How to check if the machine is fully virtualized or para virtualized

Hello,

To run fully virtualized guests, host CPU support is needed. This is typically referred to as Intel VT, or AMD-V. To check for Intel VT support look for the 'vmx' flag, or for AMD-V support check for 'svm' flag:

Intel

# grep vmx /proc/cpuinfo
flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat

 pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx

lm constant_tsc pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm

AMD

# grep svm /proc/cpuinfo
flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36

clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm 3dnowext

3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8_legacy


If you have the 'svm' or 'vmx' flags, then your CPU is capable of fully-virt.

If the machine supports para virtual guests, then you should see a "pae" flag in /proc/info. This means - the machine has PAE support and can run para virtual guests.

[root@unixfoo root]# cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep pae
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm nx lm
[root@unixfoo root]#

If there is no output for the above command, then the machine is not capable of running a para-virtualized guest.