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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The table below compares basic information about platform virtual machine (VM) packages.

Contents 1 General Information 2 More details 3 Features 4 Other emulators 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] General Information

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.

Name	Creator	Host CPU	Guest CPU	Host OS(s)	Guest OS(s)	License
Bochs	Kevin Lawton	any	x86, AMD64	Windows, Windows Mobile, Linux, IRIX, AIX, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BeOS, Mac OS X	DOS, Windows, xBSD, Linux	LGPL
Containers	Sun Microsystems	x86, x86-64, SPARC (portable: not tied to hardware)	(Same as host)	Solaris 10	Solaris (8, 9 or 10), Linux (BrandZ)	CDDL
Cooperative Linux	Dan Aloni helped by other developers (1)	x86[1]	(Same as parent)	Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista[1]	Linux	GPL version 2
Denali	University of Washington	x86	x86	Denali	Ilwaco, NetBSD	?
DOSBox	Peter Veenstra and Sjoerd with community help	any	x86	Linux, Windows, Mac OS Classic, Mac OS X, BeOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, QNX, IRIX, MorphOS, AmigaOS	Internally emulated DOS shell. Classic PC booter games and unofficially, Windows 1.0 to 3.11	GPL
DOSEMU	Community Project	x86, AMD64	x86	Linux	DOS	GPL version 2
FreeVPS	PSoft	x86, AMD64	compatible	Linux	Various Linux distributions	GPL version 2
GXemul	Anders Gavare	any	ARM, MIPS, M88K, PowerPC, SuperH	Unix-like	NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Ultrix, Sprite	BSD
Hercules	Jay Maynard	any	z/Architecture	Unix-like	Linux on zSeries, z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, OS/360, DOS/360, DOS/VS, MVS, VM/370, TSS/370.	QPL
Hyper-V	Microsoft	x64 + hardware-assisted virtualization (Intel VT or AMD-V)	x64,x86	Windows 2008 w/Hyper-V Role, Windows Hyper-V Server	Supported Drivers for Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Linux (SUSE 10 Released, More Announced))	Proprietary (free of charge with Windows Server 2008)
Imperas OVP Tools	Imperas [1]	x86	OR1K, MIPS32, ARC600/ARC700, ARM (can use all OVP OVPsim [2] compliant models, user can write own to public OVP APIs)	Microsoft Windows, Linux	Depends on target machine, for example includes MIPS Malta that runs Linux or SMP-Linux (can use all OVP OVPsim [3] compliant models, user can write own to public OVP APIs)	Tools are under proprietary license, models under Apache 2.0
iCore Virtual Accounts	iCore Software	x86	x86	Windows XP	Windows XP	Proprietary
Integrity Virtual Machines	Hewlett-Packard	IA-64	IA-64	HP-UX	HP-UX, Windows, Linux (OpenVMS announced)	Proprietary
JPC (Virtual Machine)	Oxford University	Any running the Java Virtual Machine	x86	Java Virtual Machine	DOS	GPL version 2
KVM	Qumranet [4]	Intel/AMD processor with X86 virtualization,IA64,s390,PowerPC	same as platform	Linux	Linux, Windows, FreeBSD, Solaris	GPL version 2
LinuxOnLinux	Gelato@UNSW	Itanium	compatible	Linux	Linux	GPL
Linux- VServer	Community Project	x86, AMD64, IA-64, Alpha, PowerPC/64, PA-RISC/64, SPARC/64, ARM, S/390, SH/66, MIPS	compatible	Linux	Various Linux distributions	GPL version 2
Logical Domains	Sun Microsystems	UltraSPARC T1, UltraSPARC T2	compatible	Solaris 10	Solaris, Linux, and FreeBSD	?
LynxSecure	LynuxWorks	x86, Intel VT-x, Intel VT-d	x86	no host OS	LynxOS, Linux, and Windows	Proprietary
Mac-on-Linux	Mac On Linux	PowerPC	PowerPC	Linux	Mac OS X, Mac OS 7.5.2 to 9.2.2, Linux	GPL
Mac-on-Mac	Sebastian Gregorzyk	PowerPC	PowerPC	Mac OS X, up to Tiger excluded	Mac OS X, Mac OS 7.5.2 to 9.2.2, Linux	GPL
OKL4	Open Kernel Labs	x86, ARM, MIPS	as host	none (bare metal)	Linux, eCos, "other RTOSes"	BSD
OpenVZ	Community project, supported by SWsoft	Intel x86, AMD64, IA-64, PowerPC64, SPARC/64	Same as host	Linux	Various Linux distributions	GPL
Oracle VM	Oracle Corporation	Intel x86, x86-64, Intel VT-x	Intel x86, x86-64, Intel VT-x	none (bare metal install)	Microsoft Windows, Oracle Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux	Free, Commercial
