Re: [Xen-users] Why Xen Project need an OS for doing Virtualization?

[Simon Hobson <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Kevin Wang <kjw@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>> How about other Virtualization platforms like ESXi? I mean is why Xen 
>> Project not created its own OS?

> You speak as if making or even building your own linux distribution was easy. 
> it's not. Also, it would distract from the core mission; xen itself. 

It doesn't need to be Linux, or any other "complete" OS, some "stripped down" 
version of something Xen can run as a guest would do the trick.
But as you say - doing that is a lot more work than just using an off the shelf 
GNU/Linux and take advantage of the work that others have put in.

Looking at it another way ... Xen is the *nix way - use general purpose tools 
and connect them together as required. ESXi is the Microsoft way - build a big 
monolithic blob that re-invents the work of other tools (but usually in a 
slightly different way to what people are used to).

> I for one really like having an OS. I can run cron jobs to force reboots, 
> backups, etc. Very little need be done by the developers to enable this; just 
> provide a cli like 'xl' and commands like 'shutdown' and 'create'. I can ping 
> my VMs and restart (destroy) them when they hang. Technically you could build 
> a network/remote API to let you access all these things (e.g. config files, 
> editors (e.g. vi vs emacs), stop/start console) but then only programmers can 
> do any sort of automation, vs someone who knows just some basic shell 
> scripting. Having an OS and a cli enables a lot more users and a lot more 
> flexibility.

Exactly, with an "off the shelf" Linux (or BSD, or ...) you get a hell of a lot 
of functionality that "just works". On the networking side alone you get "out 
of the box" powerful and flexible packet filtering (iptables), virtual 
switches/networks, vlans, aggregated trunks, traffic monitoring/shaping, and ...
And by running a "full" OS, you can run other stuff (ie stuff not specifically 
related to manging the host and VMs) on the host as well if you want to.
Why reinvent AND DEBUG all those new wheels when there's already fully working 
ones - that's the Poettering way.


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