nova/doc/source/reference/libvirt-distro-support-matrix.rst
Lee Yarwood 1241d3440b docs: Update libvirt distro support matrix for Xena
This is mostly distro updates as our MIN versions didn't change during
the cycle.

Change-Id: If30d75c8fa96aa6ed7f0483d791d1dea86f58c08
2021-11-18 14:12:49 +00:00

6.5 KiB

Libvirt virt driver OS distribution support matrix

This page documents the libvirt versions present in the various distro versions that OpenStack Nova aims to be deployable with.

Note

This document was previously hosted on the OpenStack wiki:

https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/LibvirtDistroSupportMatrix

Libvirt minimum version change policy

At the start of each Nova development cycle this matrix will be consulted to determine if it is viable to drop support for any end-of-life or otherwise undesired distro versions. Based on this distro evaluation, it may be possible to increase the minimum required version of libvirt in Nova, and thus drop some compatibility code for older versions.

When a decision to update the minimum required libvirt version is made, there must be a warning issued for one cycle. This is achieved by editing nova/virt/libvirt/driver.py to set NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION. For example:

NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION = (X, Y, Z)

This causes a deprecation warning to be emitted when Nova starts up warning the admin that the version of libvirt in use on the host will no longer be supported in the subsequent release.

After a version has been listed in NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION for one release cycle, the corresponding actual minimum required libvirt can be updated by setting

MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION = (X, Y, Z)

At this point of course, an even newer version might be set in NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION to repeat the process....

An email should also be sent at this point to the openstack-discuss@lists.openstack.org mailing list as a courtesy raising awareness of the change in minimum version requirements in the upcoming release, for example:

http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-discuss/2021-January/019849.html

There is more background on the rationale used for picking minimum versions in the operators mailing list thread here:

http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-operators/2015-May/007012.html

QEMU minimum version change policy

After choosing a minimum libvirt version, the minimum QEMU version is determined by looking for the lowest QEMU version from all the distros that support the decided libvirt version.

MIN_{LIBVIRT,QEMU}_VERSION and NEXT_MIN_{LIBVIRT,QEMU}_VERSION table

OpenStack Nova libvirt/QEMU Support Matrix
OpenStack Release Nova Release MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION NEXT_MIN_LIBVIRT_VERSION MIN_QEMU_VERSION NEXT_MIN_QEMU_VERSION
Havana 2013.2.0 0.9.6 0.9.6
Icehouse 2014.1 0.9.6 0.9.11
Juno 2014.2.0 0.9.11 0.9.11
Kilo 2015.1.0 0.9.11 0.9.11
Liberty 12.0.0 0.9.11 0.10.2
Mitaka 13.0.0 0.10.2 1.2.1
Newton 14.0.0 1.2.1 1.2.1 1.5.3 1.5.3
Ocata 15.0.0 1.2.1 1.2.9 1.5.3 2.1.0
Pike 16.0.0 1.2.9 1.3.1 2.1.0 2.5.0
Queens 17.0.0 1.2.9 1.3.1 2.1.0 2.5.0
Rocky 18.0.0 1.3.1 3.0.0 2.5.0 2.8.0
Stein 19.0.0 3.0.0 4.0.0 2.8.0 2.11.0
Train 20.0.0 3.0.0 4.0.0 2.8.0 2.11.0
Ussuri 21.0.0 4.0.0 5.0.0 2.11.0 4.0.0
Victoria 22.0.0 5.0.0 6.0.0 4.0.0 4.2.0
Wallaby 23.0.0 6.0.0 7.0.0 4.2.0 5.2.0
Xena 24.0.0 6.0.0 7.0.0 4.2.0 5.2.0

OS distribution versions

This table provides information on a representative sample of OS distros and the version of libirt/QEMU/libguestfs that they ship. This is NOT intended to be an exhaustive list of distros where OpenStack Nova can run - it is intended to run on any Linux distro that can satisfy the minimum required software versions. This table merely aims to help identify when minimum required versions can be reasonably updated without losing support for important OS distros.

Distro libvirt/QEMU Support Table
OS Distro GA date Libvirt QEMU/KVM libguestfs
CentOS Stream
8 Provided by the advanced-virtualization module as of 2021-11-18. 7.0.0-14 5.2.0-16 1.44.0-2
9 As of 2021-11-18. 7.8.0-1 6.1.0-6 1.46.0-4
Debian
11.x (Bullseye) ("stable") 2021-10-09 7.0.0 5.2 1.42.0
12.x (Bookworm) ("testing") No GA date as of 2021-11-18 7.6.0 6.1 1.42.0
Fedora
34 2021-04-27 7.0.0 5.2.0 1.45.4
35 2021-11-02 7.6.0 6.1.0 1.46.0
SUSE
Leap 15.2 2020-07-02 6.0.0 4.2.0 1.38.0
Leap 15.3 2021-06-02 7.2.0 6.0.0 1.44.1
RHEL
8.2 2020-04-28 6.0.0-17.2 4.2.0-19 1.40.2-22
8.3 2020-10-29 6.0.0-25.5 4.2.0-29 1.40.2-24
8.4 2021-05-18 7.0.0-8 5.2.0-10 1.44.0-2
8.5 2021-11-09 7.6.0-6 6.0.0-33 1.44.0-3
SLES
15 (SP2) 2020 6.0.0 4.2.1 1.38.0
15 (SP3) 2021 7.1.0 5.2.0 1.38.0
Ubuntu
20.04 (Focal Fossa LTS) 2020-04-23 6.0.0 4.2 1.40.2
21.04 (Hirsute Hippo) 2021-04-22 7.0.0 5.2 1.44.1