Platform virtualization software, specifically emulators and hypervisors, are software packages that emulate the whole physical computer machine, often providing multiple virtual machines on one physical platform. The table below compares basic information about platform virtualization hypervisors.
Name | Creator | Host CPU | Guest CPU | Host OS | Guest OS | License |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
86Box | Miran Grča | x86, x86-64, ARMv7, AArch64 | x86 (Intel 8086 to Pentium II and compatible) | Windows, Linux | Windows, Linux, DOS, BSD, OS/2, Haiku | GPL version 3 |
bhyve | FreeBSD | x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | FreeBSD, Illumos | FreeBSD, FreeNAS, pfSense, OpenBSD, Linux, Windows, Illumos [1] | BSD |
Bochs | Kevin J. Lawton | Any | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Unix/X11, Mac OS 9 , macOS, BeOS, MorphOS, OS/2 [2] [3] | Windows, Linux, DOS, BSD, OS/2, Haiku | LGPL |
Containers, or Zones | Sun Microsystems | x86, x86-64, SPARC (portable: not tied to hardware) | Same as host | Solaris 10, Solaris 11, OpenSolaris 2009.06, illumos distributions | Solaris (8, 9, 10, 11), illumos, Linux (BrandZ) | CDDL |
Cooperative Linux (coLinux) | Dan Aloni, other developers | x86 | Same as host | Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista | Linux | GPL version 2 |
CHARON | Stromasys | x86, x86-64 | PDP-11, VAX, Alpha, HP3000, Sparc | Windows, Linux | VMS, OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, MPE/iX, RSX-11, RT11, RSTS, Solaris, SunOS | Proprietary |
Denali | University of Washington | x86 | x86 | Denali | Ilwaco, NetBSD | Not distributed |
DOSBox | Peter Veenstra, Sjoerd with community | Any | x86 | Linux, Windows, classic Mac OS, macOS, BeOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, QNX, IRIX, MorphOS, AmigaOS, Maemo, Symbian | Internally emulated MS-DOS shell; self-booting disks, unofficially Windows 1.0 to 98 | GPL |
DOSEMU | Community project | x86, x86-64 | x86 | Linux | DOS | GPL version 2 |
FreeBSD Jail | Poul-Henning Kamp / FreeBSD | Any running FreeBSD or DragonFly BSD | Same as host | FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD | same as host (shared *BSD kernel), plus Linux ABI through compat layer | BSD |
GXemul | Anders Gavare | Any | ARM, MIPS, Motorola 88000, PowerPC, SuperH | Unix-like | NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Ultrix, Sprite | BSD |
Hercules | Roger Bowler | Any | z/Architecture | Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, macOS | Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, OS/360, DOS/360, DOS/VS, MVS, VM/370, TSS/370 | QPL |
Hyper-V (2008) | Microsoft | x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V | x86-64, x86 (up to 8 physical CPUs) | Windows Server 2008 (R2) w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server | Supported drivers for Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows XP, Windows Vista, FreeBSD, Linux (SUSE 10 released, more announced) | Proprietary |
Hyper-V (2012) | Microsoft | x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, ARMv8 [4] | x86-64, (up to 64 physical CPUs), ARMv8 | Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and Windows Server 2012 (R2) w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server | Supported drivers for Windows NT, FreeBSD, Linux (SUSE 10, RHEL 6, CentOS 6) | Proprietary. Component of various Windows editions. |
INTEGRITY | Green Hills Software | ARM, x86, PowerPC | Same as host | Linux, Windows | INTEGRITY native, Linux, Android, AUTOSAR, Windows (on some platforms) | Proprietary |
Integrity Virtual Machines | Hewlett-Packard | IA-64 | IA-64 | HP-UX | HP-UX, Windows, Linux (OpenVMS announced) | Proprietary |
JPC (Virtual Machine) | University of Oxford | Any running the Java Virtual Machine | x86 | Java Virtual Machine | DOS, Linux, Windows up to 3.0 | GPL version 2 |
KVM | Qumranet, now Red Hat | x86, x86-64, IA-64, with x86 virtualization, s390, PowerPC, [5] ARM [6] | Same as host | Linux, illumos | FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Windows, Plan 9 | GPL version 2 |
Linux-VServer | Community project | x86, x86-64, IA-64, Alpha, PowerPC 64, PA-RISC 64, SPARC64, ARM, S/390, SH/66, MIPS | Compatible | Linux | Linux variants | GPL version 2 |
LynxSecure | LynuxWorks | x86 | x86 | No host OS | LynxOS, Linux, Windows | Proprietary |
LXC | Community project, Canonical Ltd. | x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64, Itanium, ARM | Same as host | Linux | Linux variants | GPL version 2 |
OKL4 Microvisor | Open Kernel Labs, acquired by General Dynamics Corporation | ARM, x86, MIPS | ARM (v5, v6, v7, v8; paravirtualization), ARMv7VE (hardware virtualization) | No Host OS | Various OSes and RTOSes including Linux, Android, QNX | Proprietary |
OpenVZ | Community project, supported by SWsoft, now Parallels, Inc. | x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64 | Same as host | Linux | same as host (shared Linux kernel), choice of userland distribution | GPL |
Oracle VM Server for x86 | Oracle Corporation | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Microsoft Windows, Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Solaris | GPLv2, Oracle VM Server; Manager is proprietary |
