Is it possible virtualize a real-time OS in ESXi?

[RafaelCosta]

Hello,

Is it possible virtualize a real-time OS in ESXi?

I want run real-time dependent applications (for example: industrial softwares) in a virtualized environment.

What I have to do for reach real-time requirements in ESXi? How do I configure? I'll have that develop some auxiliar program? Is there a API for this?

There are other softwares, but I prefer VMWare because it is more marketable.

http://www.lynuxworks.com/virtualization/hypervisor.php

https://sites.google.com/site/realtimexen/

Thank you.

Rafael Costa

[Abhilash Basavarajaiah]

Hi Rafael,

Welcome to the VMware community.

When you install OS on the servers( Which we can virtual machines) they behave similar to OS's running on a physical hardware. Only difference being that you will be optimizing your underlying hadware by running many servers on a larger hardware than having monolithic servers.

Let me know if you need any more details.

[RafaelCosta]

Hi Abhilash,

It is possible?

See this: http://www.embeddedconference.ch/pdf_2012/3C1_Vogel.pdf

I believe it is possible, but requires some modification, or not?

Thank you.

[Abhilash Basavarajaiah]

I have never seen this real-time Hypervisor before. I'm sure its not supported on a VM running on a ESXi if that is what you are asking. But that doesn't mean it will not work. Its just not supported.

These are the only ones that are suported VMware Compatibility Guide: Guest/Host Search

[Linjo]

From vSphere 5.5 there is a new setting called "Latency Sensitivity", if you set that to "High" then your virtual machine will consume more resources but reduce the latency in the hypervisor, read more about this here:Deploying Extremely Latency-Sensitive Applications in VMware vSphere 5.5

[RafaelCosta]

Hi Linjo,

Thank you!

I believe that this solution meets my expectations.

It is seems to be easier than I thought.

Thank for the answer, Abhilash.

Rafael Costa

[Cyberfed27]

We run real time I/O SCADA software on VMware with no issues. Not the OS but the software is real time.

Hope that helps you out.

[RafaelCosta]

Hi Cyberfed27,

Have you ran any task with a cycle time less than 50 millisecond?

Thank you.

Rafael Costa

[Cyberfed27]

No sorry, our need for precision is at the second level.

[Uewel]

Hello Cyberfed27,

Have you ever done Snapshots or vMotion of your RT-VM? And if yes, have you observed issues during a Snapshot creation or a vMotion operation?

Thank you very much in advance.

Uwe

[HannuBalk]

You can always set processor affinity to ALL VM's. Ie. 8-core host has 7 1 vCPU VM with processor affinity set. This kinda defeats purpose of virtualization but sometimes it is necessary.

Regards,

Hannu