Evaluation and Comparison of the Performance of Different Hypervisors under Various Workloads of GIADEC

Abstract

This research study evaluates and compares the performance of Hyper-V, Citrix Xen, and VMware ESXi to aid Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) in informed hypervisor selection. The study focuses on identifying the optimal hypervisor for GIADEC, considering factors like effectiveness and efficient resource utilization. It aims to improve resource allocation, hypervisor selection, and performance optimization within GIADEC's IT infrastructure. Using a qualitative approach and extensive literature review, the study supports informed decision-making for hypervisor selection. Through benchmarking with Passmark Performance Test Suite and BootRacer application, each hypervisor underwent rigorous testing across various performance metrics. The study assesses performance aspects including installation and booting times, CPU, memory, disk, and network performance. Results highlight distinct advantages of each hypervisor: Hyper-V for quick virtualization deployment, VMware ESXi for superior CPU, memory, and network performance. Hyper-V excels in memory write and disk sequential read/write speeds, while VMware ESXi demonstrates low memory latency and superior network bandwidth. It is recommended that GIADEC should consider VMware ESXi due to its outstanding overall performance and suitability for diverse workload requirements. This study adds to the knowledge base on hypervisor performance evaluation and supports GIADEC's decision-making process for optimal hypervisor selection.