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---
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2024-07-15 08:46:23 +02:00
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title: Run Qemu based VMs on Kubernetes
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description: A Kubernetes operator for running virtual machines (notably Qemu VMs) in pods on Kubernetes with a web interface for admins and users.
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2024-06-20 20:41:33 +02:00
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layout: vm-operator
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---
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# Welcome to VM-Operator
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2024-07-09 11:21:14 +02:00
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The goal of this project is to provide easy to use and flexible components
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for running Qemu based VMs in Kubernetes pods.
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The image used for the VM pods combines Qemu and a control program
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for starting and managing the Qemu process. This application is called
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2024-06-24 11:18:35 +02:00
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"[the runner](runner.html)".
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While you can deploy a runner manually (or with the help of some
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helm templates), the preferred way is to deploy "[the manager](manager.html)"
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application which acts as a Kubernetes operator for runners
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and thus the VMs.
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If you just want to try out things, you can skip the remainder of this
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page and proceed to "[the manager](manager.html)".
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## Motivation
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The project was triggered by a remark in the discussion about RedHat
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[dropping SPICE support](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2030592)
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from the RHEL packages. Which means that you have to run Qemu in a
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container on RHEL and derivatives if you want to continue using Spice.
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So KubeVirt comes to mind. But
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[one comment](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2030592#c4)
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mentioned that the [KubeVirt](https://kubevirt.io/) project isn't
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interested in supporting SPICE either.
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Time to have a look at alternatives. Libvirt has become a common
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tool to configure and run Qemu. But some of its functionality, notably
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the management of storage for the VMs and networking is already provided
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by Kubernetes. Therefore this project takes a fresh approach of
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running Qemu in a pod using a simple, lightweight manager called "runner".
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Providing resources to the VM is left to Kubernetes mechanisms as
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much as possible.
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## VMs and Pods
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VMs are not the typical workload managed by Kubernetes. You can neither
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have replicas nor can the containers simply be restarted without a major
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impact on the "application". So there are many features for managing
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pods that we cannot make use of. Qemu in its container can only be
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deployed as a pod or using a stateful set with replica 1, which is rather
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close to simply deploying the pod (you get the restart and some PVC
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management "for free").
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A second look, however, reveals that Kubernetes has more to offer.
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* It has a well defined API for managing resources.
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* It provides access to different kinds of managed storage for the VMs.
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* Its managing features *are* useful for running the component that
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manages the pods with the VMs.
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And if you use Kubernetes anyway, well then the VMs within Kubernetes
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provide you with a unified view of all (or most of) your workloads,
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which simplifies the maintenance of your platform.
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