Red Hat gets real about KVM virtualisation

KVM, a new virtualisation technology that lets Linux computers run multiple operating systems simultaneously, has won a significant endorsement from Red Hat.

Red Hat, the dominant Linux seller, will include KVM (kernel virtual machine) in the next version of its hobbyist Linux version - Fedora - according to chief technology officer Brian Stevens. "We're packaging it for Fedora 7," Stevens said.

The endorsement comes on the heels of another significant KVM achievement that bodes well for its adoption: Linux leader Linus Torvalds accepted KVM into the main Linux source code tree in February, a move that makes maintenance and debugging easier and gives projects a higher profile.

Stevens also likes the technical approach that Moshe Bar, CTO of KVM-backer Qumranet, took with KVM: "He absolutely nailed it," Stevens said.

However, Stevens said, KVM lags behind another open source virtualisation technology, Xen, which is the single biggest new feature in the company's upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. "There's a year of work, I'd guess, to really make it at parity where Xen is today," Stevens said.

Among Red Hatters working on KVM is Ingo Molnar, one of the company's top minds. Molnar has been building para-virtualisation abilities into KVM, which removes bottlenecks by letting virtual machines communicate more directly with computer hardware such as network cards and storage systems.

For example, in January, Molnar said para-virtualisation increased KVM networking transfer rates from less than 10Mbps to more than 300Mbps.

Stephen Shankland writes for CNET News.com