Decide supported virtualization providers

[jimmidyson]

As discussed in #248, we should limit the supported virt providers. Let's decide so we can target embedding the drivers required rather than fork/RPC the plugin binaries as we're doing now.

My suggestions for defaults:

• OS X - xhyve (natively supported with no extra installation reqs)
• Windows - Hyper-V (as long as it's free & easy to set up - no experience with it)
• Linux/*BSD - KVM

We should perhaps also consider virtualbox as it is supported on all above platforms AFAIK & might be a decent fallback which still limits the size of test matrix?

[dlorenc]

That list sounds good to me.

For Linux we might also want a "no vm" option, eventually.

[dlorenc]

The KVM driver is currently missing a LICENSE. I just opened an issue to track that. We'll need a LICENSE before we can bundle: dhiltgen/docker-machine-kvm#17

[lazypower]

I see the original author of #220 didn't comment, so I'll chime in here that supporting whatever drivers are already supported by docker-machine would be a solid +1 from me.

Not everyone wants the xhyve virtualization integration (myself being one of them) as its extremely nice to manage VM's with my existing tools. I can confirm that the parallels provider has been stable and a good user experience when testing docker-machine and other infra/container related tech. I get better battery life out of my rig when using Parallels vs VirtualBox, and even xhyve. That alone makes this worth it to me as i'm a road warrior.

I'll gladly donate time/effort to see this to completion.

[r2d4]

Closing this: I think we've settled upon

virtualbox
vmwarefusion
kvm
xhyve
hyperv

[kedare]

Hmm a support for parallels would probably be very welcomed as this is probably the most used virtualization system on OS X (The best integration with the system and as far as I know the best performances).

Also, it's supported on Docker-machine with an external plugins: https://github.com/Parallels/docker-machine-parallels

[denji]

$ brew install docker-machine-parallels
$ docker-machine create --driver=parallels    prl
$ docker-machine create --driver=vmwarefusion vmware
$ docker-machine create --driver=virtualbox   vbox
…
Checking connection to Docker...
Docker is up and running!

$ brew install Caskroom/cask/minikube
$ minikube start --vm-driver=parallels
Starting local Kubernetes cluster...
Downloading Minikube ISO
 36.00 MB / 36.00 MB [==============================================] 100.00% 0s
F1202 15:09:48.153415   57725 cluster.go:411] Unsupported driver: parallels

[ahobson]

I have patches for parallels support that work well as far as I can tell (the changes are quite minor). I see that the issue was closed without including parallels in the supported list, but would a PR change your mind? I've just submitted a CLA.

[TylerRick]

Is there a separate issue for tracking the possibility of running kubernetes natively on Linux without the extra VM layer? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12044317 links here but this issue is closed now.

I've been using https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/docs/devel/local-cluster/docker.md to run Kubernetes natively using just containers but that guide now recommends using Minikube, ironically. :)

[r2d4]

@TylerRick I don't believe there's an issue made. Definitely something on our roadmap though.

[TylerRick]

Thanks for the update, @r2d4. I do see "Remove hypervisor on Linux systems" on https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/blob/master/ROADMAP.md now so that's encouraging 👍

[maxkuzkin]

Like many other people here i'm using parallels desktop virtualization on OS X. Is there a way to include it's support, like https://github.com/ahobson/docker-machine-parallels?

[gwicke]

For those wondering about progress on Linux native container support, see this query for "no-vm" in issues.

[rawkode]

I can't find any issue for Linux native support. @gwicke, your query doesn't return anything relevant?

[rawkode]

Interesting: a7c2ff3

[bennowak]

+1 for parallels, it'd been a phenomenal find in my workflow, is pretty robust, and does manage battery life very well! Please add support!

[csharpe]

+1 to Parallels support for OSX. +1 on battery life! Not sure how VMWare Fusion was selected but I believe parallels is the dominant VM product on OSX.

Happy to help make this happen.

[benjaminsweetnam247]

+1 to Parallels support for OSX. battery life and just nicer to deal with.

[joadr]

+1 for Parallels! the fork with parallels working is already there and the request is being made by lots of people over 2 years period. This is 2 years of pure bureaucracy.

[afbjorklund]

@joadr : did you have an updated PR for the Parallels driver support ?
I was using it myself for virtualization on the Mac, but that was quite some time ago now...

[afbjorklund]

Never mind, found it in the linked issues. Basically requesting support for whatever docker-machine supports... Quite similar to our current “generic” discussion. I guess that @tstromberg can help arbitrate, in what drivers are finally allowed to be “supported” by minikube ?