Diploma Thesis - Virtualization of server systems

Virtualisierung von Servern

Diploma Thesis at mentasys AG (Karlsruhe), Duration: 4 month

Description

This diploma thesis deals with the virtualization of servers. After a short introduction and outline of purposes the necessary basics will be explained. The concept of virtualization is defined and separated from the concept of emulation. The most current virtualization attempts are discussed, as well as the products VMware, Xen, OpenVZ and Logical Partition are introduced.

These products are examined and evaluated for their suitability for the company mentasys GmbH. The free version of Xen offers, in the end, the best solution for the planned purpose. The commercial products VMware ESX Server and Xen Enterprise offer many functions, but they are concluded and expensive systems. The free version of VMware is limited in his functionality and the products OpenVZ and Logical Partition are not suited for the planned purpose cause of their architecture.

A prototype based on the free version of Xen is designed and implemented. Virtual guest's systems are also generated. The efficiency of the Xen virtualization solution is determined by means of different load tests for a productive system. It appears that such a system produces only a low performance loss. Other virtualized systems which are used primarily for company internal purposes achieve the same performance as before the virtualization.