DaDesktop Nested Virtualisation Compatibility

Nested virtualisation can be a bit tricky to get running optimally at the best of times. Below are our recommendations on which virtualisation tool works, or works best, in each DaDesktop environment.

Please get in touch if you have any queries. Note that some tools, like Virt Manager, aren't available on all operating systems.

More details around using Virt Manager to set up multiple sandboxed servers and/or desktops are available.
 

		Intel CPU		AMD CPU
		KVM	LXC	KVM	LXC
Virt-Manager	Windows	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
	Linux	√	√	√	√
VirtualBox	Windows	√	N/A	X④	N/A
	Linux	√	√②③	X④	√②③
VMware Workstation	Windows	√①	N/A	√	N/A
	Linux	√①	X	√	X

 

Test environment:

Intel CPU Model: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2673 v3 @ 2.40GHz

AMD CPU Model: AMD EPYC 7502P 32-Core Processor

Window: Windows 10

Linux: Ubuntu 20.04

Virtualbox: 6.1.18

VMware Workstation: 16 Pro, v16.1.1

Comments:

①: Intel VT-x and AMD virtualization acceleration isn't supported in the guest. You must untick the "Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI" checkbox under hardware-processors.

②: The version of VirtualBox on the guest must match the version of VirtualBox DKMS on the host.

③: Because running VirtualBox in an LXC conflicts with KVM VMs, you'll need to stop all KVM instances on the host.

④: Can result in a soft lockup systemd-udevd error, causing slowness and the system hanging.