Differences between revisions 1 and 7 (spanning 6 versions)

While benchmarks are a very difficult exercixe and as such the results must be considered carefully, they are still interesting to compare the respective performance between the solutions for different workloads.

This page will try to keep an eye on the relative performances of Xen and KVM. Until virtio is not part of the mainstream linux kernel, the tests will concentrate on performance on HVM systems, so the guest system will be an "unmodified OS".

13 Feb 2008

Tests on an AMD based system with an AMD X2 4400+ and 4GB RAM. The test VM for both Xen and KVM is the same image: an unmodified Debian Lenny kernel amd64 w/512 MB RAM

The test is still the "make clean && make allnoconfig && time make" of a 2.6.24 kernel

Host is an opensource Xen-3.2 (from xen.org) with a Dom0 running a kernel-2.6.18-xen, Dom0 userspace is a 64bits Ubuntu Gutsy

run	1	2	3
real	2m28.261s	2m17.069s	2m16.441s
user	1m27.213s	1m27.137s	1m27.189s
sys	0m51.111s	0m49.231s	0m48.751s

Host in Ubuntu gutsy amd64 kernel 2.6.22-14-generic

run	1	2	3
real	2m30.767s	2m28.551s	2m28.852s
user	1m35.882s	1m35.866s	1m36.410s
sys	0m52.179s	0m53.283s	0m52.239s

12 Feb 2008

Thanks for Dan Berrange who pointed me on xen.org instead of xensource.com as a source of download for the latest Xen.

The tests consists of the compilation of a linux kernel 2.6.24 with allnoconfig (make allnoconfig && time make). The host hardware is a 1.86Ghz Intel Core2duo.

unmodified VM: 64bits Debian Etch

The first two tests run the same Virtual Machine with an unmodified 64bits Debian Etch.

Host is an opensource Xen-3.2 (from xen.org) with a Dom0 running a kernel-2.6.18-xen, Dom0 userspace is a 64bits Debian Lenny

run	1	2	3
real	2m26	2m19	2m20
user	1m21	1m22	1m21
sys	1m02	0m58	1m00

Host is a 64bits Debian Lenny with a 2.6.24 kernel and KVM-60

run	1	2	3
real	2m11	2m07	2m07
user	1m26	1m26	1m26
sys	0m45	0m40	0m40

paravirtualised VM: 64bits Debian Etch with xenified kernel

The following test runs on the same hardware than the previous one. The kernel used in the DomU is the same as in Dom0:

Host is an opensource Xen 3.2 (from xen.org) with a Dom0 running a kernel-2.6.18-xen, Dom0 userspace is a 64bits Debian Lenny

run	1	2	3
real	1m34	1m33	1m33
user	1m17	1m18	1m18
sys	0m15	0m15	0m15

11 Feb 2008

For the following 2 tests, the system is an Intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz w/ 2GB RAM running the latest available versions:

for Xen: opensource Xen 3.1.0 (from xen.xensource.com) + Dom0 kernel based on kernel.org 2.6.18
for KVM: kvm-60 on a 2.6.23

The guest used in both case is the exact same VM (non-paravirtualised 64 bit Debian etch with 256 MB RAM).

Guest system boot-up time

plateform	time in seconds
Xen	23
KVM	20

Kernel compilation benchmark

Time to compile a 2.6.24 allnoconfig

first try - cold cache

plateform	real time	user time	sys time
Xen	1m53	1m06	0m43
KVM	1m03	1m06	0m33

second try - w/ cache

plateform	real time	user time	sys time
Xen	1m52	1m07	0m43
KVM	0m56	1m07	0m31

-  ⇤ ← Revision 1 as of 2008-02-11 17:59:49 → 
  Size: 1240
  Editor: GildasLeNadan
  Comment: first series of bench, xen 3.1.0/2.6.18 vs 2.6.23 kvm 60
+   ← Revision 7 as of 2008-02-13 09:21:03 → ⇥
  Size: 3829
  Editor: GildasLeNadan
  Comment: added tests on an AMD system
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
 Line 1:
-While benchmarks are a very difficult exercice and as such the results must be considered carefully, they are still interesting to compare the respective performance between the solutions for different workloads. This page will try to keep an eye on the relative performances of Xen (OpenSource version) and KVM for a non paravirtualized CPU (i-e with HVM).
+While benchmarks are a very difficult exercixe and as such the results must be considered carefully, they are still interesting to compare the respective performance between the solutions for different workloads.
 Line 3:
-For the following 2 tests, the system is an intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz w/ 2GB RAM running the latest available versions:
+This page will try to keep an eye on the relative performances of Xen and KVM. Until virtio is not part of the mainstream linux kernel, the tests will concentrate on performance on HVM systems, so the guest system will be an "unmodified OS".
 Line 5:
- * for xen: Xen 3.1.0 + Dom0 kernel based on kernel.org 2.6.18
+= 13 Feb 2008 =

