VMtoVM

VMtoVM is a concept and set of software components that enable direct communication between virtual machines (VMs) across hosts and hypervisors. The goal is to provide low-latency messaging, efficient coordination, and secure data exchange without requiring traffic to traverse external networks or proxy layers. VMtoVM typically layers a transport protocol, a VM addressing and identity scheme, and a set of APIs for messaging, remote procedure calls, or shared-state operations.

Architecturally, VMtoVM comprises a VM-embedded agent or shim, a cross-host transport channel, and a coordination plane that handles authentication, authorization, and naming. The transport must operate across different virtualization environments and may leverage network overlays, shared memory channels, or virtual network interfaces. A naming service maps peer names to VM identifiers, while security components enforce access control, encryption, and trust boundaries.

Interoperability is not standardized, and multiple projects propose compatible wire formats and API contracts to enable cross-vendor deployments. Adoption typically occurs in environments demanding low-latency inter-VM messaging, such as microservices within data centers, distributed databases, or orchestration tasks that span several VMs.

Common use cases include service-to-service communication between VMs, cross-hypervisor task coordination, and lightweight tracing or debugging without external proxies. Limitations include dependence on underlying virtualization infrastructure, potential security management complexity, and the need to maintain correctness guarantees for distributed state across VM boundaries.

External references and related topics include inter-VM communication, virtualization, hypervisors, and virtual networking.