OpenVZ is a virtualization technology based on containers.  With it you can create multiple isolated virtual private servers on a single system.  "Containers" virtualize at the operating system level.  There are advantages and disadvantages of this approach depending on the application.  The primary disadvantage is that you cannot run different operating systems on a host node (ie. you cannot run Windows on top of Linux). This, however, allows systems using OpenVZ to be much more efficient when running multiple virtual environments while maintaining the ability to dynamically assign system resources.

For more information, see [[http://wiki.openvz.org/Main_Page|OpenVZ.org wiki]] and WikiPedia:OpenVZ.

See also [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Xen|Xen]] and [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM|KVM]].

=== Hardy Status ===
The OpenVZ kernel as well as the vzctl and vzquota management toos are now available in the Hardy Universe repository.

=== Ibex Status ===
TBD

== Installing the Host ==
** in progress **

See the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenVZ|OpenVZ - Community Documentation]] for more details.

{{{
sudo apt-get install linux-image-openvz
}}}

It is recommended that VEs be created on an LVM partition.  This allows you to do zero-downtime snapshot backups.  You should be sure to leave 512MB of empty space on your LVM partition in order to enable this feature.  LVM configuration is beyond the scope of this document, [[Installation/LVMOnRaid]] is suggested reading.

== Installing Virtual Environments ==

=== Templates ===
See the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenVZ|OpenVZ - Community Documentation]] for more details.

=== Administration ===
See the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenVZ|OpenVZ - Community Documentation]] for more details.

=== Configuration ===
See the [[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OpenVZ|OpenVZ - Community Documentation]] for more details.