Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) Reviews and Ratings

Rating: 2.1 out of 10

Score

2.1 out of 10

Reviews

6 Reviews

Linux KVM is a mature production ready solution

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

March 27, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Virtualization was a turning point in technology because of its flexibility and reliability. Before virtualization, we had to deal with all the issues related to bare metal servers. Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine became the industry de-facto for virtualization, especially for *nix related guess operating systems. It is very stable and reliable for production systems. We use virtualized servers for more than a decade on Kernel-based Virtual Machine technology with amazing results.

Pros

Segregation of guess systems.
Fair allocation of resources.
Hardware virtualization.

Cons

Handling of hardware failures.
Hot migration of systems between KVM hosts.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is a very stable and reliable technology. Highly recommended for *nix

production systems. It is capable of dealing with large amounts of CPU,

memory, and disk, as well as, network traffic. I never used it to virtualize Microsoft Windows systems.

Verified User

C-Level Executive in Corporate (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

10 years of experience

The great tool contemporary virtual world.

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 26, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Linux KVM is a powerful and free (in the case of using Ubuntu for example) virtualization tool. In our organization KVM plays a significant role in DevNet related implementations (especially by using in pair of network appliances + KVM with a variety of firewall/router/VPN box images). AT&T which is one of our carriers and the most well-known SP is also using KVM in its FlexWare environment (Juniper NFX hardware + KVM + vEX/vSRX images).

Pros

Lightweight built-in implementation for all *nix based OS.
Easy to deploy and manage VMs.
Freeware (is you are using a free OS).

Cons

Monitoring features (unclear SNMP MIB DB, do not support by the monitoring systems, like Solarwinds and etc.)

Likelihood to Recommend

KVM is the best solution in the case you need to test and turn up any virtual environment with limited vCPU/RAM resources. The obvious area of its use is a network environment when we want to avoid being tied to one type of hardware/vendor and being able to swap from one instance to another with no downtimes. The use of a vSwitch (that supports VLAN tagging) is a significant bonus for network engineers that some other hypervisors do not provide.

Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

KVM - Open-Source virtualisation solution

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 25, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use virtualisation to segregate workloads and to reduce blast radius of certain classes of problems. Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is an open-source, flexible, and performant solution to our needs. It runs natively via virt-manager on SUSE-based products, which we use prefer for production usage.

Pros

high-performance virtualisation

Cons

no major problems with kvm

Likelihood to Recommend

Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is available for Linux systems, and most of the time supported by the operating system vendor. I would recommend using Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)whenever attempting to virtualise workloads on Linux.

Robert Munteanu

Software Engineer in Engineering at LMN (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Great Linux-integrated virtualization foundation

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

August 3, 2017

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I am a consultant who provides KVM-based solutions to customers from all sizes and industries.

At the customers, KVM is usually used by the IT departments, providing virtulization services to all kinds of users, departments and maybe even their customers.

Regarding the business problems KVM adresses:

KVM manages to provide a Linux-integrated virtualization foundation which enables IT departments to provide virtualized systems very fast and efficient. With enough knowledge, IT departments simply install Linux servers and start KVM VMs. The time frame from starting until VMs are up and running is very short, so IT departments don't necessarely have to buy virtualization products if they use KVM.

Pros

KVM is really good at providing fast and reliable virtualization for Linux guests
Since KVM is a kernel module, every VM is a Linux process which can be managed by Linux system tools
KVM integrates very well with the management framework libvirt, which is why KVM can be integrated in automation tools as well

Cons

KVM itself doesn't ship with a management interface
KVM itself is a bit complicated to handle
KVM needs Qemu to virtualize Windows guests

Likelihood to Recommend

Kernel-based Virtual Machine is very well suited when one needs a single-node virtualization host or needs to build a complex demo setting on their own notebook (e.g. when demonstrating solutions to a customer).

Valentin Höbel

Senior Consultant IT Infrastructure in Human Resources at open *i GmbH (1-10 employees)

Vetted Review

7 years of experience

View profile

Kernel-based Virtual Machine is good for virtualization and Openstack services

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

April 27, 2017

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) as part of our storage solution (OpenStack based). Our solution provides low-cost disk volumes to researchers to use for archiving and data backup. The volumes are provided by KVM virtual machines orchestrated by OpenStack Cinder. It was easier to implement this solution with KVM than XenServer Hypervisor.

Pros

Easy way to work with OpenStack
Better performance with the Linux OS
Lowest Cost

Cons

Complex networking
GPU processing is not fully supported
It's hard to set up without support tools

Likelihood to Recommend

I recommend using KVM if you want to start a proof of concept of OpenStack services because it is very simple to configure and has much documentation about it. If your IT environment is Linux based, KVM is a great alternative to virtualize your infrastructure. It works with Windows virtual machines, but it is better with Linux obviously.

Stenio Pereira Filho

IT Group manager in Information Technology at University of Sao Paulo (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile

Loading Reviews List....