OVPsim	OVP [5]	x86	OR1K, MIPS32, ARC600/ARC700, ARM (and public API which enables users to write their own processor models, RISC, CISC, DSP, VLIW all possible)	Microsoft Windows, Linux	Depends on target machine, for example includes MIPS Malta that runs Linux or SMP-Linux (and includes public API which enables users to write their own peripheral and system models)	Apache 2.0
Padded Cell for x86	Green Hills Software	x86, Intel VT-x	x86	INTEGRITY Real-time OS	Windows, Linux, Solaris	Proprietary
Padded Cell for PowerPC	Green Hills Software	PowerPC	PowerPC	INTEGRITY Real-time OS	Linux	Proprietary
Palacios VMM	The V3Vee Project	AMD-V	x86	OS independent (currently GeekOS, Kitten)	Linux	BSD
Parallels Desktop for Mac	Parallels, Inc.	Intel x86, Intel VT-x	Intel x86	Mac OS X (Intel)	Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, MS-DOS, Solaris	Proprietary
Parallels Workstation	Parallels, Inc.	x86, Intel VT-x	x86	Windows, Linux	Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, MS-DOS, Solaris	Proprietary
PearPC	Sebastian Biallas	x86, AMD64, PowerPC	PowerPC	Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, NetBSD	Mac OS X, Darwin, Linux	GPL
PowerVM	IBM	POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, PowerPC 970	POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, PowerPC 970, X86 (PowerVM-Lx86)	hardware / firmware, no host OS	Linux-PPC, Linux-X86, AIX, i5/OS, IBM i	Proprietary
Proxmox Virtual Environment	ProxMox	x86-64	x86, x86-64	Debian Etch w/ProxMox Role	Same as KVM; Same as OpenVZ	GPL v2
QEMU	Fabrice Bellard helped by other developers	x86, AMD64, IA-64, PowerPC, Alpha, SPARC 32 and 64, ARM, S/390, M68k	x86, AMD64, ARM, SPARC 32 and 64, PowerPC, MIPS	Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BeOS	Changes regularly [6]	GPL/LGPL
QEMU w/ kqemu module	Fabrice Bellard	Intel x86, AMD64	Same as host	Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Windows	Changes regularly [7]	GPL/LGPL
QEMU w/ qvm86 module	Paul Brook	x86	x86	Linux, NetBSD, Windows	Changes regularly	GPL
QuickTransit	Transitive Corp.	AMD64, x86, IA-64, POWER	MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, x86	Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris	Linux, Mac OS X, Irix, Solaris	Proprietary
RTS Hypervisor	Real-Time Systems	Intel and AMD x86	x86	none: bare metal installation	Windows XP, XP-Embedded, Linux, VxWorks, Windows CE, ETS, OS-9 and proprietary OS	Proprietary
SimNow	AMD	AMD64	AMD64	Linux (64bit), Windows (64bit)	Linux, Windows (32bit and 64bit)	AMD proprietary
SIMH	Bob Supnik / The Computer History Simulation Project	Alpha, ARM, HPPA, x86, ia64, x86-64, M68K, MIPS, MIPSel, POWER, s390, SPARC	Data General Nova, Eclipse; Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1, PDP-4, PDP-7, PDP-8, PDP-9, PDP-10, PDP-11, PDP-15, VAX; GRI Corporation GRI-909, IBM 1401, 1620, 1130, 7090/7094, System 3; Interdata (Perkin-Elmer) 16b and 32b systems; Hewlett-Packard 2114, 2115, 2116, 2100, 21MX; Honeywell H316/H516; MITS Altair 8800, with both 8080 and Z80; Royal-Mcbee LGP-30, LGP-21; Scientific Data Systems SDS 940	Windows, BSD, Linux, Solaris, VMS	Depends on target machine, Includes NetBSD/VAX, OpenBSD/VAX, VAX/VMS, UNIX v6, UNIX v7, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, ITS	Unique, BSD-like license
Simics	Virtutech	x86, x86-64, SPARC v9	Alpha, ARM, IA-64, MIPS32, MIPS64, MSP430, PPC32, PPC64, POWER, SPARC v8, SPARC v9, x86, x86-64, TI TMS320C64xx.	Windows, Linux, Solaris	Depends on target machine, VxWorks, OSE, QNX, Linux, Solaris, Windows, FreeBSD, RTEMS, TinyOS, and many others have been run.	Proprietary
Sun xVM Server	Sun Microsystems	x86-64, SPARC	(Same as host)	none (bare metal with Solaris as special guest providing backend drivers to guests)	Windows XP & 2003 Server (x86-64 only), Linux, Solaris	GPL version 3
SVISTA 2004	Serenity Systems International	x86	x86	Windows, OS/2, Linux	Windows, Linux, OS/2, BSD	Proprietary
TRANGO	TRANGO Virtual Processors, Grenoble, France	ARM, XScale, MIPS, PowerPC	Paravirtualized ARM, MIPS, PowerPC	none: bare metal execution, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts	Linux, eCos, µC/OS-II, WindowsCE, Nucleus, VxWorks	Proprietary
User Mode Linux	Jeff Dike helped by other developers	x86, x86-64, PowerPC	(Same as parent)	Linux	Linux	GPL version 2