OVPsim | OVP | x86 | OR1K, MIPS32, ARC600/700, ARM; and public API which enables users to write custom processor models, RISC, CISC, DSP, VLIW all possible | Microsoft Windows, Linux | Depends on target machine, for example includes MIPS Malta that runs Linux or SMP-Linux; and includes public API which enables users to write custom peripheral and system models | Proprietary, Apache 2.0 for models |
Parallels Desktop for Mac | Parallels, Inc. | x86 | x86, x86-64, aarch64 | macOS | DOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, Solaris, Haiku | Proprietary |
Parallels Workstation (discontinued 2013) | Parallels, Inc. | x86 | x86 | Windows, Linux | Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, DOS, Solaris, Haiku | Proprietary |
PearPC | Sebastian Biallas | x86, x86-64, PowerPC | PowerPC | Windows, Linux, OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD | Mac OS X, Darwin, Linux | GPL |
PikeOS | SYSGO | PowerPC, x86, ARM, MIPS, SPARC, RISC-V | Same as host | No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts | PikeOS native, Linux, ELinOS, Windows, POSIX, AUTOSAR, Android, RTEMS, OSEK, ARINC 653 APEX, ITRON | Proprietary |
Proxmox VE | Proxmox | x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Debian Based | Windows, Linux, Linux variants, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86 (as FreeBSD), virtual appliances, Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku, Darwin | AGPLv3 |
Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms) | Oracle Corporation | UltraSPARC T1, UltraSPARC T2, UltraSPARC T2+, SPARC T3, SPARC T4 | Compatible | Solaris 10, Solaris 11 | Oracle support: Solaris; unsupported: Linux, FreeBSD | Proprietary |
PowerVM | IBM | POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, POWER7, POWER8, POWER9, Power10 | POWER4/5/6/7/8/9/Power10, x86 (PowerVM-Lx86) | PowerVM Firmware | Linux PowerPC, x86; AIX, IBM i | Proprietary |
QEMU | Fabrice Bellard, other developers | x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC, SPARC 32/64, ARM, S/390, MIPS | x86, x86-64, Alpha, ARM, CRIS, LM32, M68k, MicroBlaze, MIPS, OpenRisc32, PowerPC, S/390, SH4, SPARC 32/64, Unicore32, Xtensa | Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BeOS | Changes regularly [7] | GPL/LGPL |
QEMU w/ kqemu module | Fabrice Bellard | x86, x86-64 | Same as host | Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Windows | Changes regularly [7] | GPL/LGPL |
QEMU w/ qvm86 module | Paul Brook | x86 | x86 | Linux, NetBSD, Windows | Changes regularly | GPL |
QuickTransit | Transitive Corp. | x86, x86-64, IA-64, POWER | MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, x86 | Linux, OS X, Solaris | Linux, OS X, Irix, Solaris | Proprietary |
RTS Hypervisor | Real-Time Systems GmbH | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Windows, Linux, Windows Embedded, QNX, RTOS-32, VxWorks, OS-9, T-Kernel | Proprietary |
SIMH | Bob Supnik, The Computer History Simulation Project | Alpha, ARM, HPPA, x86, IA-64, x86-64, M68K, MIPS, MIPSel, POWER, s390, SPARC | Data General Nova, Eclipse; Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1, PDP-4, PDP-7, PDP-8, PDP-9, PDP-10, PDP-11, PDP-15, VAX; GRI Corporation GRI-909; IBM 1401, 1620, 1130, 7090/7094, System/3; Interdata (Perkin-Elmer) 16b/32b systems; Hewlett-Packard 2114, 2115, 2116, 2100, 21MX; Honeywell H316/H516; MITS Altair 8800 with 8080 and Z80; Royal McBee LGP-30, LGP-21; Scientific Data Systems SDS 940 | BSD, Linux, Solaris, VMS, Windows | Depends on target machine, includes NetBSD/VAX, OpenBSD/VAX, VAX/VMS, Unix v6, Unix v7, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, ITS | BSD-like, unique |
Simics | Virtutech, acquired by Intel | x86, x86-64 | 8051, 68000, ARM (v4, v5, v6, v7), MIPS32, MIPS64, Cavium cnMIPS, Broadcom XLR MIPS, Freescale (e300, e500, e600, e5500, e6500), IBM (POWER, PPC44x, PPC46x, 47x), SPARC v8 (LEON), SPARC v9 (UltraSparc), x86 (from 80286 to Sandy Bridge), x86-64 (from Pentium4 to Sandy Bridge), TI TMS320C64xx, Renesas H8, Renesas SH | Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Linux 32-bit and 64-bit | Depends on target machine, typically runs unmodified software stacks from the corresponding real target, including VxWorks, VxWorks 653, OSE, QNX, Linux, Solaris, Windows, FreeBSD, RTEMS, TinyOS, Wind River Hypervisor, VMware ESX, and others | Proprietary |
Sun xVM Server | Sun Microsystems | x86-64, SPARC | Same as host | No host OS | Windows XP, 2003 Server (x86-64 only), Linux, Solaris | GPL version 3 |
SVISTA 2004 | Serenity Systems International | x86 | x86 | Windows, OS/2, Linux | Windows, Linux, OS/2, BSD | Proprietary |
TRANGO | TRANGO Virtual Processors, Grenoble, France | ARM, XScale, MIPS, PowerPC | Paravirtualized ARM, MIPS, PowerPC | No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts | Linux, eCos, μC/OS-II, WindowsCE, Nucleus, VxWorks | Proprietary |
User Mode Linux | Jeff Dike, other developers | x86, x86-64, PowerPC | Same as host | Linux | Linux | GPL version 2 |
VirtualBox | Innotek, acquired by Oracle Corporation | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, and VirtualBox 2 or later) | Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, eComStation | DOS, Linux, macOS, [8] FreeBSD, Haiku, OS/2, Solaris, Syllable, Windows, and OpenBSD (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, due to otherwise tolerated incompatibilities in the emulated memory management). [9] | GPL version 2; full version with extra enterprise features is proprietary |
Virtual Iron 3.1 | Virtual Iron Software, Inc., acquired by Oracle | x86 VT-x, x86-64 AMD-V | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Windows, Linux | Proprietary, some components GPLv2 [10] |
