[dmpk2k]

Unrelatedly, but calling SmartOS "yet another implementation of containerization" is a bit like calling a Bugatti Veyron "yet another implementation of a car". Technically true, but implicitly missing the point.

SmartOS and other Solaris derivatives have the only container implementations that actually work well. They are where Linux will be in a decade.

[dschiptsov]

>SmartOS and other Solaris derivatives have the only container implementations that actually work well.

What kind of fucking bullshit is this?

What are the principal differences over FreeBSD's jails it has, or why its KVMs runs better than under Linux kernel?

The "smart" meme and arogant public rethoric is good for marketing forex to idiots, but for CS it must maintain a connection to reality.

Solaris derivatives without Oracle backing are already lagging behind in terms driver support for modern hardware, new chipsets, etc. Node hype and stupid arrogance does not make the laws of big numbers and big money to stop working.

[Annatar]

> What are the principal differences over FreeBSD's jails it has, or why its KVMs runs better than under Linux kernel?

Each zone spawns her own init. The only difference between zones and UNIX running on bare metal is that the hardware is abstracted away, especially storage. Zones use the underlying ZFS pool in the global zone, but have no privileged access to the zpool. However, if necessary, devices can be explicitly exported to individual zones, for those rare, rare cases where a zone would need access to them (like for instance running an NTP server and needing access to the hardware clock). This however is not recommended.

The reason why KVM runs as fast or faster on SmartOS than it does on GNU/Linux is the fact that in order to port it to the SunOS / illumos kernel, the kernel engineers at Joyent used DTrace, and systematically improved performance.

> Solaris derivatives without Oracle backing are already lagging behind in terms driver support for modern hardware, new chipsets, etc.

Actually illumos / SmartOS contains OpenZFS and numerous bug fixes Oracle Solaris may not import, since Oracle would then have to open source Solaris again. Indeed, illumos is now the repository of record for (Open)ZFS, DTrace, and numerous other bug fixes and enhancements, because most of the core kernel engineers who worked on those technologies quit Oracle and are now working in their new companies on illumos / SmartOS.

UltraSPARC T1 and T2 are still supported, but newer SPARC hardware from Oracle has a death sentence, since it is a closed platform; illumos runs on AMD, and it runs best on intel; intel based servers have the best support. Nobody really cares about what "Snoracle" does any more, and the engineers who quit "Snoracle" shun SPARC.

[dschiptsov]

Thank you for a technical reply.

Nevertheless I cannot see that fundamental advantage over FreeBSD, which has ZFS but still no DTrace. Moreover, as far as I remember zones and jails were modeled after the same IBM's technology.

[icebraining]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but nothing in the previous post warrants the vitriol.