19 questions · 4 subjects
The questions providers ask first.
Short answers, each one about something the product does today. Where an answer has a number in it, the page it links to shows the run the number came from.
Getting started
What is KLYRN VM?
A control panel for KVM virtual machines, made for hosting providers. A controller holds the panel, the API and the database. An agent on each compute node runs the machines. Your customers and resellers sign in to the same panel and see only what is theirs.
Which Linux systems can I install it on?
Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04, Debian 12 and 13, AlmaLinux 8, 9 and 10, Rocky Linux 8, 9 and 10, and CentOS Stream 10, on x86_64. Each one is reinstalled from nothing and checked before a release is offered. Fedora takes the controller but is refused as a compute node. The install page has the command.
Can I try it on one server?
Yes. Install the controller, then run klyrn-vm admin node add-local on the same server to make it its own first compute node. A private network, a storage pool and the image catalogue are ready without setting anything up by hand.
How long does an install take?
On a clean Ubuntu 24.04 server the controller was installed in 2 seconds, the server was added as a compute node in 12 seconds, and the first machine was running 24 seconds after it was asked for, image download included. The node step installs the hypervisor packages, so it takes longer on a slow package mirror.
Which systems can my customers run?
Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 and 26.04, Debian 12 and 13, AlmaLinux 8, 9 and 10, Rocky Linux 8, 9 and 10, CentOS Stream 10, Fedora 43 and Windows Server 2022, plus images you add yourself. There are also one-click applications such as Docker, PostgreSQL, WordPress, Node.js and Ollama.
Coming from another panel
Can it run beside SolusVM 2 while I decide?
Yes. In observe mode KLYRN reads a running SolusVM 2 estate into its own tables and changes nothing on the source: commands, hypervisor calls and file writes all pass a guard that fails closed. See moving from SolusVM 2, or the migration in full.
Do my customers' machines restart when I switch?
No. A guest is not restarted to be read or to be adopted. The host is taken over under a hold, and SolusVM's switch rules and routes stay exactly as they were.
Do my customers have to register again?
No. Their accounts come across with their machines. Each customer gets a one-time link to choose a password, because the old password is never copied.
Does it manage OpenVZ or VMware?
OpenVZ and Virtuozzo containers are out of scope: they are detected and reported, never counted as adoptable. Machines on a VMware ESXi host can be adopted and run from the panel (power, console, delete), but cannot be created, resized or backed up there.
Running it
Does the panel open a port on my hypervisors?
No. The node dials the controller and keeps that channel open; nothing dials the node. The controller listens on 8443 for the panel and API, and on 8444 for nodes, which speaks mutual TLS and nothing else.
What happens to machines if the controller is down?
They keep running. A machine is a process on its compute node and does not depend on the controller to stay up. While the controller is away nothing new can be started from the panel, and the agents reconnect by themselves when it returns.
Where do backups go?
To a separate backup server, over a key that can only deliver backups to that node's own folder. A new machine gets a schedule the day it is made, and a machine with no current backup is listed with the reason. See backups that leave the host.
Can I move a running machine to another host?
Yes, with its disks. Measured on hardware, the machine was paused for 303 milliseconds. Between an Intel host and an AMD one a live move is not possible in KVM, so there is a move with one restart, which measured about 7 seconds off. See moving a running machine.
Is there an API, and does it work with WHMCS?
Yes. Everything the panel does goes through a REST API with scoped tokens. There is a WHMCS module for provisioning (tested against a real controller, not yet inside a running WHMCS), signed webhooks for Slack, Discord and n8n, and a Prometheus endpoint.
How are updates applied?
From the panel, in one step. The controller verifies the release signature, runs the new build and makes it state its own version before switching, and keeps the build it replaced. A node agent replaces itself without touching a guest: 0 of 1,995 probes were interrupted while one did.
Price and licence
What does it cost?
The first compute node is free for good, with every feature. Each node after it is $5 a month. There is no fee per machine, per address or per customer. See pricing.
What happens if my licence expires?
Nothing stops. Every machine keeps running and can be started, stopped, consoled and backed up. After 14 days of grace, the one thing refused is enrolling a new compute node beyond the free one. There is no function in the licence code that stops a machine. See how licensing works.
What counts as a node?
A host KLYRN manages: one that runs machines KLYRN created or took over. A host in observe mode, which only reads an estate you are migrating from, costs nothing.
How do I buy and install a licence?
Sign in at my.klyrn.com, order KLYRN VM for the nodes beyond the free one, and pay. Paste your installation id from Settings, Licence, and paste the file you are given back into the same page. Paying for two nodes gives a file for three.
The fastest answer is to run it.
One command on the Linux you already run. The first compute node is free.