[kwlug-disc] Virtualization technology

[Digimer]

On 28/07/14 05:05 PM, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> So, while staying within the free and open source alternatives, what
> are the options that people use? KVM? Xen? What else? With a bit of
> details on what you like and what you don't like where possible.

I used Xen back in <= RHEL5, but switched to KVM with RHEL 6+. Xen was 
great in that it made virtualization possible on pretty much any 
computer, but it came with a non-trivial complexity, particularly with 
regard to networking and kernel compatibility.

With hardware virtualization support, KVM became much more attractive. 
With the virtio network and block drivers, even Microsoft OS clients ran 
very fast. The networking got a lot simpler and you no longer had to 
worry about dom0/domU kernel issues.

When you add to this that Xen is, though open, supported by a decidedly 
less open company versus KVM being backed by Red Hat, a decidedly open 
company (if not perfect), KVM is a clear choice, I would argue.

-- 
Digimer
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