VirtIO Plugin🔗

The VirtIO plugin for vAccel implements VirtIO-based transport for vAccel operations using the virtio-accel kernel module. This plugin is meant to be a more efficient alternative to standard VirtIO mechanisms like vSock.

Overview🔗

The plugin forwards vAccel calls from a VM to the virtualization host. To use this plugin you will need both the virtio-accel module (on the VM) and a custom VMM with a virtio-accel backend (on the host).

The VMM handles the plugin requests and translates the forwarded calls to host vAccel calls. Essentially, to use the VirtIO plugin the following components must be in place:

Guest: vAccel + the VirtIO plugin, to forward the application calls
Host: VMM w/ virtio-accel support + vAccel + an acceleration plugin, to handle the forwarded calls and perform the actual acceleration

Currently, there is a custom QEMU implementation of the virtio-accel backend.

Supported operations🔗

Installing the plugin🔗

You can get the latest VirtIO plugin binary release from the Releases page of the vAccel repository. Releases include DEB packages for x86_64/aarch64 Ubuntu-based systems.

DEB🔗

To install the DEB package of the latest VirtIO plugin release:

x86ARM (64-bit)

wget https://github.com/nubificus/vaccel/releases/download/v0.8.0/vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0-1_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0-1_amd64.deb

wget https://github.com/nubificus/vaccel/releases/download/v0.8.0/vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0-1_arm64.deb
sudo dpkg -i vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0-1_arm64.deb

Latest artifacts🔗

You can also find prebuilt artifacts of the latest VirtIO plugin revision at:

x86ARM (64-bit)

# DEB
https://s3.nbfc.io/nbfc-assets/github/vaccel/plugins/virtio/rev/main/x86_64/release/vaccel-virtio_latest_amd64.deb

# DEB
https://s3.nbfc.io/nbfc-assets/github/vaccel/plugins/virtio/rev/main/aarch64/release/vaccel-virtio_latest_arm64.deb

Getting the prebuilt VM artifacts🔗

Besides the plugin binaries, you can find prebuilt x86_64/aarch64 artifacts for running a VM with the latest release. The provided artifacts contain an Ubuntu rootfs.img with the virtio-accel module, VirtIO plugin and vAccel pre-installed. A Linux kernel image that can be used to run a vAccel-enabled VM is also included.

TAR🔗

To get the TAR archive with the prebuilt VM artifacts of the latest VirtIO plugin release:

x86ARM (64-bit)

wget https://github.com/nubificus/vaccel/releases/download/v0.8.0/vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0_x86_64_vm.tar.xz
# Replace 'vm-artifacts' with the desired artifact directory
mkdir -p vm-artifacts && tar xfv vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0_x86_64_vm.tar.xz -C vm-artifacts
find vm-artifacts -name "virtio*.tar.xz" -exec tar xfv {} -C vm-artifacts \;
rm -r vm-artifacts/virtio*.tar.xz

wget https://github.com/nubificus/vaccel/releases/download/v0.8.0/vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0_aarch64_vm.tar.xz
# Replace 'vm-artifacts' with the desired artifact directory
mkdir -p vm-artifacts && tar xfv vaccel-virtio_0.3.0+vaccel.0.8.0_aarch64_vm.tar.xz -C vm-artifacts
find vm-artifacts -name "virtio*.tar.xz" -exec tar xfv {} -C vm-artifacts \;
rm -r vm-artifacts/virtio*.tar.xz

Latest artifacts🔗

You can also find the prebuilt VM artifacts of the latest VirtIO plugin revision at:

x86ARM (64-bit)

# TAR
https://s3.nbfc.io/nbfc-assets/github/vaccel/plugins/virtio/rev/main/x86_64/release/vaccel-virtio_latest_x86_64_vm.tar.xz

# TAR
https://s3.nbfc.io/nbfc-assets/github/vaccel/plugins/virtio/rev/main/aarch64/release/vaccel-virtio_latest_aarch64_vm.tar.xz

Installing a virtio-accel-enabled QEMU🔗

You can get a Docker image with a virtio-accel-enabled QEMU & vAccel pre-installed for x86_64/aarch64 with:

docker pull harbor.nbfc.io/nubificus/qemu-vaccel

or using an explicit tag:

docker pull harbor.nbfc.io/nubificus/qemu-vaccel:10.2.0-vaccel.0.8.0

Use the latest-dev tag to get the latest development version.

Usage🔗

To specify VirtIO plugin as the selected plugin for vAccel execution:

export VACCEL_PLUGINS=libvaccel-virtio.so

Ensure vAccel and the VirtIO plugin libraries are in the library search paths before trying to use the plugin. In order to use the plugin, the virtio-accel module must be loaded in the VM, the used VMM must have virtio-accel support and the respective accel device must exist.