View-OS	Renzo Davoli helped by other developers [8]	x86, PowerPC, AMD64 (in progress)	(Same as parent)	Linux 2.6+	Linux executables	GPL version 2
VDSmanager	ISPsystem LLC	x86	(Same as host)	FreeBSD	FreeBSD	Proprietary
Sun xVM VirtualBox	Sun Microsystems	x86, x86-64	x86, (x86-64 only on VirtualBox 2 with hardware virtualization)	Windows, Linux, Mac OS X (Intel), Solaris, eComStation	DOS, Windows, Linux, OS/2, FreeBSD, Solaris	GPL version 2; full version with extra enterprise features is proprietary (free of charge for personal and educational use and evaluation)
Virtual Iron Virtual Iron 3.1	Virtual Iron Software, Inc.	x86 VT-x, AMD64 AMD-V	x86, AMD64	none: bare metal execution	Windows, Linux	Complete product carries a proprietary license [9]; a few components are GPL version 2 [10]
Virtual PC 2007	Microsoft	x86, x86-64	x86	Windows Vista (Business, Enterprise, Ultimate), XP Pro, XP Tablet PC Edition	DOS, Windows, OS/2, Linux(Suse, Xubuntu), OpenSolaris(Belenix)	Proprietary (free of charge from Jul 2006)
Virtual PC 7 for Mac	Microsoft	PowerPC	x86	Mac OS X	Windows, OS/2, Linux	Proprietary
VirtualLogix VLX	VirtualLogix	ARM, TI DSP C6000, Intel x86, Intel VT-x and Intel VT-d, PowerPC	Same as parent	none: bare metal installation	Linux, Windows XP, C5, VxWorks, Nucleus, DSP/BIOS and proprietary OS	Proprietary
Virtual Server 2005 R2	Microsoft	Intel x86, AMD64	Intel x86	Windows 2003, XP	Windows NT, 2000, 2003, Linux (Red Hat and SUSE)	Proprietary (Free)
CoWare Virtual Platform	CoWare	x86, x86-64, SPARC v9	Devices including (multi) cores from ARM, MIPS, PPC, Toshiba MeP, Renesas SH, TI, Tensilica, ZSP	Windows, Linux, Solaris	Depend on the Guest CPU; includes: Linux (various flavors), mITRON (various flavors), WinCE, Symbian, ...	Proprietary
Virtuozzo	SWsoft, now Parallels, Inc.	x86, IA-64, AMD64	x86, IA-64, AMD64	Linux, Windows	Linux, Windows	Proprietary
VMware ESX Server	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	none (bare metal install)	Windows, Linux, Netware, Solaris, FreeBSD, ...	Proprietary
VMware ESXi Server	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	none (bare metal install) (embedded)	Windows, Linux, Netware, Solaris, FreeBSD, ...	Proprietary (Free)
VMware Fusion	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	Mac OS X (Intel)	Windows, Linux, Netware, Solaris, others	Proprietary
VMware Server	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	Windows, Linux	DOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Netware, Solaris, Virtual appliances	Proprietary (Free)
VMware Workstation 6.0	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	Windows, Linux	DOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Netware, Solaris, Darwin, Virtual appliances	Proprietary
VMware Player 2.0	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	Windows, Linux	DOS, Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Netware, Solaris, Darwin, Virtual appliances	Proprietary (Free)
Wind River hypervisor	Wind River	x86, PPC	(Same as host)	bare metal	Linux, VxWorks, bare metal virtual board	Proprietary
Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform	Wind River	PPC	(Same as host)	bare metal	VxWorks, bare metal virtual board	Proprietary
Xen	Citrix Systems	x86, AMD64, (PowerPC and IA-64 ports in progress)	(Same as host)	NetBSD, Linux, Solaris	FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, Solaris, Windows XP & 2003 Server (needs vers. 3.0 and an Intel VT (Vanderpool) or AMD-V (Pacifica)-capable CPU), Plan 9	GPL
z/VM	IBM	z/Architecture	z/Architecture (z/VM does not run on predecessor mainframes)	None or itself, single or multiple levels/versions deep, e.g. VM/ESA running inside z/VM 4.4 inside z/VM 5.2 inside z/VM 5.1.	Linux on zSeries, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, VM/CMS, MUSIC/SP, OpenSolaris for System z, and predecessors	Proprietary, one-time charge plus maintenance/support
z LPARs	IBM	z/Architecture	z/Architecture	Intrinsic feature of System z mainframes	Linux on zSeries, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, VM/CMS, MUSIC/SP, and predecessors	Intrinsic feature of System z mainframes
Name	Creator	Host CPU	Guest CPU	Host OS(s)	Guest OS(s)	License

