Interesting idea to ask

[Norman Feske]

Hello Lonnie,

thanks for dropping by on the mailing list from time to time. ;-)

> I was thinking that the layers could be (bottom to top)
> 
> 1. MuenSK ---- Provides Separation Kernel for real hardware configuration
> 2. NOVA Hypervisor ---- Provides virtualization of the real hardware
> provided by the SK
> 3. Bhyve --- Provides the VMM for each instance given by NOVA
> 
> Of course, there are other things to be included but this is just the
> base that I am working towards.
> 
> Do you see an advantage to something like this?

The answer would ultimately depend on your goal. I must admit that this
particular combination of technologies does not strike me as tempting
but that may just be me, being unfamiliar with Bhyve.

>From an engineering perspective, I see two technical challenges with
your idea.

- Running NOVA on top of Muen requires nested virtualization because
  both kernels leverage hardware-based virtualization. AFAIK, Muen has
  gained support for nested virtualization by now but nobody has tried
  executing NOVA as Muen subject.

- I presume that you want to use Genode on top of NOVA as the runtime
  environment of Bhyve. This scenario comes down to porting Bhyve to
  Genode, which is probably not straight-forward.

> Any thoughts, suggestions, or comments?

Personally, I think that the three technologies are not orthogonal but
rather have substantial overlap. Stacking multiple kernels upon each
other creates administrative and integrative complexity. I generally try
to into the opposite direction, reducing the layering whenever possible.

That said, I'd greatly appreciate you sharing your experiences and
gained insights along the way!

Cheers
Norman

-- 
Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske
Genode Labs

https://www.genode-labs.com · https://genode.org

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