Prebuilt VM artifacts usage🔗

Assuming KVM is enabled on your system and you have the prebuilt VM artifacts at vm-artifacts, you can boot a virtio-accel-enabled VM with vAccel & the VirtIO plugin preinstalled using:

x86ARM (64-bit)

cd vm-artifacts
docker run --rm --device=/dev/kvm -it \
    --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)",destination=/data \
    harbor.nbfc.io/nubificus/qemu-vaccel \
    -r rootfs.img --drive-cache -k bzImage* \
    -M pc,accel=kvm --vcpus 2 -m 2048 \
    /bin/bash

cd vm-artifacts
docker run --rm --device=/dev/kvm -it \
    --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)",destination=/data \
    harbor.nbfc.io/nubificus/qemu-vaccel \
    -r rootfs.img --drive-cache -k Image* \
    --cmdline-append "console=ttyAMA0,115200" \
    -M virt --no-pci --vcpus 2 -m 2048 \
    /bin/bash

This will start the host vAccel with the NoOp plugin by default. To use plugins not bundled with vAccel you can install them in the current dir and use them by setting VACCEL_PLUGINS in the docker run env.

Running an example🔗

You can run a command directly using the -c argument of the qemu-vaccel Docker image.

Assuming you have the prebuilt VM artifacts at vm-artifacts, to run an image classification with the 'NoOp' plugin use:

x86ARM (64-bit)

$ cd vm-artifacts
$ docker run --rm --device=/dev/kvm -it \
      --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)",destination=/data \
      harbor.nbfc.io/nubificus/qemu-vaccel \
      -r rootfs.img --drive-cache -k bzImage* \
      -M pc,accel=kvm --vcpus 2 -m 2048 \
      -c "classify /usr/share/vaccel/images/example.jpg"
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Initializing vAccel
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <info> vAccel 0.7.1-92-995d8f4c
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Config:
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   plugins = libvaccel-noop.so
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   log_level = debug
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   log_file = (null)
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   profiling_enabled = false
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   version_ignore = false
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Created top-level rundir: /run/user/0/vaccel/dx3GKu
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <info> Registered plugin noop 0.7.1-92-995d8f4c
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op noop from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op exec from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op exec_with_resource from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_classify from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_detect from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_segment from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_pose from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_depth from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tf_model_load from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tf_model_unload from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tf_model_run from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tflite_model_load from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tflite_model_unload from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tflite_model_run from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op torch_model_load from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op torch_model_run from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op torch_sgemm from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op blas_sgemm from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_arraycopy from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_vectoradd from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_parallel from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_mmult from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op minmax from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op opencv from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Loaded plugin noop from libvaccel-noop.so
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> New rundir for session 1: /run/user/0/vaccel/dx3GKu/session.1
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> Initialized session 1 with plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> session:1 Looking for func implementing op image_classify
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> Returning func for op image_classify from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] Calling Image classification for session 1
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] Dumping arguments for Image classification:
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] model: (null)
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] len_img: 79281
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] len_out_text: 512
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] len_out_imgname: 512
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] will return a dummy result
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] will return a dummy result
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> Released session 1
Initialized session with id: 1
classification tags: This is a dummy classification tag!
classification imagename: This is a dummy imgname!
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up vAccel
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up sessions
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up resources
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up plugins
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Unregistered plugin noop

$ cd vm-artifacts
$ docker run --rm --device=/dev/kvm -it \
      --mount type=bind,source="$(pwd)",destination=/data \
      harbor.nbfc.io/nubificus/qemu-vaccel \
      -r rootfs.img --drive-cache -k Image* \
      --cmdline-append "console=ttyAMA0,115200" \
      -M virt --no-pci --vcpus 2 -m 2048 \
      -c "classify /usr/share/vaccel/images/example.jpg"
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Initializing vAccel
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <info> vAccel 0.7.1-92-995d8f4c
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Config:
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   plugins = libvaccel-noop.so
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   log_level = debug
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   log_file = (null)
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   profiling_enabled = false
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug>   version_ignore = false
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Created top-level rundir: /run/user/0/vaccel/dx3GKu
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <info> Registered plugin noop 0.7.1-92-995d8f4c
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op noop from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op exec from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op exec_with_resource from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_classify from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_detect from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_segment from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_pose from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op image_depth from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tf_model_load from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tf_model_unload from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tf_model_run from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tflite_model_load from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tflite_model_unload from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op tflite_model_run from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op torch_model_load from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op torch_model_run from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op torch_sgemm from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op blas_sgemm from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_arraycopy from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_vectoradd from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_parallel from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op fpga_mmult from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op minmax from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Registered op opencv from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:51.21 - <debug> Loaded plugin noop from libvaccel-noop.so
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> New rundir for session 1: /run/user/0/vaccel/dx3GKu/session.1
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> Initialized session 1 with plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> session:1 Looking for func implementing op image_classify
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> Returning func for op image_classify from plugin noop
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] Calling Image classification for session 1
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] Dumping arguments for Image classification:
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] model: (null)
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] len_img: 79281
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] len_out_text: 512
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] len_out_imgname: 512
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] will return a dummy result
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> [noop] will return a dummy result
2026.04.30-13:00:57.90 - <debug> Released session 1
Initialized session with id: 1
classification tags: This is a dummy classification tag!
classification imagename: This is a dummy imgname!
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up vAccel
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up sessions
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up resources
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Cleaning up plugins
2026.04.30-13:00:58.32 - <debug> Unregistered plugin noop