Virtualization Overview

Vapor leverages KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) and QEMU to deliver near bare-metal performance for Virtual Machines.

Core Components

The virtualization stack in Vapor is built around several key abstractions:

1. Virtual Machines (Computes): The actual guest operating systems running on the host.
2. Hardware & PCI: CPU/Memory allocation, OS variants, and direct PCIe device passthrough.
3. Storage Pools: The logical locations where VM disk images (.qcow2, .raw) and ISOs are stored.
4. Virtual Networks: The layer that connects VM network interfaces to the host's Bridges or OVS switches.
5. Snapshots & Templates: State management for capturing running VMs or provisioning new ones rapidly.

In this section, we will walk through the lifecycle of a Virtual Machine on Vapor.