[Info-vax] kvm/qemu for OpenVMS ?

[David Wade]

On 01/04/2023 20:18, I Kea wrote:
> 
> I would like to use my VAX station currently running OpenVMS 7.3 as an
> hypervisor to install and run inside it a little instance of NetBSD/vax...
> 
> Is there any ( free ) virtualization software for OpenVMS like the kvm
> or qemu for Linux, or does the VAX processor lack capabilities of this kind ?

Well QEMU and KVM are totally different animals.

KVM is a hypervisor and only allows you to run "like for like" code. It 
relies on extensions in modern Intel and AMD CPUs that allow a 
"hypervisor" to run native code in a "sandbox" and the Hypervisor only 
has to deal with a limited number of exceptions and so the Virtual 
Machines can deliver near-native performance.

QEMU is a simulator or emulator, and simulates every instruction in 
software. This means performance is no where near native performance. I 
am not familiar with QEMU but I suspect it may need feature that VMS 7.x 
does not provide.

If you are desperate to try this then I suggest the SIMH simulators may 
be a better option, but performance is likely to be a dog...

> 
> Best regards

Dave