Xen or KVM? Please help me decide and implement the one which is better

Posted by JohnAdams on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by JohnAdams
Published on 2010-04-05T17:00:25Z Indexed on 2010/04/05 17:03 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 204

Filed under:

xen

|

kvm

|

virtualization

I have been doing research for implementing virtualization for a server running 3 guests - two linux based and one windows. After trying my hands on Xenserver, I am impressed with the architecture and wanted to use the opensource XEN, which is when I am hearing a lot more about KVM, about how good it is and it's the future etc. So, could anyone here please help me answer some of my queries, between KVM and XEN.

Based on my requirement of three VMs on one server, which is better for performance - KVM or XEN, considering one the linux vm's will works a file-server, one as a mailserver and the third one a Windows server?
Is KVM stable? What about upgrades.. What about XEN, I cannot find support for it Ubuntu?
Are there any published benchmarks on both Xen and KVM? I cannot seem to find any.
If I go with Xen, will it possible to move to KVM later or vice versa?

In summary, I am looking for real answers on which one I should use.. Xen or KVM?

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about xen

Difference between Xen PV, Xen KVM and HVM?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi, I know that Xen is usually better than OpenVZ as the provider cannot oversell in Xen. However, what is the difference between Xen PV, Xen KVM and HVM (I was going through this provider's specs? Which one is better for what purposes and why? Edit: For an end-user who will just be hosting… >>> More
New XEN Server, Intel i7, Errors were encountered while processing: xen-linux-system-amd64

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have just got a new machine to run XEN VM's on, it has an Intel i7 processor: - Intel Haswell Core i7-4790 3.6GHz 8MB LGA1150 I have setup the host with the current 6.2.0 I have set up a new Debian 7 64bit VM and any package I try and run fails with the following errors: Errors were encountered… >>> More
Crashing HVM domain, what do I do?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
My DomUs on a Xen 3.4 on an RHEL5 are crashing when too much memory is needed: (XEN) p2m_pod_demand_populate: Out of populate-on-demand memory! (XEN) domain_crash called from p2m.c:1091 (XEN) Domain 15 (vcpu#3) crashed on cpu#2: (XEN) ----[ Xen-3.4.0 x86_64 debug=n Not tainted ]---- (XEN) CPU:… >>> More
Xen won't start after it had been working

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I've been setting up this Debian Stable system with a dom0 and 3 domUs. It was working fine for several days, and I'm almost ready to deploy it to the rack. But last night I shut it down with all three domUs still running for the first time, and today when I started it up, xend won't start. In… >>> More
Linux HA cluster w/Xen, Heartbeat, Pacemaker. domU does not failover to secondary node

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am having the followig problem with an OenSuSE + Heartbeat + Pacemaker + Xen HA cluster: when the node a Xen domU is running on is "dead" the Xen domU running on it is not restarted on the second node. The cluster is setup with two nodes, each running OpenSuSE-11.3, Heartbeat 3.0, and Pacemaker… >>> More

Related posts about kvm

kvm works only when kvm-intel is unloaded

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am new to kvm. I have this strange issue. But before explaining the issue, here is my set up. I try to install VM on my Host which is a Acer Laptop 5720 Has T7500 Intel processor. The cpu flags indicate that Virtualization is supported. I run Ubuntu 10.04 (lucid) on it. It comes with kvm. Now… >>> More
KVM-admin tools required

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I require the KVM-admin tools that are supposed to be on the KVM home page http://www.linux-kvm.org/page/Kvmtools#Download but I am unable to find any refernce for then. Can anybody from the forum tell me from where I can get them. If somebody has a copy of them them please share a link so that… >>> More
Is anyone using KVM in production?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I've been trying to set up a pair of servers utilising KVM on Ubuntu 9.10 to host 8 virtual machines between them and ended up with various issues from the VMs freezing, to not powering on. I had one virtual server set up and running and was setting up a second, when any operation involving OpenSSL… >>> More
KVM online disk resize?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
We're evaluting KVM for Linux virtualization on a few projects. All is going well so far. But one of our requirements is the ability to add disk space to a running guest without rebooting or taking it offline. Is this possible with KVM? The only thing I've found so far (but have not tested yet) is… >>> More
How do you get the IP addresses of KVM guests that are using a Bridge Network Device from the KVM host

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Does anyone know of a way using KVM to find out the IP addresses of KVM guests that are using a bridge interface (br0) through the KVM host? Currently I have br0 setup with a single NIC (eth0) included. The KVM host is a system running CentOS 5.6 in case that matters. The guests are also running CentOS… >>> More