Virtualization

[Tom Smith]

Bernard Peek wrote:

> In message <4405DBC7.8080505 at yahoo.com>, Tom Smith 
> <tom71713-ubuntu at yahoo.com> writes
>
>
>> In the end, though, when Xen is able to run Windows (Q3 or Q4 of 06, 
>> according the XenSources) I'll likely switch to using it. The only 
>> downside to this is that it's hardware dependent if you want to run 
>> Windows--it uses Intel's VT technology to allow Windows to run within 
>> Xen.
>
>
> I noticed that Microsoft are using the "Hypervisor" in their own 
> virtualisation products. I suspect that the support for Windows in Xen 
> may be a quid pro quo.

I'm not too familiar with "Hypervisor" or, for that matter, "VT" other 
than what they can be used for...

Parallels Workstation claims to be the "World's First Hypervisor-powered 
Desktop Virtualizatoin Solution". I'm not sure how the Hypervisor stuff 
fits into the virtual machine environment other than to help improve 
performance, according to Parallels.

As for XenSources, I discussed my situation with them before deciding on 
VMware Server. They explained that they currently have the lowest system 
overhead of /any/ virtual machine server (about 1% CPU utilization). The 
other thing of note we discussed was the ability to run Windows with 
Xen. This wasn't possible until Intel released its VT technology. 
XenSources says they didn't want to provide a software-based solution 
for running Windows within Xen because it significantly degraded 
performance (as can be noted with VMware Workstation, QEMU, Bouchs, 
Parallels, et al). With Intel VT, this isn't a problem as that 
technology will allow Xen to run Windows at a hardware level, without 
the typical emulation that occurs in virtual machines.

Just a couple notes... I'm not a rep for XenSources and what I've 
written is my understanding of my discussion with them, as well as what 
I've read at their site. Further, I have a fairly rudimentary 
understanding of the terms Hypervisor and VT--that is, my knowledge of 
these technologies is quite limited. So, while I believe this 
information to be accurate, understand that it may not be. Feel free to 
post corrections.

(And, no, I'll never switch to a Microsoft virtualisation server... 
Shame on you for mentioning them on this thread. ;-P lmao )