kvmtool - A QEMU Alternative?
summary
kvmtool is a tiny KVM userland that runs same-arch Linux guests (no instruction emulation, no ACPI/UEFI), lives outside the kernel tree and clocks in at 1.6 MB archive and a static 1 MB binary. it supports x86/arm/mips/ppc, uses 9p and user-mode networking (no ping without privileges), and in microbenchmarks with KSM enabled fits up to 1,600 idle guests on an Ivy Bridge box versus ~400 for QEMU. it shows much lower resident memory but higher virtual address space, has SMP race issues and elevated idle CPU (~7%) per guest.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:07What is kvmtool
- 4:48Brief history
- 8:21Disadvantages
- 17:22Usage
- 20:45Memory usage
- 25:00PID status
- 27:43KMM
- 35:43Test Setup
- 40:56Known Issues
- 45:45New Features
- 48:13Inclusion
- 51:08Conclusion
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