Kimchi: Web-Based Virtualization That Doesn’t Get in the Way

Most web frontends for virtualization either try to do *everything* or end up doing too much of nothing. **Kimchi** finds a middle ground — it’s a web interface for managing KVM on Linux, and it does exactly what it promises: helps admins spin up, stop, and observe virtual machines, all from a browser, without needing to fight libvirt commands in a terminal.

Developed as part of the oVirt family but running as a standalone project, Kimchi is light, fast to deploy, and — honestly — more polished than expected for something that’s still a Python+HTML5 combo under the hood.

It’s not for hyperscalers. But for a small team managing a few hypervisors, or for sysadmins who just want a bird’s-eye view of what’s running where, Kimchi is a breath of fresh air.

Where It Makes Sense

– One-box KVM hosts without the need for heavy orchestration
– Labs or internal dev environments with rotating VMs
– Admins who know virt-manager but want remote access
– Mixed teams where not everyone speaks `virsh`

Kimchi doesn’t try to abstract KVM into a whole cloud — it just makes it less annoying to work with.

What It Gets Right

Feature | Why It Matters
——- | —————-
**Web UI for KVM** | Launch, configure, and manage VMs from any browser
**Built-in image handling** | Upload ISOs, manage storage pools, attach disks easily
**No external database** | Lightweight — runs as a service without separate backend
**User management** | Basic access control with role separation
**Template support** | Predefined configs for common VM types
**REST API** | Integrate with scripts or custom dashboards

Compared To…

Tool | Strength | Kimchi’s Niche
—- | ——– | —————
virt-manager | Powerful desktop app | Kimchi brings it to the web
oVirt | Full-stack datacenter virtualization | Kimchi is lighter and easier to deploy
Proxmox VE | Rich feature set with clustering | Kimchi is simpler, more KVM-focused
Cockpit + VM | Great integration with system tools | Kimchi is VM-only, more focused

Getting It Running

Kimchi works best on modern Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, or Ubuntu hosts with KVM and libvirt already configured.

On Ubuntu:
“`
sudo apt update
sudo apt install kimchi
“`

On RHEL/CentOS:
“`
sudo yum install kimchi
“`

> Note: You may need to enable Wok (the Kimchi web server framework) and ensure SELinux policies are adjusted if running on hardened systems.

Once installed:
– Visit `https://:8001`
– Log in with a system user
– Start adding VMs or managing existing ones

Kimchi handles storage pools, bridges, and ISOs right from the interface — no CLI needed unless something breaks (and even then, not often).

Why It’s Still Relevant

– Not every setup needs oVirt or OpenStack
– Not every admin wants to SSH into a KVM host
– Not every team wants to teach libvirt to junior staff

Sometimes, what’s needed is a simple, clean, web-accessible interface that does one thing well — manage virtual machines. And in that narrow but common use case, Kimchi still delivers.