Product FAQ

Find the answers to commonly asked questions about Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, the world's leading OS virtualization solution.

1. What is a Container?
2. How long will it take to install Parallels Virtuozzo Containers?
3. How difficult is Parallels Virtuozzo Containers to use?
4. How difficult is Parallels Virtuozzo Containers to deploy?
5. If a guest container crashes, will it affect other servers or the host operating system?
6. How scalable is Parallels Virtuozzo Containers?
7. Are containers secure?
8. What is the recommended density of containers on a single physical server?
9. How much overhead should I expect with Parallels Virtuozzo Containers?

Q: What is a Container?

A: Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is an Operating System (OS) virtualization solution so a different naming convention was used to differentiate between Virtuozzo and the virtualized environments of hardware virtualization. A container is just another term for a virtual server.
Back to top

Q: How long will it take to install Parallels Virtuozzo Containers?

A: Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is easy to install. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Windows is loaded out of the box in less than a half hour by an administrator with basic networking skills. No Linux skills are required for Virtuozzo Windows. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Linux may be installed in under an hour by a Linux administrator.
Back to top

Q: How difficult is Parallels Virtuozzo Containers to use?

A: Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is designed from the ground up to be simple and intuitive to use. The management tools hold much consistency between platforms, further increasing the simplicity by standardizing tasks between Linux and Windows platforms. The management tools also make managing software versions and patch management a breeze, with simple ways to clone and test patches and efficient tools to disseminate patches.
Back to top

Q: How difficult is Parallels Virtuozzo Containers to deploy?

A: Parallels Virtuozzo is simple to deploy. As with all virtualization solutions, there is a migration process between physical and virtual machines. To ease the process, there is a Parallels Transporter, a physical to virtual (P2V) tool for Linux which includes testing processing peaks and valleys prior to migration to ensure performance levels are maintained.
Back to top

Q: If a guest container crashes, will it affect other servers or the host operating system?

A: No, all of the transactions accessing the host kernel are mediated through the Kernel Abstraction Layer. Crashes are limited to the specific virtual environment.
Back to top

Q: How scalable is Parallels Virtuozzo Containers?

A: The Parallels Virtuozzo architecture was designed to be extremely scalable so that every virtual private server can utilize the entire or available resources on the server. Any guest container can utilize up to 16 CPU and 64 GB of memory.
Back to top

Q: Are containers secure?

A: Yes, the proprietary virtualization layer manages the isolation of namespaces, users, processes, network management to ensure that only users with appropriate access may access a virtual environment.
Back to top

Q: What is the recommended density of containers on a single physical server?

A: The density range completely depends upon the resources of the server, the contents of a particular containers and finally the desired amount of containers tied to a single piece of hardware. The two most critical resources that enable virtualization are CPU and RAM. The more available processing power, the fewer requirements to offload processing to virtual memory. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Linux can achieve a density of 100 containers with minimal content and applications on a 1.46 GHz, 1 GB RAM and 36 GB hard drive. Parallels Virtuozzo Containers for Windows is slightly more limited because the Windows operating system itself takes a large chunk of the available memory.
Back to top

Q: How much overhead should I expect with Parallels Virtuozzo Containers?

A: Parallels Virtuozzo Containers adds very little to native applications and operating system performance, ranging from 1-3% and dependent on the workloads. The server and application performance difference with Parallels Virtuozzo Containers is generally imperceptible.
Back to top