The Differences Between x86 Virtualisation Techniques

Hardware Assisted Virtualisation – This is a nascent virtualisation technique which will potentially provide significant benefits to virtual machine performance. It relies upon specific execution functionality within the CPU that allows guest OS calls to be automatically trapped by the hypervisor, hence removing the need for binary translation.

The various OS states are stored directly in control structures provided by the CPU chipset. Since this technology is relatively new, it currently involves a programming model whose rigidity is out-performed by the traditional binary translation mechanism.

However, as the technology develops it will provide better performance for the two other components of x86 virtualisation – memory and device I/O.

Being able to identify the differences between each x86 virtualisation technique allows organisations to deploy the most effective technology in their virtualised environments.

While full virtualisation currently provides the best balance between performance, functionality and security, hardware assisted virtualisation is set to improve upon these areas even further.

Moving specific virtualisation functionality to the hardware layer will assist with the co-ordination between each key component of x86 virtualisation – CPU instructions, memory management and device I/O.