• Intelligent Partitioning - Division of a server into as many as hundreds of Containers (CT) with full server functionality.
• Complete Isolation - CTs are secure and have full functional, fault and performance isolation.
• Mass Management - Suite of tools and templates for automated, multi-CT and multi-server administration.
• Dynamic Resource Allocation - CPU, memory, network, disk and I/O can be changed without re-booting.
• Live Migration - Business continuity capabilities including live migration ensure data is available and recoverable.

Containers gives businesses the best solution for maximising their resources and containing their IT infrastructure. A complete set of management tools and a unique architecture, make it simple to maintain, monitor and manage virtualised server resources.

OS virtualisation is a method of utilizing all the hardware, software, datacentre and management resources with the least waste and at optimum efficiency. It does this by virtualisation - creating isolated partitions, or virtual environments on a single physical server and OS instance.

The two diagrams below show the hypervisor or hardware virtualization technology in comparison to OS virtualization.

The hypervisor model has a base layer (usually a thin Linux kernel shown here as a hypervisor or standard OS) that is loaded directly on the bare server. The next layer up shows each chip, board, etc. must be virtualized so that it can be assigned to virtual machines. Once in the virtual machine, there is a complete copy of an operating system and finally the application or workload.

The OS virtualisation model is streamlined for the best performance, management and efficiency.

At the base resides a standard host operating system, in the case of Containers that includes Windows and Linux. Next is the virtualisation layer with a proprietary file system and a kernel service abstraction layer that ensure isolation and security of resources between different virtual environments. The virtualisation layer makes each virtual environment appear as a standalone server. Finally, the virtual environment itself houses the application or workload.

Containers has some very unique capabilities:

• Performance Containers’s lean architecture performs at levels consistent with native servers. Containers has no virtualised hardware and uses native hardware and software drivers making its performance unbeatable. Containers’s performance makes it suitable for high I/O applications such as databases and email servers.
• Scalability Each CT can seamlessly scale up to the resources of an entire physical server.
• Density Containers’s efficient technology makes its CTs the highest density available from a virtualisation solution. OS code and resource/cache sharing across CTs, templating of OSs and applications, VzCacheOnline are a few of the capabilities that enable up to 100s of CT's on a standard production physical server.
• Consolidated OS and Application Management Containers uses a single OS, making it extremely simple to maintain and update across CT's. Applications may also be deployed as a single instance. Containers template technology enables the ability to update groups of servers or VEs to new patch levels.
• Ultra Fast and Parallel Operations Single OS instance with links and caches enable very fast CT provisioning and other operations. Create, restart, update, resize, backup/restore, migrate, and clone are some of the fast operations optimized for parallel operations.
• Dynamic Resource Allocation Change heavily detailed VE resource parameters in real-time with the flexibility to enable burstable resource usage.
• Management Suite of Tools Designed for Large-scale deployments with live deployments with as many 1,000s of VEs on 100s of physical servers. The complete suite includes permissions enabled browser-based and client interfaces for Containers and CT administrators. Tools enable many operations including: convert, provision, monitor, backup, recover, analyze, troubleshoot, repair, migrate, self-manage and more across both Windows and Linux platforms for easy consistent management.
• Tools Easy Integration Containers management tools use industry standard integration technologies: SOAP, XML RPC, CLI and SNMP APIs and SDK, LDAP. 3rd party tools may be easily integrated including: HP, IBM, Microsoft, and CA.
• Datacenter Automation Suite (DAS) Expand virtualised automation into provisioning, workflow, usage accounting, chargeback capabilities and more with the Data Automation Suite.
• Live Migration Move CTs without a service interruption between non-shared storage, using a basic server and standard network configuration.
• Broad Platform Support General hardware independence, supporting any hardware supported by standard Windows and Linux operating systems. Platforms include: Itanium, x86, x64, EM64T and AMD64.
• Detailed Resource Management Containers has extensive resource control with over 30 parameters to set CT performance and resource management guidelines for novice users.