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A performance comparison of linux containers and virtual machines using Docker and KVM

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Abstract

Virtualization is a foundational element of cloud computing. Since cloud computing is slower than a native system, this study analyzes ways to improve performance. We compared the performance of Docker and Kernel-based virtual machine (KVM). KVM uses full virtualization, including \(\times \)86 hardware virtualization extensions. Docker is a solution provided by isolation in userspace instead of creating a virtual machine. The performance of KVM and Docker was compared in three ways. These comparisons show that Docker is faster than KVM.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korea government (Ministry of Science and ICT) (No. NRF-2017R1A2B4010570) and the Soonchunhyang University Research Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Software Engineering, Soonchunhyang University, Asan, South Korea

    MinSu Chae & HwaMin Lee

  2. Department of Civil Engineering & Landscape Architectures, Suncheon Jeil College, Suncheon, South Korea

    Kiyeol Lee

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  1. MinSu Chae
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Correspondence to HwaMin Lee.

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Chae, M., Lee, H. & Lee, K. A performance comparison of linux containers and virtual machines using Docker and KVM. Cluster Comput 22 (Suppl 1), 1765–1775 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-017-1511-2

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