Zero-copy network I/O for virtual hosts

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processing device coupled to the memory and to:
• retrieve, from a first physical memory location, data to be included in a network packet, wherein the first physical memory location corresponds to a virtual memory location utilized by a virtual process controlled by a guest operating system;
• retrieve, from a second physical memory location, a header to be included in the network packet, wherein the second physical memory location corresponds to a kernel buffer location of the guest operating system;
• and
• combine the header and the data to form the network packet.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

• identifying a network packet destined for a virtual process controlled by a guest operating system;
• identifying, by the processing device, a physical memory location corresponding to a virtual memory location utilized by the virtual process;
• and
• copying data from the network packet into the physical memory location corresponding to the virtual memory location.