User:Dale/Virtualization Release Notes Scratchpad/13

F13 Virtualization Release Notes
For the moment, I have copied the F12 Virtualization Release Notes for use in constructing the  F13 notes.

Features

 * F13 Virt Features List


 * Xen to KVM migration Provide nearly effortless automatic translation of Xen virtual machines to KVM virtual machines. - pending
 * Shared Network Interface - Percentage of completion: 60%
 * Hostinfo - Percentage of completion: 20%
 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtAuthorization - Percentage of completion: 0%
 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/XenPvopsDom0 - Percentage of completion: 0%
 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtVNCResourceTunnel - Percentage of completion: 20%


 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtAppliances - Percentage of completion: 10%

Kernel Acceleration for KVM Networking
The VHost Net feature moves the task of converting virtio descriptors to skbs and back from qemu userspace to the kernel driver. This was shown to reduce latency by a factor of 5, and improve bandwidth from 90% native to 95% of native on some systems.

It is activated by using -netdevice options (instead of -net) and adding vhost=on flag.


 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VHostNet

KVM Stable PCI Addresses
KVM guests in Fedora now have stable PCI addresses, reducing the chance that Windows guests will require reactivation as guest configuration is modified.

KVM guest virtual machine devices retain their PCI address allocations as other devices are added or removed from the guest configuration.


 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/KVM_Stable_PCI_Addresses

Virt x2apic
X2apic improves guest performance by reducing the overhead of APIC access, which is used to program timers and for issuing inter-processor interrupts. By exposing x2apic to guests, and by enabling the guest to utilize x2apic, we improve guest performance.

Fedora 13 supports x2apic in both the host and guest roles.


 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/Virtx2apic - Percentage of completion: 90%

Virtio-Serial
The virtio-console pci device is now equipped to handle multiple console ports as well as generic ports for guests running on top of qemu and KVM. This facilitates simple communication between guest and host.


 * http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtioSerial