Getting acquainted with QEMU and libvirt
In Chapter 2, KVM as a Virtualization Solution, we started discussing KVM, QEMU, and various additional utilities that we can use to manage our KVM-based virtualization platform. As a machine emulator, QEMU will be used so that we can create and run our virtual machines on any supported platform – be it as an emulator or virtualizer. We're going to focus our time on the second paradigm, which is using QEMU as a virtualizer. This means that we will be able to execute our virtual machine code directly on a hardware CPU below it, which means native or near-native performance and less overhead.
Bearing in mind that the overall KVM stack is built as a module, it shouldn't come as a surprise that QEMU also uses a modular approach. This has been a core principle in the Linux world for many years, which further boosts the efficiency of how we use our physical resources.
When we add libvirt as a management platform on top of...
