Cedrik Le Goater of IBM France just wrote a mail to LKML and openvz-devel lists saying that IBM is testing different virtualization projects. Here is what he wrote:
Recently, we've been running tests and benchmarks in different virtualization environments : openvz, vserver, vserver in a minimal context and also Xen as a reference in the virtual machine world.
We ran the usual benchmarks, dbench, tbench, lmbench, kernerl build, on the native kernel, on the patched kernel and in each virtualized environment. We also did some scalability tests to see how each solution behaved. And finally, some tests on live migration. We didn't do much on network nor on resource management behavior.
We'd like to continue in an open way. But first, we want to make sure we have the right tests, benchmarks, tools, versions, configuration, tuning, etc, before publishing any results :) We have some materials already but before proposing we would like to have your comments and advices on what we should or shouldn't use.
Thanks for doing such a great job on lightweight containers,
C.
I am personally very happy to get this news. Let me explain why.
We do a lot of tests for OpenVZ, including tests for performance and stability, trying hard to find and fix all possible problems before they occur on users' boxes. We also do comparisons with the other projects — like Xen, UML or Linux-VServer — to make sure we are at least on a par.
It doesn't make much sense for OpenVZ to prepare and publish benchmarks. A comparison should be done by a trusted, independed third party, which will perform in a fair and unbiased manner. By its own initiative, IBM is fulfilling a meaningful role here.
Clearly, this work benefits users of virtualization technology. It would be terrific, I think, if the whole process is open in a collaborative community effort and all the projects are involved as active participants.
I am looking forward to seeing the test results, and contributing to the testing scenarios, methodologies and cases.


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