Proxmox VE works with KVM and OpenVZ containers

After six months of development, Proxmox Server Solutions has released version 2.2 of its Virtual Environment (VE) virtualisation platform. The system supports virtual machines running both under a Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and in OpenVZ containers. Both can be simultaneously and transparently operated and managed on one system. While KVM completely virtualises almost every operating system, OpenVZ conserves resources by only running Linux guests on a common kernel in isolated containers. The company says that this strategy puts its product ahead of alternatives like VMware's vSphere, Microsoft's Hyper-V and Citrix's XenServer.

Proxmox VE 2.2 combines virtual machines from KVM and OpenVZ on one computer with one interface.
Source: Proxmox Server Solutions

Proxmox VE 2.2 is based on the 64-bit version of Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.6, code-named Squeeze, although with a modified kernel from Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (RHEL6), specifically version 2.6.32-16. Red Hat's kernel is considered to be particularly stable and includes a number of features backported from newer kernel versions that are important for servers. The update to Proxmox VE 2.2 includes OpenVZ 4.0 and version 1.2.0 of KVM.

While OpenVZ virtualisation also works with older hardware, KVM requires hardware support from Intel's VT-x or AMD-V. Many of the basic functions, such as online backups via LVM2 snapshots and live migration, are available using the JavaScript-based GUI, but some advanced functions require the Debian text console.

Proxmox VE 2.2 can be downloaded as an installable ISO and is made available under the AGPLv3 licence. Proxmox offers support for the product, with a variety of pricing plans. Help is also available on the company's public support forums and the Proxmox VE Wiki.

(Michael Plura / fab)