Let’s be honest — not everything can move to containers overnight. Most IT environments still have a mix of modern, cloud-native apps and older systems that run perfectly fine on virtual machines. That’s where KubeVirt comes in.
KubeVirt is an open-source project that brings virtualization into Kubernetes. In simple terms, it lets you run and manage virtual machines (VMs) inside a Kubernetes cluster. You can use the same Kubernetes tools, the same API, and the same workflows — but now they also work for your VMs.
Why does this matter?
Because most organizations aren’t starting from scratch. They already have infrastructure built on VMware, KVM, or another hypervisor. They want the agility of containers, but they can’t just shut down everything that came before.
KubeVirt bridges that gap. It allows teams to manage both containers and virtual machines together, under one management plane. That means fewer silos, less duplication, and a smoother transition toward a cloud-native setup.
You can think of it as extending Kubernetes — not replacing your virtualization stack immediately, but giving you a path forward.
How KubeVirt works
Under the hood, KubeVirt uses KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) to run VMs on your Kubernetes nodes. It wraps those VMs inside Kubernetes objects, which means you can create, deploy, and manage them using the same commands and YAML manifests you’d use for containers.
A virtual machine in KubeVirt behaves a lot like a pod. You can schedule it, scale it, monitor it, and even use Kubernetes features like Labels, Namespaces, and RBAC for control.
So if you already know Kubernetes, you don’t need to learn an entirely new toolset. You just extend your existing cluster to handle virtual workloads.
When to use KubeVirt
KubeVirt makes sense if you’re:
- Running legacy applications that can’t be containerized yet.
- Building a hybrid platform where containers and VMs need to coexist.
- Transitioning from a traditional virtualization setup (like VMware) to Kubernetes gradually.
It’s especially useful for DevOps teams that want a single, unified way to manage all workloads — no matter how they’re packaged.
The bigger picture
KubeVirt isn’t trying to compete with VMware or OpenStack. It’s part of a broader shift in how we think about infrastructure. Instead of treating VMs and containers as separate worlds, it treats them as different forms of compute — both valid, both manageable within the same framework.
That’s powerful because it lets teams move at their own pace. You can modernize when it makes sense, not just because you feel forced to.
In short
KubeVirt gives Kubernetes the ability to run virtual machines natively.
It’s flexible, open-source, and built for the real world — where new and old technologies need to live side by side for a while.
If your goal is to simplify operations, reduce silos, and bring your legacy workloads into a modern platform without breaking everything, KubeVirt might be exactly what you’ve been waiting for.
