Scheduled Maintenance: We are aware of an issue with Google, AOL, and Yahoo services as email providers which are blocking new registrations. We are trying to fix the issue and we have several internal and external support tickets in process to resolve the issue. Please see: viewtopic.php?t=158230

 

 

 

Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox vs. ?

New to Debian (Or Linux in general)? Ask your questions here!
Post Reply
Message
Author
Gorg
Posts: 23
Joined: 2019-10-24 09:30

Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox vs. ?

#1 Post by Gorg »

Hi everyone,

I'm setting up a Debian 10 server at the moment and am considering different alterantives for virtualisation.

I at least need a Debian 9 VM and another more current system, possibly Fedora or Sid, which I can mess up at any point, however more might follow.

Now, I already have some experiences with VirtualBox, but there's always the ickyness of having an unsupported package from an external source running on the host system and even though the standard functionality is probably enough for me, I like the idea of having a "full-featured" system running.

I've just quickly looked into KVM and Xen and immediately got confused a little, so I thought I'd ask the more seasoned VM-users around here what approach they would recommend so I can look deeper into that. What are the advantages/disadvantages? Where are the limits?

I'd basically like a solution that comes close to VirtualBox from the userspace-perspective, but I'm also willing to get my hands a little dirty in the process.

cuckooflew
Posts: 677
Joined: 2018-05-10 19:34
Location: Some where out west
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#2 Post by cuckooflew »

I use QEMU, :
I'd basically like a solution that comes close to VirtualBox from the userspace-perspective,
BUT, it is in reverse, and Virtual Box can not come close to QEMU/KVM, I realy don't know about Xen, QEMU fills all my needs.
Please Read What we expect you have already Done
Search Engines know a lot, and
"If God had wanted computers to work all the time, He wouldn't have invented RESET buttons"
and
Just say NO to help vampires!

pcalvert
Posts: 1939
Joined: 2006-04-21 11:19
Location: Sol Sector
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#3 Post by pcalvert »

You might want to look into Proxmox. It uses Debian along with QEMU and LXC.

Here's an old article that I found in my notes:

Proxmox as a home virtualization solution
http://www.hydrogen18.com/blog/proxmox- ... ation.html


Phil
Freespoke is a new search engine that respects user privacy and does not engage in censorship.

Bulkley
Posts: 6383
Joined: 2006-02-11 18:35
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 39 times

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#4 Post by Bulkley »

At the present, VirtualBox has a poor reputation on Debian. Maybe they'll get it fixed but for now I'd avoid it. If you are comfortable with command line instructions then Qemu is the way to go. If you want something simpler try Gnome-Boxes. For something more configurable there's Virt-manager.

User avatar
Head_on_a_Stick
Posts: 14114
Joined: 2014-06-01 17:46
Location: London, England
Has thanked: 81 times
Been thanked: 132 times

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#5 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

VirtualBox should be avoided at all costs, it relies on proprietary blobs and the developers don't give a damn about security issues. It's also slower than KVM & Xen: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... -1510-virt

Xen offers the best performance but it's the most difficult to set up, KVM gets very close to Xen in respect of performance and offers convenient GUIs for management (virt-manager & gnome-boxes).
deadbang

pcalvert
Posts: 1939
Joined: 2006-04-21 11:19
Location: Sol Sector
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#6 Post by pcalvert »

I switched from KVM to VirtualBox about five years ago because the performance was noticeably better. Disk I/O performance in KVM was poor enough that it was starting to become annoying. I also liked the additional features like the shared clipboard and shared directories. It looks like it might be time for me to take another look at KVM.

Phil
Freespoke is a new search engine that respects user privacy and does not engage in censorship.

peer
Posts: 443
Joined: 2017-03-26 10:14
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 20 times

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#7 Post by peer »

At the moment I use Virtualbox. I want to experiment with KVM.

Is it possible to install Virtualbox and KVM on the same pc or will there be dependency problems)??
Will I then be able to run Virtualbox and KVM (not at the same time??)

User avatar
Head_on_a_Stick
Posts: 14114
Joined: 2014-06-01 17:46
Location: London, England
Has thanked: 81 times
Been thanked: 132 times

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#8 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

pcalvert wrote:Disk I/O performance in KVM was poor enough that it was starting to become annoying.
Be sure to use virtio for best performance under KVM.

On my system I see ~1850MiB/s when using 'hdparm -t /dev/nvme0n1' and in a QEMU/KVM virtual machine using virtio I see ~450MiB/s, which isn't bad at all.
pcalvert wrote:I also liked the additional features like the shared clipboard and shared directories.
QEMU offers a shared clipboard when using SPICE & the QXL video drivers[0] and there are several ways to share directories, I prefer virtfs[1] (Plan 9 over virtio).
peer wrote:Will I then be able to run Virtualbox and KVM (not at the same time??)
Yes, both solutions are co-installable. And you can even run them both at the same time.
deadbang

peer
Posts: 443
Joined: 2017-03-26 10:14
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 20 times

Re: Virtual Machines in Debian: KVM vs. Xen vs. VirtualBox v

#9 Post by peer »

Thanks!!

Post Reply