An introduction to the Message Queue NIC virtual link layer interface for QEMU based virtual machines. The mqnic interface provides a completely virtualized, high performance ethernet abstraction without requiring external IP infrastructure to support VM IP network routing and termination.
Based on the ivshmem technology originally developed by Cam Macdonell the mqnic drivers use zero copy vm<->host data transfers and the apache message bus to provide low latency, high bandwidth IP support for virtual data centers while simplifying the provisioning of hosted IP.
The link layer transport virtualization is provided by the ActiveMQ message bus managed under the control of a host side server and is completely transparent to the data center IP infrastructure. This completely eliminates the need for specialized IT routing and termination infrastructure to support mqnic virtualized networks.
Within the virtualized domains the mqnic virtualization is completely transparent. The mqnic driver appears as a standard ethernet device and is configured and managed using standard IP Linux services for termination and routing.