KVM: Open Source Virtualization
KVM (for Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V). It consists of a loadable kernel module, kvm.ko, that provides the core virtualization infrastructure and a processor specific module, kvm-intel.ko or kvm-amd.ko. KVM also requires a modified QEMU although work is underway to get the required changes upstream. Using KVM, one can run multiple virtual machines running unmodified Linux or Windows images. Each virtual machine has private virtualized hardware: a network card, disk, graphics adapter, etc. The kernel component of KVM is included in mainline Linux, as of 2.6.20. KVM is open source software. KVM is arguably a TYPE 1 Hypervisor according to this IBM blog post on virtualization: …but the truth is that KVM actually does run directly on x86 hardware. People assume it is a type 2 hypervisor because one of the ways that it is packaged is as a component of L