KVM is the Linux kernel's hardware-acceleration layer for virtualization, and it underpins most of the Linux virtualization world. A VMM in user space (usually QEMU, sometimes a minimal monitor) provides the device emulation, while the KVM kernel module provides the CPU and memory acceleration. The same core powers Proxmox, Nutanix AHV, OpenStack, and the serverless microVM monitors, so this grouping collects every KVM-based platform.
Subtopics#
- QEMU: the base VMM, its device-model escapes, and the libvirt host and management.
- Kernel module: the KVM accelerator itself and nested virtualization.
- Proxmox VE: the Debian, KVM, and LXC platform.
- Nutanix AHV: the KVM-based hypervisor in Nutanix HCI.
- microVM monitors: Firecracker and Cloud Hypervisor.