Azure · jakjang · Jan 16, 2026 · Jan 16, 2026 · Jan 16, 2026 · Jan 16, 2026
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+---
+title: "Deploying KubeVirt on AKS"
+date: "2026-01-30"
+description: "Learn how to deploy KubeVirt on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to run and manage virtual machines alongside containerized applications using Kubernetes orchestration"
+authors: ["jack-jiang", "harshit-gupta"]
+tags: ["kubevirt", "general", "operations"]
+---
+
+Kubernetes adoption continues to grow, but not every workload can be redesigned for containers right away. Many organizations still depend on virtual machine (VM) based deployments for technical, regulatory, or operational reasons.
+
+[KubeVirt](https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt) is a [Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) incubating](https://www.cncf.io/projects/kubevirt/) open-source project that allows users to run, deploy, and manage VMs in their Kubernetes clusters.
+
+In this post, you will learn how KubeVirt lets you run, deploy, and manage VMs on Kubernetes, alongside your containerized applications, using Kubernetes as the orchestrator.
+<!-- truncate -->
+
+## Why KubeVirt matters
+
+KubeVirt can help organizations that are in various stages of their Kubernetes journey manage their infrastructure more effectively. It allows customers to manage legacy VM workloads alongside containerized applications using the same Kubernetes API.
+
+VMs deployed on KubeVirt act much the same way as VMs deployed in more traditional manners would but can run and be managed alongside other containerized applications through traditional Kubernetes tools. Capabilities like scheduling that users know and love on Kubernetes can also be applied to these VMs.
+
+Management of these otherwise disparate deployments can be simplified and unified. This unified management can help teams avoid the sprawl that would otherwise come with managing multiple platforms.
+
+The capability to mix and match your workloads in a "hybrid" setting can also allow organizations that might have more complex, legacy VM-based applications to incrementally transition to containers or allow these mission-critical legacy applications to remain as they are.
+
+## Deploying KubeVirt
+
+Users today are able to self-deploy KubeVirt on AKS clusters using SKUs that support nested virtualization.
+
+### Creating an AKS cluster
+
+:::note
+When you select a `--node-vm-size`, use a VM SKU that supports nested virtualization. You can confirm support on the VM size's Microsoft Learn page, such as [Standard_D4s_v5](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/general-purpose/dv5-series?tabs=sizebasic#feature-support).
+Using the [Standard_D4s_v5](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/virtual-machines/sizes/general-purpose/dv5-series?tabs=sizebasic#feature-support) SKU as an example, on the SKU page, you can see whether or not nested virtualization is supported in the "Feature support" section.
+
+![Screenshot of Azure VM SKU page showing nested virtualization support in the Feature support section](nested-virt-example.png)
+:::
+
+1. Create your AKS cluster.
+
+   ```bash
+   az aks create --resource-group <resource-group> --name <cluster-name> --node-vm-size Standard_D4s_v5
+   ```
+
+2. After your cluster is up and running, get the access credentials for the cluster.
+
+   ```bash
+   az aks get-credentials --resource-group <resource-group> --name <cluster-name>
+   ```
+
+### Installing KubeVirt
+
+1. Install the KubeVirt operator.
+
+   ```bash
+   # Get the latest release
+   export RELEASE=$(curl https://storage.googleapis.com/kubevirt-prow/release/kubevirt/kubevirt/stable.txt)
+
+   # Deploy the KubeVirt operator
+   kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/releases/download/${RELEASE}/kubevirt-operator.yaml
+   ```
+
+1. Install the KubeVirt custom resource.
+
+   ```bash
+   curl -L https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/releases/download/${RELEASE}/kubevirt-cr.yaml \
+   | yq '.spec.infra.nodePlacement={}' \
+   | kubectl apply -f -
+   ```
+
+   Notice the empty `nodePlacement: {}` line. By default, KubeVirt sets the node-affinity of control-plane components to control-plane nodes. Because AKS control-plane nodes are fully managed by Azure and inaccessible to KubeVirt, this update to nodePlacement avoids potential failures.
+
+### Confirm the KubeVirt pods are up and running on the cluster
+
+Once all the components are installed, you can quickly check if all the KubeVirt components are up and running properly in your cluster:
+
+```bash
+kubectl get pods -n kubevirt -o wide
+```
+
+You should see something like this:
+
+```bash
+NAME                               READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE     IP             NODE                                NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
+virt-api-7f7d56bbc5-s9nr4          1/1     Running   0          4m10s   10.244.0.174   aks-nodepool1-26901818-vmss000000   <none>           <none>
+virt-controller-7c5744f574-56dd5   1/1     Running   0          3m39s   10.244.0.204   aks-nodepool1-26901818-vmss000000   <none>           <none>
+virt-controller-7c5744f574-ftz6z   1/1     Running   0          3m39s   10.244.0.120   aks-nodepool1-26901818-vmss000000   <none>           <none>
+virt-handler-dlkxf                 1/1     Running   0          3m39s   10.244.0.52    aks-nodepool1-26901818-vmss000000   <none>           <none>
+virt-operator-7c8bdfb574-54cs6     1/1     Running   0          9m38s   10.244.0.87    aks-nodepool1-26901818-vmss000000   <none>           <none>
+virt-operator-7c8bdfb574-wzdxt     1/1     Running   0          9m38s   10.244.0.153   aks-nodepool1-26901818-vmss000000   <none>           <none>
+```
+
+### Creating VirtualMachineInstance resources in KubeVirt
+
+With KubeVirt installed on your cluster, you can now create your VirtualMachineInstance (VMI) resources.
