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Richard Knop
Asked: 2009-07-23 09:47:02 +0800 CST

What is kvm reboot?

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Some web hosting providers offer "kvm reboot" for their dedicated servers? What does that mean?

Does it mean the server reboots automatically after a crash or freeze?

windows linux hosting web

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Often this means that you can remotely access the console over the network (KVM standing for Keyboard, Video, Mouse) and, further, trigger a reboot remotely even if the OS has completely gone to lunch.

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  2. Both bdonlan and Tom may be right - KVM stands both for Keyboard Video Mouse, which will give you remote access even to the BIOS pre boot stage of your server, or for Kernel Virtual Machine, which your server might be virtualized on.

    You should contact the host you are considering to use and ask which of these they mean - know what you pay for.

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  3. KVM is a kernel-based virtual machine, and virtual machines typically reboot much faster than physical systems. (However, I do not believe it will necessarily automatically reboot) When using KVM, you also do not need to reboot the system to run a VM guest [1].

    [1] http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid94_gci1318772,00.html

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  4. Kvm (Keyboard Video Mouse) is needed when your server does not come online or has issues while booting. Using kvm, you can access your server through vnc and troubleshoot.

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