This document provides an overview of KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) and how it is enabled with SUSE solutions. KVM is an open-source hypervisor that is fully integrated with the Linux kernel and supports hardware-assisted virtualization. It uses QEMU for machine emulation and libvirt for managing virtual machines. SUSE provides support for KVM through SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SUSE Studio for building virtual appliances, SUSE Manager for centralized management, SUSE Cloud for deploying private clouds, and the High Availability Extension for maintaining high availability of workloads.

1. SUSE® KVM Overview
Patrick Quairoli
Global Alliance Director
pjq@suse.com

2. 2
SUSE® at a Glance

3. 3
SUSE® Leadership

4. 4
Open Source Community Leadership
kernel.org
OPEN
VIRTUALIZATION
ALLIANCE

5. KVM Overview

6. 6
What is KVM?
• A progressive and open source hypervisor driven by
the KVM community, Open Virtualization Alliance and
companies like Intel, IBM, SUSE, and Red Hat.
• KVM is an acronym for Kernel-based Virtual Machine
• Fully Integrated into the Linux Kernel.
‒ Takes full advantages of the Reliability, Availability and
Security of Linux
• Supports advanced hardware assisted virtualization
technologies in Intel VT-X and AMD-V X86
• Supports Linux and Windows Guests.

7. 7
How KVM operates
• QEMU provides machine and device emulation
• Para-virtual drivers used to improve IO performance
• Virtual machines are just another process
‒ # qemu-kvm...
• Virtual machines (processes) can be controlled with
nice, cgroups, numactl, etc.
• Implemented as kernel modules
‒ kvm.ko: provides virtualization infrastructure
‒ kvm_amd.ko and kvm_intel.ko: hardware platform specific
modules

8. 8
KVM Architecture
Adds “Guest Mode” to Traditional Kernel and User Modes

9. 9
Libvirt overview
• Stable API for managing virtualization on a host
‒ Storage, network interfaces, networks, host devices,
hypervisors, and virtual machines
• XML schema for describing configuration of
managed entities
• Wide hypervisor support
‒ KVM/QEMU, Xen, LXC, ESX, hyper-v, XenServer,
VirtualBox
• Used by a wide variety of tools and products
‒ http://libvirt.org/apps.html

10. 10
libvirt Architecture
libvirtd
hyper-vESX
Client (virsh)
libvirt.so
qemu xen lxc storage network

11. Enabling KVM with SUSE Solutions

12. 12
SUSE Virtualization Advantages
Virtualization Host: SUSE® has the most experience and success in
the virtualization host (hypervisor) market. Supporting both KVM and
XEN hypervisors.
Virtual Machine Guest: SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server is the “Perfect
Guest” on VMware, Microsoft, Citrix and SUSE KVM and XEN
hypervisor implementations.
Virtualization Management: SUSE offers robust management solutions
to simplify the management of physical and virtual machines—across
hypervisors.
Virtual Application Stacks: SUSE Studio is a web application for
building and testing software applications in a web browser. It supports
the creation of physical, virtual or cloud-based applications.
Roadmap for the Cloud: Based on Open Stack, SUSE Cloud is an
automated cloud computing platform that helps IT organizations
rapidly deploy and easily manage Infrastructure-as-a-Service private
clouds.

13. 13
KVMKVM
SLESSLES
SUSE
Studio
SUSE
Studio
SUSE
Manager
SUSE
Manager
SUSE
Cloud
SUSE
Cloud
SLE
HAE
SLE
HAE
SUSE's KVM ecosystem

14. 14
SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP2
Includes 3.0 Linux kernel
‒ Support for next
generation Intel, AMD
and IBM hardware
‒ Improved scheduler,
memory management
and networking
performance
‒ Geo-site clustering
‒ Application compatibility

15. 15
Virtualization with SUSE
• Open source hypervisors fully supported in the platform
‒ KVM updated to version 0.15
‒ I/O improvements, storage and network device hotplugging
‒ Power saving capabilities
‒ Microsoft Windows support
• Perfect Guest strategy, tuned to run great as a guest on all
major hypervisors, including:
‒ VMware ESX
‒ Microsoft Hyper-V
‒ Citrix XenServer
‒ SUSE Linux Enterprise with Xen and KVM
• Unique cost efficiency – unlimited number of virtual machines
per physical server with one subscription

16. 16
SUSE Studio
• Simplifies application deployment
• Build software appliances
‒ Physical, virtual or cloud
‒ In minutes, not days
• KVM/Xen Images
• Image-based installation triggered from
SUSE Manager, images are directly
downloaded from Studio to the KVM/Xen
host and started.
• Auto-registration of images in SUSE
Manager

17. 17
SUSE® Manager
• Manage both SUSE Linux Enterprise
and Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers
with a single centralized solution
• Automated and cost-effective software
management, system
provisioning/configuration and
monitoring capabilities
• Manage Linux server deployments
across physical, virtual and cloud
environments
• Natively interfaces with KVM and Xen to
start, stop, and redeploy VMs
SUSE Manager

18. 18
SUSE Cloud
• Multi-Hypervisor support (KVM and Xen)
• Integrated into existing SUSE product
lifecycle processes
• Reduces VM sprawl
• Architected for unlimited growth
• Avoid lock-in at the cloud infrastructure layer
SUSE Cloud is an open source software solution based on the
OpenStack project that provides the fundamental capabilities for
enterprises to deploy an Infrastructure-as-a-Service Private Cloud

19. 19
SUSE High Availability Extension
• Most modern and complete open source solution
for implementing high available Linux clusters
• A suite of robust open source technologies that is:
‒ Affordable
‒ Integrated
‒ Virtualization agnostic
• Used with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, it helps to:
‒ Maintain business continuity
‒ Protect data integrity
‒ Reduce unplanned downtime for your mission-critical
Linux workloads

20. SUSE Resources

21. 21
SUSE Resources
• Product Pages
‒ http://www.suse.com/products/server/
‒ https://www.suse.com/products/#Virtualization
‒ https://www.suse.com/products/susestudio/
‒ https://www.suse.com/products/suse-manager/
‒ https://www.suse.com/products/suse-cloud/
‒ https://www.suse.com/products/highavailability/
• Documentation
‒ http://suse.com/documentation
‒ https://www.suse.com/documentation/sles11/book_kvm/data/book_kvm.html
• Virtualization Support
‒ http://www.novell.com/docrep/2009/09/SUSE_Linux_Enterprise_Server_Virtualiza
tion_Technology_Support_en.pdf
• Release Notes
‒ http://www.suse.com/releasenotes/x86_64/SUSE-SLES/11-SP2/

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