[OpenIndiana-discuss] Solaris 10 and 11 in 151a : VirtualBox, QEMU-KVM or branded zones?

[Mike Kirk]

Hello everyone,

I've set up a new 151a system, and have been busy configuring as many
services as I can in OI local zones. But for testing reasons I'd still like
to have vanilla Solaris 10 and Solaris 11 VMs to play with as well. The
virtualization page mentions a few options (
http://wiki.openindiana.org/oi/7.+Virtualization)

- Put 10 and 11 in VirtualBox and be done with it. This sounds easy, but
heavy? (I will want to run several at once)
- Try to install each in qemu-kvm: I'm not sure if either will run properly
(the KVM web page shows spotty support for Solaris VMs?) but may be
lighter/faster
- Branded zones sound possible, at least for Solaris 10... which seem light
and efficient... but I have to create a flar first (?, maybe from within an
install in VirtualBox to get things off the ground) and doesn't help with a
Solaris 11 VM.

The load in each of the Sol10/11 VMs will be light: it more important that
I can run 3-5 of each of them than them being fast for any particular app.
RAM and disk should not be a problem. Even if KVM and branded-zones are
more complicated to get running... are they a better way to go instead of
VirtualBox? Would they all be about equal in terms of network speeds in/out
of the VMs?

Thanks,

   Mike