Heading in a different direction from its main rivals, Ubuntu Linux will use
Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Novell's Suse Linux Enterprise Server both use the Xen virtualization software, a "hypervisor" layer that lets multiple operating systems run on the same computer. In contrast, the KVM software runs on top of a version of Linux, the "host" operating system that provides a foundation for other "guest" operating systems to run in a virtual mode.
"We've chosen to settle on KVM as our main virtualization focus," Soren Hansen, the Ubuntu Server Team's 26-year-old virtualization specialist, said in the Ubuntu Weekly News.
The move gives new prominence to KVM, which was initially popular with Linus Torvalds and other programmers of the Linux kernel. However, in the months since start-up Qumranet began the KVM project, the Xen programmers have made more progress in dovetailing their code more closely with the Linux kernel. KVM and Xen both are open-source packages.
KVM will be built into Ubuntu's next version, called Hardy Heron and due in April. "For the Hardy Heron release, we've really picked up the virtualization ball. Virtualization is making its way into data centers and onto developer workstations everywhere. Even 'regular' users are using it to run Ubuntu on Mac OS X all the time," Hansen said. "Virtualization has been on our agenda for a long time, but it became a top priority at UDS (Ubuntu Developer Summit) in November. We could see that demand for it was growing."
Canonical, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, will provide long-term support for Hardy Heron that lasts five years for servers and three years for PCs. Ubuntu is updated about every six months, but Hardy Heron is only the second version to get long-term support.
Xen is already built into Red Hat and Novell's Linux products, and Microsoft is on the brink of releasing its own virtualization product, called Hyper-V. However, the market leader for virtualization is EMC subsidiary VMware, which sells not only the virtualization foundation but also higher-level tools to monitor server performance and to move applications from one server to another to adjust work load.
Hansen said programmers also evaluated several other options, including Xen, Parallels' OpenVZ, KQEMU, and VirtualBox. "We found that KVM was the best fit for us right now."
Unsurprisingly, Xen fans see things differently. In particular, Simon Crosby, chief technology officer of Citrix Systems' virtualization and management division, said KVM's approach is better suited to desktop machines than to servers.
"Ubuntu is not widely deployed in enterprise data centers, where the need for a comprehensive virtual infrastructure layer independent of any guest operating system...is a requirement articulated by every customer," Crosby said in a statement. Ubuntu is widely used on desktops, so for Ubuntu programmers, "it seems natural that a hosted virtualization model makes sense to them."
Although Ubuntu didn't use the same virtualization foundation that dominant Linux seller Red Hat chose, it will use the libvirt package Red Hat created to provide a neutral management interface to Xen, KVM, or other compatible virtualization systems.
To provide an easier interface to libvirt, Ubuntu will employ software called virt-manager, Hansen said. "It allows you to set up new virtual machine, see which ones are running, and how much CPU they're consuming," he said.
Update: I corrected the CEO's name spelling.
Given how much time and money it sunk into KVM, the Linux-based, open-source virtualization project, it's not a surprise that that stealth-mode start-up Qumranet was working on virtualization. But until Monday, the company refused to say just exactly how.
At DemoFall 2007, Qumranet unveiled its strategy: software that makes it easier to run desktop PCs on central servers rather than on actual PCs. Others, notably market leader VMware, already have a start in that market, but Qumranet aims to make it possible by buying software from one company rather than hiring a systems integrator to stitch together a hodgepodge of components, said chief executive and co-founder Benny Schnaider.
Virtualization lets a single machine run multiple operating systems simultaneously. In the desktop virtualization arena, that's useful for replacing power-hungry desktops with energy-efficient servers that in principle also are easier to manage and back up.
Qumranet's SolidIce software runs on KVM virtual machines, which themselves run atop Linux. However, by virtue of features in newer Intel and Advanced Micro Devices processors, Windows can run unmodified on KVM.
Unsurprisingly, the company argues that it's cheaper than using full-fledged PCs. For basic desktop computing tasks, such as Word processing, SolidIce can squeeze about 20 instances of Windows onto a single dual-core, dual-processor server with 16GB of memory, said John-Marc Clark, vice president of marketing--and a former employee at remote desktop specialist Citrix Systems. Of course, somebody also has to pay for thin clients or PCs to tap into the remote servers.
Qumranet, founded in 2005, has funding from Sequoia Capital and Norwest Venture Partners. Of its 45 or so employees, about 5 employees are in the United States, with most research and development in Israel. The company is hiring sales and marketing now that its first product is available, Schnaider said.
The company also has technology it calls Spice (Simple Protocol for Independent Computing Environments) that's geared to transfer keystrokes, mouse clicks and audio to the server and to send video and audio back to the user. It's got partial support for USB devices today, Schnaider said. However, the company also supports Microsoft's RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).
Clark sees a number of situations in which SolidIce would be useful. Many of them are the same as what we've heard for years from VMware and more recently SWsoft's Parallels group, but they're still worth noting for the uninitiated: providing a secure desktop to a temporary contractor; testing software or Web sites using various combinations of desktop software; avoiding painful transitions during PC upgrades; computer training rooms with a few dozen identical machines that need to be restored to a pristine state at the end of class; and running older software on incompatible new operating systems such as Windows Vista.
- prev
- 1
- next
