Server Virtualization Open Source Project gains momentum

The momentum for server virtualization is building as the Server Virtualization Open Source Project (OpenVZ) gets underway. OpenVZ claims that its site received more than 1 million hits in January, its first month of operation.

OpenVZ is an operating system-level server virtualization solution, built on Linux.

The project is sponsored by SWSoft, which makes virtualization software that creates multiple virtual private servers (VPS) on a single virtual machine, all of which share a single version of the operating system.

SWSoft says that some of the OpenVZ enhancements – such as VPN/IPSec virtualization, support for x86_64 and IA-64 architectures and for Red Hat, Debian and SuSE Linux kernels – may make their way into Virtuozzo, the company’s virtualization software. The company is also trying to get OpenVZ included in the Linux kernel. It has already been added to Fedora, Red Hat’s Linux distribution for enthusiasts.

SWSoft claims that more than 1,000 messages have been posted to its ovzforum.

OpenVZ freely distributes and supports software. Several projects have been completed under OpenVZ. One of them is a Web-based control panel and administrative tool kit for OpenVZ that uses a graphical interface (see the author’s site).

Since coming into full production last December, the OpenVZ project has delivered Debian 3.1 VPS templates, as well as OpenVZ beta software based on the 2.6.15 Linux kernel.