Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Platform virtualization software, specifically emulators and hypervisors, are software packages that emulate the whole physical computer machine, often providing multiple virtual machines on one physical platform. The table below compares basic information about platform virtualization hypervisors.
GeneralEdit
| Name | Creator | Host CPU | Guest CPU | Host OS | Guest OS | License | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86Box | Miran Grča | x86, x86-64, ARMv7, AArch64 | x86 (Intel 8086 to Pentium II and compatible) | Windows, Linux | Windows, Linux, DOS, BSD, OS/2, Haiku | Template:Open source | |
| bhyve | FreeBSD | x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | FreeBSD, Illumos | FreeBSD, FreeNAS, pfSense, OpenBSD, Linux, Windows, Illumos<ref name="bhyve1" /> | Template:Open source | |
| Bochs | Kevin J. Lawton | Any | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Unix/X11, Template:Nowrap, macOS, BeOS, MorphOS, OS/2<ref name="bochs1" /><ref name="bochs2" /> | Windows, Linux, DOS, BSD, OS/2, Haiku | Template:Open source | |
| Containers, or Zones | Sun Microsystems | x86, x86-64, SPARC (portable: not tied to hardware) | Same as host | Solaris 10, Solaris 11, OpenSolaris 2009.06, illumos distributions | Solaris (8, 9, 10, 11), illumos, Linux (BrandZ) | Template:Open source | |
| Cooperative Linux (coLinux) | Dan Aloni, other developers | x86 | Same as host | Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista | Linux | Template:Open source | |
| CHARON | Stromasys | x86, x86-64 | PDP-11, VAX, Alpha, HP3000, Sparc | Windows, Linux | VMS, OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, MPE/iX, RSX-11, RT11, RSTS, Solaris, SunOS | Template:Proprietary | |
| Denali | University of Washington | x86 | x86 | Denali | Ilwaco, NetBSD | Template:Unk | |
| DOSBox | Peter Veenstra, Sjoerd with community | Any | x86 | Linux, Windows, classic Mac OS, macOS, BeOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, QNX, IRIX, MorphOS, AmigaOS, Maemo, Symbian | Internally emulated MS-DOS shell; self-booting disks, unofficially Windows 1.0 to 98 | Template:Open source | |
| DOSEMU | Community project | x86, x86-64 | x86 | Linux | DOS | Template:Open source | |
| FreeBSD Jail | Poul-Henning Kamp / FreeBSD | Any running FreeBSD or DragonFly BSD | Same as host | FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD | same as host (shared *BSD kernel), plus Linux ABI through compat layer | Template:Open source | |
| GXemul | Anders Gavare | Any | ARM, MIPS, Motorola 88000, PowerPC, SuperH | Unix-like | NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Ultrix, Sprite | Template:Open source | |
| Hercules | Roger Bowler | Any | z/Architecture | Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, macOS | Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, OS/360, DOS/360, DOS/VS, MVS, VM/370, TSS/370 | Template:Open source | |
| Hyper-V (2008) | Microsoft | x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V | x86-64, x86 (up to 8 physical CPUs) | Windows Server 2008 (R2) w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server | Supported drivers for Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows XP, Windows Vista, FreeBSD, Linux (SUSE 10 released, more announced) | Template:Proprietary | |
| Hyper-V (2012+) | Microsoft | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
x86-64, (up to 64 physical CPUs), ARMv8 | Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and Windows Server 2012 (R2) w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server | Supported drivers for Windows NT, FreeBSD, Linux (SUSE 10, RHEL 6, CentOS 6) | Template:Proprietary. Component of various Windows editions. |
| INTEGRITY | Green Hills Software | ARM, x86, PowerPC | Same as host | Linux, Windows | INTEGRITY native, Linux, Android, AUTOSAR, Windows (on some platforms) | Template:Proprietary | |
| Integrity Virtual Machines | Hewlett-Packard | IA-64 | IA-64 | HP-UX | HP-UX, Windows, Linux (OpenVMS announced) | Template:Proprietary | |
| JPC (Virtual Machine) | University of Oxford | Any running the Java Virtual Machine | x86 | Java Virtual Machine | DOS, Linux, Windows up to 3.0 | Template:Open source | |
| KVM | Qumranet, now Red Hat | x86, x86-64, IA-64, with x86 virtualization, s390, PowerPC,<ref name="linux-kvm" /> ARM<ref name="rhel.kvm.arm" /> | Same as host | Linux, illumos | FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Windows, Plan 9 | Template:Open source | |
| Linux-VServer | Community project | x86, x86-64, IA-64, Alpha, PowerPC 64, PA-RISC 64, SPARC64, ARM, S/390, SH/66, MIPS | Compatible | Linux | Linux variants | Template:Open source | |
| LynxSecure | LynuxWorks | x86 | x86 | No host OS | LynxOS, Linux, Windows | Template:Proprietary | |
| LXC | Community project, Canonical Ltd. | x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64, Itanium, ARM | Same as host | Linux | Linux variants | Template:Open source | |
| OKL4 Microvisor | Open Kernel Labs, acquired by General Dynamics Corporation | ARM, x86, MIPS | ARM (v5, v6, v7, v8; paravirtualization), ARMv7VE (hardware virtualization) | No Host OS | Various OSes and RTOSes including Linux, Android, QNX | Template:Proprietary | |