[edit] More details

Name	Guest OS SMP available?	Runs arbitrary OS?	Drivers for supported guest OS available?	Method of operation	Typical use	Guest OS speed relative to Host OS	Commercial support available?	Needs administrative rights?
Bochs	Yes, up to 8-way	Yes	?	Emulation	Hobbyist, Developer	Slow	?	(network support needs packet capture/TUN which requires admin rights to be installed)
Containers	Yes, over 100-way	No	N/A	Operating system-level virtualization	Business, Development, Enterprise Server Consolidation, Hosting, Service separation, Security, Isolation	Native speed	Yes
Cooperative Linux	No[1]	No	some are supported	Porting	used as a separate machine for a server or with X11 networking	Native[11]	?	Always. User-mode console can be attached to running instances, though.[1]
Denali	No	No	?	Paravirtualization and Porting	Research	Slow	?
DOSBox	No	No	Yes	Emulation using Dynamic Translation or interpretation.	execution of DOS applications, especially games	Slow (10% native), much slower on non-x86 systems.	?
DOSEMU	No	Yes	Yes	Hardware virtualization	Legacy application support	Native[12]	?
FreeVPS	Yes	No	n/a	Operating system-level virtualization	Hosting, Service separation, Security	Native[13]	?
GXemul	No	No	N/A	Emulation	Hobbyist, Developer	Slow	?
Hyper-V	Yes	Yes	Yes	Hypervisor	All	Native. Drivers IO is non-emulated for better IO performance. However, substantial performance loss on some workload (network and disk intensive especially) is associated with all virtualization solutions.	Yes
iCore Virtual Accounts	Yes	No	Compatible	Operating system-level virtualization	Safe Home Computing	Native	Yes
Imperas OVP Tools	Yes	Yes	Yes , but most of the time unmodified is the point	Full-System Simulation with optional component virtualization	Early Software Development, embedded software development, advanced debug for single and multicore software, computer architecture research	Depends on target, upto 500% faster than embedded target. Runs over 1,000 MIPS on desktop.	Yes
Integrity Virtual Machines	Yes (8-way supported, 16-way experimental)	Yes	Unnecessary	Virtualization	Server consolidation and Security	Near native (no guest additions necessary)	Yes
Jail	Yes	No	N/A	Operating system-level virtualization	Hosting, Service separation, Security	Native[14]	?
JPC (Virtual Machine)	No	Yes	N/A	Emulation and Dynamic Translation	Research	Slow (at most 20% of native)	No
KVM	Yes	Yes	Yes (virtio)	In-kernel Virtualization	Server, home use only for experienced users	Near native	Yes	No (if /dev/kvm is accessible by non-root user)
LinuxOnLinux	Yes	No	Under development	Paravirtualization by Afterburning plus Type II hypervisor	researching virtual machines	Near native (within 10%)	No
Linux- VServer	Yes	No	N/A	Operating system-level virtualization	Hosting, Service separation, Security	Native[15]	?
Logical Domains	Yes	No	Yes (for supported OS such as Solaris 10)	Paravirtualization	Server consolidation, Hosting, Service separation, and Security	Near native	Yes
LynxSecure	Yes	Yes	Yes	Paravirtualization and Operating system-level virtualization	Embedded and enterprise-level workstation and servers, high-assurance security, secure domain separation (MLS, MILS, MSL), and cross-domain solutions	Native or near native performance	Yes
Mac-on-Linux	?	?	?	Virtualization		Native[16]	?
Mac-on-Mac	?	?	?	Virtualization		Native[17]	?
OKL4	?	No	Yes	Paravirtualization	embedded systems	Native[18]	?
OpenVZ	Yes	No	Compatible	Operating system-level virtualization	Virtualized Server Isolation	Native[19]	?	Needs
Oracle VM	Yes	Yes	Yes	Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization	Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment	Near native	Yes
