Xen vs VMware

[Andreas Hauser]

dillon wrote @ Wed, 18 Oct 2006 11:34:02 -0700 (PDT):

>     Xen is an operating environment.  Operating systems running under Xen
>     have to be aware that they are running under Xen.

Unless you use a current processor (Intel or Amd e.g.) which come with hardware
virtualization. There are only a handful of x86 hardware instructions that can't
be virtualized without special hardware (like current processors have).
It is currently no problem to run DragonFly under Xen on such systems.

>     Xen actually has to run two operating systems, one serving as the
>     master and the other as the 'guest' OS, and this compounds the 
>     number of potential bugs you might run into a lot more then a machine
>     emulator does.

The opposite is true. Xen is much simpler. It's also way more powerful and
faster. Note that vmware also has Xen like offerings. It is also very easy
for admins to convince their site to run DragonFly as one or more Xen
domains with a less experimental OS as controlling Domain and be able to
run any number of other OS. While the current DragonFly approach is
restricted to DragonFly and needs a dedicated machine. And when presented
the choice between Usermode DragonFly and jails I will often prefer jails
anyways, as they take less effort to admin.

But I'm sure the effort will help advance the kernel though.
Happy Hacking!

-- 
Andy