| OpenVZ | Community project, supported by SWsoft, now Parallels, Inc. | x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64 | Same as host | Linux | same as host (shared Linux kernel), choice of userland distribution | Template:Open source | |
| Oracle VM Server for x86 | Oracle Corporation | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Microsoft Windows, Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Solaris | Template:Open source, Oracle VM Server; Manager is proprietary | |
| OVPsim | OVP | x86 | OR1K, MIPS32, ARC600/700, ARM; and public API which enables users to write custom 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 custom peripheral and system models | Template:Proprietary, Apache 2.0 for models | |
| Parallels Desktop for Mac | Parallels, Inc. | x86 | x86, x86-64, aarch64 | macOS | DOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, Solaris, Haiku | Template:Proprietary | |
| Parallels Workstation (discontinued 2013) | Parallels, Inc. | x86 | x86 | Windows, Linux | Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, DOS, Solaris, Haiku | Template:Proprietary | |
| PearPC | Sebastian Biallas | x86, x86-64, PowerPC | PowerPC | Windows, Linux, Template:Nowrap, FreeBSD, NetBSD | Template:Nowrap, Darwin, Linux | Template:Open source | |
| PikeOS | SYSGO | PowerPC, x86, ARM, MIPS, SPARC, RISC-V | Same as host | No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts | PikeOS native, Linux, ELinOS, Windows, POSIX, AUTOSAR, Android, RTEMS, OSEK, ARINC 653 APEX, ITRON | Template:Proprietary | |
| Proxmox VE | Proxmox | x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Debian Based | Windows, Linux, Linux variants, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86 (as FreeBSD), virtual appliances, Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku, Darwin | Template:Open source | |
| Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms) | Oracle Corporation | UltraSPARC T1, UltraSPARC T2, UltraSPARC T2+, SPARC T3, SPARC T4 | Compatible | Solaris 10, Solaris 11 | Oracle support: Solaris; unsupported: Linux, FreeBSD | Template:Proprietary | |
| PowerVM | IBM | POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, POWER7, POWER8, POWER9, Power10 | POWER4/5/6/7/8/9/Power10, x86 (PowerVM-Lx86) | PowerVM Firmware | Linux PowerPC, x86; AIX, IBM i | Template:Proprietary | |
| QEMU | Fabrice Bellard, other developers | x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC, SPARC 32/64, ARM, S/390, MIPS | x86, x86-64, Alpha, ARM, CRIS, LM32, M68k, MicroBlaze, MIPS, OpenRisc32, PowerPC, S/390, SH4, SPARC 32/64, Unicore32, Xtensa | Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BeOS | Changes regularly<ref name="QEMU" /> | Template:Open source | |
| QEMU w/ kqemu module | Fabrice Bellard | x86, x86-64 | Same as host | Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Windows | Changes regularly<ref name=QEMU/> | Template:Open source | |
| QEMU w/ qvm86 module | Paul Brook | x86 | x86 | Linux, NetBSD, Windows | Changes regularly | Template:Open source | |
| QuickTransit | Transitive Corp. | x86, x86-64, IA-64, POWER | MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, x86 | Linux, Template:Nowrap, Solaris | Linux, Template:Nowrap, Irix, Solaris | Template:Proprietary | |
| RTS Hypervisor | Real-Time Systems GmbH | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Windows, Linux, Windows Embedded, QNX, RTOS-32, VxWorks, OS-9, T-Kernel | Template:Proprietary | |
| SIMH | Bob Supnik, The Computer History Simulation Project | Alpha, ARM, HPPA, x86, IA-64, 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/32b systems; Hewlett-Packard 2114, 2115, 2116, 2100, 21MX; Honeywell H316/H516; MITS Altair 8800 with 8080 and Z80; Royal McBee LGP-30, LGP-21; Scientific Data Systems SDS 940 | BSD, Linux, Solaris, VMS, Windows | Depends on target machine, includes NetBSD/VAX, OpenBSD/VAX, VAX/VMS, Unix v6, Unix v7, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, ITS | Template:Open source | |
| Simics | Virtutech, acquired by Intel | x86, x86-64 | 8051, 68000, ARM (v4, v5, v6, v7), MIPS32, MIPS64, Cavium cnMIPS, Broadcom XLR MIPS, Freescale (e300, e500, e600, e5500, e6500), IBM (POWER, PPC44x, PPC46x, 47x), SPARC v8 (LEON), SPARC v9 (UltraSparc), x86 (from 80286 to Sandy Bridge), x86-64 (from Pentium4 to Sandy Bridge), TI TMS320C64xx, Renesas H8, Renesas SH | Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Linux 32-bit and 64-bit | Depends on target machine, typically runs unmodified software stacks from the corresponding real target, including VxWorks, VxWorks 653, OSE, QNX, Linux, Solaris, Windows, FreeBSD, RTEMS, TinyOS, Wind River Hypervisor, VMware ESX, and others | Template:Proprietary | |
| Sun xVM Server | Sun Microsystems | x86-64, SPARC | Same as host | No host OS | Windows XP, 2003 Server (x86-64 only), Linux, Solaris | Template:Open source | |
| SVISTA 2004 | Serenity Systems International | x86 | x86 | Windows, OS/2, Linux | Windows, Linux, OS/2, BSD | Template:Proprietary | |
