Virtual Private Server (VPS) will be a worthy and successful alternative to other technologies such as a dedicated server or shared hosting. Virtualization is an important part of it. More details about the types and advantages of the technology itself are written here. In the same article, we will separately consider its popular and high-performance version - Xen. It is it that we use for Virtual Dedicated Server (VPS). The reason for choosing this technology is numerous advantages, thanks to which it favorably stands out among the competitors.
Xen virtualization technology: history and popularity
Xen is a virtual machine manager or a cross-platform hypervisor. Originally it was a research development within the university study. The research project was handled by Cambridge student Ian Pratt. The work was successful, the product demonstrated itself perfectly in practice, so he decided to move it to another plane and created the company XenSource. In 2003 Xen was released to the public. Since 2007 XenSource was owned by Citrix, which released several commercial products and after a while made them publicly available. Since 2013 the Linux Foundation has been working on the project. It continues to develop the hypervisor to this day.
At the moment Xen is one of the leaders among competitors. It is a unique open-source technology that provides an efficient solution for virtualization. The cross-platform hypervisor has a large number of functions - its capabilities ensure efficient use for corporate purposes.
Xen virtualization is used in many companies of different levels. The hypervisor is also used by giants of the world market, including IBM, Fujitsu, and others.
The pluses of Xen virtualization
Xen virtualization is a successful solution for clients with different needs. Sometimes customers want to use KVM virtualization or other variants. Really, there are many alternative solutions that on popularity are approximately at level with Xen, and at times above. However, experience shows that this hypervisor is one of the best options for doing business in various fields. Our clients, who have decided to use this type of virtualization when switching to virtual dedicated servers, also agree with this. As a result, Xen proves its efficiency with its high performance and operational capabilities. There are enough advantages of this technology - let us consider its individual features in more detail.
Minimum code
The first significant advantage of Xen virtualization is its "lightness". The hypervisor code is minimal and includes basic functions. It specifies such important components as virtual memory management, real-time timer, and others. At the same time, additional functions are moved beyond the hypervisor. This approach makes the system more sustainable. If one of the components installed outside the hypervisor is damaged, the rest of the components continue to work properly. Xen itself also remains undamaged. This, in turn, provides stability for future processes.
It is also worth reminding and noting that Xen is an open-source hypervisor, which gives a lot of opportunities for modification of the product.
Support for a large number of platforms
Cross-platform hypervisor works on different architectures. Among the platforms that Xen supports:
- Itanium;
- ARM;
- Power PC;
- х64;
- х86.
This enables to expand the scope of application of the technology and improves its functionality.
High-speed performance
Productivity is one of the main advantages of Xen. Not least, it is also influenced by the possibility of the cross-platform hypervisor to work in paravirtualization mode.
In the case of hardware (full) virtualization, access sharing occurs through the use of a hypervisor. It also provides full-fledged isolation and protection of virtual machines. For this purpose, all hardware devices for VMs are emulated. However, this is not always beneficial in terms of performance. On the part of the hypervisor, more computing resources are required. With paravirtualization, the processes are about the same as with hardware virtualization, but with one significant difference. Guest operating system cores are slightly modified, which ensures support for the Xen operating environment.
So, thanks to this type of virtualization, virtual machines are as productive as real hardware. In addition, we should also note the full-fledged isolation of resources.
Capabilities for guest operating systems
Guest operating systems can run in hardware virtualization mode. This is a necessary function for operating systems where there is no option to modify, - including Windows. Guest operating systems have access to 32 processors, and their number can be changed in a matter of seconds.
Migration of virtual machines
With Xen virtualization technology, among all other capabilities, you can implement migration of virtual machines. To do this, you can stop or suspend the work of the system, but not necessarily. Xen supports a so-called "live" migration, where you do not need to stop work processes.
Stability
Given the long history of elaboration and development of this virtualization technology, we can safely hope for its predictable operation. Many other products that entered the market not so long ago are not stable enough. Xen works flawlessly in various scenarios, which can be considered an undeniable advantage.
Summing up all the advantages of this technology, we can safely say that Xen is a high-performance and secure type of virtualization, which provides a fast and stable operation of the virtual dedicated server.
How to move to a dedicated virtual server with Xen virtualization?
If you have decided to make your work more efficient and move to a virtual dedicated server, Xen is the best choice of virtualization technology. The hypervisor shows its advantages in practice, as evidenced not only by the characteristics declared by the developers but also by our clients. We offer a fast transition to VPS with Xen type of virtualization, which is suitable for business in various areas.
By ordering services in King Servers, clients can count on:
- maximum connection speed;
- prompt support in case of technical problems 24/7;
- fast server installation;
- one hundred percent uptime.
King Servers' pricing policy is flexible enough since we offer tariff plans for different needs. Email us via online chat or order a callback to self-evaluate VPS with Xen virtualization.
