runtime) is the current default runtime.
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> - The [rust runtime](../src/runtime-rs), also known as `runtime-rs`,
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> is the newer runtime written in the rust language.
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> - See the [Configuration](../README.md#configuration) for further details.
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> - The configuration file links in the table link to the "source"
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> versions: these are not usable configuration files as they contain
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> variables that need to be expanded:
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> - The links are provided for reference only.
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> - The final (installed) versions, where all variables have been
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> expanded, are built from these source configuration files.
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> - The pristine configuration files are usually installed in the
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> `/opt/kata/share/defaults/kata-containers/` or
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> `/usr/share/defaults/kata-containers/` directories.
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> - Some hypervisors may have the same name for both golang and rust
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> runtimes, but the file contents may differ.
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> - If there is no configuration file listed for the golang or
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> rust runtimes, this either means the hypervisor cannot be run with
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> a particular runtime, or that a driver has not yet been made
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> available for that runtime.
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## Switch configured hypervisor
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To switch the configured hypervisor, you only need to run a single command.
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See [the `kata-manager` documentation](../utils/README.md#choose-a-hypervisor) for further details.
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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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[`Dragonball`]: https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/blob/main/src/dragonball
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[StratoVirt]: https://gitee.com/openeuler/stratovirt
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