From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Rik van Riel Subject: [LSF/MM TOPIC] VM containers Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2016 10:56:15 -0500 Message-ID: <56A2511F.1080900@redhat.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Linux Memory Management List , Linux kernel Mailing List , KVM list To: lsf-pc@lists.linuxfoundation.org Return-path: Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([209.132.183.28]:52600 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751190AbcAVP4R (ORCPT ); Fri, 22 Jan 2016 10:56:17 -0500 Sender: kvm-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: Hi, I am trying to gauge interest in discussing VM containers at the LSF/MM summit this year. Projects like ClearLinux, Qubes, and others are all trying to use virtual machines as better isolated containers. That changes some of the goals the memory management subsystem has, from "use all the resources effectively" to "use as few resources as necessary, in case the host needs the memory for something else". These VMs could be as small as running just one application, so this goes a little further than simply trying to squeeze more virtual machines into a system with frontswap and cleancache. Single-application VM sandboxes could also get their data differently, using (partial) host filesystem passthrough, instead of a virtual block device. This may change the relative utility of caching data inside the guest page cache, versus freeing up that memory and allowing the host to use it to cache things. Are people interested in discussing this at LSF/MM, or is it better saved for a different forum? -- All rights reversed