VMware

[SuperMiguel]

Currently, you don't. KVM is a Linux-only solution. However, there is a project underway to port KVM to FreeBSD. I think it's stalled right now, though.

The only really usable, viable virtualisation software for FreeBSD hosts, right now, is Qemu (for running full OSes) and jails (for running multiple FreeBSD userlands on a single kernel). VirtualBox is almost ready, though.

Qemu will run any OS but it is really slow correct?

 

[phoenix]

Correct. Qemu emulates a full PC, right down to the BIOS, so you can run just about anything in there.

Qemu by itself will give you something like 20-30% of native performance. Adding the kQemu kernel module will give you something like 30-50% of native performance. (Numbers are totally made up to show the relative performance.)

 

[DrJ]

Adding the kQemu kernel module will give you something like 30-50% of native performance. (Numbers are totally made up to show the relative performance.)

This really depends on the benchmark one uses. Qemu/kQemu has pretty decent CPU and memory performance, on the order or 80% to 90% of native. IO of all kinds is just terrible. Well, disk performance is OK, but Ethernet and especially video performance just plain stink.

If you are interested, I have posted a series of benchmarks that I did for the old VMware, Qemu/kQemu and native Windows on bsdnexus. These are more difficult to perform than you might imagine, because not all the video modes are supported in the various VMs, and that tends to terminate most common Windows benchmarking programs.