Add local macOS VM dev machine setup instructions

[gj]

Contributes towards #825

Signed-off-by: Gabe Jackson [email protected]

Issue #, if available: #825

Description of changes: Adds local macOS VM dev machine setup instructions.

By submitting this pull request, I confirm that my contribution is made under the terms of the Apache 2.0 license.

[gj]

Hi @dianpopa 👋

Is there anything else required here?

[acatangiu]

@gj we hadn't had the chance yet to run your setup instructions on a Mac and validate they are correct. We'll get around to it soon, but it's currently low priority so bare with us.

[acatangiu]

@gj changes look good, please squash your commits in a single one. Howto here.

[gj]

Squashed 'em real good @acatangiu !

[dhrgit]

I think it would be useful to make it more clear what it is that this guide is trying to achieve. I.e. it's not about installing Ubuntu on Vmware Fusion, but about setting up a nested virtualization capable Linux VM, with an example given for the Fusion/Ubuntu stack.

IMO, in its current form, it can lead the reader to understand that developing Firecracker on macOS is dependent on Fusion/Ubuntu.

E:
I'd start by describing the two requirements of developing Firecracker on macOS:

• a nested virtualization capable hypervisor/VMM
• a Linux VM (configured as per our getting started guide), running on top of that VMM

and then provide an example for such an environment in the Fusion/Ubuntu stack.

[CorbanR]

Is VMware fusion a requirement? I'd be curious if Virtualbox would work(It supports Intel VT-x or AMD virtualization). I'm also betting a lot of the dev machine setup could be automated with something like vagrant, although maybe using vagrant is overkill.

[rn]

AFAIK VirtualBox does not support nested virtualisation. VMware Fusion does and so does Parallels

[CorbanR]

It appears it Virtualbox does support nested virtualization as for 6.0 (which is fairly recent).
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E97728_01/F12470/html/nested-virt-support.html the caveat being

 This feature is only available on host systems that use an AMD CPU. 

which probably doesn't make it the best choice right now unfortunately. I like VMware, i'm just also a fan of a free option if available.

[andreeaflorescu]

@CorbanR I would also like to see documentation around running Firecracker on macOS using a free virtualization solution. What about adding an issue relating to this and then we can/somebody else can pick it up?

[dhrgit]

As far as I know, there is yet no free, nested-capable hypervisor for macOS. So far, the only options that I see for running Firecracker on macOS are Parallels (tested by me) and Fusion (I assume tested by @gj).

[gj]

@dhrgit yes, I tested it — didn't write these steps blind 😄

FWIW, I used a free evaluation copy of Fusion.

I will try to find some time after work to add some text along the lines of #940 (comment).

[gj]

@dhrgit - added a brief note that echoes the longer note at the top of the file.

[madhavtummala]

Can't we use firecracker directly in macOS.
Virtualization inside virtualization would be a pain and would not give good performance.
Also, the title is a little misleading.