KVM Matures - Opinions?

[TransIP VPS]

The internet is filled with comparisons between OpenVZ and Xen. This does not come as a surprise since these are generally taken the most popular virtualization platforms. However there are alternatives which can be used equally effective. Some alternatives might even prove equal or better than its popular antagonists. The powerful but less often used virtualization platform KVM is one of these alternatives, especially for XEN users. Seeing their functionalities resemble each other there is some direct competition between both.

The big difference between the two is quite apparent. Xen has been around longer and hence has had the chance to mature. It has a supportive community, many free and usable management tools and a good performance. Also since June 2011 Xen has been integrated to mainline linux. While before KVM had the serious advantage of being supported in linux mainline this advantage now seems to be gone. It means that no custom build adoptions need to be done anymore to get linux running as guest in a XEN environment. This seems a big victory for XEN but it might come two years too late.

Even though the advantages mentioned above speak for XEN it seems that KVM is slowly winning popularity*. The big reason for this to happen is the fact that KVM is at a steady pace taking over XEN in performance** . Even the XEN community after redoing tests -and after installing not yet officially available patches- came to the conclusion, although they did not admit it, that KVM slightly outperformed XEN***.

This does not mean that KVM is better than XEN though. Both communities are actively pushing their platforms and continuously innovating. What it does mean is that KVM is now a worthy alternative to XEN and power users and server owners are picking up on this.

What is your opinion about XEN vs KVM?

*http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=19403
** http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_1110_xenkvm&num=1
***http://blog.xen.org/index.php/2011/11/29/baremetal-vs-xen-vs-kvm-redux/

 

[VMPort.eu]

KVM Is slowly becoming a well known virtualization type, although as you said, OpenVZ and Xen are certainly the more mainstream (Known about) techniques.

I do generally believe that part of this is down to the fact that KVM requires slightly more configuration and is not supported by as many control panels. One main reason for my thinking this is that SolusVM/KVM documentation is lacking, making it harder for "Kiddy" hosts to set up a KVM node as easy as they can an OVZ node.

KVM Is offering a lot of benefits and its only going to advance further, i think the implementation of KVM in OnApp etc is also going to push it more main stream.

 

[HostColor]

KVM is definitely a fast growing virtualization platform. The other days Red Hat and IBM announced a certification for KVM based virtualization on IBM servers. The U.S. governmental agencies can now use KVM based virtualization based IT infrastructures and software platforms.

 

[Webcs-Peter]

KVM gives many possibilities to work well.

 

[Natcoweb.]

KVM improves your IT work significantly.

 

[Cloudc.me]

i think KVM is the really next stage in virtualization.. really helps in situation when Xen is no longer useful)

 

[Alpha1Ed]

At this point and time for any new hosts or anyone setting up a new box its a smarter choice to go with KVM. We recently did so and found it much easier and simpler than XEN. There is no need to have to load special kernels or anything. It all works right out the box not to mention better guest OS support.

 

[concerto49]

Not much point in going with XEN.

OpenVZ is fast and light weight. Great if you only need Linux and don't need to modify kernels or do anything too out of the norm.

KVM supports Windows, full virtualization and all the funky things you'll need.

XEN HVM -- KVM does a better job here seriously so it's not needed.

XEN PV -- how often do you need it? It's only when you need to modify the kernel. Go KVM.

 

[Chetanalpha]

KVm support both Linux and Win for virtualiztion

 

[WeLoveServers]

I am definitely starting to see more providers offer KVM instead of XEN, I would say its mature.

 

[FRCorey]

OpenVZ when you dont need to tweak the kernel and performance is key, KVM for everything else.

 

[trueman1]

openvz is the faster but more like a share hosting and can oversell very easy.
also openvz manage are the simplest and templates can be download for free.

 

[infinitnet]

Personally I prefer KVM over XEN. One reason for that is that it's closer to the hardware, ie. less virtualization layers and therefore might even have a small performance advantage. Generally it's just personal choice though.