OVPsim	Yes	Yes	Yes , but most of the time unmodified is the point	Full-System Simulation with optional component virtualization	Early Software Development, embedded software development, advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, hobbyist.	Depends on target, upto 500% faster than embedded target. Runs over 1,000 MIPS on desktop.	Yes, with commercial license from Imperas [20]
Padded Cell for x86	No	Yes	Yes	Virtualization, Lightweight Hypervisor	Developer, Business workstation, Security	Near native	?
Padded Cell for PowerPC	No	No	Yes	Paravirtualization, Lightweight Hypervisor	Developer, Business workstation, Security	Near native	?
Parallels Desktop for Mac	Yes	Yes	Yes	Virtualization, Lightweight Hypervisor	Hobbyist, Developer, Tester, Business workstation	Near native	Yes
Parallels Workstation	No	Yes	Yes	Virtualization, Lightweight Hypervisor	Hobbyist, Developer, Tester, Business workstation	Near native	Yes
PearPC	No	Yes	Yes	Emulation using Dynamic Translation	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation	Slow (1/15 native; 1/500 on G4)	?
PowerVM	Yes	Yes, max 10 / CPU	Yes	native or (micro lpars) hypercalls to firmware-hypervisor	any use, up to 64-way	native, POWER5 and later have no raw-iron mode	Yes
QEMU	Yes	Yes	?	Dynamic Recompilation	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation, Server	Slow when emulating a different architecture (i.e. powerpc on x86 or vice versa) (10% to 20% of native). Reasonably fast otherwise.	?	if TAP access is desired, other networking modes require no admin
QEMU w/ kqemu module	No	Yes	?	Virtualization	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation, Server	Near native [21]	?	Needs
QEMU w/ qvm86 module	No	Yes	?	Virtualization	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation, Server	Near native	?	Needs
QuickTransit	Yes	Yes	No	Dynamic binary translation	Various	Varies depending on host/guest processor combination	Yes
RTS Hypervisor	Yes	Yes	Yes	native, binary - direct HW access	Embedded real-time systems; Medical, Industrial, Mil-Aero	Native[22]	Yes
SimNow	Yes	Yes	Yes	Code caching, Virtualization	Developer, Server	Slow (10% of native)	?
SIMH	No	Yes	No	Emulation	Hobbyist, Legacy application support, Historical preservation	Slower than native	?
Simics	Yes	Yes	Yes, but most of time unmodified is the point	Full-system simulation	Early software development, embedded software development, advanced debug, computer architecture research	depends on target nature	Yes
Sun xVM Server	Yes	Yes	Yes	Paravirtualization and Porting or Hardware Virtualization	Enterprise servers	Up to near native[23] speed substantial performance loss on some workload (network and disk intensive especially)	Yes
SVISTA 2004	No	?	?	?	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation	?	?
TRANGO	Yes	Yes[24]	Yes	Paravirtualization and Porting or Hardware Virtualization	Mob. phone, STB, routers, etc.	Native[25]	?
User Mode Linux	???	No	special guest kernel+modules required	Porting	used as a separate machine for a server or with X11 networking	near Native speed (Runs slow as all calls are proxied)	?	for networking
View-OS	Yes	No	N/A	Partial Virtualization through syscall trapping	security, isolation, testing, mobility	Near native (better with ptrace kernel patch[26])	?
VDSmanager	Yes	No	N/A	Operating system-level virtualization	Hosting, Service separation, Security, Isolation	Native speed	Yes
Sun xVM VirtualBox	No	Yes	Yes	Virtualization	Business workstation, Enterprise Server Consolidation, Business Continuity, Hobbyist, Developer	Near native	Yes (with commercial license)	Needs (See Support forums)
