[CentOS] VMWare vs Parallels, and Zen

Mon Apr 9 21:21:47 UTC 2007
Luciano Miguel Ferreira Rocha <strange at nsk.no-ip.org>

On Mon, Apr 09, 2007 at 04:56:00PM -0400, Ross S. W. Walker wrote:
> > Also, if I read the specs correctly, Parallels require VT/Pacifica,
> > whilest VMWware doesn't. (Xen also requires those, for HVM guests):
> 
> AFAIK Parallels is a fully virtualized hypervisor that requires no
> hardware acceleration (maybe it does for OS X though...).

Parallels runs unmodified guests (windows/Linux/BSD), so it does need
hardware assistance (VT/Pacifica). Or a method of binary translation as
used by VMWare, but from the webpage it seems only VT/Pacifica.

I wouldn't call VT/Pacifica hardware acceleration, just yet, as VMWare
uses binary translation even on machines with those in some cases, for
performance reasons.

> > I agree completly. Alas, my budget doesn't allow testing of Xen
> > enterprise solutions (VirtualIron and Xen Enterprise), so I don't know
> > how they compare to ESX.
> 
> They are aimed to be ESX equivalents, but I think their user interfaces
> need a little work, and I prefer the management software to be hosted
> on the server instead of separate Java GUI apps.
> 
> At $500/socket they are 1/6th the cost of ESX server.

For a blade center with 16 nodes, 4 cores in each, thats a heavy fee.
We have a costumer with ESX, so we know how it performs. But for this
customer, such fees are hard to justify, and we're going with Xen.

> You can download 30 day trials of either and give them a whirl.

The single-node free VirtualIron didn't install correctly, and I'm
getting weary of introducing all my details for a download.

I'd prefer 2 node free versions, for on-going real-world evaluation, but
beggars can't be choosers. :)

> XenEnterprise is CentOS 4.4 with Xen 3.0.4 fully Xen Source patched,
> which after trying out OSS 3.0.4 realized that it can take a whole
> company to patch it to working condition.
> 
> Virtual Iron runs rPath + Xen 3.0.2 plus a whole slew of custom
> additions like HVM save/restore/migration. Virtual Iron only does
> HVM though, they have done-away with PV and the rPath is fully
> embedded so no remote OS access, while with XenEnterprise you can
> run CentOS as if you had installed it yourself.

Thanks for your input.

-- 
lfr
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