libvirt/docs/intro.html

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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="libvirt.css" /><link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="/32favicon.png" /><title>Introduction</title></head><body><div id="container"><div id="intro"><div id="adjustments"></div><div id="pageHeader"></div><div id="content2"><h1 class="style1">Introduction</h1><p>Libvir is a C toolkit to interact with the virtualization capabilities of
recent versions of Linux (and other OSes), but libvirt won't try to provide
all possible interfaces for interacting with the virtualization features.</p><p>To avoid ambiguity about the terms used here here are the definitions for
some of the specific concepts used in libvirt documentation:</p><ul><li>a <strong>node</strong> is a single physical machine</li>
  <li>an <strong>hypervisor</strong> is a layer of software allowing to
    virtualize a node in a set of virtual machines with possibly different
    configurations than the node itself</li>
  <li>a <strong>domain</strong> is an instance of an operating system running
    on a virtualized machine provided by the hypervisor</li>
</ul><p style="text-align: center"><img alt="Hypervisor and domains running on a node" src="node.gif" /></p><p>Now we can define the goal of libvirt: to provide the lowest possible
generic and stable layer to manage domains on a node.</p><p>This implies the following:</p><ul><li>the API should not be targetted to a single virtualization environment
    though Xen is the current default, which also means that some very
    specific capabilities which are not generic enough may not be provided as
    libvirt APIs</li>
  <li>the API should allow to do efficiently and cleanly all the operations
    needed to manage domains on a node</li>
  <li>the API will not try to provide hight level multi-nodes management
    features like load balancing, though they could be implemented on top of
    libvirt</li>
  <li>stability of the API is a big concern, libvirt should isolate
    applications from the frequent changes expected at the lower level of the
    virtualization framework</li>
</ul><p>So libvirt should be a building block for higher level management tools and
for applications focusing on virtualization of a single node (the only
exception being domain migration between node capabilities which may need to
be added at the libvirt level). Where possible libvirt should be extendable to
be able to provide the same API for remote nodes, however this is not the
case at the moment, the code currently handle only local node accesses.</p></div></div><div class="linkList2"><div class="llinks2"><h3 class="links2"><span>main menu</span></h3><ul><li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li><li><a href="news.html">Releases</a></li><li><a href="intro.html">Introduction</a></li><li><a href="architecture.html">libvirt architecture</a></li><li><a href="downloads.html">Downloads</a></li><li><a href="FAQ.html">FAQ</a></li><li><a href="bugs.html">Reporting bugs and getting help</a></li><li><a href="html/index.html">API Menu</a></li><li><a href="examples/index.html">C code examples</a></li><li><a href="ChangeLog.html">Recent Changes</a></li></ul></div><div class="llinks2"><h3 class="links2"><span>related links</span></h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/">Mail archive</a></li><li><a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/index.html">Xen project</a></li><li><form action="search.php" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" method="get"><input name="query" type="text" size="12" value="Search..." /><input name="submit" type="submit" value="Go" /></form></li><li><a href="http://xmlsoft.org/"><img src="Libxml2-Logo-90x34.gif" alt="Made with Libxml2 Logo" /></a></li></ul><p class="credits">Graphics and design by <a href="mail:dfong@redhat.com">Diana Fong</a></p></div></div><div id="bottom"><p class="p1"></p></div></div></body></html>
* configure.in docs/FAQ.html docs/Libxml2-Logo-90x34.gif docs/Makefile.am docs/bugs.html docs/index.html docs/intro.html docs/libvir.html docs/redhat.gif docs/site.xsl: starting to add the web site, based on libxml2 one. * src/hash.c: add a missing include Daniel 2005-12-07 09:33:00 +00:00			`<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>`
			`<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">`
* //* : renamed the project libvirt , this affects all makefiles, the specs, the icons, the docs, etc ... * configure.in: prepare for 0.0.3 Daniel 2006-02-09 17:45:11 +00:00			`<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="libvirt.css" /><link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="/32favicon.png" /><title>Introduction</title></head><body><div id="container"><div id="intro"><div id="adjustments"></div><div id="pageHeader"></div><div id="content2"><h1 class="style1">Introduction</h1><p>Libvir is a C toolkit to interact with the virtualization capabilities of`
* NEWS docs/*: regenerated and updated the docs post 0.0.3 release Daniel 2006-02-10 08:43:31 +00:00			`recent versions of Linux (and other OSes), but libvirt won't try to provide`
