Best hypervisors for VDI tested by Citrix
- By Kurt Mackie
- Mar 29, 2010
Citrix on Thursday described virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)
performance differences using various hypervisors.
Apparently,
which hypervisor is used makes a difference with desktop
virtualization, per Citrix's tests, which were conducted internally.
Only Citrix's XenDesktop 4 desktop virtualization solution was used for
the tests. VMware's View desktop virtualization application was not
tested.
The test results were described by Simon Crosby, chief technology
officer for Citrix's Data Center and Cloud Division, in a blog post.
Performance was measured based on virtual machine (VM) density on a
single server, running Windows XP or Windows 7 as guests. The
hypervisors tested included Microsoft Hyper-V R2, Citrix XenServer 5.5
and an undefined "other" hypervisor group.
For the
Windows 7 guest, Microsoft's Hyper-V R2 hypervisor supported the
highest VM density. However, Citrix's XenServer 5.5 hypervisor scored
the highest VM density when running the Windows XP guest.
Crosby
noted these performance differences on Hyper-V R2 between the two
Windows guests.
"For Windows XP guests, Hyper-V R2 doesn't do
such a fabulous job," Crosby wrote in the blog. "I've spoken
to Jeff Woolsey, PM for Hyper-V, who acknowledges this readily because
XP has a relatively short remaining lifetime, and because of the focus
at Microsoft on Windows Server workloads and Windows 7 as the new
client OS."
The venerable Windows XP has been available for
nearly nine years, with extended support scheduled to end on April 8, 2014. Microsoft
released Windows 7 in October of last year.
Citrix plans to test
the most current hypervisor products -- including Hyper-V Service Pack
1 and XenServer "Midnight Ride" -- and "publish the
results soon," according to Crosby. Midnight Ride is the next
version of XenServer and is currently available as a beta release.
Microsoft announced
earlier this month a forthcoming service pack for Windows Server 2008
R2. The service pack will include a dynamic memory management
capability that will allow the memory use of VMs to be adjusted on
demand. It will also include RemoteFX desktop virtualization technology
designed to improve the graphics experience for remote Windows
users.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for the 1105 Enterprise Computing Group.