Linode 12th Birthday for Linode - KVM VPS out of beta !

eva2000 · Jun 17, 2015

Looks like Linode waited until their 12th birthday for announcement of KVM VPS roll out. Linode KVM is no longer in KVM beta testing stage and is generally available!

Happy 12th birthday to us!
Welp, time keeps on slippin’ into the future, and we find ourselves turning 12 years old today. To celebrate, we’re kicking off the next phase of Linode’s transition from Xen to KVM by making KVM Linodes generally available, starting today.

Better performance, versatility, and faster booting
Using identical hardware, KVM Linodes are much faster compared to Xen. For example, in our UnixBench testing a KVM Linode scored 3x better than a Xen Linode. During a kernel compile, a KVM Linode completed 28% faster compared to a Xen Linode. KVM has much less overhead than Xen, so now you will get the most out of our investment in high-end processors.

KVM Linodes are, by default, paravirtualized, supporting the Virtio disk and network drivers. However, we also now support fully virtualized guests – which means you can run alternative operating systems like FreeBSD, BSD, Plan 9, or even Windows – using emulated hardware (PIIX IDE and e1000). We’re also working on a graphical console (GISH?) which should be out in the next few weeks.

In a recent study of VM creation and SSH accessibility times performed by Cloud 66, Linode did well. The average Linode ‘create, boot, and SSH availability’ time was 57 seconds. KVM Linodes boot much faster – we’re seeing them take just a few seconds.

How do I upgrade a Linode from Xen to KVM?
On a Xen Linode’s dashboard, you will see an “Upgrade to KVM” link on the right sidebar. It’s a one-click migration to upgrade your Linode to KVM from there. Essentially, our KVM upgrade means you get a much faster Linode just by clicking a button.

How do I set my account to default to KVM for new stuff?
In your Account Settings you can set ‘Hypervisor Preference’ to KVM. After that, any new Linodes you create will be KVM.

What will happen to Xen Linodes?
New customers and new Linodes will, by default, still get Xen. Xen will cease being the default in the next few weeks. Eventually we will transition all Xen Linodes over to KVM, however this is likely to take quite a while. Don’t sweat it.

On behalf of the entire Linode team, thank you for the past 12 years and here’s to another 12! Enjoy!

-Chris
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eva2000 · Jun 18, 2015

Posting info and reply from Linode tech support regarding my question for Linode cloning VPS on Xen and KVM. Might be helpful to others

my question

Hi with the announcement of GA of KVM linodes, how does this affect linode cloning ?

For instance if I have Xen linode and I want to clone it, does it have to also be cloned to a Xen linode or can it be KVM linode ?

And vice versa, if I have a KVM linode and want to clone it, it also has to to a KVM linode or can it be Xen linode ?

What about backup and snapshot images created on Xen ? When upgrading to KVM, all the past snapshot and backups are purged or they remain but are invalid for restore to KVM. And only valid for restoring to Xen ?

thanks

George
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replies form Linode

Hello,

It depends on the contents of the disk image and what you're cloning but yes, this should generally work. We just do a byte by byte copy of the disk image during the clone process, so as long as the distribution and kernel you use works in KVM or Xen, this should be fine.

When you do a backup restore, it will create additional disk images. This should work too but I will double-check with the development team to make sure. Someone will update you as soon as we have more information.

I hope this helps to clarify. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions or concerns.

Regards,
Jack Stitt
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Hello,

After some testing by a colleague we were able to determine that you are certainly able to make a clone of a XEN or KVM machine and place it into the other's machine, successfully booting it.

If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to let us know!

Regards,
Soh
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Hello,

You should have no problems booting a KVM or Xen cloned disk on KVM or Xen if you have the Distro Helper enabled in the new configuration profile (on by default). Distro Helper will tidy up the few changes that are necessary in files like /etc/inittab, /etc/fstab, /boot/grub/menu.lst, and /etc/securetty.

If you are using a custom kernel you may need to add the appropriate kernel options. Most distribution supplied kernels will work fine in either environment.

Regards,

Marques
Linode
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eva2000 · Jun 26, 2015

Very useful Linode KVM vs Xen information and nodes KVM Reference - Linode Guides & Tutorials

eva2000 · Jul 19, 2015

Why Linode moved to KVM | ITworld

An exclusive interview with Ricardo Feliciano, Developer Evangelist at Linode
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KVM was initially formed by Red Hat in alliance with IBM. As a result, KVM does get more love from the Red Hat infrastructure. The company also developed oVirt, a web application to manage KVM, though it does allow you to manage other virtual machines running on Xen or Oracle VirtualBox as well.

Interestingly, both KVM and Xen are now Linux Foundation projects but the new kid is gaining momentum at the cost of Xen, and more players are moving to KVM. To better understand Linode’s move to KVM, I interviewed Ricardo Feliciano, Developer Evangelist at Linode.

What was the main reason behind moving away from Xen and adopting KVM?

Feliciano: When we spent $45 million to upgrade our commercial-grade servers to the very latest technology in 2014, the virtualization layer, in this case Xen, kept us (and by extension, our customers) from tapping the inherent speed and computational power of the hardware. Switching to KVM removes this layer and puts customer operations as close to the Linux kernel as possible. Consequently, our servers will now deliver optimum performance; customers should realize improvements from 25 to 300 percent.
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eva2000 · Aug 24, 2015

finally migrated this forum to Linode KVM VPS Forums - Linode KVM Migration | Centmin Mod Community

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