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Doesn't AWS run on a modified Xen setup?

• monocasa 3y ago
  They used to, but they run mainly on KVM now with a custom vmm.
  • usr1106 3y ago
    First web hit I get on that topic is https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/aws-just-announced-a-move-from-xen-towards-kvm-so-what-is-kvm/ https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/aws-just-announced-a-move-... (I read only the headline and the date now. From Xen towards KVM starting in 2019. So I guess at AWS scale that's still a relatively new thing.)
    • monocasa 3y ago
      They started the transition back in 2017. https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/07/aws_writes_new_kvm_based_hypervisor_to_make_its_cloud_go_faster/ https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/07/aws_writes_new_kvm_ba...
      • usr1106 3y ago
        Calling systemd-detect-virt on the 2 first AWS machines of different type I have access to: Result is xen on one of them and amazon on the other.
        • monocasa 3y ago
          This qemu support comes after Amazon added support to the kernel to emulate Xen when combined with their custom vmm. A key component of that is the hypervisor lying when it's asked by a guest to describe itself. There's a good chance that 'xen' box is actually KVM and Amazon's proprietary vmm.
          • silverwind 3y ago
            Sounds like they developed a `user-agent` situation. Apparently, one must never ask popular software what it is.
            • monocasa 3y ago
              You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain (ie. last vestiges languishing as a compat shim that even the developers who support you wish they could finally deprecate and remove).
        • wmf 3y ago
          You're using very obsolete instances.
          • usr1106 3y ago
            They are neither brand new nor 10+ years old legacy types. Somewhere in the middle.