Virtual Machine Manager | Red Hat | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Linux | Linux, Windows | GPL version 2 |
Virtual PC 2007 (discontinued) | Connectix and Microsoft | x86, x86-64 | x86 | Windows Vista (Business, Enterprise, Ultimate), XP Pro, XP Tablet PC Edition | DOS, Windows, OS/2, Linux (SUSE, Xubuntu), OpenSolaris (Belenix) | Proprietary |
Windows Virtual PC (discontinued) | Connectix and Microsoft | x86, x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V | x86 | Windows 7 | Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 | Proprietary |
Virtual PC 7 for Mac | Connectix and Microsoft | PowerPC | x86 | Mac OS X | Windows, OS/2, Linux | Proprietary |
VirtualLogix VLX | VirtualLogix | ARM, TI DSP C6000, x86, PowerPC | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, Windows XP, C5, VxWorks, Nucleus, DSP/BIOS, proprietary | Proprietary |
Virtual Server 2005 R2 | Connectix and Microsoft | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Windows Server 2003, 2008, XP (Requires IIS) | Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2008, Linux (Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu) | Proprietary |
Synopsys (CoWare) Virtual Platform | CoWare | x86, x86-64, SPARC v9 | Devices including (multi) cores from ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, Toshiba MeP, Renesas SH, Texas Instruments, Tensilica, ZSP | Windows, Linux, Solaris | Depends on guest CPU; includes: Linux (various flavors), μITRON (various flavors), Windows CE, Symbian, more | Proprietary |
Virtuozzo | SWsoft, now Virtuozzo Inc | x86, IA-64, x86-64 | same as host | Linux | same as host (shared Linux kernel) | Proprietary |
vkernel | Matthew Dillon / DragonFly BSD | x86-64 | same as host | DragonFly BSD | any compatible vkernel binary of DragonFly | BSD |
VMM | OpenBSD | x86, x86-64 | same as host | OpenBSD | OpenBSD and Linux guests | BSD |
VMware ESX Server | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86 (as FreeBSD), virtual appliances, Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku, Darwin, others: runs arbitrary OS [a] | Proprietary |
VMware ESXi | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Same as VMware ESX Server | Proprietary |
VMware Fusion | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | macOS | Same as VMware ESX Server | Proprietary |
VMware Server | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux | Same as VMware ESX Server | Proprietary |
VMware Workstation | VMware | x86-64 [b] | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux | Same as VMware ESX Server | Proprietary |
VMware Player, later VMware Workstation Player | VMware | x86-64 [c] | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux | Same as VMware ESX Server | Proprietary, free for personal non-commercial use [11] [12] |
Wind River Hypervisor | Wind River | x86, x86-64, PowerPC, ARM | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, VxWorks, unmodified guests (including MS Windows and RTOSes such ach OSE, QNX and others), bare metal virtual board | Proprietary |
Xen | Xensource, Now Citrix Systems | x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive) | Same as host | Linux, Unix-like | Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008 (requires Intel VT-x (Vanderpool) or AMD-V (Pacifica)-capable CPU), Plan 9 | GNU GPLv2 + |
XCP-ng | By Vates SAS | x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive) | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows, Windows Server 2008 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V), Plan 9 | GNU GPLv2 + [13] |
XenServer | By Citrix Systems | x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive) | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V), Plan 9 | GNU GPLv2 + |
XtratuM | fentISS | SPARC v8 LEON2/3/4, ARM v7 | Same as host | No host OS | GPOS: Linux, RTOS: LithOS, RTEMS | Proprietary, GPL version 2 depending on versions |
z/VM | IBM | z/Architecture | z/Architecture, z/VM does not run on predecessor mainframes | No host OS, itself (single or multiple levels/versions deep; e.g., VM/ESA running in z/VM 4.4 in z/VM 5.2 in z/VM 5.1.) | Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, VM/CMS, MUSIC/SP, OpenSolaris for System z, predecessors | Proprietary |
z LPARs | IBM | z/Architecture | z/Architecture | Integrated in firmware of System z mainframes | Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, MUSIC/SP, and predecessors | Proprietary |
Name | Creator | Host CPU | Guest CPU | Host OS(s) | Guest OS(s) | License |
Name | Guest OS SMP available | Runs arbitrary OS | Supported guest OS drivers | Method of operation | Typical use | Speed relative to host OS | Commercial support available |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Containers, or Zones | Yes, over 500-way on current systems | No | Uses native device drivers | Operating system-level virtualization | Server consolidation with workload isolation, single workload containment, hosting, dev/test/prod | Near native | Yes |
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 | Yes, up to 4 VCPUs per VM | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, desktop virtualization, cloud computing | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
OpenVZ | Yes | No | Compatible | Operating system-level virtualization | Virtualized server isolation | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
