Overview

SUSE® Virtualization is a modern, open, interoperable, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution built on Kubernetes. It is an open-source alternative designed for operators seeking a cloud-native HCI solution. SUSE® Virtualization runs on bare metal servers and provides integrated virtualization and distributed storage capabilities. In addition to traditional virtual machines (VMs), SUSE® Virtualization supports containerized environments automatically through integration with Rancher. It offers a solution that unifies legacy virtualized infrastructure while enabling the adoption of containers from core to edge locations.

Architecture

The architecture consists of cutting-edge open-source technologies:

  • Linux OS. Elemental for SUSE Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 is at the core of SUSE® Virtualization and is an immutable Linux distribution designed to remove as much OS maintenance as possible in a Kubernetes cluster.

  • Built on top of Kubernetes. Kubernetes has become the predominant infrastructure language across all form factors, and SUSE® Virtualization is an HCI solution with Kubernetes under the hood.

  • Virtualization management with KubeVirt. KubeVirt provides virtualization management using KVM on top of Kubernetes.

  • Storage management with Longhorn. Longhorn provides distributed block storage and tiering.

  • Observability with Grafana and Prometheus. Grafana and Prometheus provide robust monitoring and logging.

architecture

Features

SUSE® Virtualization is an enterprise-ready, easy-to-use infrastructure platform that leverages local, direct attached storage instead of complex external SANs. It utilizes Kubernetes API as a unified automation language across container and VM workloads. Some key features include:

  • Easy to get started. Since SUSE® Virtualization ships as a bootable appliance image, you can install it directly on a bare metal server with the ISO image or automatically install it using iPXE scripts.

  • VM lifecycle management. Easily create, edit, clone, and delete VMs, including SSH-Key injection, cloud-init, and graphic and serial port console.

  • VM live migration. Move a VM to a different host or node with zero downtime.

  • VM backup, snapshot, and restore. Back up your VMs from NFS, S3 servers, or NAS devices. Use your backup to restore a failed VM or create a new VM on a different cluster.

  • Storage management. SUSE® Virtualization supports distributed block storage and tiering. Volumes represent storage; you can easily create, edit, clone, or export a volume.

  • Network management. Supports using a virtual IP (VIP) and multiple Network Interface Cards (NICs). If your VMs need to connect to the external network, create a VLAN or untagged network.

  • Integration with Rancher. Access SUSE® Virtualization directly within Rancher through Rancher’s Virtualization Management page and manage your VM workloads alongside your Kubernetes clusters.

User Interface

SUSE® Virtualization provides a powerful and easy-to-use web-based interface for visualizing and managing your infrastructure. Once installed, you can access the IP address for the UI from the node’s terminal.