| TRANGO | TRANGO Virtual Processors, Grenoble, France | ARM, XScale, MIPS, PowerPC | Paravirtualized ARM, MIPS, PowerPC | No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts | Linux, eCos, μC/OS-II, WindowsCE, Nucleus, VxWorks | Template:Proprietary | |
| User Mode Linux | Jeff Dike, other developers | x86, x86-64, PowerPC | Same as host | Linux | Linux | Template:Open source | |
| VirtualBox | Innotek, acquired by Oracle Corporation | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, and VirtualBox 2 or later) | Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, eComStation | DOS, Linux, macOS,<ref name="virtualbox" /> FreeBSD, Haiku, OS/2, Solaris, Syllable, Windows, and OpenBSD (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, due to otherwise tolerated incompatibilities in the emulated memory management).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
Template:Open source |
| Virtual Iron 3.1 | Virtual Iron Software, Inc., acquired by Oracle | x86 VT-x, x86-64 AMD-V | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Windows, Linux | Template:Proprietary, some components GPLv2<ref name="oracle" /> | |
| Virtual Machine Manager | Red Hat | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Linux | Linux, Windows | Template:Open source | |
| Virtual PC 2007 (discontinued) | Connectix and 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) | Template:Proprietary | |
| Windows Virtual PC (discontinued) | Connectix and Microsoft | x86, x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V | x86 | Windows 7 | Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 | Template:Proprietary | |
| Virtual PC 7 for Mac | Connectix and Microsoft | PowerPC | x86 | Template:Nowrap | Windows, OS/2, Linux | Template:Proprietary | |
| VirtualLogix VLX | VirtualLogix | ARM, TI DSP C6000, x86, PowerPC | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, Windows XP, C5, VxWorks, Nucleus, DSP/BIOS, proprietary | Template:Proprietary | |
| Virtual Server 2005 R2 | Connectix and Microsoft | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Windows Server 2003, 2008, XP (Requires IIS) | Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2008, Linux (Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu) | Template:Proprietary | |
| Synopsys (CoWare) Virtual Platform | CoWare | x86, x86-64, SPARC v9 | Devices including (multi) cores from ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, Toshiba MeP, Renesas SH, Texas Instruments, Tensilica, ZSP | Windows, Linux, Solaris | Depends on guest CPU; includes: Linux (various flavors), μITRON (various flavors), Windows CE, Symbian, more | Template:Proprietary | |
| Virtuozzo | SWsoft, now Virtuozzo Inc | x86, IA-64, x86-64 | same as host | Linux | same as host (shared Linux kernel) | Template:Proprietary | |
| vkernel | Matthew Dillon / DragonFly BSD | x86-64 | same as host | DragonFly BSD | any compatible vkernel binary of DragonFly | Template:Open source | |
| VMM | OpenBSD | x86, x86-64 | same as host | OpenBSD | OpenBSD and Linux guests | Template:Open source | |
| VMware ESX Server | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86 (as FreeBSD), virtual appliances, Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku, Darwin, others: runs arbitrary OSTemplate:Efn | Template:Proprietary | |
| VMware ESXi | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | No host OS | Same as VMware ESX Server | Template:Proprietary | |
| VMware Fusion | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | macOS | Same as VMware ESX Server | Template:Proprietary | |
| VMware Server | VMware | x86, x86-64 | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux | Same as VMware ESX Server | Template:Proprietary | |
| VMware Workstation | VMware | x86-64Template:Efn | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux | Same as VMware ESX Server | Template:Proprietary | |
| VMware Player, later VMware Workstation Player | VMware | x86-64Template:Efn | x86, x86-64 | Windows, Linux | Same as VMware ESX Server | Template:Proprietary, free for personal non-commercial use<ref name="vmware" /><ref name="vmware2">[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> | |
| Wind River Hypervisor | Wind River | x86, x86-64, PowerPC, ARM | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, VxWorks, unmodified guests (including MS Windows and RTOSes such ach OSE, QNX and others), bare metal virtual board | Template:Proprietary | |
| Xen | Xensource, Now Citrix Systems | x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive) | Same as host | Linux, Unix-like | Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008 (requires Intel VT-x (Vanderpool) or AMD-V (Pacifica)-capable CPU), Plan 9 | Template:Open source | |
| XCP-ng | By Vates SAS | x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive) | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows, Windows Server 2008 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V), Plan 9 | Template:Open source<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| XenServer | By Citrix Systems | x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64 (inactive), PowerPC (inactive) | Same as host | No host OS | Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008 (with Intel VT-x or AMD-V), Plan 9 | Template:Open source | |
