wiki/virt/vm/virtio.md

title	description	published	date	tags	editor	dateCreated
On paravirtualized hardware		true	2022-01-25T21:48:19.363Z		markdown	2022-01-12T14:22:51.514Z

Paravirtual hardware

Paravirtual hardware are emulated hardware or devices that can be found in a virtual environment. Contrary to other emulated hardware, they don't intend to mimic a particular piece of real hardware.

In this section, the focus is oriented towards Virtual I/O Devices (VIRTIO), better known as the virtio family of devices.

List of paravirtual devices

This list is not meant to be exhaustive {.is-info}

Graphical frame buffer

• virtio-gpu
  • Paravirtual GPU that provides a subset of the host GPU capabilities to a guest virtual machine

Video decoding/encoding

• virtio-video
  • Paravirtual video device that provides encoding and decoding capabilities to a guest virtual machine

Sound

• virtio-snd

Storage

• virtio-blk
• virtio-scsi
• virtio-fs

Network

• virtio-net

Input devices

• virtio-kbd
• virtio-tablet

Miscellaneous

• virtio-rng
• virtio-crypto
• virtio-balloon
• virtio-iommu
• virtio-console

Virtual I/O Devices specifications

OASIS Open is a non-profit hosting standards related to the IT sector. They host VIRTIO specifications and its technical committee. {.is-info}

• Below is a table showing support of virtio devices depending on the specification version

Paravirtual device	Spec. 1.0	Spec. 1.1	Spec. 1.2
virtio-gpu	No	Yes	Yes
virtio-video	No	No	Yes
virtio-snd	No	No	Yes
virtio-blk	Yes	Yes	Yes
virtio-scsi	Yes	Yes	Yes
virtio-fs	No	No	?
virtio-net	Yes	Yes	Yes
virtio-keyboard	No	No	?
virtio-tablet	No	No	?
virtio-wayland	No	No	?
virtio-console	Yes	Yes	Yes

Resourcess

• Specifications
  • Version 1.0 of the specification for Virtual I/O Devices
  • Version 1.1 of the specification for Virtual I/O Devices
• OASIS Virtual I/O Device (VIRTIO) Technical Commitee's Page
• virtio entry on OSDev.org

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