which virtualisation solution better fits my needs ?

Nitro_146

Hi,

I am building a new machine to replace my main computer. I am actually using virtualbox, but, as I will reinstall my OS from scratch, I am wondering if there is a better VM for my needs.

I use mainly gentoo amd64 as my main OS (95% of time) for internet browsing, office work, and photo editing, no games, (and compiling my system).
I use windows XP in virtualbox for photo editing (5% of time) using Nikon capture NX2 (only sftware installed on my vm)

- Capture NX is very CPU hungry and uses multicores.
- I use to start my VM when i want to work on my photos, and freeze it when done
- I would like a free (as free beer) solution, and if possible a free (as free speech) solution

- My VM does not need heavy network access, but needs to have an easy way to share (now using a shared directory)
- I am not using raid. My system drive is an intel X25-M 80 Go SSD and the Windows VM image uses 8 Go.
- I want my gentoo system to be as stable as possible. Stability of the win system is not so important.
- I might move from XP to 7 or latter some day (if I can get better performance)

The hardware that will run the VM is not bought yet. It will certainly be an Intel core i5 2500K + Z86 Mobo + 8 Go RAM unless advised that there is a better choice

Should I stick to Virtualbox or is there a better VM for me ?
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grooveman · Veteran Joined: 24 Feb 2003 Posts: 1217

Have you tried KVM with Qemu? I have been using that a couple years now, and it works really well. It takes little tweaking at first, but the performance is very good. I use it for virtualized desktops. I also use Xen, but mostly for servers -- and I don't care for the implementation on Gentoo for Xen, so I now use debian for that. Its performance is excellent as well. Both are paravirtualization solutions, so either should perform better than virtualbox -- though I haven't used that myself. I have used vmware player/workstation and gsx server, and I have to say that both Qemu/KVM and Xen blow the doors off of that. It isn't even close.

If I were you, I'd try Qemu/KVM, it takes a little tweaking (e.g. you need to set up your own internal networking via a bridge device or nat), but it is so worth it once it gets going.

A bit of advice, however: do not put your qemu image on a raid 1 device. It cuts the i/o in half. Ideally, have it on a drive that your system (and swap) is not on, and that will increase performance. The faster the disk, of course, the better.

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/KVM

Good luck.

G

Addendum: I've just been reading over virtualbox... it does look better than I gave it credit for... maybe next time I'll try it. Support for 3d acceleration sounds promising, and kvm doesn't do that.
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Aquous · l33t Joined: 08 Jan 2011 Posts: 700

I'd say VirtualBox is the way to go. It has everything you need, is FOSS software, only needs one kernel module loaded to operate, and a possible extra bonus for your use case: it allows very specific control of the amount of processor resources that should be available for the VM.

The only FOSS alternative to VirtualBox I know of is KVM, which IMO (though it's been a looong time since I last checked it out) is a lot less intuitive and does not have any noticeable performance boost over VirtualBox (which is very fast, especially compared to VMware).

grooveman · Veteran Joined: 24 Feb 2003 Posts: 1217

This should be helpful here:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_kvm_virtualbox4&num=1
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Nitro_146 · Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2011 10:41 pm Post subject:

Thank you for these answers.

Concerning the phoronix test, i knew it, but I am not able to draw any conclusions from it concerning my peticular use. The results are somehow confusing for me !

Aquous, you say that KVM does not allow to control the amount of cpu power dedicated to the VM. Does that mean that it will use all of the power if necessary, or that it is limited to 1 core for exemple ?
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Hu · Administrator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 23091

KVM runs one host thread for each guest vCPU. Each host thread can be scheduled independently. If a guest is sufficiently busy, it can use up all the CPU time that the host scheduler will allow. A guest configured with multiple vCPUs can run each vCPU on a separate host CPU.

djdunn · l33t Joined: 26 Dec 2004 Posts: 812

You could always try running your nikon software in wine (a non emulator compatibility layer), i looked at the winehq and the oldest tests for the software are really old, way before wine version 1.0 you could try it out it might work ok.
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Nitro_146 · Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2011 9:59 pm Post subject:

I tried wine when I got my camera, and it would'nt work (some .NET issue)

Some googling le me think that it is not resolved yet.
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grooveman · Veteran Joined: 24 Feb 2003 Posts: 1217

opotonil · l33t Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 801 Location: 127.0.0.1

qemu-kvm don't have yet support for ehci (usb 2), I don't know Nikon capture NX2 but if your main use of the VM is for connect your camera and it is connected using usb it don't seems the best solution. I have similar problem with iphone, itunes is a pain in the ass, for other all kvm-qemu is my first election.

Nitro_146 · Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:58 pm Post subject:

I do not use the virtual machine to download images from my nikon camera. It works well with Digikam.
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grooveman · Veteran Joined: 24 Feb 2003 Posts: 1217

Nitro_146 · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:50 am Post subject:

I do shoot raw.

I've tried many raw processing software, including raw therapee and bibble (eval version) but I've found that nikon capture NX 2 is the one that gives me better results (altough it may be the slower).

To come back to the original question, I will probabely give a try to KVM and Qemu with my new PC.
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Linux, cause booting is for adding new hardware