Technical update KVM and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) by syedmshaaf

KVM / Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization | Syed M Shaaf1

Technical update KVM and Red Hat

Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV)

Syed M ShaafSolution ArchitectRed Hat

Klaus OxdalStrategic Alliance to IBM NordicsRed Hat

© 2011 IBM Corporation2

IBM invests into KVM Development Over 60 IBM programmers working on KVM as part of the community

Core KVM Development

Performance and Memory Data Center

Networking

Systems Management

Networking and I/O Security and

Reliability

Cloud Early Deployment

Company Changes Rate

Red Hat 352 31.8%

Intel 155 14.0%

IBM 149 13.5%

Qumranet 143 12.9%

AMD 97 8.8%

Contributions to KVM in Linux 2.6 kernel

© 2011 IBM Corporation3

Where IBM uses KVM

+

IBM Contributions to KVMOver 60 IBM engineers and programmers working on KVM, Qemu and oVirt as part of the open source community

IBM System x and PureSystemsIBM x86 servers for Linux and Windows support virtualization with KVM, as do IBM PureFlex and PureApplication Systems support KVM which deliver hypervisor choice and flexibility in next generation integrated systems

IBM zEnterprise IBM System x Blades in the zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX) and Unified Resource Manager support KVM.

IBM Systems Director VMControl Automated virtualization management now also supported for KVM environments.

IBM Software Group PortfolioKVM is a tier 1 virtualization technology for SWG with majority of SWG products supporting KVM today. Tivoli system management solutions manage KVM

IBM SmartCloud EnterpriseAgile cloud computing infrastructure as a service (IaaS) designed to provide rapid access to security-rich, enterprise-class virtual server environments, well suited for development and test activities and other dynamic workloads uses KVM.


INDUSTRY LEADING VIRTUALIZATION PERFORMANCE ON SPECVIRT_SC2010

As of May 30, 2012, RHEV claims top 7 results and the only 8 socket server scores. SPEC® and the benchmark name SPECvirt® are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation.


Virtualizing the x86 architecture

● x86 architecture is difficult to virtualize

● CPU implements 4 privilege levels or “rings” - 0 thru 3

● Privileged kernels calls run in ring 0

● Applications / userspace run in ring 3

Physical Hardware

Operating System

Application Application Application Application

Ring 0

Ring 3

Ring 1 & 2


Virtualizing the x86 architecture

● Hypervisor must run in ring 0

● Virtual machines run in ring 3

Problem :The operating system kernel tries to privileged “ring 0” instructions. Will cause machine fault


Challenges facing customers

● Performance● Hardware emulation is slow compared to physical

hardware● Also costly in terms of CPU● Resulting in significant performance penalties for

virtualization

● Time keeping● Many issues with clock skew for guests● Time drift especially under load


KVM (Kernel-base Virtual Machine): Overview

● Integrated Hypervisor for Linux

● Converts Linux into a Type-1 Hypervisor

● Runs Windows, Linux and other guests

● Allows for Hybrid-mode operation

● Run regular Linux applications along side VM guests● Upstream since Linux 2.6.20 (2007)

● Control over future evolution is held by linux development community

● Supported in RHEL since v5.4 (Sept. 2009)

● Elegant, simple design reuses Linux and builds upon CPU virtualization assistance


5 YEARS AND MORE..


Benefits of Linux KVM Model• Leverages Linux – no need to re-invent the

wheel – Built on trusted, stable enterprise grade

platform– Scheduler, memory management, hardware

support etc. – Ease of management – use same tools for

managing physical servers and hypervisors

• Advanced features – Inherit scalability, NUMA support, power

management, hot-plug etc. from Linux – others have to develop from scratch

– SELinux security, advanced scheduler, RAS support etc.

• Hybrid-mode operation– Run regular Linux applications side-by-

side with Virtual Machines on the same server – much higher degree of hardware efficiency


● Host: 160 logical CPU (4,096 theoretical max), 2 TB RAM (64TB theoretical max)

● Guest: 64 vCPU, 512 GB RAM

● Supports latest silicon virtualization technology

● Based on the latest RHEL 6 kernel

● Microsoft SVVP certified

RHEV HYPERVISOR/KVM OVERVIEW

SMALL FORM FACTOR, SCALABLE, HIGH PERFORMANCE


KVM Features

● KVM supports advanced memory management

● Leverages robust and scalable Linux virtual memory manager

Support for large memory systems > 1TB ram

● Support for NUMA

● Transparent memory page sharing

● Memory overcommit


Memory Page Sharing

● Implemented in loadable kernel module

● Kernel SamePage Merging (KSM)

