Xen HVM domU vs. KVM vs. VirtualBox - Ubuntu Xen benchmarking from Ubuntu 11.10 on host and guest against KVM-QEMU on Ubuntu 11.10 and VirtualBox. Testing by Phoronix.com Michael Larabel for a future article. Bare Metal: Processor: Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 2.00GHz (8 Cores), Motherboard: Compal PBL21, Chipset: Intel 2nd Generation Core Family, Memory: 8192MB, Disk: 128GB Super Talent STT_FTM28G225H, Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M (672/900MHz), Audio: Realtek ALC259, Network: Realtek RTL8111/8168B + Atheros AR9285 Wireless OS: Ubuntu 11.10, Kernel: 3.0.0-12-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 4.22.0, Display Server: X Server 1.10.4, Display Driver: nouveau 0.0.16, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 7.11, Compiler: GCC 4.6.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1920x1080 VirtualBox: Processor: Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 1.99GHz (8 Cores), Motherboard: innotek VirtualBox v1.2, Chipset: Intel 440FX - 82441FX PMC, Memory: 6144MB, Disk: 42GB VBOX HDD, Graphics: InnoTek VirtualBox, Audio: Intel 82801AA AC 97 Audio, Monitor: VBOX monitor, Network: Intel 82540EM Gigabit OS: Ubuntu 11.10, Kernel: 3.0.0-12-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 4.22.0, Display Server: X Server 1.10.4, Display Driver: vboxvideo 1.0.1, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 7.11, Compiler: GCC 4.6.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1920x1034, System Layer: VirtualBox 4.1.2_Ubuntur38459 Xen HVM DomU: Processor: Intel Core i7-2630QM @ 2.00GHz (8 Cores), Motherboard: Xen HVM domU v4.1.1, Chipset: Intel 440FX - 82441FX PMC, Memory: 6144MB, Disk: 32GB, Graphics: Cirrus Logic GD 5446, Audio: Ensoniq ES1370 OS: Ubuntu 11.10, Kernel: 3.0.0-12-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 4.22.0, Display Server: X Server 1.10.4, Display Driver: cirrus 1.3.2, Compiler: GCC 4.6.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1024x768, System Layer: Xen HVM domU 4.1.1 KVM-QEMU: Processor: QEMU Virtual 0.14.1 @ 2.00GHz (8 Cores), Motherboard: Bochs, Chipset: Red Hat Virtio, Memory: 6144MB, Disk: 32GB, Graphics: Cirrus Logic GD 5446, Audio: Generic 1af4 ID 20, Network: Red Hat Virtio device OS: Ubuntu 11.10, Kernel: 3.0.0-12-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 4.22.0, Display Server: X Server 1.10.4, Display Driver: cirrus 1.3.2, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 7.11, Compiler: GCC 4.6.1, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1024x768, System Layer: QEMU C-Ray 1.1 Total Time Seconds < Lower Is Better Bare Metal ... 73.25 |====================================== VirtualBox ... 86.15 |============================================= Xen HVM DomU . 107.65 |======================================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 80.52 |========================================== POV-Ray 3.6.1 Total Time Seconds < Lower Is Better Bare Metal ... 900 |======================================= VirtualBox ... 962 |========================================== Xen HVM DomU . 1328 |========================================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 905 |======================================== Smallpt 1.0 Global Illumination Renderer; 100 Samples Seconds < Lower Is Better Bare Metal ... 144 |============================================= VirtualBox ... 157 |================================================= Xen HVM DomU . 188 |=========================================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 146 |============================================== John The Ripper 1.7.8 Test: Traditional DES Real C/S > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 3475000 |======================================================= VirtualBox ... 3257667 |==================================================== Xen HVM DomU . 2397333 |====================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 3383000 |====================================================== John The Ripper 1.7.8 Test: MD5 Real C/S > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 11124 |========================================================= VirtualBox ... 10562 |====================================================== Xen HVM DomU . 7628 |======================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 11063 |========================================================= John The Ripper 1.7.8 Test: Blowfish Real C/S > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 714 |=========================================================== VirtualBox ... 683 |======================================================== Xen HVM DomU . 491 |========================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 710 |=========================================================== OpenSSL 1.0.0a RSA 4096-bit Performance Signs Per Second > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 67.75 |========================================================= VirtualBox ... 63.93 |====================================================== Xen HVM DomU . 46.73 |======================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 67.15 |======================================================== 7-Zip Compression 9.13 Compress Speed Test MIPS > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 13331 |========================================================= VirtualBox ... 11295 |================================================ Xen HVM DomU . 9771 |========================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 11757 |================================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: BT.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 9483.24 |======================================================= VirtualBox ... 8050.00 |=============================================== Xen HVM DomU . 7034.05 |========================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 9134.72 |===================================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: CG.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 2259.97 |======================================================= VirtualBox ... 1944.04 |=============================================== Xen HVM DomU . 1671.94 |========================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 2130.41 |==================================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: EP.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 157.69 |======================================================== VirtualBox ... 145.03 |==================================================== Xen HVM DomU . 116.59 |========================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 154.36 |======================================================= NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: FT.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 4936.29 |======================================================= VirtualBox ... 4308.07 |================================================ Xen HVM DomU . 3777.30 |========================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 4716.12 |===================================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: IS.C Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 141.82 |======================================================== VirtualBox ... 78.24 |=============================== Xen HVM DomU . 97.68 |======================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 87.87 |=================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: LU.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 8803.39 |======================================================= VirtualBox ... 7893.53 |================================================= Xen HVM DomU . 6254.72 |======================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 8525.19 |===================================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: MG.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 5262.67 |======================================================= VirtualBox ... 4575.89 |================================================ Xen HVM DomU . 3843.84 |======================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 4980.32 |==================================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: SP.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 4604.69 |======================================================= VirtualBox ... 4093.85 |================================================= Xen HVM DomU . 3405.65 |========================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 4190.15 |================================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: UA.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 32.04 |========================================================= VirtualBox ... 27.71 |================================================= Xen HVM DomU . 21.22 |====================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 28.63 |=================================================== Timed MAFFT Alignment 6.706 Multiple Sequence Alignment Seconds < Lower Is Better Bare Metal ... 25.01 |======================================= VirtualBox ... 26.95 |========================================== Xen HVM DomU . 36.43 |========================================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 25.59 |======================================== CLOMP 3.3 Static OMP Speedup Speedup > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 4.90 |========================================================== VirtualBox ... 4.01 |=============================================== Xen HVM DomU . 4.24 |================================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 4.70 |======================================================== Apache Benchmark 2.2.17 Static Web Page Serving Requests Per Second > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 15642.74 |====================================================== VirtualBox ... 4315.63 |=============== Xen HVM DomU . 11231.48 |======================================= KVM-QEMU ..... 11247.06 |======================================= PostMark 1.51 Disk Transaction Performance TPS > Higher Is Better Bare Metal ... 4166 |========================================================== VirtualBox ... 3090 |=========================================== Xen HVM DomU . 2409 |================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 3393 |=============================================== SQLite 3.7.3 Test Target: Default Test Directory Seconds < Lower Is Better Bare Metal ... 319.92 |============================= VirtualBox ... 147.70 |============== Xen HVM DomU . 608.92 |======================================================== KVM-QEMU ..... 416.75 |======================================