Ubuntu 12.04 KVM/Xen Virtualization: Intel vs. AMD

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Ubuntu 12.04 KVM/Xen Virtualization: Intel vs. AMD

With the upcoming availability of Ubuntu 12.04 "Precise Pangolin" being a Long-Term Support (LTS) release that will be quickly making its way into many enterprise environments, here's a look at the virtualization performance of this popular Linux distribution. In particular, being looked at is the Linux virtualization performance of KVM, Xen, and Oracle VirtualBox compared to bare metal when using Intel Sandy Bridge Extreme and AMD Bulldozer hardware.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=17200

[uid313]

I've mostly used VirtualBox because it is easy-to-use.
But from this benchmark it seems KVM is superior.

Is KVM difficult to use?
Does it provide any graphics acceleration?
How should I use KVM in a easy way?

[wpoely86]

Is KVM difficult to use?
Does it provide any graphics acceleration?
How should I use KVM in a easy way?

KVM is not very difficult to use. There are lots of HOWTO's out there that guide you through the process.

But for occasional use, virtualbox is still easier.

It might be interesting to include LXC Linux containers in the virtualization tests. It should be a lot lighter then KVM or Xen.

[tomaszbox]

Thanks for very informative article.
In my experience with KVM, there is a difference between running a guest VM from an image file on host OS file system and running it from a partition on a separate disk. Using a virtio drivers should further improve the performance as well.
So I'd like to ask how were the disks configured for the virtual machines in the tests?

Tomas

[schmidtbag]

cool article, too bad xen didn't work on amd. i was pretty surprised to see how well amd scaled, i guess it shows how their faster clock cycles and/or physical instead of multi-threaded cores makes a difference.

i'm also shocked to see how poorly virtualbox performed and how good xen performed. i'd have used xen a long time ago if it were easier to use. i'm surprised nobody made a graphical tool for it yet. i'd gladly do it if i knew how to use it better.

[Michael]

i'm also shocked to see how poorly virtualbox performed and how good xen performed. i'd have used xen a long time ago if it were easier to use. i'm surprised nobody made a graphical tool for it yet. i'd gladly do it if i knew how to use it better.

Xen works with virt-manager.

[Michael]

Thanks for very informative article.
In my experience with KVM, there is a difference between running a guest VM from an image file on host OS file system and running it from a partition on a separate disk. Using a virtio drivers should further improve the performance as well.
So I'd like to ask how were the disks configured for the virtual machines in the tests?

Tomas

Standard disk image on the host using virt-manager defaults.

[SyXbiT]

are you sure you installed virtio for KVM. I find it hard to believe that KVM would perform so poorly on the Threaded IO benchmark

[devguy]

Perhaps this partially explains the poor Sandy Bridge E showing in VirtualBox, assuming you have a C1 stepping chip.

[mitcoes]

I would like to read some opengl games tests
at MS WOS with XEN VGA passthrought

I think some day, and perhaps today it will be safer and faster to run MS WOS with Xen VGA passthrought at MS WOS desktops.

Even you can play directx or opengl games without antivirus and better 3dmarks at a SOHO computer.

But I never can read some tests for this tech - that allows to use native proprietary drivers for the GPU card. -.