* vfkit: Log serial console to file
To make debugging easier, add virtio-serial device logging serial
console to file:
~/.minikube/machines/NAME/serial.log
To enable logging, we need to enable the console in the kernel command
line, since we still use direct kernel boot.
Example log:
% cat /Users/nir/.minikube/machines/vfkit/vfkig.log
[ 0.896094] cacheinfo: Unable to detect cache hierarchy for CPU 0
[ 0.897186] loop: module loaded
[ 0.897670] virtio_blk virtio2: [vda] 840488 512-byte logical blocks (430 MB/410 MiB)
[ 0.897733] vda: detected capacity change from 0 to 430329856
[ 0.898460] virtio_blk virtio3: [vdb] 40960000 512-byte logical blocks (21.0 GB/19.5 GiB)
[ 0.898533] vdb: detected capacity change from 0 to 20971520000
...
[ 1.794714] systemd[1]: Detected virtualization vm-other.
[ 1.794752] systemd[1]: Detected architecture arm64.
Welcome to Buildroot 2025.02!
[ 1.794944] systemd[1]: Hostname set to <minikube>.
[ 1.795011] systemd[1]: Initializing machine ID from random generator.
...
[ OK ] Started Container Runtime Interface for OCI (CRI-O).
[ OK ] Reached target Multi-User System.
Welcome to minikube
vfkit login: [ 6.681578] systemd-ssh-generator[630]: Binding SSH to AF_UNIX socket /run/ssh-unix-local/socket.
* vfkit: Use EFI bootloader
With the fixed iso, we can simplify the driver using the EFI bootloader
option[1] instead of the legacy and deprecated --kernel, --kernel-cmdline,
and --initrd options[2].
Example run:
% minikube start -p vfkit --driver vfkit --container-runtime containerd --network vmnet-shared
😄 [vfkit] minikube v1.36.0 on Darwin 15.5 (arm64)
✨ Using the vfkit driver based on user configuration
👍 Starting "vfkit" primary control-plane node in "vfkit" cluster
🔥 Creating vfkit VM (CPUs=2, Memory=6000MB, Disk=20000MB) ...
📦 Preparing Kubernetes v1.33.1 on containerd 1.7.23 ...
▪ Generating certificates and keys ...
▪ Booting up control plane ...
▪ Configuring RBAC rules ...
🔗 Configuring bridge CNI (Container Networking Interface) ...
🔎 Verifying Kubernetes components...
▪ Using image gcr.io/k8s-minikube/storage-provisioner:v5
🌟 Enabled addons: default-storageclass, storage-provisioner
🏄 Done! kubectl is now configured to use "vfkit" cluster and "default" namespace by default
Comparing direct kernel boot and --bootloader efi shows that it is little bit faster and boot time is more consistent.
% hyperfine -r 10 -C "minikube delete" \
"vfkit-efi/out/minikube start --driver vfkit --network vmnet-shared --container-runtime containerd --no-kubernetes" \
"vfkit-direct/out/minikube start --driver vfkit --network vmnet-shared --container-runtime containerd --no-kubernetes"
Benchmark 1: vfkit-efi/out/minikube start --driver vfkit --network vmnet-shared --container-runtime containerd --no-kubernetes
Time (mean ± σ): 10.205 s ± 0.656 s [User: 0.381 s, System: 0.266 s]
Range (min … max): 9.106 s … 11.254 s 10 runs
Benchmark 2: vfkit-direct/out/minikube start --driver vfkit --network vmnet-shared --container-runtime containerd --no-kubernetes
Time (mean ± σ): 10.933 s ± 1.616 s [User: 0.402 s, System: 0.406 s]
Range (min … max): 9.155 s … 14.168 s 10 runs
Summary
vfkit-efi/out/minikube start --driver vfkit --network vmnet-shared --container-runtime containerd --no-kubernetes ran
1.07 ± 0.17 times faster than vfkit-direct/out/minikube start --driver vfkit --network vmnet-shared --container-runtime containerd --no-kubernetes
[1] https://github.com/crc-org/vfkit/blob/main/doc/usage.md#efi-bootloader
[2] https://github.com/crc-org/vfkit/blob/main/doc/usage.md#deprecated-options
* docs: Update vfkit driver documentation
- Separate vfkit requirements and vmnet-shared requirements
- Update minimal macOS version required for --bootloader efi
- Simplify vfkit upgrade, it is available in brew now
b66888d972