Michael Burke
Topics: Virtualization
Review: Xen and the Art of Repeated Research
In the paper Xen and the Art of Repeated Research, representatives from Clarkson
University attempt to replicate the experiment performed by representatives from Cambridge
University. Multiple extensions were also added to the original experiment.
Many of the primary examinations in the study attempt to either expand or build upon
original research goals. The group at Clarkson attempts to recreate the study, reproducing the
results from SOSP-03 study. In addition to this, they attempt to determine if Xen is a viable
resource for virtual web hosting, They also attempt to determine whether or not a regular
workstation can handle the system, and if so, whether or not it compares to a machine designed
for virtualization.
I agree with the premise in this paper of attempting to run the Xen virtualization off of an
old machine. While they stressed that it was difficult to recreate the experiment hardware
exactly, I believe it is important to run tests on equipment that anyone has access to.
In the following sections, they determine the results in the Cambridge study to be
accurate. In almost every category, the recreated results are comparable to the originals. What I
was most interested in, however, was whether or not the x86 3-year-old box would run Xen
virtualization efficiently.
The results showed a noticeable difference when multiple guests were connected to the
virtualization boxes. This is not surprising, as the machine is 3 years old and is nowhere near the
quality or speed of their more expensive model. However, I was happy to see that, with a small
amount of guests, the x86 box performed quite nicely. That opens up a lot of potential for home
users and potentially budget-stretched network admins. The ability to run this virtualization
effectively on an old machine opens the possibility for a middle-ground performance with
higher-end machines that are cheaper than their expensive test model.
I was also surprised at the difficulty the team had in recreating the results of the original
test. I would imagine that with such old equipment, the only bulwark in the recreation would be
locating the hardware. While they did have minor issues finding the exact hardware, I expected
that to be the most difficult, as opposed to the test itself.
Overall I believe this was an excellent recreation. I was surprised and happy to see them
add to the experiment, as opposed to simply recreating the original model. Seeing the
virtualization technology run well with limited guests on an old x86 box was a huge beacon for
potential, and opens up further experimentation.