Oracle Linux KVM enables you to deploy the Oracle Linux operating system and application software within a supported virtual environment that is managed by KVM.

Starting with Oracle Exadata System Software release 19.3.0, KVM is the virtualization technology used with Oracle Exadata systems configured with RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) interconnects.

An Oracle Linux KVM environment contains a management server (the KVM host), virtual machines, and system resources. A KVM host is a managed virtual environment providing a lightweight and secure server platform for multiple virtual machines (VMs), also known as guests. The maximum number of guests supported by each KVM host depends on the combination of Oracle Exadata system hardware and software that is in use. See Oracle Linux KVM Deployment Specifications and Limits.

The KVM host is installed on a bare metal computer. The hypervisor on each KVM host is an extremely small-footprint VM manager and scheduler designed to be the only fully privileged entity in the system. It controls only the most fundamental system resources, including CPU and memory usage, privilege checks, and hardware interrupts.

The hypervisor securely runs multiple VMs on one host computer. Each VM runs in a separate guest with its own operating system. The KVM host has privileged access to the hardware and device drivers and is the environment from where you manage all the guests.

A guest is an unprivileged VM that uses a defined set of system resources. The guest is started and managed on the KVM host. Because a guest operates independently of other VMs, a configuration change applied to the virtual resources of a guest does not affect any other guests. A failure of the guest does not impact any other guests.

Each guest runs alongside the KVM host and never interacts directly with it. The guest requirements are handled by the hypervisor, and the KVM host only provides a means to administer the hypervisor.

Oracle Exadata Deployment Assistant (OEDA) provides facilities to configure Oracle Linux KVM on Oracle Exadata. You can also use the vm_maker command-line utility to administer Oracle Linux KVM guests.