KVM | Yes [14] | Yes | Yes | AMD-V and Intel-VT-x | Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes [15] |
Linux-VServer | Yes | No | Compatible | Operating system-level virtualization | Virtualized server isolation and security, server consolidation, cloud computing | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
Oracle VM Server for x86 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization | Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms) | Yes | Yes, but needs porting [16] | Yes | Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization | Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
OVPsim | Yes | Yes | ? | Full system simulation with optional component virtualization | Software development (early, embedded), advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, hobbyist | Depends on target architecture (full and slow hardware emulation for guests incompatible with host)[ citation needed ] | Yes, with commercial license from Imperas [17] |
PikeOS | Yes | Yes, but modifications required as paravirtualization is used | Yes | Paravirtualization | Safety and security critical embedded systems. | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
Simics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full system simulation of processors, MMUs, devices, disks, memories, networks, etc. | Software development, advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, bug transportation, automated testing, system architecture, long-term support of safety-critical systems, early hardware availability, virtual prototyping | Depends on host machine and target architecture. Runs at near-native speeds for x86-on-x86 using VT-x, cross-simulation of other architectures can be faster or slower than real-time depending on how fast the target is and how big the target is (number of processors, number of target machines, and how much the simulation can be parallelized) | Yes |
Sun xVM Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Servers, Development | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
SVISTA 2004 | No | ? | ? | ? | Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation | ? | ? |
TRANGO | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Mob. phone, STB, routers, etc. | Near native [ citation needed ] | ? |
User Mode Linux | ? | No | special guest kernel+modules required | Porting | Developer (as a separate machine for a server or with X11 networking) | Non-significantly slower than native (all calls to kernel are proxied)[ citation needed ] | ? |
OKL4 Microvisor | Yes | Yes, (either with para-virtualization or HW virtualization) | Yes | Paravirtualization, Hardware assisted virtualization | Mobile, embedded, security, safety critical, networking, legacy OS, etc. | Near native | Yes |
Oracle VirtualBox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Business workstation, server consolidation, service continuity, developer, hobbyist | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes (with commercial license) |
Virtual Iron 3.1 | Yes, up to 8 way | Yes | Yes | Native virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test | ? | Yes |
Virtual PC 2007 | No | Yes | Yes | Virtualization, guest calls trapping where supported | Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation | Up to near native[ citation needed ] with virtual machine additions | ? |
Windows Virtual PC | Yes[ citation needed ] | Yes | Yes | Hardware virtualization | Developer, Business workstation, support for Compatibility with Windows XP applications | Up to near native[ citation needed ] with virtual machine additions | No |
Virtual PC 7 for Mac | No | Yes | Yes | dynamic recompilation (guest calls trapping where supported) | Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation | Slow [ citation needed ] | ? |
Virtual Server 2005 R2 | No | Yes | Yes | Virtualization (guest calls trapping where supported) | Server, server farm | Up to near native with virtual machine additions but slower than with hypervisor due to proxied calls[ citation needed ] | ? |
CoWare Virtual Platform | Yes | Yes | Yes ( Same compiled Software image as for the real device) | Full-system virtualization (Processor Core ISA + Hardware + External connections) | Early embedded software development and integration (from driver to application), Multi-core software debugging and optimization | Depending on the system characteristics and the software itself, ranges from faster than real time to slow[ citation needed ]. | Yes |
Virtuozzo | Yes | No | Compatible | Operating system-level virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, disaster recovery, service providers | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware ESXi Server 5.5 (vSphere) | Yes, add-on, up to 64 way | No | Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing, business critical applications, Infrastructure as a Service IaaS | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware ESX Server 4.0 (vSphere) | Yes, add-on, up to 8 way | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware ESX Server 3.0 | Yes, add-on, up to 4 way | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3 | Yes, add-on, 2 way | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware Fusion | Yes | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Hobbyist, Developer, Tester, Business workstation | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware Server | Yes (2-way) | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Server/desktop consolidation, dev/test | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware Workstation | Yes (2-way) | Yes | Yes | Paravirtualization (VMI) and virtualization | Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
