Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) vs. Linux Containers LXD

KVM is the best solution in the case you need to test and turn up any virtual environment with limited vCPU/RAM resources. The obvious area of its use is a network environment when we want to avoid being tied to one type of hardware/vendor and being able to swap from one instance to another with no downtimes. The use of a vSwitch (that supports VLAN tagging) is a significant bonus for network engineers that some other hypervisors do not provide.

Incentivized

Linux Containers LXD works very well when you, as a software developer using Linux, need to spin up a development environment to build and work on a specific piece of software. For example, you need to build some software that is tested and developed target Ubuntu 18.04. You're able to quickly create a container for Ubuntu 18.04 and log into it to run commands and build your software. This is easier to do than setting a virtual machine - e.g - via Virtual Box, but is a lot clunkier than doing it via Docker containers which give you a much more flexible configuration of the environment and are easier to start, stop, connect and share with other developers.

Incentivized

• KVM is really good at providing fast and reliable virtualization for Linux guests
• Since KVM is a kernel module, every VM is a Linux process which can be managed by Linux system tools
• KVM integrates very well with the management framework libvirt, which is why KVM can be integrated in automation tools as well

Incentivized

• GIT repositories.
• Authentication servers.
• Application instances.

Incentivized

• Complex networking
• GPU processing is not fully supported
• It's hard to set up without support tools

Incentivized

• Ease of use.
• Copying containers from one machine to another.
• Creation of containers with config files similar to Docker.

Incentivized

Kernel-based Virtual Machine is an open-source and free solution, compared to Virtualbox which is a product from Oracle.

Incentivized

Linux Containers LXD feels like a more primitive version of docker, docker-compose and similar projects from the docker ecosystem. The Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml methods of specifying a container setup, as well as the network and file configurations afforded by Docker make working with containers much easier and more reproducible than with Linux Containers LXD.

Incentivized

• KVM just works and gets out of the way
• KVM is working great with other open-source technologies like QEMU and libvirt

Incentivized

• Save workload.
• Save time.

Incentivized