User Guide/OpenVZ Philosophy - Revision history

Kir: fix a link to man page

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‎OpenVZ Applications

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‎OpenVZ Applications

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‎Basics of OpenVZ Technology: fixed figure

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== About OpenVZ Software ==

=== What is OpenVZ ===

OpenVZ is a complete server automation and virtualization solution developed by SWsoft. OpenVZ creates multiple isolated containers (CTs) on a single physical server to share hardware and management effort with maximum efficiency. Each CT performs and executes exactly like a stand-alone server for its users and applications as it can be rebooted independently and has its own root access, users, IP addresses, memory, processes, files, applications, system libraries, and configuration files. Light overhead and efficient design of OpenVZ makes it the right virtualization choice for production servers with live applications and real-life data.

The basic OpenVZ container capabilities are:

* ''Dynamic Real-time Partitioning'' — Partition a physical server into tens of CTs, each with full dedicated server functionality.
* ''Resource Management'' — Assign and control CT resource parameters and re-allocate resources in real-time.
* ''Mass Management'' — Manage a multitude of physical servers and containers in a unified way.

=== OpenVZ Applications ===

OpenVZ provides a comprehensive solution for Hosting Service Providers allowing them to:
* Have hundreds of customers with their individual full-featured virtual private servers (Virtual Private Servers) sharing a single physical server;
* Provide each customer with a guaranteed Quality of Service;
* Transparently move customers and their environments between servers, without any manual reconfiguration.

If you administer a number of Linux dedicated servers within an enterprise, each of which runs a specific service, you can use OpenVZ to consolidate all these servers onto a single computer without losing a bit of valuable information and without compromising performance. Virtual Private Servers behave just like an isolated stand-alone server:
* Each container has its own processes, users, files and provides full root shell access;
* Each container has its own IP addresses, port numbers, filtering and routing rules;
* Each container can have its own configuration for the system and application software, as well as its own versions of system libraries. It is possible to install or customize software packages inside a container independently from other CTs or the host system. Multiple distributions of a package can be run on one and the same Linux box.

In fact, hundreds of servers may be grouped together in this way. Besides the evident advantages of such consolidation (increased facility of administration and the like), there are some you might not even have thought of, say, cutting down electricity bills by times!

OpenVZ proves invaluable for IT educational institutions that can now provide every student with a personal Linux server, which can be monitored and managed remotely. Software development companies may use virtual environments for testing purposes and the like.

Thus, OpenVZ can be efficiently applied in a wide range of areas: web hosting, enterprise server consolidation, software development and testing, user training, and so on.

== Distinctive Features of OpenVZ ==
== Main Principles of OpenVZ Operation ==
== Hardware Node Availability Considerations ==

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 The OpenVZ software allows you to flexibly configure various settings for the OpenVZ system in general as well as for each and every Container. Among these settings are disk and user quota, network parameters, default file locations and configuration sample files, and others.
-OpenVZ stores the configuration information in two types of files: the global configuration file <code>/etc/vz/vz.conf</code> and Container configuration files <code>/etc/vz/conf/''CTID''.conf</code>. The global configuration file defines global and default parameters for Container operation, for example, logging settings, enabling and disabling disk quota for Containers, the default configuration file and OS template on the basis of which a new Container is created, and so on. On the other hand, a Container configuration file defines the parameters for a given particular Container, such as disk quota and allocated resources limits, IP address and host name, and so on. In case a parameter is configured both in the global OpenVZ configuration file, and in the Container configuration file, the Container configuration file takes precedence. For a list of parameters constituting the global configuration file and the Container configuration files, see {{man|vz.conf|5}} and {{man|vps.conf|5}} manual pages.
+OpenVZ stores the configuration information in two types of files: the global configuration file <code>/etc/vz/vz.conf</code> and Container configuration files <code>/etc/vz/conf/''CTID''.conf</code>. The global configuration file defines global and default parameters for Container operation, for example, logging settings, enabling and disabling disk quota for Containers, the default configuration file and OS template on the basis of which a new Container is created, and so on. On the other hand, a Container configuration file defines the parameters for a given particular Container, such as disk quota and allocated resources limits, IP address and host name, and so on. In case a parameter is configured both in the global OpenVZ configuration file, and in the Container configuration file, the Container configuration file takes precedence. For a list of parameters constituting the global configuration file and the Container configuration files, see {{man|vz.conf|5}} and {{man|ctid.conf|5}} manual pages.
 The configuration files are read when the OpenVZ software and/or Containers are started. However, OpenVZ standard utilities, for example, <code>vzctl</code>, allow you to change many configuration settings "on-the-fly", either without modifying the corresponding configuration files or with their modification (if you want the changes to apply the next time The OpenVZ software and/or Containers are started).

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 * Each Container can have its own configuration for the system and application software, as well as its own versions of system libraries. It is possible to install or customize software packages inside a container independently from other CTs or the host system. Multiple distributions of a package can be run on one and the same Linux box.
-In fact, hundreds of servers may be grouped together in this way. Besides the evident advantages of such consolidation (increased facility of administration and the like), there are some you might not even have thought of, say, cutting down electricity bills by times!
+In fact, hundreds of servers may be grouped together in this way. Besides the evident advantages of such consolidation (increased facility of administration and the like), there are some you might not even have thought of, say, cutting down electricity bills by many times!
 OpenVZ proves invaluable for IT educational institutions that can now provide every student with a personal Linux server, which can be monitored and managed remotely. Software development companies may use Containers for testing purposes and the like.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 === OpenVZ Applications ===
-OpenVZ provides a comprehensive solutionm allowing to:
+OpenVZ provides a comprehensive solution allowing to:
 * Have hundreds of users with their individual full-featured containers sharing a single physical server;
 * Provide each user with a guaranteed Quality of Service;

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 In this section we will try to let you form a more or less precise idea of the way the OpenVZ software operates on your computer. Please see the figure.
-[[Image:OpenVZ technology.png]]
+[[Image:OpenVZ technology.png|thumb|500px|Figure 1. OpenVZ technology]]
 This figure presumes that you have a number of physical servers united into a network. In fact, you may have only one dedicated server to effectively use the OpenVZ software for the needs of your network. If you have more than one OpenVZ-based physical server, each one of the servers will have a similar architecture. In OpenVZ terminology, such servers are called ''Hardware Nodes'' (or just ''Nodes''), because they represent hardware units within a network.

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 == Main Principles of OpenVZ Operation ==
-=== Basics of OpenVZ Technology ==
+=== Basics of OpenVZ Technology ===
 In this section we will try to let you form a more or less precise idea of the way the OpenVZ software operates on your computer. Please see the figure.

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 == About OpenVZ Software ==
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 == Main Principles of OpenVZ Operation ==
 == Hardware Node Availability Considerations ==