Virtual Iron Virtual Iron 3.1	Yes (up to 8 way)	Yes	Yes	Native Virtualization	Enterprise Server Consolidation, Business Continuity, Dev/Test	Near Native	Yes
Virtual PC 2007	No	Yes	Yes	Virtualization (guest calls trapping where supported)	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation	Near native with Virtual Machine additions	?
Virtual PC 7 for Mac	No	Yes	Yes	Dynamic Recompilation (guest calls trapping where supported)	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation	Slow	?
VirtualLogix VLX	Yes	Yes	Yes	Paravirtualization and Porting or Hardware Virtualization	Embedded real-time systems: Mobile phone, STB, Softswitch, etc	Near Native[27]	Yes
Virtual Server 2005 R2	No	Yes	Yes	Virtualization (guest calls trapping where supported)	Server, Server Farm	Near native with Virtual Machine additions	?
CoWare Virtual Platform	Yes	Yes	Yes ( Same compiled Software image as for the real device)	Full-system virtualization (Processor Core ISA + Hardware + External connections)	Early embedded software development & integration (from Driver to Application), Multi-core software debugging & optimization	Depending on the system characteristics and the software itself, ranges from Faster than real time to slow.	Yes	No in general case.
Virtuozzo	Yes	No	Compatible	Operating system-level virtualization	Server Consolidation, Business Continuity, Disaster Recover, Service Providers	Native speed	Yes
VMware ESX Server 3.0	Yes (Add-on) (up to 4 way)	Yes	Yes	Virtualization	Enterprise Server Consolidation, Business Continuity, Dev/Test	Up to near native	Yes	Needs
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3	Yes (Add-on) (2 way)	Yes	Yes	Virtualization	Enterprise Server Consolidation, Business Continuity, Dev/Test	Up to near native	Yes	Needs
VMware Fusion	Yes	Yes	Yes	Virtualization	Hobbyist, Developer, Tester, Business workstation	Near native	Yes	Needs
VMware Server	Yes (2-way)	Yes	Yes	Virtualization	Server/Desktop Consolidation, Dev/Test	Up to near native	Yes	Needs
VMware Workstation 6.0	Yes (2-way)	Yes	Yes	Paravirtualization (VMI) and Virtualization	Technical Professional, Advanced Dev/Test, Trainer	Up to near native	Yes	Needs
VMware Player 2.0	Yes (2-way)	Yes	Yes	Virtualization	Technical Professional, Advanced Dev/Test, Trainer, End User (Prebuild Machines)	Up to near native	Yes	Needs
Wind River hypervisor	No	Yes	Yes	Paravirtualization, hardware assisted virtualization	Embedded, safety critical, secure	Native	Yes	Not applicable
Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform	No	Yes	Yes	Paravirtualization, hardware assisted virtualization	Embedded, safety-critical, secure	Native	Yes	Not applicable
Xen	Yes	Yes	Not required with the exception of the networking drivers where a NAT is required. A modified guest kernel or special hardware level abstraction is required for guest OSs.	Paravirtualization and Porting or Hardware Virtualization	?	Up to near native[28] speed substantial performance loss on some workload (network and disk intensive especially)	Yes
z/VM	Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment	Yes	Yes, but not required	Virtualization (among first systems to provide hardware assists)	Enterprise servers	Near Native[29]	Yes
z LPARs	Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment; up to 64 real cores	Yes	Yes, but not required	Microcode and hardware hypervisor	Enterprise servers	Native: System z machines always run with at least one LPAR	Yes
Name	Guest OS SMP available?	Runs arbitrary OS?	Supported guest OS drivers?	Method of operation	Typical use	Speed relative to Host OS	Commercial support available?	Needs administrative rights?

