LXC vs VMware vSphere

Overview

VMware vSphere

Stacks608

Followers550

Votes30

LXC

Stacks116

Followers223

Votes19

GitHub Stars5.0K

Forks1.2K

LXC vs VMware vSphere: What are the differences?

LXC (Linux Containers) and VMware vSphere are both virtualization technologies used to create and manage virtualized environments. Here are the main differences between LXC and vSphere:

Virtualization Type: LXC is a lightweight virtualization technology that uses containerization to run multiple isolated Linux systems on a single host. It shares the host's kernel but provides isolated user spaces. VMware vSphere, on the other hand, is a comprehensive virtualization platform that offers both hypervisor-based virtualization (ESXi) and container orchestration (with vSphere Integrated Containers).
Isolation and Resource Allocation: LXC containers share the same kernel as the host system, which makes them more lightweight and efficient. They have less strict isolation between containers compared to traditional virtualization. VMware vSphere uses full virtualization or hardware-assisted virtualization, which provides stronger isolation between virtual machines (VMs) and allows precise resource allocation.
Guest OS Compatibility: LXC is primarily designed for running Linux containers, making it best suited for Linux workloads. VMware vSphere supports a wider range of guest operating systems, including various versions of Windows and Linux, allowing for more diverse application workloads.
Management and Orchestration: LXC provides basic container management capabilities but may require additional tools or frameworks for advanced orchestration. VMware vSphere offers comprehensive management and orchestration features through its vCenter Server, allowing users to manage VMs, networking, storage, and more in a centralized manner.
Scalability: VMware vSphere is well-known for its scalability and can handle large-scale virtualization environments with numerous VMs. LXC is more suitable for smaller-scale applications and microservices where lightweight containerization is a priority.
Performance: LXC containers have lower overhead compared to traditional virtual machines, resulting in better performance and reduced resource consumption. VMware vSphere provides robust performance for a wide range of workloads but may have slightly higher overhead due to full virtualization.
Use Cases: LXC is ideal for scenarios where fast deployment, high density, and minimal overhead are crucial, such as microservices architectures and containerized applications. VMware vSphere is better suited for organizations with diverse workloads, including legacy applications, virtual desktops, and resource-intensive applications.
Licensing and Cost: LXC is open-source and typically comes at no additional cost, making it a budget-friendly option. VMware vSphere is a commercial solution with various licensing tiers, offering different levels of features and support.
Ecosystem and Integration: LXC containers can be managed using various container orchestration tools such as Kubernetes or Docker Swarm. VMware vSphere offers a wide ecosystem of tools, integrations, and services for managing virtualized environments, including integration with cloud services.

In summary, LXC is ideal for lightweight containerization and microservices, while VMware vSphere provides a comprehensive virtualization platform for a variety of workloads and use cases.

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Detailed Comparison

VMware vSphere	LXC
vSphere is the world’s leading server virtualization platform. Run fewer servers and reduce capital and operating costs using VMware vSphere to build a cloud computing infrastructure.	LXC is a userspace interface for the Linux kernel containment features. Through a powerful API and simple tools, it lets Linux users easily create and manage system or application containers.
Powerful Server Virtualization;Network Services;Efficient Storage;Consistent Automation;High Availability;Robust Security	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 5.0K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 1.2K
Stacks 608	Stacks 116
Followers 550	Followers 223
Votes 30	Votes 19
Pros & Cons
Pros 8 Strong host isolation 6 Industry leader 5 Great VM management (HA,FT,...) 4 Easy to use 2 Great Networking Cons 9 Price	Pros 5 Easy to use 4 Lightweight 3 Simple and powerful 3 Good security 2 LGPL

What are some alternatives to VMware vSphere, LXC?

Docker

The Docker Platform is the industry-leading container platform for continuous, high-velocity innovation, enabling organizations to seamlessly build and share any application — from legacy to what comes next — and securely run them anywhere

VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.