| XtratuM | fentISS | SPARC v8 LEON2/3/4, ARM v7 | Same as host | No host OS | GPOS: Linux, RTOS: LithOS, RTEMS | Template:Proprietary, GPL version 2 depending on versions | |
| z/VM | IBM | z/Architecture | z/Architecture, z/VM does not run on predecessor mainframes | No host OS, itself (single or multiple levels/versions deep; e.g., VM/ESA running in z/VM 4.4 in z/VM 5.2 in z/VM 5.1.) | Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, VM/CMS, MUSIC/SP, OpenSolaris for System z, predecessors | Template:Proprietary | |
| z LPARs | IBM | z/Architecture | z/Architecture | Integrated in firmware of System z mainframes | Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, MUSIC/SP, and predecessors | Template:Proprietary | |
| Name | Creator | Host CPU | Guest CPU | Host OS(s) | Guest OS(s) | License |
FeaturesEdit
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Containers, or Zones | Template:Yes, over 500-way on current systems | Template:No | Uses native device drivers | Operating system-level virtualization | Server consolidation with workload isolation, single workload containment, hosting, dev/test/prod | Near native | Template:Yes |
| Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 | Template:Yes, up to 4 VCPUs per VM | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, desktop virtualization, cloud computing | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed{{#if:|{{{2}}}|[2]}} | Template:Yes |
| OpenVZ | Template:Yes | Template:No | Compatible | Operating system-level virtualization | Virtualized server isolation | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed{{#if:|{{{2}}}|[3]}} | Template:Yes |
| KVM | Template:Yes<ref name="linux-kvm mainpage" /> | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | AMD-V and Intel-VT-x | Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed{{#if:|{{{2}}}|[4]}} | Template:Yes<ref name="KVM" /> |
| Linux-VServer | Template:Yes | Template:No | Compatible | Operating system-level virtualization | Virtualized server isolation and security, server consolidation, cloud computing | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed{{#if:|{{{2}}}|[5]}} | Template:Yes |
| Oracle VM Server for x86 | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization | Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| Oracle VM Server for SPARC (LDoms) | Template:Yes | Template:Yes, but needs porting<ref name="Logical Domains" /> | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization | Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| OVPsim | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Dunno | Full system simulation with optional component virtualization | Software development (early, embedded), advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, hobbyist | Depends on target architecture (full and slow hardware emulation for guests incompatible with host)Template:Citation needed | Template:Yes, with commercial license from Imperas<ref name="imperas" /> |
| PikeOS | Template:Yes | Template:Yes, but modifications required as paravirtualization is used | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization | Safety and security critical embedded systems. | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| Simics | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Full system simulation of processors, MMUs, devices, disks, memories, networks, etc. | Software development, advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, bug transportation, automated testing, system architecture, long-term support of safety-critical systems, early hardware availability, virtual prototyping | Depends on host machine and target architecture. Runs at near-native speeds for x86-on-x86 using VT-x, cross-simulation of other architectures can be faster or slower than real-time depending on how fast the target is and how big the target is (number of processors, number of target machines, and how much the simulation can be parallelized) | Template:Yes |
| Sun xVM Server | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Servers, Development | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Yes |
| SVISTA 2004 | Template:No | Template:Dunno | Template:Dunno | Template:Dunno | Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation | Template:Dunno | Template:Dunno |
| TRANGO | Template:Yes | Template:Yes{{#if:|{{{2}}}|[6]}} | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Mob. phone, STB, routers, etc. | {{{2}}}|[7]}}Template:Citation needed | Template:Dunno |
| User Mode Linux | Template:Dunno | Template:No | special guest kernel+modules required | Porting | Developer (as a separate machine for a server or with X11 networking) | {{{2}}}|[8]}} (all calls to kernel are proxied)Template:Citation needed | Template:Dunno |
| OKL4 Microvisor | Template:Yes | Template:Yes, (either with para-virtualization or HW virtualization) | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization, Hardware assisted virtualization | Mobile, embedded, security, safety critical, networking, legacy OS, etc. | Near native | Template:Yes |
