interVM

InterVM is a term used to describe the set of techniques and protocols that enable communication, coordination, and data exchange between virtual machines running on the same physical host or across interconnected hosts. In practice, interVM relies on a communication substrate provided by the virtualization platform, such as virtual network interfaces, shared memory regions, or hypervisor-mediated channels, along with a signaling protocol to establish sessions and deliver messages. The design goals typically emphasize low latency, high throughput, and strong isolation between tenants and VMs, with security enforced at the hypervisor boundary.

Key components of an interVM subsystem often include a transport layer (for message delivery and ordering), an addressing and session-management mechanism, and security controls such as authentication, encryption, and access policies. Implementations may expose channels through virtio-based devices, virtual serial interfaces, or vhost-user mechanisms, and may also leverage shared memory for high-speed data transfer. Performance considerations focus on reducing context switches, managing memory resources, and ensuring predictable latency.

Common use cases for interVM communication include distributed caches and in-VM service meshes, coordination for parallel or distributed workloads, and tooling for monitoring, debugging, or orchestration within a multi-VM deployment. It can also be employed for cross-VM synchronization during live migration or fault-tolerance schemes, subject to policy and security constraints.

The term is not a universal standard; actual implementations vary by vendor and research project. See also virtualization, inter-process communication, hypervisor, shared memory, and cloud computing.