OpenVZ is an OS-level virtualization technology, which allows the kernel of the host
Operating System to be shared amongst different containers, or Virtual Private Servers. The
main difference between OpenVZ and other virtualization platforms like KVM is that with
OpenVZ, the VPS itself is actually “aware” that it’s a virtual machine.
The main advantage of OpenVZ is that since the virtualization overhead associated with
traditional hypervisors is absent, OpenVZ virtual servers enjoy higher-speed disk access and
lower disk latency. This high-performance, low-upkeep, I/O bottleneck-free service is very
popular among hosting providers.
One disadvantage of OpenVZ servers is that they are more susceptible to the “noisy
neighbour” effect. At Piunoff Web Agency, we have taken multiple steps to further isolate the
different OpenVZ servers from each other, so as to prevent inter-server interferences.
