Invirt

Invirt is free software for managing Xen virtual machines. Invirt powers the xvm.mit.edu service at MIT.

Invirt Features

• Management of VMs over the Web
• Both hardware virtualization and paravirtualization
• Installation of any OS with a boot CD
• A three-minute automated Debian and Ubuntu installer
• Secure VNC console access via a Java applet
• Secure serial console access over SSH
• Authentication by Kerberos and by client Web certs or SPNEGO
• Authorization lists by AFS (optional)

Evan Broder and Greg Price gave a talk about Invirt internals in December 2008; you can see the slides.

Getting Invirt

Invirt is free software under the GPL. The source repository is in Subversion:

$ svn co svn://invirt.mit.edu/trunk invirt

If you're interested in running Invirt in your own environment, feel free to contact us at invirt@mit.edu. It's not yet straightforward to install; we're working on it, and we're happy to help you set it up.

Invirt is based at SIPB, the student computing group at MIT. We welcome new contributors; check out our bug tracker for an idea of what we're working on now.

Questions welcome at invirt@mit.edu.