* NEWS docs/news.xsl: added stylesheet to generate NEWS file * docs/*: updated docs preparing for the release Daniel 2006-01-29 10:56:15 +00:00			`all possible interfaces for interacting with the virtualization features.</p><p>To avoid ambiguity about the terms used here here are the definitions for`
* NEWS docs/*: regenerated and updated the docs post 0.0.3 release Daniel 2006-02-10 08:43:31 +00:00			`some of the specific concepts used in libvirt documentation:</p><ul><li>a <strong>node</strong> is a single physical machine</li>`
* doc/*: started to augment and update the documentation Daniel 2006-01-22 16:27:09 +00:00			`<li>an <strong>hypervisor</strong> is a layer of software allowing to`
			`virtualize a node in a set of virtual machines with possibly different`
			`configurations than the node itself</li>`
			`<li>a <strong>domain</strong> is an instance of an operating system running`
* NEWS docs/news.xsl: added stylesheet to generate NEWS file * docs/*: updated docs preparing for the release Daniel 2006-01-29 10:56:15 +00:00			`on a virtualized machine provided by the hypervisor</li>`
* NEWS docs/*: regenerated and updated the docs post 0.0.3 release Daniel 2006-02-10 08:43:31 +00:00			`</ul><p style="text-align: center"><img alt="Hypervisor and domains running on a node" src="node.gif" /></p><p>Now we can define the goal of libvirt: to provide the lowest possible`
Updated and fixed a broken link, Daniel 2006-01-22 17:03:48 +00:00			`generic and stable layer to manage domains on a node.</p><p>This implies the following:</p><ul><li>the API should not be targetted to a single virtualization environment`
* doc/*: started to augment and update the documentation Daniel 2006-01-22 16:27:09 +00:00			`though Xen is the current default, which also means that some very`
			`specific capabilities which are not generic enough may not be provided as`
* NEWS docs/*: regenerated and updated the docs post 0.0.3 release Daniel 2006-02-10 08:43:31 +00:00			`libvirt APIs</li>`
* doc/*: started to augment and update the documentation Daniel 2006-01-22 16:27:09 +00:00			`<li>the API should allow to do efficiently and cleanly all the operations`
			`needed to manage domains on a node</li>`
			`<li>the API will not try to provide hight level multi-nodes management`
			`features like load balancing, though they could be implemented on top of`
* NEWS docs/*: regenerated and updated the docs post 0.0.3 release Daniel 2006-02-10 08:43:31 +00:00			`libvirt</li>`
			`<li>stability of the API is a big concern, libvirt should isolate`
Updated and fixed a broken link, Daniel 2006-01-22 17:03:48 +00:00			`applications from the frequent changes expected at the lower level of the`
			`virtualization framework</li>`
* NEWS docs/*: regenerated and updated the docs post 0.0.3 release Daniel 2006-02-10 08:43:31 +00:00			`</ul><p>So libvirt should be a building block for higher level management tools and`
* NEWS docs/news.xsl: added stylesheet to generate NEWS file * docs/*: updated docs preparing for the release Daniel 2006-01-29 10:56:15 +00:00			`for applications focusing on virtualization of a single node (the only`
* doc/*: started to augment and update the documentation Daniel 2006-01-22 16:27:09 +00:00			`exception being domain migration between node capabilities which may need to`
* NEWS docs/*: regenerated and updated the docs post 0.0.3 release Daniel 2006-02-10 08:43:31 +00:00			`be added at the libvirt level). Where possible libvirt should be extendable to`
* doc/*: augment and try to complete the doc in its current state Daniel 2006-01-23 13:24:07 +00:00			`be able to provide the same API for remote nodes, however this is not the`
* docs/examples/examples.xsl docs/examples/index.html docs/site.xsl: integates the examples page in the web site * docs//* : fixed generator and rebuilt the docs * python/tests/basic.py python/tests/create.py: couple cleanups Daniel 2006-02-20 20:50:48 +00:00			case at the moment, the code currently handle only local node accesses.</p></div></div><div class="linkList2"><div class="llinks2"><h3 class="links2"><span>main menu</span></h3><ul><li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li><li><a href="news.html">Releases</a></li><li><a href="intro.html">Introduction</a></li><li><a href="architecture.html">libvirt architecture</a></li><li><a href="downloads.html">Downloads</a></li><li><a href="FAQ.html">FAQ</a></li><li><a href="bugs.html">Reporting bugs and getting help</a></li><li><a href="html/index.html">API Menu</a></li><li><a href="examples/index.html">C code examples</a></li><li><a href="ChangeLog.html">Recent Changes</a></li></ul></div><div class="llinks2"><h3 class="links2"><span>related links</span></h3><ul><li><a href="https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvir-list/">Mail archive</a></li><li><a href="http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/Research/SRG/netos/xen/index.html">Xen project</a></li><li><form action="search.php" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" method="get"><input name="query" type="text" size="12" value="Search..." /><input name="submit" type="submit" value="Go" /></form></li><li><a href="http://xmlsoft.org/"><img src="Libxml2-Logo-90x34.gif" alt="Made with Libxml2 Logo" /></a></li></ul><p class="credits">Graphics and design by <a href="mail:dfong@redhat.com">Diana Fong</a></p></div></div><div id="bottom"><p class="p1"></p></div></div></body></html>