KVM vs OpenVZ - Which one?

[Andrewkar]

Hey Builders!
I want to move to VPS and don't know what to chose, or maybe it doesn't matter?

Some info I've found:

KVM does not provide anywhere near the performance of OpenVZ (or Virtuozzo, its commercial equivalent). It's extremely important to note that KVM requires a running kernel inside the VPS, whereas OpenVZ runs containers using a shared kernel. This means that a 256MB KVM VPS does not actually have the same amount of memory available to userspace that OpenVZ does. OpenVZ is an extremely lightweight virtualization technology that easily outperforms full virtualization.

KVM does provide better isolation, although this isn't usually apparent to userspace in a container.

As for the original question, if I were shopping for a VPS, there are two factors to consider:

1) At the same price point, you'll get less for your money with KVM. 256MB of KVM is less than 256MB of OpenVZ because you have to run your own kernel so there's less for your actual applications. On the other hand, some hosters charge more for OpenVZ, so you'll need to do the math.

2) It's easier for hosting companies to overcommit OpenVZ systems, so bad hosting companies may put you on a system with too many containers, so be wary of this.

For example, basic configuration:

1. OpenVZ: CPU X1/1GB/1 IP/CentOS 7 x64/25GB SSD or 50GB/DA Panel/Bandwidth no limit = $7.5/M
2 KVM: 1 CPU 3 GHz for single core/1GB/1 IP/CentOS 5.9 x86 Minimal/Bandwidth no limit = $7.5/M

Also, I don't know why they don't give any choice for admin panel in KVM option? Anyway, what you think?

P.S It's for magazine type of website updated daily, growing fast.

 

[Rageix]

I don't think I've really ever looked. I mean it doesn't really matter in context because you could oversell either. Linode runs on KVM and is consistently ranked as one of the top VPS providers.

So really the question is more about the company selling you the VPS and how much they are over selling their space.

 

[Andrewkar]

Thank you @Rageix
That's what I thought more or less. I would go for Linode, but they don't provide servers in my location so I will take the one with OpenVZ on board. Let's see how it goes.