What makes Docker VMM better than Apple Virtualization Framework?

[robd003]

Could you guys write a blog post detailing the differences between Apple's Virtualization Framework and the new Docker VMM?

Right now there's very little information about Docker VMM other than "it's beta"

[NiklasBr]

I'm not entirely clear on the distinction/relation between Rosetta/Apple's Virtualization Framework/Docker VMM/QEMU either.

[JoshuaLuckers]

I was looking for the same information. It would be nice of there was a blogpost with some graphs or other info on the performance improvements.

[MihaelaStoica]

Thank you for your interest in Docker VMM! We are preparing a blog post with more info on the performance improvements. Also, we will add more info to the docs.

[thienanblog]

Can't enable it on M1 Pro and MacOS 15.1 even if I restarted Docker.

running engine: waiting for the Docker API: engine linux/libkrun failed to run: running VM: krun: process terminated unexpectedly: exit status 2

[doringeman]

Hey @thienanblog,
Please upload a diagnostics bundle and quote the ID here, ideally right after you experience the issue.
https://docs.docker.com/desktop/troubleshoot/#diagnose-from-the-terminal.

[thienanblog]

Hey @thienanblog, Please upload a diagnostics bundle and quote the ID here, ideally right after you experience the issue. https://docs.docker.com/desktop/troubleshoot/#diagnose-from-the-terminal.

Diagnostics ID: CF2147DB-7708-440B-A53D-EB643D79CFA3/20241029074913

Please take a look, I couldn't get it to work with Docker VMM. Could only use Apple Virtualization Framework to get it working again.

[markedwards]

Also was not able to use Docker VMM due to a failure starting a rabbitmq:3.13.1-management instance, with the error Cookie file /var/lib/rabbitmq/.erlang.cookie must be accessible by owner only. Works fine with Apple Virtualization Framework with the same image.

[ahmedasmar]

Can't enable it on M1 Pro and MacOS 15.1 even if I restarted Docker.

running engine: waiting for the Docker API: engine linux/libkrun failed to run: running VM: krun: process terminated unexpectedly: exit status 2

Increasing memory resources from 2GB to 4GB fixed this for me

[thienanblog]

Can't enable it on M1 Pro and MacOS 15.1 even if I restarted Docker.
running engine: waiting for the Docker API: engine linux/libkrun failed to run: running VM: krun: process terminated unexpectedly: exit status 2

Increasing memory resources from 2GB to 4GB fixed this for me

Wow, thanks! It worked! But i can't use MySQL Container anymore with Docker VMM so I have to revert back to Apple Virtualization Framework again.

[Lenitr]

Can't enable it on M1 Pro and MacOS 15.1 even if I restarted Docker.
running engine: waiting for the Docker API: engine linux/libkrun failed to run: running VM: krun: process terminated unexpectedly: exit status 2

Increasing memory resources from 2GB to 4GB fixed this for me

Wow, thanks! It worked! But i can't use MySQL Container anymore with Docker VMM so I have to revert back to Apple Virtualization Framework again.

I'm running into the same thing, the Mysql container crashes after booting with this error

