Ubuntu 12.10: Linux KVM vs. Xen Virtualization Preview

With Ubuntu 12.10 coming up in just a few months, here are our first virtualization benchmarks from the forthcoming "Quantal Quetzal" operating system. Compared in this article is the raw/bare-metal performance to Linux KVM and Xen virtualization from the latest Linux 3.5 kernel.

Back in March were the Xen/KVM virtualization benchmarks on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS when using AMD and Intel hardware. This testing is similar to the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS virtualization benchmarks, but using a recent Ubuntu 12.10 development build and for now just testing from one Intel system. When Ubuntu 12.10 is ready, benchmarks from a greater selection of hardware will be used.

The test system was an Intel Core i7 3960X "Sandy Bridge" Extreme Edition system with 8GB of RAM. The KVM and Xen virtualization was used with virt-manager and the stock packages/settings provided by Ubuntu 12.10. The bare metal results are from benchmarking the i7-3960X system without any means of virtualization.