Overview

XenServer

Stacks52

Followers57

Votes0

libvirt

Stacks54

Followers70

Votes17

XenServer vs libvirt: What are the differences?

1. **Hypervisor Type**: XenServer is a Type-1 hypervisor, while libvirt is a virtualization API that supports multiple hypervisors including XenServer. XenServer directly interacts with hardware, providing better performance, while libvirt is more of a management tool that abstracts various hypervisors. 2. **Vendor Support**: XenServer is developed by Citrix and comes with commercial support options, while libvirt is an open-source project with community support. Users opting for XenServer may have access to specialized support and services from Citrix, making it attractive for enterprise environments. 3. **Feature Set**: XenServer offers a comprehensive set of enterprise features out-of-the-box, including live migration, high availability, and GPU passthrough. On the other hand, libvirt is more versatile but may require additional configuration and integration with other tools to enable similar functionalities. 4. **Ease of Use**: XenServer is known for its user-friendly interface and simplified setup process, making it suitable for users who prefer a straightforward virtualization experience. Libvirt, being a generic API, offers more flexibility but may require a steeper learning curve and manual configuration for specific use cases. 5. **Licensing**: XenServer has a commercial license with some features exclusive to paid versions, while libvirt is open-source with no licensing costs. Organizations looking for cost-effective solutions may lean towards libvirt, while those requiring advanced features may choose XenServer. 6. **Community Ecosystem**: XenServer has a dedicated user community and marketplace for add-ons and integrations, fostering a robust ecosystem around the product. In comparison, libvirt being open-source has a broader community contributing to its development, resulting in a wider range of supported hypervisors and technologies.

In Summary, XenServer is a commercially supported Type-1 hypervisor with a focus on enterprise features and ease of use, while libvirt is an open-source virtualization API offering flexibility and broader community support for various hypervisors.

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Detailed Comparison

XenServer	libvirt
It is a leading virtualization management platform optimized for application, desktop and server virtualization infrastructures. It is used in the world's largest clouds and enterprises.	It is an open-source API, daemon and management tool for managing platform virtualization. It can be used to manage KVM, Xen, VMware ESXi, QEMU and other virtualization technologies.
-	Manage virtualization platforms; Accessible from C, Python, Perl, Java and more; Supports KVM, QEMU, Xen, Virtuozzo, VMWare ESX, LXC, BHyve and more
Statistics
Stacks 52	Stacks 54
Followers 57	Followers 70
Votes 0	Votes 17
Pros & Cons
No community feedback yet	Pros 2 Free 2 Built into most Linux distros 2 Native KVM and QEMU 2 Native hypervisor 2 Can fully manage via CLI or VirtManager
Integrations
No integrations available	Java Python Qemu KVM

What are some alternatives to XenServer, libvirt?

Vagrant

Vagrant provides the framework and configuration format to create and manage complete portable development environments. These development environments can live on your computer or in the cloud, and are portable between Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

boot2docker

boot2docker is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Tiny Core Linux made specifically to run Docker containers. It runs completely from RAM, weighs ~27MB and boots in ~5s (YMMV).

Otto

Otto automatically builds development environments without any configuration; it can detect your project type and has built-in knowledge of industry-standard tools to setup a development environment that is ready to go. When you're ready to deploy, otto builds and manages an infrastructure, sets up servers, builds, and deploys the application.

Azk

azk lets developers easily and quickly install and configure development environments on their computers.

VMware ESXi

It is a bare metal hypervisor that installs easily on to your server and partitions it into multiple virtual machines. It effectively partitions hardware to consolidate applications and cut costs.

Xen Orchestra

It provides a web based UI for the management of XenServer installations without requiring any agent or extra software on your hosts nor VMs.

PuPHPet

It is a web application that allows you to easily and quickly generate custom Vagrant and Puppet controlled virtual machines.

KubeVirt

It addresses the needs of development teams that have adopted or want to adopt Kubernetes but possess existing Virtual Machine-based workloads that cannot be easily containerized. More specifically, the technology provides a unified development platform where developers can build, modify, and deploy applications residing in both Application Containers as well as Virtual Machines in a common, shared environment.

Azure Arc

It offers simplified management, faster app development, and consistent Azure services. Easily organize, govern, and secure Windows, Linux, SQL Server, and Kubernetes clusters across data centers, the edge, and multi-cloud environments right from Azure. Architect, design, and build cloud-native apps anywhere without sacrificing central visibility and control. Get Azure innovation and cloud benefits by deploying consistent Azure data, application, and machine learning services on any infrastructure.