Welcome to ZeroVM’s Documentation!

ZeroVM is a lightweight virtualization technology based on Google Native Client (NaCl). It is a sandbox which isolates and runs a single process at a time, unlike other virtualization and container technology which provide an entire virtualized operating system and execution environment capable of running multiple processes.

ZeroCloud is a platform based on ZeroVM and Openstack Swift which can be used to run all sorts of applications, including REST services, MapReduce, and batch processing of any kind. Applications which deal with a lot of data or require significant parallel processing are a good fit for ZeroCloud.

Where should I start?

If you’re interested in learning in depth about the core ZeroVM sandbox technology, check out the ZeroVM core documentation.

If you’re interested in developing web applications, MapReduce applications, or just to need handle large amounts of data, you don’t need to know too many details about the core ZeroVM sandbox technology; you can skip straight to the ZeroCloud section.

ZeroVM: Lightweight, single process sandbox

• 1. ZeroVM Overview
• 2. Isolation and Security
• 3. In-memory File System
• 4. Channels and I/O
  • 4.1. Channels Restrictions
  • 4.2. Channels Definitions
• 5. ZeroVM Manifest
  • 5.1. Channel Definition Limit
• 6. Embeddability

ZeroCloud: Cloud storage & compute platform

• 1. ZeroCloud Overview
  • 1.1. Use cases
  • 1.2. Language support
• 2. Setting up a development environment
  • 2.1. Install VirtualBox
  • 2.2. Install Vagrant
  • 2.3. Clone the ZeroCloud source code
  • 2.4. vagrant up
  • 2.5. Install and configure command line clients
  • 2.6. Restarting DevStack
• 3. Running code on ZeroCloud
  • 3.1. Setup: Getting an auth token
  • 3.2. POST a Python script
  • 3.3. POST a ZeroVM image
  • 3.4. POST a job description to a ZeroVM application
  • 3.5. Run a ZeroVM application with an object GET
  • 3.6. MapReduce application
    • 3.6.1. Create the project directory
    • 3.6.2. Create Swift containers
    • 3.6.3. Upload sample data
    • 3.6.4. Add zapp.yaml
    • 3.6.5. The code
    • 3.6.6. Bundle, deploy, and execute
• 4. Developing Python applications
  • 4.1. Python application template
  • 4.2. Including third party (pure) Python dependencies
    • 4.2.1. Refreshing dependencies
    • 4.2.2. Exceptional cases
• 5. Job Chaining
  • 5.1. Environment Setup
  • 5.2. Create an application template
  • 5.3. The code
  • 5.4. Deploying the application
  • 5.5. Running the application
  • 5.6. Passing data through the call chain
• 6. Logging
  • 6.1. Environment Setup
  • 6.2. The stderr device
  • 6.3. Logging syntax errors
  • 6.4. Logging exceptions
  • 6.5. Explicit logging
• 7. Example Application Tutorial: Snakebin
  • 7.1. Overview
  • 7.2. Setup
  • 7.3. Swift Container Setup
  • 7.4. Add zapp.yaml
  • 7.5. Part 1: Upload/Download Scripts
    • 7.5.1. REST API
    • 7.5.2. The Code
      • 7.5.2.1. http_resp
      • 7.5.2.2. Job
      • 7.5.2.3. GET and POST handling
      • 7.5.2.4. get_file.py and save_file.py
      • 7.5.2.5. User Interface
    • 7.5.3. Bundle and deploy
    • 7.5.4. Test
  • 7.6. Part 2: Execute Scripts
    • 7.6.1. API updates
    • 7.6.2. The Code
    • 7.6.3. Redeploy the application
    • 7.6.4. Test
  • 7.7. Part 3: Search Scripts
    • 7.7.1. API updates
    • 7.7.2. The Code
    • 7.7.3. Redeploy the application
    • 7.7.4. Test

ZeroVM Command Line Tools

Here are some tools which help with developing, testing, bundling, and deploying ZeroVM/ZeroCloud applications:

• ZeroVM Command Line Tools
  • zpm
  • zvsh and zvapp

Contributing to ZeroVM

• Contributing to ZeroVM
  • Pull Requests
  • Writing Good Commits
  • Why make small commits?
  • Branches
  • Git Tips and Tricks
• Contact Us
  • Mailing Lists
  • IRC Channel

Further Reading

• Glossary of Terms