A comparison framework for server virtualisation systems a case study

Recent years have seen a revival of interest in virtualisation research. Although this term has been used to refer to various systems, the focus of this research is on systems which partition a single physical server into multiple virtual servers. It is difficult for researchers and practitioners to get a clear picture of the state of the art in server virtualisation. This is due in part to the large number of systems available. Another reason is that information about virtualisation systems lacks structure, and is dispersed among multiple sources. Practitioners, such as data centre managers and systems administrators, may be familiar with virtualisation systems from a specific vendor, but generally lack a broader view of the field. This makes it difficult to make informed decisions when selecting these systems. Researchers and vendors who are developing virtualisation systems also lack a standard framework for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their systems, compared to competing systems. It is also time-consuming for researchers who are new to the field to learn about current virtualisation systems. The purpose of this research was to develop a framework to solve these problems. The objectives of the research correspond to the applications of the framework. These include conducting comparative evaluations of server virtualisation systems, identifying strengths and weaknesses of particular virtualisation systems, specifying virtualisation system requirements to facilitate system selection, and gathering information about current virtualisation systems in a structured form. These four objectives were satisfied. The design of this framework was also guided by six framework design principles. These principles, or secondary objectives, were also met. The framework was developed based on an extensive literature study of data centres, virtualisation and current virtualisation systems. Criteria were selected through an inductive process. The feasibility of conducting evaluations using the framework was demonstrated by means of literature-based evaluations, and a practical case study. The use of the framework to facilitate virtualisation system selection was also demonstrated by means of a case study featuring the NMMU Telkom CoE data centre. This framework has a number of practical applications, ranging from the facilitation of decision-making to identifying areas for improvement in current virtualisation systems. The information resulting from evaluations using the framework is also a valuable resource for researchers who are new to the field. The literature study which forms the theoretical foundation of this work is particularly useful in this regard. A future extension to this work would be to develop a decision support system based on the framework. Another possibility is to make the framework, and evaluations, available on-line as a resource for data center managers, vendors and researchers. This would also enable other researchers to provide additional feedback, enabling the framework to be further refine