• ^  Providing any virtual environment usually requires some overhead of some type or another. Native usually means that the virtualization technique does not do any CPU level virtualization (like Bochs), which executes code more slowly than when it is directly executed by a CPU. Some other products such as VMWare and Virtual PC use similar approaches to Bochs and QEMU, however they use a number of advanced techniques to shortcut most of the calls directly to the CPU (similar to the process that JIT compiler uses) to bring the speed to near native in most cases. However, some products such as coLinux, Xen, z/VM (in real mode) do not suffer the cost of cpu level slow downs as the cpu level instructions are not proxied or executing against an emulated architecture since the guest OS or hardware is providing the environment for the applications to run under. However access to many of the other resources on the system, such as devices and memory may be proxied or emulated in order to broker those shared services out to all the guests, which may cause some slow downs as compared to running outside of virtualization.

• ^  OS-level virtualization is described as "native" speed, however some groups have found overhead as high as 3% for some operations, but generally figures come under 1%, so long as secondary effects do not appear.

• ^  See [30] for a paper comparing performance of paravirtualization approaches (eg Xen) with OS-level virtualization

• ^  Requires patches/recompiling.

• ^ Exceptional for lightweight, paravirtualized, single-user VM/CMS interactive shell: largest customers run several thousand users on even single prior models. For multiprogramming OSes like Linux on zSeries and z/OS that make heavy use of native supervisor state intructions, performance will vary depending on nature of workload but is near native. Hundreds into the low thousands of Linux guests are possible on a single machine for certain workloads.

[edit] Features

The table below compares features of virtual machine packages.