LXD

LXD isn't a rewrite of LXC, in fact it's building on top of LXC to provide a new, better user experience. Under the hood, LXD uses LXC through liblxc and its Go binding to create and manage the containers. It's basically an alternative to LXC's tools and distribution template system with the added features that come from being controllable over the network.

Proxmox VE

It is a complete open-source platform for all-inclusive enterprise virtualization that tightly integrates KVM hypervisor and LXC containers, software-defined storage and networking functionality on a single platform, and easily manages high availability clusters and disaster recovery tools with the built-in web management interface.

rkt

Rocket is a cli for running App Containers. The goal of rocket is to be composable, secure, and fast.

KVM

KVM (for Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V).

Qemu

When used as a machine emulator, it can run OSes and programs made for one machine (e.g. an ARM board) on a different machine (e.g. your own PC). By using dynamic translation, it achieves very good performance. When used as a virtualizer, it achieves near native performance by executing the guest code directly on the host CPU. it supports virtualization when executing under the Xen hypervisor or using the KVM kernel module in Linux. When using KVM, it can virtualize x86, server and embedded PowerPC, 64-bit POWER, S390, 32-bit and 64-bit ARM, and MIPS guests.

Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop for Mac allows you to seamlessly run both Windows and MacOS applications side-by-side with speed, control and confidence.

Vagrant Cloud

Vagrant Cloud pairs with Vagrant to enable access, insight and collaboration across teams, as well as to bring exposure to community contributions and development environments.

Parallels

It is an application and desktop virtualization software vendor that offers management and delivery platforms for Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows desktop deployments.

Related Comparisons

Virtualization Type: LXC is a lightweight virtualization technology that uses containerization to run multiple isolated Linux systems on a single host. It shares the host's kernel but provides isolated user spaces. VMware vSphere, on the other hand, is a comprehensive virtualization platform that offers both hypervisor-based virtualization (ESXi) and container orchestration (with vSphere Integrated Containers).
Isolation and Resource Allocation: LXC containers share the same kernel as the host system, which makes them more lightweight and efficient. They have less strict isolation between containers compared to traditional virtualization. VMware vSphere uses full virtualization or hardware-assisted virtualization, which provides stronger isolation between virtual machines (VMs) and allows precise resource allocation.
Guest OS Compatibility: LXC is primarily designed for running Linux containers, making it best suited for Linux workloads. VMware vSphere supports a wider range of guest operating systems, including various versions of Windows and Linux, allowing for more diverse application workloads.
Management and Orchestration: LXC provides basic container management capabilities but may require additional tools or frameworks for advanced orchestration. VMware vSphere offers comprehensive management and orchestration features through its vCenter Server, allowing users to manage VMs, networking, storage, and more in a centralized manner.
Scalability: VMware vSphere is well-known for its scalability and can handle large-scale virtualization environments with numerous VMs. LXC is more suitable for smaller-scale applications and microservices where lightweight containerization is a priority.
Performance: LXC containers have lower overhead compared to traditional virtual machines, resulting in better performance and reduced resource consumption. VMware vSphere provides robust performance for a wide range of workloads but may have slightly higher overhead due to full virtualization.
Use Cases: LXC is ideal for scenarios where fast deployment, high density, and minimal overhead are crucial, such as microservices architectures and containerized applications. VMware vSphere is better suited for organizations with diverse workloads, including legacy applications, virtual desktops, and resource-intensive applications.
Licensing and Cost: LXC is open-source and typically comes at no additional cost, making it a budget-friendly option. VMware vSphere is a commercial solution with various licensing tiers, offering different levels of features and support.
Ecosystem and Integration: LXC containers can be managed using various container orchestration tools such as Kubernetes or Docker Swarm. VMware vSphere offers a wide ecosystem of tools, integrations, and services for managing virtualized environments, including integration with cloud services.

In summary, LXC is ideal for lightweight containerization and microservices, while VMware vSphere provides a comprehensive virtualization platform for a variety of workloads and use cases.

LXC vs VMware vSphere