VMware Player | Yes [18] | Yes | Yes | Virtualization | Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer, end user on prebuilt machines | Up to near native[ citation needed ] | No |
Xen | Yes, v4.0.0: up to 128 VCPUs per VM | Yes | Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode. | Up to native [19] | Yes |
XenServer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode. | Up to native [19] | Yes |
XtratuM | Yes | No | Yes | Paravirtualization | Embedded, safety critical, secure | Near to native[ citation needed ] | Yes |
z/VM | Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment | Yes | Yes, but not required | Virtualization (among first systems to provide hardware assists) | Servers | Near native | Yes |
z LPARs | Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment; up to 64 real cores | Yes | Yes, but not required | Microcode and hardware hypervisor | Servers | Native: System z machines always run with at least one LPAR | Yes |
Name | Guest OS SMP available | Runs arbitrary OS | Supported guest OS drivers | Method of operation | Typical use | Speed relative to host OS | Commercial support available |
Name | floppy | ISO | folders on host | physical disk / device | raw / flat (whole disk) | raw / flat (partition) | hdd (Parallels) | QCOW (QEMU) | QCOW2 (QEMU) | QED (QEMU) | VDI (VirtualBox) | VHD (Connectix Virtual PC) | VHDX (Hyper-V) | VMDK (VMware) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
86Box | Yes | Yes | CD-ROM drive only | No | Yes | No | No | No} | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Bochs [21] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | v3, v4 |
Containers, or Zones | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Cooperative Linux (coLinux) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
CHARON | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Denali | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
DOSBox | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | DOSBox-X fork | No | No | No | No | No |
DOSEMU | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
FreeBSD Jail | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
GXemul | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Hercules | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Hyper-V (2008 R2) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Hyper-V (2012) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Hyper-V (2012 R2) | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Integrity Virtual Machines | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
JPC (Virtual Machine) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Linux-VServer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LynxSecure | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LXC | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OpenVZ | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Oracle VM Server for x86 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OVPsim | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Parallels Desktop for Mac | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Parallels Workstation | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PearPC | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
PikeOS | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PowerVM | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
QEMU | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | read-only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | except difference type | Yes |
QEMU w/ kqemu module | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
QEMU w/ qvm86 module | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
QuickTransit | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SIMH | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Simics | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Sun xVM Server | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SVISTA 2004 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
TRANGO | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
User Mode Linux | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
VirtualBox | Yes | Yes | With guest integration installed on guest os. | Yes [22] | Yes [22] | Yes [22] | up to v2 | Yes | read-only | Yes | Yes | Yes | Can read existing disks, but not create new disks. | Yes |
Virtual Iron 3.1 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Virtual PC 2007 | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Windows Virtual PC | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
Virtual PC 7 for Mac | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
VirtualLogix VLX | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Virtual Server 2005 R2 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Synopsys (CoWare) Virtual Platform | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Virtuozzo | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
VMware ESX Server | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
VMware ESXi | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Yes |
VMware Fusion | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