Name	Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest	USB	GUI	Live memory allocation	3D acceleration	Snapshot of running system	Live migration
Bochs	partially	partially	Yes		No
Containers
Cooperative Linux	Yes[1]		Yes (supported through X11 over networking)		No		No
Denali
DOSBox		Partial (the host OS can provide DOSBox services with USB devices)	Yes		No		No
DOSEMU		No			No		No
FreeVPS
GXemul					No		No
Hercules
Hyper-V
iCore Virtual Accounts		Yes	Yes	No	Yes		No
Imperas OVP Tools	Yes	Yes	Yes (Eclipse)	Yes
Integrity Virtual Machines	Yes	No	Yes (Integrity Virtual Machine Manager (add-on)	Yes	No		Yes (HP-UX guests only, Linux and Windows 2K3 in near future)
Jail
KVM	Yes [2]	Yes	Yes [3]	Yes [4]	Supported with VMGL [5]		Yes
Linux- VServer
LynxSecure
Mac-on-Linux	Yes		Yes		No		No
Mac-on-Mac					No		No
OpenVZ	Yes	Yes	Yes (using Xvnc and/or XDMCP)	Yes	No		Yes
Oracle VM	Yes	Yes	Yes (managed by Oracle VM Manager)	Yes			Yes
OVPsim	Yes	Yes	Yes (Eclipse)	Yes
Padded Cell for x86 (Green Hills Software)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Padded Cell for PowerPC (Green Hills Software)	Yes	Yes	Yes		No
Parallels Desktop for Mac	Yes, if Boot Camp is installed	Yes	Yes	Yes	DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.0
Parallels Workstation	No	Yes	Yes	No	partially
PearPC
POWER Hypervisor (PHYP)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No		Yes (on POWER 6-based systems, requires PowerVM Enterprise Licensing)
QEMU	Yes	Yes	Yes [3]		Some code done [6]; Also supported with VMGL [5]		Yes
QEMU w/ kqemu module	Yes	Yes		Yes	Some code done [6]; Also supported with VMGL [5]		Yes
QEMU w/ qvm86 module	Yes	Yes	Yes		Supported with VMGL [5]		Yes
QuickTransit	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes		Yes
SimNow	No				No
RTS Hypervisor	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes		No
SVISTA 2004
TRANGO
View-OS
User Mode Linux	Yes	No		No	No		No
Sun xVM VirtualBox	Partial (since version 1.4, but unsupported) [31]	Partial (for any host OS except Solaris)[7]	Yes	Yes	experimental support for OpenGL [8]	No in Open Source Edition	No in Open Source Edition
Virtual Iron Virtual Iron 4.2							Yes
Virtual PC 2007	No	No	Yes	No	No
VirtualPC 7 for Mac	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		No
VirtualLogix VLX
Virtual Server 2005 R2					No
Virtuozzo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No		Yes
VMware ESX Server 3.0 atp			Yes		No	Yes	Yes
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3			Yes		No
VMware Fusion 2.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	DirectX 9 Shader model 2
VMware Server	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
VMware Workstation 5.5	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Experimental support for DirectX 8; Also supported with VMGL [5]
VMware Workstation 6.0	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Experimental support for DirectX 8; Also supported with VMGL [5]
VMware Player	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Supported with VMGL [5]
Wind River hypervisor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		No
Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform	Yes
Xen	Yes			Yes	Supported with VMGL [5]		Yes
z/VM	Yes	not applicable	with add-ons	Yes	No		with GDPS
z LPARs	Yes	not applicable	Yes	Yes	No		with GDPS
Zones	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Name	Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest	USB	GUI	Live memory allocation	3D acceleration	Snapshot of running system	Live migration

• ^  VirtualBox User Manual, Chapter 9.9; requires usage of VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk which says:This is a development tool and shall only be used to analyse problems. It is completely unsupported and will change in incompatible ways without warning.

[edit] Other emulators

Other (free, maintained) emulators not mentioned above:

SkyEye 1.2.1

• http://www.skyeye.org/
• http://sourceforge.net/projects/skyeye/
• http://gro.clinux.org/

SkyEye is an Open Source Simulator, which simulates series ARM architecture based microprocessors and Blackfin DSP Processor. Users can run Operating Systems such as Linux, uCLinux, uC/OS-II for ARM and can analyze or debug in source level.
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=85554

PearColator

• http://pearcolator.wiki.sourceforge.net/

PearColator is a development Open Source binary translator that can take x86, PowerPC and ARM machine codes and compile them using a high performance JVM's JIT compiler to run on PowerPC and Intel architectures. It is unusual in that it is being written in Java using the same compiler to optimize itself as the emulated architectures.

• ARMware, a virtual machine that emulates an ARM based PDA.

[edit] See also

• List of computer system emulators
• Comparison of application virtual machines
• Hypervisor
• Platform virtualization
• Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements
• Virtual machine
• x86 virtualization

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Breakdown of Linux Virtualization.
• Technical comparison of Linux virtualization technologies.