RedHat Xen vs VMware

Linux and Unix-Like Red Hat
1

Hello,

I need to make a quick decision between redhat xen and vmware. The servers that need to be virtualized are mostly windows and run core business services. There are a few linux boxes as well.

My first thought was Xen but last time I tried it on RedHat 5 (our distro of choice) Windows was horribly slow and hardly worked.

I would like to know if RedHat 5.2 brings anything new to the table for windows guests?

If anyone has any experience with xen / vmware some feedback would be welcome.

All the best,
Marius

2

xen is under developing as far i know, i would recommend vmware for the time being.

3

For a complete review of the functional tradeoffs between the Xen implementation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux and VMware ESX Server, see this online functional comparison at IDEAS Collaborative Product Evaluation : x86 Virtual Machine Platforms

4

I came across virtual iron (Virtual Iron - True Server Virtualization for Everyone) which seems to be pretty solid.

The problem with Xen as it is on RedHat seems to be the lack of PV drivers. VI seems to have these in order and performance is good. VI doesnt have support as many guest OSes as vmware but then again I only need to virtualize linux and windows ...

The only thing I am a little worried about is their use of management servers and PXE to boot vms.

Thanks!

5

VMware is basically Red Hat anyway.

6

RedHat / Xen do a very poor job of virtualizing windows and probably netware, among others, as well. It is in this regard that I need to look at alternatives.

So far VirtualIron which is based on Xen with Sles10 PV Drivers is the only real alternative to VMware.

I read that RHEL5.2 will include updated PV drivers but I expect that it will be a few more years untill we see any real advances in virtualization from RedHat Xen for proprietary systems. For linux guests it is a very good solution but we need windows.

7

You could also look at virtualbox.

8

It shares some of the same issues as xen in that it has limited support for guest oses. It does not support netware and as far as I am aware offers nothing in regards to management. We need to set-up 20 or so virtual machines in a rather complex san infrastructure.

Unfortunately virtualbox at present seems to be aimed at the desktop. I use it intensely for virtualizing windows on my laptops and it does a wonderful job but I couldnt imagine using it to manage a whole infrastructure .

Marius

9

Running Xen without the proprietary paravirtualization drivers is disappointing. Look at VMware or Virtual Iron. VMware Server is free, so you can use it if you like.
Virtual Iron, however supports very little. Even on the Linux frame it is very dependent on some things, and can only work if you have hardware assisted virtualization at the CPU level, such as AMD's Pacifica or Intel's Vanderpool.

10

Not entirely. Vmware ESX used a 7.3 redhat kernel for part of its processing, and some of the userspace but it is really a stretch to say "Vmware is Red Hat," because that's the kernel it boots, and not the hypervisor or associated drivers.