2024-10-31 15:51:56 2024-10-31T14:51:56.436341Z 1 [System] [MY-013576] [InnoDB] InnoDB initialization has started.
2024-10-31 15:51:57 2024-10-31T14:51:57.102953Z 1 [ERROR] [MY-013183] [InnoDB] Assertion failure: os0file.cc:2909:ret == 0 thread 46912736060992
2024-10-31 15:51:57 InnoDB: We intentionally generate a memory trap.
2024-10-31 15:51:57 InnoDB: Submit a detailed bug report to http://bugs.mysql.com.
2024-10-31 15:51:57 InnoDB: If you get repeated assertion failures or crashes, even
2024-10-31 15:51:57 InnoDB: immediately after the mysqld startup, there may be
2024-10-31 15:51:57 InnoDB: corruption in the InnoDB tablespace. Please refer to
2024-10-31 15:51:57 InnoDB: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/forcing-innodb-recovery.html
2024-10-31 15:51:57 InnoDB: about forcing recovery.
2024-10-31 15:51:57 2024-10-31T14:51:57Z UTC - mysqld got signal 6 ;
2024-10-31 15:51:57 Most likely, you have hit a bug, but this error can also be caused by malfunctioning hardware.
2024-10-31 15:51:57 BuildID[sha1]=511ab47ad6d5dfd73d58eea5860b1c9c9a97ce07
2024-10-31 15:51:57 Thread pointer: 0x61176d0
2024-10-31 15:51:57 Attempting backtrace. You can use the following information to find out
2024-10-31 15:51:57 where mysqld died. If you see no messages after this, something went
2024-10-31 15:51:57 terribly wrong...
2024-10-31 15:51:57 stack_bottom = 2aaab8f7db50 thread_stack 0x100000
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(my_print_stacktrace(unsigned char const*, unsigned long)+0x41) [0x15af021]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(print_fatal_signal(int)+0x2af) [0xbe81df]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(my_server_abort()+0x6d) [0xbe837d]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(my_abort()+0xe) [0x15a4e5e]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(ut_dbg_assertion_failed(char const*, char const*, unsigned long)+0x16f) [0x177ab1f]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld() [0x16b6b88]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(os_file_delete_if_exists_func(char const*, bool*)+0xf8) [0x16c1c58]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld() [0x1db7088]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(log_remove_unused_files(Log_files_context const&)+0x255) [0x16908e5]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(log_sys_init(bool, unsigned long, unsigned long&)+0xfeb) [0x16a28db]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(srv_start(bool)+0xac6) [0x173b726]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld() [0x15f4392]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(dd::bootstrap::DDSE_dict_init(THD*, dict_init_mode_t, unsigned int)+0xd7) [0x1444ad7]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld(dd::upgrade_57::do_pre_checks_and_initialize_dd(THD*)+0x22c) [0x15933dc]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld() [0xc8b03a]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /usr/sbin/mysqld() [0x1b8aba2]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /lib64/libc.so.6(+0x89c12) [0x2aaaabc7cc12]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 /lib64/libc.so.6(clone+0x44) [0x2aaaabd00f54]
2024-10-31 15:51:57 
2024-10-31 15:51:57 Trying to get some variables.
2024-10-31 15:51:57 Some pointers may be invalid and cause the dump to abort.
2024-10-31 15:51:57 Query (0): Connection ID (thread ID): 1
2024-10-31 15:51:57 Status: NOT_KILLED

I've even tried rebuilding the entire image, same result unfortunately. On Apple Virtualization Framework + Rosetta it works fine.

I'm running a M1 macbook with Sequoia 15.0.1 (24A348)

Edit:
Not sure if it could be relevant, but I'm forcing the AMD64 platform in docker compose

platform: linux/amd64

[bubenkoff]

How do I enable the Docker VMM ?
It's disabled for some reason.
Intel mac on the latest osx.

[simonberger]

Compared it to apples virtualization on a symfony project showing both, a great improvement and a big slowdown.

1. Benchmark running phpstan was roughly 20% faster with VMM
2. Benchmarking a subset of unit and api tests running with codeception was ~25% slower (!)

Update: Slowdown was caused by a Mysql amd86 image. The emulation of VMM is 4x weaker in this case. Using a custom arm64 build image brought the test speed on level of the apple virtualization framework as well, but not faster.

Interestingly the performance of the Apple Virtualization framework did not benefit at all from the native mysql container. Or viewed the other way around the rosetta emulation did an incredible job there.

[Lenitr]

How do I enable the Docker VMM ? It's disabled for some reason. Intel mac on the latest osx.

From the description of the feature in docker desktop, I think it might be only usable on Apple Silicon macs?

[djs55]

@simonberger thanks for sharing the benchmark results! For the one that was slower, could you share pointers or repro steps? I'd love to reproduce in-house. Thanks!