I'd like to run some benchmarks on linux virtualization solutions (namely Xen, KVM and OpenVZ) and I'm currently thinking about how to set up the test environment. My current approach would be the following:
- Set up a bare server system
- Install all 3 solutions (kernels) on the same system and set them up (+ VMs)
- Boot a specific kernel (disable eventual services from other solutions) and run benchmarks
Would this approach be OK or should I completely separate the 3 systems from each other (have 3 completely independent installations each one with only one solution installed)?
Additional question: any hints what kind of benchmarks I should run? I thought about some compiling (e.g. linux kernel), ab (Apache Benchmark) and OSDB (Open Source Database Benchmark). The comparison should mainly focus on overall performance, I/O performance and response time of individual VMs.
Thanks in advance, Mathias