| Oracle VirtualBox | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Business workstation, server consolidation, service continuity, developer, hobbyist | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes (with commercial license) |
| Virtual Iron 3.1 | Template:Yes, up to 8 way | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Native virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test | ? | Template:Yes |
| Virtual PC 2007 | Template:No | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization, guest calls trapping where supported | Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed with virtual machine additions | Template:Dunno |
| Windows Virtual PC | Template:YesTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Hardware virtualization | Developer, Business workstation, support for Compatibility with Windows XP applications | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed with virtual machine additions | Template:No |
| Virtual PC 7 for Mac | Template:No | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | dynamic recompilation (guest calls trapping where supported) | Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation | Slow Template:Citation needed | Template:Dunno |
| Virtual Server 2005 R2 | Template:No | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization (guest calls trapping where supported) | Server, server farm | Up to near native with virtual machine additions but slower than with hypervisor due to proxied callsTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Dunno |
| CoWare Virtual Platform | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes ( Same compiled Software image as for the real device) | Full-system virtualization (Processor Core ISA + Hardware + External connections) | Early embedded software development and integration (from driver to application), Multi-core software debugging and optimization | Depending on the system characteristics and the software itself, ranges from faster than real time to slowTemplate:Citation needed. | Template:Yes |
| Virtuozzo | Template:Yes | Template:No | Compatible | Operating system-level virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, disaster recovery, service providers | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware ESXi Server 5.5 (vSphere) | Template:Yes, add-on, up to 64 way | Template:No | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing, business critical applications, Infrastructure as a Service IaaS | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware ESX Server 4.0 (vSphere) | Template:Yes, add-on, up to 8 way | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware ESX Server 3.0 | Template:Yes, add-on, up to 4 way | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware ESX Server 2.5.3 | Template:Yes, add-on, 2 way | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware Fusion | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Hobbyist, Developer, Tester, Business workstation | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware Server | Template:Yes (2-way) | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Server/desktop consolidation, dev/test | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware Workstation | Template:Yes (2-way) | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization (VMI) and virtualization | Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| VMware Player | Template:Yes<ref name="vmware9" /> | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Virtualization | Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer, end user on prebuilt machines | Up to near nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:No |
| Xen | Template:Yes, v4.0.0: up to 128 VCPUs per VM | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode. | Up to native<ref name="unf.edu" /> | Template:Yes |
| XenServer | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization | Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode. | Up to native<ref name="unf.edu" /> | Template:Yes |
| XtratuM | Template:Yes | Template:No | Template:Yes | Paravirtualization | Embedded, safety critical, secure | Near to nativeTemplate:Citation needed | Template:Yes |
| z/VM | Template:Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment | Template:Yes | Template:Yes, but not required | Virtualization (among first systems to provide hardware assists) | Servers | {{{2}}}|[9]}} | Template:Yes |
| z LPARs | Template:Yes, both real and virtual (guest perceives more CPUs than installed), incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment; up to 64 real cores | Template:Yes | Template:Yes, but not required | Microcode and hardware hypervisor | Servers | Native: System z machines always run with at least one LPAR | Template: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 |
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} 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 slowdowns 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.
