Saturday, September 1, 2012

Linux HowTO: VMWare vs Xen

When it comes to virtualization, VMWare and Xen are two of the most recognizable names. VMWare is the older of the two and as a consequence, it is already very well known and established when Xen was released. VMWare has also developed a wide user base along with a dedicated support system. When it comes to pricing, VMWare might seem like the more expensive option. But when you consider that VMWare runs more virtual machines with the same machine specifications, the price per virtual machine is more or less the same.


When it comes to performance, VMWare is slightly faster than Xen on most operating systems.
Xen operates on paravirtualization where it modifies the operating system that it is running on so that the instructions are directly sent to the hardware. VMWare, on the other hand, uses binary translation and emulation and does not require the modification of the operating system that it is running on. This makes VMWare a little bit easier to install and manage compared to Xen.

When it comes to the hardware, VMWare seems to be the clear winner as there are limitations to using Xen. Xen requires that the hardware used with their software is either Intel-VT or AMD-V. This means that users with incompatible hardware would need to upgrade regardless of how powerful their existing hardware is. This issue does not exist with VMWare as it is capable of running on any hardware as long as it meets the requirements. VMWare is also capable of accepting more powerful hardware compared to Xen. You are therefore able to simulate a lot more machines with a single system.

Note that this document comes without warranty of any kind. But every effort has been made to provide the information as accurate as possible. I welcome emails from any readers with comments, suggestions, and corrections at webmaster_at admin@linuxhowto.in

Copyright © 2012 LINUXHOWTO.IN




5 comments:

  1. Well, as a matter of fact, I had to go Xen because vmware refused to install on an asrock mainstream MB + Intel E6600 processor...
    Angelo

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  2. There are many incorrect statements here.

    "When it comes to performance, VMWare is slightly faster than Xen on most operating systems.
    Xen operates on paravirtualization where it modifies the operating system that it is running on so that the instructions are directly sent to the hardware. "

    This actually states that Xen performs faster.

    Xen also will install on just about anything, again, because of the paravirtualization. You can actually setup Xen on a laptop. (no hardware virtualization).

    VMware is much more "enterprise". In fact, Xen cannot come even close. VMware is much easier to deal with, much more standard, and you get a lot of things "for free" -- as opposed to, with Xen, it's a hassle.

    Because VMware has been out for longer, there are certain things that have been worked out better - iSCSI, networking, etc...

    Both have their own uses. Both have great strengths and great weaknesses.

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  3. Xen 6.0 is really disappointing; the newest version requires the paid investment before it becomes operational. It has poor memory handling and does not give take from a pool, again that is not totally true it will work in an over commit way but only if you go the hefty paid route.

    I would highly recommend running on Xen 5.6 until it is EOL. VMware is very compatible and does not require the investment to be usable. The bare metal version of ESXi had a huge following. Citrix I think has become too big to care about their product.

    Sorry for the honesty but this is my real world experience with it.

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  4. vmare is older than xen its true but when u regarding on kvm (Kernel based virtual machine) and paravirtualization where xen modified operating system.with xen u need to used a specific hardware like VT-intel or AMD-V means that xen is high and sligh than vmware, when u have a look on customization with hypervisor and host.

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  5. Xen is an external hypervisor; it assumes control of the machine and divides resources among guests. On the other hand, kvm is part of Linux and uses the regular Linux scheduler and memory management. This means that kvm is much smaller and simpler to use.
    kvm only run on processors that supports x86 hvm (vt/svm instructions set) whereas Xen also allows running modified operating systems on non-hvm x86 processors using a technique called paravirtualisation. kvm does not support paravirtualization for cpu but may support paravirtualization for device drivers to improve I/O performances.

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