Tests on an AMD based system with an AMD X2 4400+ and 4GB RAM. The test VM for both Xen and KVM is the same image: an unmodified Debian Lenny kernel amd64 w/512 MB RAM

The test is still the "make clean && make allnoconfig && time make" of a 2.6.24 kernel

 * Host is an opensource Xen-3.2 (from xen.org) with a Dom0 running a kernel-2.6.18-xen, Dom0 userspace is a 64bits Ubuntu Gutsy

|| '''run''' || '''1''' || '''2''' || '''3''' ||
|| '''real''' || 2m28.261s || 2m17.069s || 2m16.441s ||
|| '''user'''  || 1m27.213s || 1m27.137s || 1m27.189s ||
|| '''sys''' || 0m51.111s || 0m49.231s || 0m48.751s ||

 * Host in Ubuntu gutsy amd64 kernel 2.6.22-14-generic

|| '''run''' || '''1''' || '''2''' || '''3''' ||
|| '''real''' || 2m30.767s ||  2m28.551s || 2m28.852s ||
|| '''user'''  || 1m35.882s || 1m35.866s || 1m36.410s ||
|| '''sys''' || 0m52.179s ||  0m53.283s || 0m52.239s ||

= 12 Feb 2008 =

Thanks for Dan Berrange who pointed me on xen.org instead of xensource.com as a source of download for the latest Xen.

The tests consists of the compilation of a linux kernel 2.6.24 with allnoconfig (make allnoconfig && time make). The host hardware is a 1.86Ghz Intel Core2duo.

== unmodified VM: 64bits Debian Etch ==

The first two tests run the same Virtual Machine with an unmodified 64bits Debian Etch.

 * Host is an opensource Xen-3.2 (from xen.org) with a Dom0 running a kernel-2.6.18-xen, Dom0 userspace is a 64bits Debian Lenny

|| '''run''' || '''1''' || '''2''' || '''3''' ||
|| '''real''' || 2m26 || 2m19 || 2m20 ||
|| '''user''' ||1m21 || 1m22 || 1m21 ||
|| '''sys''' || 1m02 || 0m58 || 1m00 ||

 * Host is a 64bits Debian Lenny with a 2.6.24 kernel and KVM-60

|| '''run''' || '''1''' || '''2''' || '''3''' ||
|| '''real''' || 2m11 || 2m07 || 2m07 ||
|| '''user''' || 1m26 || 1m26 || 1m26 ||
|| '''sys''' || 0m45 || 0m40 || 0m40 ||

== paravirtualised VM: 64bits Debian Etch with xenified kernel ==

The following test runs on the same hardware than the previous one. The kernel used in the DomU is the same as in Dom0:

 * Host is an opensource Xen 3.2 (from xen.org) with a Dom0 running a kernel-2.6.18-xen, Dom0 userspace is a 64bits Debian Lenny

|| '''run''' || '''1''' || '''2''' || '''3''' ||
|| '''real''' || 1m34 || 1m33 || 1m33 ||
|| '''user''' || 1m17 || 1m18 || 1m18 ||
|| '''sys''' || 0m15 || 0m15 || 0m15 ||

= 11 Feb 2008 =

For the following 2 tests, the system is an Intel core 2 duo 2.4Ghz w/ 2GB RAM running the latest available versions:

 * for Xen: opensource Xen 3.1.0 (from xen.xensource.com) + Dom0 kernel based on kernel.org 2.6.18
-Line 8:
+Line 67:
-The guest used in both case is the exact same VM (64 bit Debian etch with 256 MB RAM).
+The guest used in both case is the exact same VM (non-paravirtualised 64 bit Debian etch with 256 MB RAM).
-Line 10:
+Line 69:
-= Guest system boot-up time =
+== Guest system boot-up time ==
-Line 16:
+Line 75:
-= Kernel compilation benchmark =
+== Kernel compilation benchmark ==