vfkit
Overview
VFKit is an open-source program for macOS virtualization, optimized for lightweight virtual machines and container deployment.
Networking
The vfkit driver has two networking options: nat and vmnet-shared.
The nat network is always available, but it does not provide access
between minikube clusters. To access other clusters or run multi-node
cluster, you need the vmnet-shared network. The vmnet-shared network
requires vmnet-helper, see
installation instructions bellow.
Requirements
- Requires macOS 10.15 or later
- Requires minikube version 1.36.0 or later.
- Requires vmnet-helper.
Install vment-helper
tag="$(curl -fsSL https://api.github.com/repos/nirs/vmnet-helper/releases/latest | jq -r .tag_name)"
machine="$(uname -m)"
archive="vmnet-helper-$tag-$machine.tar.gz"
curl -LOf "https://github.com/nirs/vmnet-helper/releases/download/$tag/$archive"
sudo tar xvf "$archive" -C / opt/vmnet-helper
rm "$archive"
The command downloads the latest release from github and installs it to
/opt/vmnet-helper.
IMPORTANT: The vmnet-helper executable and the directory where it is installed must be owned by root and may not be modifiable by unprivileged users.
Grant permission to run vmnet-helper
The vment-helper process must run as root to create a vmnet interface.
To allow users in the staff group to run the vmnet helper without a
password, you can install the default sudoers rule:
sudo install -m 0640 /opt/vmnet-helper/share/doc/vmnet-helper/sudoers.d/vmnet-helper /etc/sudoers.d/
You can change the sudoers configuration to allow access to specific users or other groups.
Usage
minikube start --driver vfkit --network vmnet-shared
Usage
minikube start --driver vfkit [--network nat]
The nat network is used by default if the --network option is not
specified.
Issues
Other
Troubleshooting
Run with logs
Run minikube start --driver vfkit --alsologtostderr -v=7 to debug crashes
Upgrade VFKit
New updates to macOS often require an updated vfkit driver. To upgrade:
- If Podman Desktop is installed, it also bundles
vfkit - If you have Brew Package Manager, run:
brew upgrade vfkit - As a final alternative, you install the latest VFKit from GitHub
- To check your current version, run:
vfkit -v - If the version didn’t change after upgrading verify the correct VFKit is in the path. run:
which vfkit
Troubleshooting the vmnet-shared network
Check for errors in vment-helper log:
$MINIKUBE_HOME/.minikube/machines/MACHINE-NAME/vmnet-helper.log
Check that the vmnet-helper process is running:
ps au | grep vmnet-helper | grep -v grep
If the helper is not running restart the minikube cluster.
For help with vment-helper please use the discussions.
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