VMware Server | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
VMware Workstation | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
VMware Player | Yes | Yes | ? | Partial | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
Wind River Hypervisor | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Xen | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes [23] | ? | ? | Yes [23] | Yes [23] | ? | ? | Yes [23] | ? | ? |
XenServer | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes [23] | ? | ? | Yes [23] | Yes [23] | ? | ? | Yes [23] | ? | ? |
XtratuM | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
z/VM | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
z LPARs | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Name | floppy | ISO | folders on host | physical disk / device | raw / flat (whole disk) | raw / flat (partition) | hdd (Parallels) | QCOW (QEMU) | QCOW2 (QEMU) | QED (QEMU) | VDI (VirtualBox) | VHD (Connectix Virtual PC) | VHDX (Hyper-V) | VMDK (VMware) |
Name | Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest | USB support | GUI | Live memory allocation | 3D acceleration | Snapshots per VM | Snapshot of running system | Live migration | Shared folders | Shared clipboard | PCI passthrough |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KVM | Yes | Yes | Yes [24] | Yes | Yes (via AIGLX) | Yes | Yes [25] | Yes [26] | Yes | ||
User Mode Linux | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | N/A | |||
Containers, or Zones | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not needed | Yes [27] | Yes | No | Yes | Not needed | Not needed |
DosBox | No | No | SVN builds only | No | Glide (SVN builds only) | No | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Oracle VirtualBox (formerly OSE, GPLv2), with Guest Additions (GPLv2) [28] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes branched [29] | Yes | Yes | with Guest Additions [30] | with Guest Additions [30] | No |
Oracle VirtualBox with Extension Pack (PUEL) and Guest Additions (GPLv2) [28] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | OpenGL 2.0 and Direct3D 8/9 [31] | Yes branched [29] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Retired (Until 6.0; [32] Linux only [33] ) |
Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms) | Yes | USB 2.0 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
OKL4 Microvisor | Yes | Yes | VMs only | Yes | Yes | No | Static assignment | ||||
Virtual Iron 4.2 | Yes | ||||||||||
Virtual PC 2007 | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | |||
Windows Virtual PC | No | partially | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | |||
VirtualPC 7 for Mac | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | |||
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 | No | Yes | No | No | ? | Yes | No | ||||
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 | Yes | Partial support over remote desktop connections | Yes | Yes | DirectX 9.0c (via RemoteFX) | Yes branched | Yes | Yes | No | ||
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | DirectX 9.0c (via RemoteFX) | Yes branched | Yes | Yes | No | ||
Virtuozzo | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |||||
VMware ESX Server 3.0 atp | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | No | |||||
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3 | Yes | No | No | ||||||||
VMware ESX Server 4.0 – 6.x (vSphere) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes [34] |
VMware Fusion 2.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | DirectX 9 Shader model 2 | No | No | ||||
VMware Server | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | 1 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
VMware Workstation 5.5 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Experimental support for DirectX 8; also supported with VMGL [35] | Yes branched | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
VMware Workstation 6.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Experimental support for DirectX 8; Also supported with VMGL [35] | Yes branched | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
VMware Workstation 7.0 and 8.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Support for DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.13D. [36] | Yes branched | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
VMware Player | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | supported with VMGL [35] | No | No | No | Yes | No | |
Wind River hypervisor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |||||
Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform | Yes | ||||||||||
Xen | Yes | Yes [37] | Yes [24] | Yes | Supported with VMGL [35] | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
XenServer | Yes | Yes [24] | Yes | Supported with VMGL [35] | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
z/VM | Yes | Not applicable | Yes (zURM/HMC) | Yes | Not applicable | Yes (2011) | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
z LPARs | Yes | Not applicable | Yes (HMC) | Yes | Not applicable | Yes (2007) | Not applicable | Not applicable | |||
Name | Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest | USB | GUI | Live memory allocation | 3D acceleration | Snapshots per VM | Snapshot of running system | Live migration | Shared folders | Shared clipboard | PCI passthrough |
This table is meant to outline restrictions in the software dictated by licensing or capabilities.
