A Comparison of Virtualization Technologies for Use in Cloud Data Centers

Cloud data center operators are constantly facing the challenge of making their clouds run more efficiently. Various forms of virtualization have been employed over the years to squeeze out as much performance as possible from the data center - a very expensive resource. As is often the case when new technologies are introduced, a certain amount of confusion ensues as developers and consumers alike try to figure out what are the benefits and what are the costs associated with moving to a new technology such as containers or unikernels. This paper is intended to provide some basic facts regarding the design and usage of the various technologies to outline their relative strengths and weaknesses.