The following sections outline how to enable KVM based hardware virtualisation on different architectures and platforms. To perform these steps, you must be logged in as the root user.

To determine whether the svm or vmx CPU extensions are present, run this command: # grep -E 'svm|vmx' /proc/cpuinfo This command generates output if the CPU is capable of hardware-virtualization. Even if output is shown, you might still need to enable virtualization in the system BIOS for full support. If no output appears, consult your system documentation to ensure that your CPU and motherboard support hardware virtualization. Verify that any relevant hardware virtualization options are enabled in the system BIOS. The BIOS for each manufacturer is different. If you must enable virtualization in the BIOS, look for an option containing the words virtualization, VT, VMX, or SVM. To list the loaded kernel modules and verify that the kvm modules are loaded, run this command: # lsmod | grep kvm If the output includes kvm_intel or kvm_amd, the kvm hardware virtualization modules are loaded and your kernel meets the module requirements for OpenStack Compute. If the output does not show that the kvm module is loaded, run this command to load it: # modprobe -a kvm Run the command for your CPU. For Intel, run this command: # modprobe -a kvm-intel For AMD, run this command: # modprobe -a kvm-amd Because a KVM installation can change user group membership, you might need to log in again for changes to take effect. If the kernel modules do not load automatically, use the procedures listed in these subsections. If the checks indicate that required hardware virtualization support or kernel modules are disabled or unavailable, you must either enable this support on the system or find a system with this support. Some systems require that you enable VT support in the system BIOS. If you believe your processor supports hardware acceleration but the previous command did not produce output, reboot your machine, enter the system BIOS, and enable the VT option. If KVM acceleration is not supported, configure Compute to use a different hypervisor, such as QEMU or Xen. These procedures help you load the kernel modules for Intel-based and AMD-based processors if they do not load automatically during KVM installation.

If your compute host is Intel-based, run these commands as root to load the kernel modules: # modprobe kvm # modprobe kvm-intel Add these lines to the /etc/modules file so that these modules load on reboot: kvm kvm-intel

If your compute host is AMD-based, run these commands as root to load the kernel modules: # modprobe kvm # modprobe kvm-amd Add these lines to /etc/modules file so that these modules load on reboot: kvm kvm-amd

KVM as a hypervisor is supported on POWER system's PowerNV platform. To determine if your POWER platform supports KVM based virtualization run the following command: #cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep PowerNV If the previous command generates the following output, then CPU supports KVM based virtualization platform: PowerNV If no output is displayed, then your POWER platform does not support KVM based hardware virtualization. To list the loaded kernel modules and verify that the kvm modules are loaded, run the following command: # lsmod | grep kvm If the output includes kvm_hv, the kvm hardware virtualization modules are loaded and your kernel meets the module requirements for OpenStack Compute. If the output does not show that the kvm module is loaded, run the following command to load it: # modprobe -a kvm For PowerNV platform, run the following command: # modprobe -a kvm-hv Because a KVM installation can change user group membership, you might need to log in again for changes to take effect.