Editing Comparison

{{Note|This comparison doesn't include Docker, because Docker is not a virtualization solution. It automates the deployment of applications inside software containers, by providing an additional layer of abstraction and automation of operating-system-level virtualization.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docker_(software) Wikipedia article about Docker]</ref>}}


== Disclaimer ==

The information regarding Virtuozzo 7 is provided by [http://www.virtuozzo.com Virtuozzo]. Here is the Virtuozzo's statement regarding this information:

:#The information contained herein is intended to outline general product direction and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.
:#The content is for informational purposes only and may not be incorporated into any contract.
:#The information presented is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality.
:#Any references to the development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for these products remains at Virtuozzo’s sole discretion.
:#Product capabilities, timeframes and features are subject to change and should not be viewed as Virtuozzo commitments.

The information regarding all other solutions are taken by authors from public sources only. This information can be changed by any OpenVZ Wiki user without any notice and author's review or approval.

== Feature comparison of different virtualization solutions ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Feature
! Description
! OpenVZ
! Virtuozzo&nbsp;6 (PCS 6)
! OpenVZ&nbsp;7
! [https://virtuozzo.com/products/virtuozzo-containers/ Virtuozzo&nbsp;7]
! LXC
! Proxmox VE
! Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 R2
! RHEV 3.5
! Citrix XenServer 6.5
|-
!colspan="11" style="font-style:bold;background-color:gold;"|1. Virtualization platform
|-
!colspan="11" align="left"|1.1. Overview
|-
|'''HW virtualization support (Hypervisor)'''
|Full emulation of underneath hardware level: full isolation guest environment, no dependencies from host OS, overhead for hypervisor layer.
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
|'''OS-level virtualization (Containers)'''
|Sharing the same instance of host OS: high density, high performance, high dependencies from host OS.
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|-
|'''Hypervisor technology'''
|Technology that enables to run Virtual Machines.
|{{No}}
|Parallels Desktop Monitor
|KVM
|KVM
|None
|KVM
|Hyper-V
|KVM
|Xen
|-
|'''Windows guest OS additional support'''
|WHQL-signed drivers, SVVP certification
|N/A
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
|'''Containers technology'''
|Technology that enables to run Containers.
|Virtuozzo Containers
|Virtuozzo Containers with enhancements
|Virtuozzo Containers with enhancements
|Virtuozzo Containers with enhancements
|Linux containers
|LXC (moved from OpenVZ since 4.0)
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|-
!colspan="11" align="left"|1.2. Memory
|-
|'''Memory Overcommit'''
|Ability to present more memory to virtual machines than physically available 
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}, with new VCMMD memory management
|{{Yes}}, with new VCMMD memory management and different policies
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
|'''Page sharing'''
|Memory (RAM) savings through sharing identical memory pages across virtual machines
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}, only for CTs
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|-
|'''Online Memory Management for VM'''
|Ability to change amount of RAM for CT and VM without reboot
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|N/A
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|-
!colspan="11" style="font-style:bold;background-color:gold;"|2. Management
|-
!colspan="11"|2.1. General
|-
|'''Unified management tool for CTs and VMs'''
|Single tool for managing both containers and virtual machines (if applicable)
|N/A
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|'''OpenStack integration'''
|Integration with OpenStack components ([http://docs.openstack.org/developer/nova/support-matrix.html see details])
|{{Yes}}, only Nova
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
|'''Integrated GUI'''
|Centralized multi-server management
|{{Yes}}, 3rd party
|{{Yes}}, Parallels Virtual Automation (PVA)
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}, [https://virtuozzo.com/support/pva/ Virtual Automator]
|{{Yes}}, 3rd party
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}, System Center Virtual Machine Manager
|{{Yes}}, RHEV Manager
|{{Yes}}, XenCenter
|-
!colspan="11"|2.2. Upgrade & Backup
|-
|'''Live VE snapshot'''
|Ability to take a snapshot of a virtual environment while the guest OS is running (e.g. for roll-back or backup purposes)
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
|'''Integrated Backup'''
|Are backup plugins/tools provided to backup virtual environments (over and above the ability to perform classic backup using agents in the guests)
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|-
|'''Backup Integration API'''
|Integration with 3rd party backup applications for backup of the virtual environment.
|{{No}} (only through snapshots)
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}} (only through snapshots)
|{{Yes}} (vzdump)
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|-
!colspan="11"|2.3. Others
|-
|'''VEs Templates (VM, CT)'''
|Ability to create and store master images and deploy virtual machines from them
|{{Yes}} (CT only)
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}} 
|{{Yes}} (OpenVZ templates)
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
|'''P2V migration'''
|Integrated or added P2V (or V2V) capability in order to convert physical systems to virtual environment.
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}, 3rd party tools
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|-
!colspan="11" style="font-style:bold;background-color:gold;"|3. VE Mobility and HA
|-
!colspan="11"|3.1. VE Mobility
|-
|'''Live Migration'''
|Ability to migrate virtual machines between hosts without perceived downtime
|{{Yes}}, but with no zero downtime
|{{Yes}}, Kernel-Level Migration
|{{Yes}}, CRIU for containers
|{{Yes}}, CRIU for containers
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
