14 DAY TRIAL // Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment), an easy-to-use open-source virtualization platform for running Virtual Appliances and Virtual Machines, has just reached version 3.2 and it is now available for download.
Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) 3.2 is an open source server Virtualization Platform that is based on KVM and OpenVZ, which in fact are Kernel-based Virtual Machine and container-virtualization.
This could be considered a Linux distribution of sorts. It comes with a Linux kernel and is based on Debian Linux, but it's actually more than that, and the developers explain why that is so by detailing what exactly a Kernel-based Virtual Machine is.
“Open source hypervisor KVM is a full virtualization solution for Linux on x86 hardware containing virtualization extensions (Intel VT or AMD-V). It is a kernel module added to mainline Linux. With KVM you can run multiple virtual machines by running unmodified Linux or Windows images. It enables users to be agile by providing robust flexibility and scalability that fit their specific demands,” say the developers on the official website.
On the other hand, OpenVZ creates multiple secure, isolated Linux containers in a single location, on a server, ensuring that the applications cannot enter into a conflict.
The new Proxmox VE (Virtual Environment) 3.2 release comes with a lot of improvements, for various aspects of the operating system. As usual, the developers have upgraded the Linux kernel to a newer version, 2.6.32-121, but they are also providing an optional 3.10 Linux kernel that is based on RHEL7 beta (currently without OpenVZ support) and it can be used for testing only.
The SPICE support has been improved, a new console option has been added to datacenter.cfg (java applet vs. spice), multi-monitor support has been added, and split-button is now used in the GUI to easily select SPICE or VNC.
Qemu was updated to version 1.7.0, which in turn brought another set of changes. For example, “pvscsi” has been added to the list of SCSI controllers, “lsi53c810” has been added to the list of SCSI controllers (provides support for old Windows NT versions), the drive option “discard” has been implemented, and more.
Also, Open vSwitch support (Technology Preview) has been added, a new ZFS plugin has been added, the nexenta plugin has been removed, GlusterFS has been updated to version 3.4.2, and the ISO installer now always uses the GPT partition table.
Check out the official announcement for a complete list of changes. Download Proxmox VE 3.2 right now from Softpedia.