Back

Explore Courses Blog Tutorials Interview Questions
0 votes
2 views
in AWS by (19.1k points)

I am about to launch Ubuntu instance on Amazon EC2. I'm choosing between PV and HVM options. I found that PV does provide a more efficient virtualization model though I could be wrong and as Amazon offers both options I'm suggesting that HVM may have some benefits I will not get with PV. I want to use this virtual machine for GIT and maybe Team City in future. Could you help me to choose?

1 Answer

0 votes
by (44.4k points)

I would say "go with PV" (on Linux) unless you've got a reason. PV has been far better tested because it had been the sole choice for several years. (HVM for UNIX was solely recently introduced outside of the terribly special calculate Cluster nodes.)

Converting between them isn't hard -- particularly if you are doing it right. By "do it right", I mean using something like Chef or Puppet or Ansible to create your server. This enables you to put your "server" (well, server build process) underneath version control, that creates instant documentation for everyone to understand what is on your server.

Your root drive should be ephemeral so that if the server dies, you can just re-launch and re-attach your EBS data. (And you'll be able to quickly upgrade the OS or server software by launching a second instance to play with.) If you've got an EBS root drive, you'll have to pay to store/backup your OS, and you may never know if your server config is checked into version control or not.

Going forward, I might lean toward HVM, since performance can be far better (i.e. "Enhanced Networking"). Also, it's not "brand-new" anymore.

Related questions

0 votes
1 answer

Want to get 50% Hike on your Salary?

Learn how we helped 50,000+ professionals like you !

0 votes
1 answer
0 votes
1 answer

Browse Categories

...