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} 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.
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} See<ref name="princeton" /> for a paper comparing performance of paravirtualization approaches (e.g. Xen) with OS-level virtualization
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} Requires patches/recompiling.
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} 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 IBM Z and z/OS that make heavy use of native supervisor state instructions, 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.
Image type compatibilityEdit
Other featuresEdit
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 have limited support for redirecting the USB protocol over RDP using RemoteFX.<ref name="technet1" />
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 adds accelerated graphics support for certain editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 using RemoteFX.<ref name="technet2" /><ref name="technet3" />
RestrictionsEdit
This table is meant to outline restrictions in the software dictated by licensing or capabilities.
| Name | Maximum host cores / CPUs | Maximum host memory | Maximum host disk volume size | Maximum number of guest VM running | Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest | Maximum amount of memory per VM guest | Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest | Maximum disk size per VM guest | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Containers, or Zones | No theoretical limit (largest SPARC has 384 physical cores) | 32 TB (largest SPARC) | No limit | 8191 | No limit | No limit | No limit | No limit | |
| VMware Player 15.0<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
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No limit | No limit | No limit | No limit | 16 | 4 GB (32-bit); 64 GB (64-bit) | ? | 8 TB |
| VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 4.1)<ref name="vmware4" /> | 160 logical cores | 1 TB | 2 TB minus 512 bytes | 320 | 8 | 255 GB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI | 2 TB minus 512 bytes | |
| VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.0)<ref name="vmware5" /> | 160 logical cores | 2 TB | 64 TB | 512 | 32 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI | 2 TB minus 512 bytes | |
| VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.5) (free)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs | 4 TB | Depending on filesystem | 512 | 8 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA | 62 TB |
| VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.5)<ref name="vmware55" /> | 16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs | 4 TB | Depending on filesystem | 512 | 64 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA | 62 TB | |
| VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 6.7)<ref name="vmware67" /> | 16 NUMA Nodes / 768 logical CPUs | 16 TB | Depending on filesystem | 1024 | 256 | 6128 GB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe | 62 TB | |
| VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 7.0)<ref name="vmware70" /> | 16 NUMA Nodes / 896 logical CPUs | 24 TB | Depending on filesystem | 1024 | 768 | 24 TB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe | 62 TB | |
| VirtualBox | No limit | No limit | No limit | No limit<ref name="virtualbox2" /> | 32 | No limit | 4 IDE; no limit for SATA, SCSI, SAS | GUI: 2 TB Command line: no limit | |
| Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2<ref name="technet5" /> | 64 cores / 8 CPUs<ref name="arstechnica" /> | 1 TB | No limit | 384 | 4 | 64 GB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI | 2 TB | |
| Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012<ref name="technet4" /> | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
4 TB | No limit | 1024 | 64 | 1 TB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI | 64 TB |
| Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
512 cores / 320 CPUs | 24 TB | No limit | 1024 | 240 | 12 TB | 4 IDE; 256 SCSI | 64 TB |
| Name | Maximum host cores / CPUs | Maximum host memory | Maximum host disk volume size | Maximum number of guest VM running | Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest | Maximum amount of memory per VM guest | Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest | Maximum disk size per VM guest |
Note: No limit means no enforced limit. For example, a VM with 1 TB of memory cannot fit in a host with only 8 GB memory and no memory swap disk, so it will have a limit of 8 GB physically.
See alsoEdit
- List of computer system emulators
- Comparison of application virtualization software
- Comparison of OS emulation or virtualization apps on Android
- Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements
- Virtual DOS machine
- x86 virtualization
Template:Virtualization software