● Kernel scans memory of virtual machines

● Looks for identical pages

● “Merges” identical pages

● Only stores one copy (read only) of shared memory

● If a guest changes the page it gets it's own private copy

● Significant hardware savings

● Better consolidation ratioAllows more virtual machines to run per host


Memory Page Sharing

● Kernel Same-Page Merging (KSM)● Memory Page Sharing● Securely shares identical memory pages between

virtual machines


Thin Provisioning

● Allocate storage only when needed

● Oversubscribe storage● Transparent to virtual

machine● Improve Storage Utilization● Reduced Storage Costs● Works with NFS, iSCSI and

Fiber Channel


Paravirtualized Drivers & VirtIO

● KVM provides an interface for paravirtualized drivers

● Paravirtualized drivers for block and network devices

● High performance disk and networking

● VirtIO

● Common framework for paravirtualized drivers

● Goal : To allow one set of drivers to be used for all hypervisors

● Upstream Linux kernels include virtio drivers for disk, network & clock

● PV drivers available for Windows Server 2000 -> 2008, XP and Vista

● Including WHQL certification


RHEV inherits the security features of Linux and RHEL

SELinux security policy infrastructure

Provides protection and isolation for virtual machines and host

Compromised virtual machine cannot access other VMs or host

sVirt Project

Sub-project of NSA's SELinux community. Provides “hardened” hypervisors

Multilevel security. Isolate guests

Contain any hypervisor breaches

RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATIONSECURITY


Security - SELinux to the rescue

SELinux is all about labeling

● Processes get labels – virtual machines with KVM are processes

● Files and devices get labels – virtual images are stored on files and devices

● Rules control how process labels interact with file labels and other process labels

● The kernel enforces these rules


KVM guests are processes, so we can confine them like processes


Compromised virtual machine guest confined, despite its vulnerability


And of course, the guest operating system can also run SELinux


Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization


RHEV Overview


● High Availability

● Live Migration

● Load Balancing (DRS)

● Power Saver (DPM)

● Templates, thin provisioning, snapshots

● Centralized storage and networking management

● V2V

● Power User Portal

● Reporting Engine

RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATIONRHEV MANAGER FEATURES


● Host: 160 logical CPU (4,096 theoretical max), 2 TB RAM (64TB theoretical max)

● Guest: 64 vCPU, 512 GB RAM

● Supports latest silicon virtualization technology

● Based on the latest RHEL 6 kernel

● Microsoft SVVP certified

RHEV HYPERVISOR/KVM OVERVIEW

SMALL FORM FACTOR, SCALABLE, HIGH PERFORMANCE


RHEV 3.0 ARCHITECTURE

RHEV-Manager is now a Java application running on JBoss EAP on RHEL

Backend database is now PostgreSQL 8.4

New user portal, REST API, Linux CLI

Support for multiple external authentication sources

Red Hat IPA Microsoft Active Directory


SPICE: EXCEPTIONAL USER EXPERIENCE

User experience comparable to a local desktop PC

Bi-directional audio & video

VoIP & video conferencing

HD quality video

Hi resolution 2560x1600 (each)

Up to 4 monitors

USB redirection for nearly any

device

Smart Card/CAC authentication

Copy & paste


RHEV 3.0 REPORTING

Historical usage, trending, quality of service

Integrated reporting engine based on Jasper reports

Over 25 prebuilt reports and dashboards included

Ability to create and customize reports and templates


RHEV 3.0 - Integration

● Hook scripts are called at specific VM lifecycle events● VDSM (management agent) Start● Before VM start● After VM start● Before VM migration in/out● After VM migration in/out● Before and After VM Pause● Before and After VM Continue● Before and After VM Hibernate● Before and After VM resume from hibernate● On VM stop● On VDSM Stop

➔Hooks can modify a virtual machines XML definition before VM start➔Hooks can run system commands – e.g.. Apply firewall rule to VM


Integration & API

RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATIONRHEV

Python SDK - Python SDK for developers


Thank you!Syed M ShaafSolution ArchitectRed Hat

Klaus OxdalStrategic Alliance to IBM NordicsRed Hat

Technical update KVM and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) by syedmshaaf

Technology

Transcript of Technical update KVM and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) by syedmshaaf