Name | Maximum host cores / CPUs | Maximum host memory | Maximum host disk volume size | Maximum number of guest VM running | Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest | Maximum amount of memory per VM guest | Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest | Maximum disk size per VM guest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Containers, or Zones | No theoretical limit (largest SPARC has 384 physical cores) | 32 TB (largest SPARC) | No limit | 8191 | No limit | No limit | No limit | No limit |
VMware Player 15.0 [41] | No limit | No limit | No limit | No limit | 16 | 4 GB (32-bit); 64 GB (64-bit) | ? | 8 TB |
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 4.1) [42] | 160 logical cores | 1 TB | 2 TB minus 512 bytes | 320 | 8 | 255 GB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI | 2 TB minus 512 bytes |
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.0) [43] | 160 logical cores | 2 TB | 64 TB | 512 | 32 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI | 2 TB minus 512 bytes |
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.5) (free) [44] | 16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs | 4 TB | Depending on filesystem | 512 | 8 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA | 62 TB |
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.5) [45] | 16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs | 4 TB | Depending on filesystem | 512 | 64 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA | 62 TB |
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 6.7) [46] | 16 NUMA Nodes / 768 logical CPUs | 16 TB | Depending on filesystem | 1024 | 256 | 6128 GB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe | 62 TB |
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 7.0) [47] | 16 NUMA Nodes / 896 logical CPUs | 24 TB | Depending on filesystem | 1024 | 768 | 24 TB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe | 62 TB |
VirtualBox | No limit | No limit | No limit | No limit [48] | 32 | No limit | 4 IDE; no limit for SATA, SCSI, SAS | GUI: 2 TB Command line: no limit |
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 [49] | 64 cores / 8 CPUs [50] | 1 TB | No limit | 384 | 4 | 64 GB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI | 2 TB |
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 [51] | 320 cores / 64 CPUs [52] | 4 TB | No limit | 1024 | 64 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI | 64 TB |
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 [53] | 512 cores / 320 CPUs | 24 TB | No limit | 1024 | 240 | 12 TB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI | 64 TB |
Name | Maximum host cores / CPUs | Maximum host memory | Maximum host disk volume size | Maximum number of guest VM running | Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest | Maximum amount of memory per VM guest | Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest | Maximum disk size per VM guest |
Note: No limit means no enforced limit. For example, a VM with 1 TB of memory cannot fit in a host with only 8 GB memory and no memory swap disk, so it will have a limit of 8 GB physically.
Xen is a free and open-source type-1 hypervisor, providing services that allow multiple computer operating systems to execute on the same computer hardware concurrently. It was originally developed by the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and is now being developed by the Linux Foundation with support from Intel, Citrix, Arm Ltd, Huawei, AWS, Alibaba Cloud, AMD, Bitdefender and EPAM Systems.
A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM) or virtualizer, is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is called a host machine, and each virtual machine is called a guest machine. The hypervisor presents the guest operating systems with a virtual operating platform and manages the execution of the guest operating systems. Unlike an emulator, the guest executes most instructions on the native hardware. Multiple instances of a variety of operating systems may share the virtualized hardware resources: for example, Linux, Windows, and macOS instances can all run on a single physical x86 machine. This contrasts with operating-system–level virtualization, where all instances must share a single kernel, though the guest operating systems can differ in user space, such as different Linux distributions with the same kernel.
The Quick Emulator (QEMU) is a free and open-source emulator that uses dynamic binary translation to emulate a computer's processor; that is, it translates the emulated binary codes to an equivalent binary format which is executed by the machine. It provides a variety of hardware and device models for the virtual machine, enabling it to run different guest operating systems. QEMU can be used with a Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) to emulate hardware at near-native speeds. Additionally, it supports user-level processes, allowing applications compiled for one processor architecture to run on another.
