virtualization revision 1.4 
1$NetBSD: virtualization,v 1.4 2009/09/15 21:07:58 agc Exp $
2
3NetBSD Virtualization Roadmap
4=============================
5
6This is a small roadmap document, and deals with the virtualization
7side of the operating system.
8
91. NetBSD/usermode
102. virtualization jails via secmodel
113. iSCSI booting
124. iSCSI device cloning
135. Xen domU migration, suspend and resume
146. Xen balloon driver support
15
16We currently expect to branch 6.0 in the March 2010 timeframe, with a view
17to a 6.0 release later in 2010.
18
19We'll continue to update this roadmap as features and dates get firmed up.
20
21
22Some explanations
23=================
24
251. NetBSD/usermode
26------------------
27
28NetBSD/usermode is an port of NetBSD to a POSIX-compatible user-space,
29with the intention that it should be possible to run the usermode
30version of NetBSD on any POSIX-compatible operating system.  This code
31has been committed to the repository, but more work is needed.
32
33Responsible: jmcneill
34
352. Virtualization Jails via secmodel
36------------------------------------
37
38One novel way of creating jails for virtualization is to use a new
39secmodel (part of the kauth framework), to isolate processes into
40jail-based virtual machines. This is the basis of a paper given by
41bad@ at AsiaBSDcon in March 2008.
42
43Responsible: bad
44
453. iSCSI booting
46----------------
47
48In order to make Xen domains migration-friendly, the storage that the
49domain uses must be based on some form of network-centric storage, either
50NFS, or a SAN or IP-SAN. For IP-SANs, iSCSI booting will be used. This
51is dependent on the in-kernel iSCSI initiator project completing.
52
53Responsible: agc
54
554. iSCSI device cloning
56-----------------------
57
58To minimise the storage requirements for multiple domU booting, using
59a standard root filesystem or block device for the domU is required, along
60with some form of copy-on-write mechanism to preserve any modifications
61that are made.
62
63Responsible: agc
64
655. Xen domU migration, suspend and resume
66-----------------------------------------
67
68Xen domU migration is where a domU domain is moved from one dom0 to
69another dom0 on the same vlan (to avoid networking problems, the
70virtual arp address migrates with the domU itself). jym is actively
71working on this, and preliminary results are good.
72
73Responsible: jym, bouyer
74
756. Xen balloon driver support
76-----------------------------
77
78The balloon driver allows more memory to be added to a running Xen domU
79instance; this allows extra memory to be used by the domU for resource
80peak needs. cherry has made a preliminary balloon driver - some testing
81is needed before it can be committed.
82
83Responsible: cherry
84
85
86Alistair Crooks
87Tue 15 Sep 2009 08:06:34 PDT
88