[Ilugc] Linux Virtualization software

Suresh Kumar

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Mar 23, 2012, 10:20:28 AM3/23/12

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Dear all,

I am involved in some emulation application.

I am looking for virtualization software (hypervisor - hardware & software
emulation) in linux. To emulate 50 nodes(customized linux kernel + my
network application).

I understand that hypervisor is hardware arch specific. So i will be using
intel arch (x86 based arch - latest dual core processor. ).
I thinking of using xen.
I have two queries.
1) Any other alternate for xen which has very small footprint?
2) Is it possible to emulate 50 nodes in latest x86 based desktop/server?

Thanks
suresh.
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Girish Venkatachalam

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Mar 23, 2012, 10:51:47 AM3/23/12

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On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 7:50 PM, Suresh Kumar <sureshk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I am involved in some emulation application.
>
> I am looking for virtualization software (hypervisor - hardware & software
> emulation) in linux. To emulate 50 nodes(customized linux kernel + my
> network application).
>
> I understand that hypervisor is hardware arch specific. So i will be using
> intel arch (x86 based arch - latest dual core processor. ).
> I thinking of using xen.
> I have two queries.
> 1) Any other alternate for xen which has very small footprint?
> 2) Is it possible to emulate 50 nodes in latest x86 based desktop/server?
>

50 nodes? That is one too many.

Calculate at the rate of 128MB per instance.

I always use qemu.

-Girish

--
G3 Tech
Networking appliance company
web: http://g3tech.in mail: gir...@g3tech.in

prasannatsmkumar

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Mar 23, 2012, 11:30:55 AM3/23/12

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I am also having a dual core intel processor. Does your processor support
Intel VT? If yes it is better to assume 256 MB per instance and 15% CPU
usage per instance (average use case). Then you can calculate the number of
nodes you wish to use.

Suresh Kumar

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Mar 23, 2012, 11:31:06 AM3/23/12

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Hi,

>> I am looking for virtualization software (hypervisor - hardware &
> software
> >> emulation) in linux. To emulate 50 nodes(customized linux kernel + my
> > >network application).
>

> > 1) Any other alternate for xen which has very small footprint?
> > 2) Is it possible to emulate 50 nodes in latest x86 based desktop/server?
> >
>
> >50 nodes? That is one too many.
>
> >Calculate at the rate of 128MB per instance.
>
> >I always use qemu.
>

Can you clarify , how did u get this number 128MB per instance?
I though probably less than 32MB per instance. (Customized kernel - 2MB and
some scripts, and routing application (may be 10MB). So total img size
would be less than 15MB. while executing Memory food print can be less than
32MB(kernel space + user space). This is my assumption. Please correct me
i am wrong.

thanks
suresh.

Girish Venkatachalam

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Mar 23, 2012, 12:24:19 PM3/23/12

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>>
>> >50 nodes? That is one too many.
>>
>> >Calculate at the rate of 128MB per instance.
>>
>> >I always use qemu.
>>
>
> Can you clarify , how did u get this number 128MB per instance?

man qemu

Also I don't like xen at all. ;)

> I though probably less than 32MB per instance. (Customized kernel - 2MB and
> some scripts, and routing application (may be 10MB). So total img size
> would be less than 15MB. while executing Memory food print can be less than
> 32MB(kernel space + user space). This is my assumption. Please correct me
> i am wrong.

You must be right. You can run with 32MB RAM as well.

But I am curious why you wish to run 50 instances?

I am a very powerful qemu user but I am yet to come across such
a strange need.

Can you throw some light?

-Girish

--
G3 Tech
Networking appliance company
web: http://g3tech.in mail: gir...@g3tech.in

Suresh Kumar

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Mar 23, 2012, 8:25:51 PM3/23/12

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Hi,

>
> > Can you clarify , how did u get this number 128MB per instance?
>
> >man qemu
>
> >Also I don't like xen at all. ;)
>

> >But I am curious why you wish to run 50 instances?
>
> >I am a very powerful qemu user but I am yet to come across such
> >a strange need.
>
> >Can you throw some light?
>

http://code.google.com/p/neptune-network-emulator/
Something like this.. with light weight.

Why you dont like xen? some technical reason? Also qmenu is emulating other
hardware arch correct?

Thanks
suresh

Girish Venkatachalam

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Mar 23, 2012, 8:48:23 PM3/23/12

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>>
>> >Can you throw some light?
>>
>
> http://code.google.com/p/neptune-network-emulator/
> Something like this.. with light weight.
>

I don't understand. Does it say many nodes?

What is your application? What do you plan to achieve?

Anyway best of luck.

> Why you dont like xen? some technical reason? Also qmenu is emulating other
> hardware arch correct?
>

That is right. Qemu is emulator, not a hypervisor.

But that is what I want. Moreover I use OpenBSD and Xen is not yet ported to it.

Xen is not fit for my needs. You can use it if you like.

I develop my product using qemu. All my networking appliances are
developed using qemu.

I install OS on external USB hard disks using qemu. I test liveCDs and
my own product's ISO
image using qemu. I love it.

-Girish
--
G3 Tech
Networking appliance company
web: http://g3tech.in mail: gir...@g3tech.in

Suresh Kumar

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Mar 25, 2012, 1:55:54 PM3/25/12

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Hi,

I don't understand. Does it say many nodes?
> What is your application? What do you plan to achieve?
> Anyway best of luck.
>

Thanks. Yes. it emulates the netowrk nodes. The end application is network
emulator. similar to the neptune.

Any one can help me on this topic. Still i am struck with xen.
I have read on some technical paper, single core processor with 4GB can
support 3-4 guest os in xen. Is this correct? any one tried? if i use, some
12 core/16 core processor (I guess, some high end servers are available
with 32 core), i think 50 emulation is possible.
Any suggestions?

Thanks
suresh.

Balasubramaniam Natarajan

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Mar 25, 2012, 9:28:08 PM3/25/12

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I have core2duo with 4GB on Ubuntu supports simultaneous running of 4 DSL.

--
Regards,
Balasubramaniam Natarajan
www.etutorshop.com/moodle/

Girish Venkatachalam

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Mar 25, 2012, 9:33:46 PM3/25/12

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You don't need any complication to simulate network emulation.

Just use 100 aliases and you have a complex network with 100 nodes.

Are you doing some silly college project or is it real life?

I get the feeling it is the former.

-Girish

--

G3 Tech
Networking appliance company
web: http://g3tech.in mail: gir...@g3tech.in

Arun SAG

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Mar 26, 2012, 7:46:11 AM3/26/12

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On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 07:50:28PM +0530, Suresh Kumar wrote:
> Dear all,

>
>
> I am looking for virtualization software (hypervisor - hardware & software
> emulation) in linux. To emulate 50 nodes(customized linux kernel + my
> network application).
>

Check out user mode linux. http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/index.html

Some tutorials:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Virtual_Routing_Environment_%2820090404%29
https://www.redhat.com/magazine/001nov04/features/usermode/

--
Arun S A G
http://zer0c00l.in/
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org - against proprietary attachments

prasannatsmkumar

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Mar 26, 2012, 10:40:00 AM3/26/12

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> _______________________________________________
> ILUGC Mailing List:
> http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
>
>

Yes UML may be a good choice. Also why can't you chroot and run processes?
I did not understand the use case but just a thought.

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