+
+1. Create your VMI. Save the following YAML, which will create a VMI based on Fedora OS, as `vmi-fedora.yaml`.
+
+   ```yaml
+   apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1
+   kind: VirtualMachineInstance
+   metadata:
+     labels:
+       special: vmi-fedora
+     name: vmi-fedora
+   spec:
+     domain:
+       devices:
+         disks:
+         - disk:
+             bus: virtio
+           name: containerdisk
+         - disk:
+             bus: virtio
+           name: cloudinitdisk
+         interfaces:
+         - masquerade: {}
+           name: default
+         rng: {}
+       memory:
+         guest: 1024M
+       resources: {}
+     networks:
+     - name: default
+       pod: {}
+     terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 0
+     volumes:
+     - containerDisk:
+         image: quay.io/kubevirt/fedora-with-test-tooling-container-disk:devel
+       name: containerdisk
+     - cloudInitNoCloud:
+         userData: |-
+           #cloud-config
+           password: fedora
+           chpasswd: { expire: False }
+       name: cloudinitdisk
+   ```
+
+1. Deploy the VMI in your cluster.
+
+   ```bash
+   kubectl apply -f vmi-fedora.yaml
+   ```
+
+   If successful, you should see an output similar to `virtualmachineinstance.kubevirt.io/vmi-fedora created`.
+
+### Check out the created VMI
+
+1. Test and make sure the VMI is created and running via `kubectl get vmi`. You should see a result similar to:
+
+   ```bash
+   NAME         AGE   PHASE     IP             NODENAME                            READY
+   vmi-fedora   85s   Running   10.244.0.213   aks-nodepool1-26901818-vmss000000   True
+   ```
+
+1. Connect to the newly created VMI and inspect it.
+
+   Before you use the `virtctl` command-line tool, install it on your workstation. Install the [`krew` plugin manager](https://krew.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user-guide/setup/install/) if you don't have it, then run:
+
+   ```bash
+   kubectl krew install virt
+   kubectl virt console vmi-fedora
+   ```
+
+   When prompted with credentials, the default username/password should be `fedora`/`fedora`.
+
+   ```bash
+   vmi-fedora login: fedora
+   Password: 
+   ```
+
+   Once logged in, run `cat /etc/os-release` to display the OS details.
+
+   ```bash
+   [fedora@vmi-fedora ~]$ cat /etc/os-release
+   NAME=Fedora
+   VERSION="32 (Cloud Edition)"
+   ID=fedora
+   VERSION_ID=32
+   VERSION_CODENAME=""
+   PLATFORM_ID="platform:f32"
+   PRETTY_NAME="Fedora 32 (Cloud Edition)"
+   ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
+   LOGO=fedora-logo-icon
+   CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:fedoraproject:fedora:32"
+   HOME_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/"
+   DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora/f32/system-administrators-guide/"
+   SUPPORT_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicating_and_getting_help"
+   BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/"
+   REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT="Fedora"
+   REDHAT_BUGZILLA_PRODUCT_VERSION=32
+   REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="Fedora"
+   REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION=32
+   PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Legal:PrivacyPolicy"
+   VARIANT="Cloud Edition"
+   VARIANT_ID=cloud
+   ```
+
+## Converting your VMs
+
+At this point, you should have KubeVirt up and running in your AKS cluster and a VMI deployed. KubeVirt can help with a [plethora of scenarios](https://kubevirt.io/) that operational teams may run into. Migrating legacy VMs to KubeVirt can be an involved process, however. [Doing it manually](https://www.spectrocloud.com/blog/how-to-migrate-your-vms-to-kubevirt-with-forklift) involves steps like converting VM's disk, persisting a VM disk, to creating a VM template.
+
+Tools like [Forklift](https://github.com/kubev2v/forklift) can automate some of the complexity involved with the migration. Forklift allows VMs to be migrated at scale to KubeVirt. The migration can be done by installing Forklift custom resources and setting up their respective configs in the target cluster. Some great walkthroughs of VM migration can be found in these videos [detailing how Forklift helps deliver a better UX when importing VMs to KubeVirt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7hVcv2Fu6I) and [breaking down everything from the architecture to a demo of Forklift 2.0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w4Afj5-0_g).
+
+## Share your feedback
+
+If you're using KubeVirt on AKS or are interested in trying it, we'd love to hear from you! Your feedback will help the AKS team plan how to best support these types of workloads on our platform. Share your thoughts in our [GitHub Issue](https://github.com/Azure/AKS/issues/5445).
+
+## Resources
+
+- [What is KubeVirt?](https://www.redhat.com/topics/virtualization/what-is-kubevirt)
+- [KubeVirt user guides](https://kubevirt.io/user-guide/)
@@ -418,3 +418,12 @@ thilo-fromm:
   socials:
     linkedin: thilo-fromm-b6832a56
     github: t-lo
+
+harshit-gupta:
+  name: Harshit Gupta
+  title: Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft
+  url: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hagupta/
+  socials:
+    linkedin: hagupta
+    github: harshitgupta1337
+
@@ -187,10 +187,15 @@ kube-fleet:
   permalink: /kube-fleet
   description: Using Kube-Fleet for multi-cluster application deployment and management with AKS.
 
+kubevirt:
+  label: KubeVirt
+  permalink: /kubevirt
+  description: Using KubeVirt to run VMs with Kubernetes and AKS.
+
 kueue:
   label: Kueue
   permalink: /kueue
-  description: Kueue workload queueing and scheduling for batch AI/ML jobs on AK
+  description: Kueue workload queueing and scheduling for batch AI/ML jobs on AKS.
 
 kro:
   label: KRO