!colspan="11"|3.2. HA / DR
|-
|'''Integrated HA'''
|Recover virtual environment in case of host failures through restart on alternative hosts (downtime = restart time)
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
!colspan="11" style="font-style:bold;background-color:gold;"|4. Network and Storage
|-
!colspan="11"|4.1. Storage
|-
|'''Supported Storage'''
|Supported types of Storage (DAS, NAS or SAN)
|DAS (EXT4)
|NAS (NFS), DAS (EXT4)
|DAS (EXT4)
|NAS (NFS), DAS (EXT4)
|NAS (NFS), DAS (EXT4)
|DAS, NAS (NFS, ZFS), SAN (iSCSI), Ceph 
|DAS, NAS (SMB), SAN (iSCSI, FC, FCoE)
|DAS, NAS (NFS), SAN (iSCSI, FC, FCoE)
|DAS, NAS (NFS), SAN (iSCSI, FC, FCoE)
|-
|'''Virtual Disk Format'''
|Supported format(s) of the virtual disks for the virtual machines
|CT - [[ploop]]
|CT - [[ploop]], VM - [[ploop]]
|CT - [[ploop]], VM - [[ploop]]\Qcow2
|CT - [[ploop]], VM - [[ploop]]\Qcow2
|Any
|Qcow2, vmdk, raw
|vhdx, vhd, pass-though (raw)
|Qcow2, raw disk
|vhd, raw disk
|-
|'''Thin Disk Provisioning'''
|Ability to over-commit overall disk space by dynamically growing the size of virtual disks based on actual usage rather than pre-allocating full size.
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}, depends on disk format (dm-thin)
|{{Yes}}, depends on underlying storage driver
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
|'''Virtual SAN'''
|Enhanced storage capability  e.g. providing a virtual SAN through virtualized 'local' storage 
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}, Virtuozzo Storage
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}, Virtuozzo Storage
|{{Yes}}, but 3rd party (DRBD 9, Ceph, GlusterFS)
|{{Yes}}, but 3rd party (DRBD 9, Ceph, GlusterFS, sheepdog)
|{{Yes}}, Storage Spaces
|{{Yes}}, Red Hat Storage
|{{No}}
|-
|'''Storage QoS'''
|Ability to control Quality of Service for Storage I/O or Throughput for CT/VM
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}, VMs only
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
!colspan="11"|4.2. Network
|-
|'''Network QoS'''
|Ability to create and store master images and deploy virtual machines from them
|Only bandwidth limits
|Only bandwidth limits
|Only bandwidth limits
|Only bandwidth limits
|Only bandwidth limits
|{{Yes}}, with Open vSwitch 
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
!colspan="11" style="font-style:bold;background-color:gold;"|5. Others – most of features are relevant only for Virtuozzo editions
|-
|'''Memory deduplication for binary files'''
|Memory and IOPS deduplication management that enables/disables caching for Container directories and files, verifies cache integrity, checks Containers for cache errors, and purges the cache if needed
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}, pfcache
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}, pfcache
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|'''Completely isolated disk subsystem for CTs'''
|
|{{Yes}}, ploop
|{{Yes}}, ploop
|{{Yes}}, ploop
|{{Yes}}, ploop
|{{Yes}}, with LVM
|{{Yes}}, LVM, ZFS, or loop devices
|N/A
|N/A
|N/A
|-
|'''API\SDK'''
|
|OpenVZ API for Ruby, LibVirt
|Virtuozzo SDK, [[LibVirt]]
|Virtuozzo SDK, [[LibVirt]]
|Virtuozzo SDK, [[LibVirt]]
|LibLXC, API for Ruby, Python 2, Haskell, Go
|Proxmox VE uses a REST like API (JSON data format)
|Windows SDK
|RHEV-M API: REST API, SDKs
|XenAPI, XenServer SDKs
|-
|'''Image Catalog integration'''
|Integration with 3rd-party image catalog services of popular server applications and development environments that can be installed with one click.
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}} Application Image Catalog [https://virtuozzo.com/introducing-the-virtuozzo-application-catalog/ Virtuozzo Application Catalog]
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}} Application Image Catalog [https://virtuozzo.com/introducing-the-virtuozzo-application-catalog/ Virtuozzo Application Catalog]
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}} (Turnkey)
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|-
|'''Kernel update without reboot'''
|Integrated ability to upgrade kernel or install security patches without downtime.
|{{No}}, only 3d party tools
|{{Yes}}, Rebootless Kernel Update
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}} [https://readykernel.com/ ReadyKernel Service]
|{{No}}, only 3d party tools
|{{No}}, only 3d party tools
|N/A
|{{No}}, only 3d party tools
|{{No}}, only 3d party tools
|-
|'''Power Panel'''
|A tool used for managing particular virtual machines and containers by their end users.
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|None
|None
|None
|None
|None
|-
|'''Secure for using in public networks'''
|
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}<ref name="LXC security">[https://service.ait.ac.at/security/2015/LxcSecurityAnalysis.txt LXC Security Analysis]</ref>, <ref name="Security issues and mitigations with lxc">[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LxcSecurity Security issues and mitigations with LXC]</ref>
|{{No}}<ref name="LXC security">[https://service.ait.ac.at/security/2015/LxcSecurityAnalysis.txt LXC Security Analysis]</ref>, <ref name="Security issues and mitigations with lxc">[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LxcSecurity Security issues and mitigations with LXC]</ref>
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|-
!colspan="11" style="font-style:bold;background-color:gold;"|6. Commercial
|-
|'''Open Source'''
|
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}} (but there is Open Source edition(oVirt))
|{{No}} (but there is Open Source edition)
|-
|'''License\Subscription'''
|
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{No}}
|{{No}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}
|{{Yes}}, Enterprise Edition
|-
|'''Support'''
|
|Both community and commercial support
|Commercial support
|Community support
|Commercial Support
|Yes, Canonical Ltd.
|Both community and commercial support
|Commercial support
|Commercial support
|Both community and commercial support
|-
|'''EOL policy'''
|
|[[Releases|5 years of support]]
|[https://virtuozzo.com/support/server-lifecycle/ 7 years of support]
|TBD
|[https://virtuozzo.com/support/server-lifecycle/ 7 years of support]
|
|
|[https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?alpha=hyper-v 11 years of support]]
|
|
|-
|}