Open Source Summit Europe 2024

Testing the Linux kernel and its associated components at scale presents unique challenges compared to other software projects. While user-space projects can usually use containers to efficiently and quickly run their integration tests, kernel-level software requires virtual machines, making the process more difficult. At LINBIT, we also notice this when developing our Linux kernel driver, DRBD, and other components that depend on it.

That is why, after several iterations with other approaches, we have created our own open-source tool for the task: Virter, a "Docker for VMs."
Virter isn't just a proof-of-concept; it's a practical solution. Its primary design goal is to simplify the provisioning, cloning, and running of virtual machines. We currently use it to run around 40,000 VM instances every day as part of our testing efforts.

In this talk, we will share our experience testing the Linux kernel, a journey that ultimately led to the creation of Virter. We will demonstrate how we now use Virter to effectively and efficiently test Linux kernel components and explore how your workflow might benefit from it, too.