NVMM(4)

🌸 NVMM(4) 🌸

okay so this is the NVMM(4) page from the Kernel Interfaces Manual — aka the nvmm page — and it’s literally the NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor. bestie, we are in the virtualization group chat now. 💅

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🦋 NAME 🦋

nvmm — NetBSD Virtual Machine Monitor. that’s the whole name, no cap. 🫶

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

The nvmm driver provides kernel support for hardware-accelerated virtualization. it is made of a generic MI frontend, to which MD backends can be plugged to implement the core virtualization. the architecture is giving plug-in, main character energy. 🔥

In practice, nvmm is used by the libnvmm(3) API to implement hypervisors. that’s the tea. ☕

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🎀 SUPPORT 🎀

The following backends are supported, bestie:

• x86-SVM — for x86 AMD CPUs. 💜
• x86-VMX — for x86 Intel CPUs. 💅

⚠️ note that for VMX support, the CPU must also support "VMX Unrestricted Guest", which is only present if Extended Page Tables (EPT) is supported. the earliest CPU family with this feature is Westmere, and not all later CPUs have it. fr fr, check before you ship. 😭

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go read these too, bestie:

• libnvmm(3) — the API that uses nvmm in practice to implement hypervisors. 🫶
• nvmmctl(8) — also on the see-also guest list. slay. ✨

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

The nvmm driver was written by Maxime Villard. iconic behavior, honestly. 🎀

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mwah 💋 — this page came from Debian, dated July 30, 2023, with the page tag NVMM(4). bye bestie, go virtualize something cute 🫶