Microsoft Virtual Server was a virtualization solution that facilitated the creation of virtual machines on the Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Originally developed by Connectix, it was acquired by Microsoft prior to release. Virtual PC is Microsoft's related desktop virtualization software package.
In computing, virtualization is the use of a computer to simulate another computer. The following is a chronological list of virtualization technologies.
VMware ESXi is an enterprise-class, type-1 hypervisor developed by VMware, a subsidiary of Broadcom, for deploying and serving virtual computers. As a type-1 hypervisor, ESXi is not a software application that is installed on an operating system (OS); instead, it includes and integrates vital OS components, such as a kernel.
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a free and open-source virtualization module in the Linux kernel that allows the kernel to function as a hypervisor. It was merged into the mainline Linux kernel in version 2.6.20, which was released on February 5, 2007. KVM requires a processor with hardware virtualization extensions, such as Intel VT or AMD-V. KVM has also been ported to other operating systems such as FreeBSD and illumos in the form of loadable kernel modules.
Oracle VirtualBox is a hosted hypervisor for x86 virtualization developed by Oracle Corporation. VirtualBox was originally created by InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008, which was in turn acquired by Oracle in 2010.
Hyper-V is a native hypervisor developed by Microsoft; it can create virtual machines on x86-64 systems running Windows. It is included in Pro and Enterprise editions of Windows NT as an optional feature to be manually enabled. A server computer running Hyper-V can be configured to expose individual virtual machines to one or more networks.
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a cloud computing service model where a cloud services vendor provides computing resources such as storage, network, servers, and virtualization. This service frees users from maintaining their own data center, but they must install and maintain the operating system and application software. Iaas provides users high-level APIs to control details of underlying network infrastructure such as backup, data partitioning, scaling, security and physical computing resources. Services can be scaled on-demand by the user. According to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), such infrastructure is the most basic cloud-service model. IaaS can be hosted in a public cloud, a private cloud, or a hybrid cloud.
Sun xVM was a product line from Sun Microsystems that addressed virtualization technology on x86 platforms. One component was discontinued before the Oracle acquisition of Sun; the remaining two continue under Oracle branding.
VHD and its successor VHDX are file formats representing a virtual hard disk drive (HDD). They may contain what is found on a physical HDD, such as disk partitions and a file system, which in turn can contain files and folders. They are typically used as the hard disk of a virtual machine, are built into modern versions of Windows, and are the native file format for Microsoft's hypervisor, Hyper-V.
In computing, virtualization (v12n) is a series of technologies that allows dividing of physical computing resources into a series of virtual machines, operating systems, processes or containers.
Oracle VM Server for x86 is a server virtualization offering from Oracle Corporation. Oracle VM Server for x86 incorporates the free and open-source Xen hypervisor technology, supports Windows, Linux, and Solaris guests and includes an integrated Web based management console. Oracle VM Server for x86 features fully tested and certified Oracle Applications stack in an enterprise virtualization environment.
Live migration, also called migration, refers to the process of moving a running virtual machine (VM) or application between different physical machines without disconnecting the client or application. Memory, storage, and network connectivity of the virtual machine are transferred from the original guest machine to the destination. The time between stopping the VM or application on the source and resuming it on destination is called 'downtime'. When the downtime of a VM during live migration is small enough that it is not noticeable by the end user, it is called a 'seamless' live migration.
libvirt is an open-source API, daemon and management tool for managing platform virtualization. It can be used to manage KVM, Xen, VMware ESXi, QEMU and other virtualization technologies. These APIs are widely used in the orchestration layer of hypervisors in the development of a cloud-based solution.
Microsoft RemoteFX is a Microsoft brand name that covers a set of technologies that enhance visual experience of the Microsoft-developed remote display protocol Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). RemoteFX was first introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and is based on intellectual property that Microsoft acquired and continued to develop since acquiring Calista Technologies. It is a part of the overall Remote Desktop Services workload.
Second Level Address Translation (SLAT), also known as nested paging, is a hardware-assisted virtualization technology which makes it possible to avoid the overhead associated with software-managed shadow page tables.
In computer security, virtual machine (VM) escape is the process of a program breaking out of the virtual machine on which it is running and interacting with the host operating system. In theory, a virtual machine is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system", but this isn't always the case in practice.
GPU virtualization refers to technologies that allow the use of a GPU to accelerate graphics or GPGPU applications running on a virtual machine. GPU virtualization is used in various applications such as desktop virtualization, cloud gaming and computational science.
Linux host: Drop PCI passthrough,