A functional and performance benchmark of lightweight virtualization platforms for edge computing
- Author
- Tom Goethals (UGent) , Merlijn Sebrechts (UGent) , Mays Al-Naday, Bruno Volckaert (UGent) and Filip De Turck (UGent)
- Organization
- Abstract
- The recent rise of edge computing and FaaS triggered a revolution in the field of software virtualization, improving performance and security. This paper benchmarks various lightweight virtualization platforms, such as microVMs and containers, in the context of edge microservices. Factors taken into account include toolchain maturity, networking capabilities, boot time, resource use, microservice performance, and ARM architecture readiness. We present a functional comparison and benchmarks on both a Raspberry Pi 4 and an x86-64 platform. The results indicate standard Docker containers offer reliable performance and low memory use, while microVM-based solutions such as Firecracker are more isolated. Moreover, OSv unikernels have extremely low boot times and significantly better performance than Docker containers. Finally, while gVisor offers improved security and excellent compatibility, its performance is only 10% of default Docker performance.
- Keywords
- containers, unikernels, microVM, microservices, virtualization, edge computing
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8769638
- MLA
- Goethals, Tom, et al. “A Functional and Performance Benchmark of Lightweight Virtualization Platforms for Edge Computing.” 2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDGE COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS (IEEE EDGE 2022), edited by C. A. Ardagna et al., IEEE, 2022, pp. 60–68, doi:10.1109/edge55608.2022.00020.
- APA
- Goethals, T., Sebrechts, M., Al-Naday, M., Volckaert, B., & De Turck, F. (2022). A functional and performance benchmark of lightweight virtualization platforms for edge computing. In C. A. Ardagna, H. Bian, C. K. Chang, R. N. Chang, E. Damiani, G. Elia, … J. Zhang (Eds.), 2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDGE COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS (IEEE EDGE 2022) (pp. 60–68). https://doi.org/10.1109/edge55608.2022.00020
- Chicago author-date
- Goethals, Tom, Merlijn Sebrechts, Mays Al-Naday, Bruno Volckaert, and Filip De Turck. 2022. “A Functional and Performance Benchmark of Lightweight Virtualization Platforms for Edge Computing.” In 2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDGE COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS (IEEE EDGE 2022), edited by C. A. Ardagna, H. Bian, C. K. Chang, R. N. Chang, E. Damiani, G. Elia, Q. He, et al., 60–68. IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/edge55608.2022.00020.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Goethals, Tom, Merlijn Sebrechts, Mays Al-Naday, Bruno Volckaert, and Filip De Turck. 2022. “A Functional and Performance Benchmark of Lightweight Virtualization Platforms for Edge Computing.” In 2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDGE COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS (IEEE EDGE 2022), ed by. C. A. Ardagna, H. Bian, C. K. Chang, R. N. Chang, E. Damiani, G. Elia, Q. He, V. Puig, R. Ward, F. Xhafa, and J. Zhang, 60–68. IEEE. doi:10.1109/edge55608.2022.00020.
- Vancouver
- 1.Goethals T, Sebrechts M, Al-Naday M, Volckaert B, De Turck F. A functional and performance benchmark of lightweight virtualization platforms for edge computing. In: Ardagna CA, Bian H, Chang CK, Chang RN, Damiani E, Elia G, et al., editors. 2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDGE COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS (IEEE EDGE 2022). IEEE; 2022. p. 60–8.
- IEEE
- [1]T. Goethals, M. Sebrechts, M. Al-Naday, B. Volckaert, and F. De Turck, “A functional and performance benchmark of lightweight virtualization platforms for edge computing,” in 2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDGE COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS (IEEE EDGE 2022), Barcelona, Spain, 2022, pp. 60–68.
@inproceedings{8769638,
abstract = {{The recent rise of edge computing and FaaS triggered a revolution in the field of software virtualization, improving performance and security. This paper benchmarks various lightweight virtualization platforms, such as microVMs and containers, in the context of edge microservices. Factors taken into account include toolchain maturity, networking capabilities, boot time, resource use, microservice performance, and ARM architecture readiness. We present a functional comparison and benchmarks on both a Raspberry Pi 4 and an x86-64 platform. The results indicate standard Docker containers offer reliable performance and low memory use, while microVM-based solutions such as Firecracker are more isolated. Moreover, OSv unikernels have extremely low boot times and significantly better performance than Docker containers. Finally, while gVisor offers improved security and excellent compatibility, its performance is only 10% of default Docker performance.}},
author = {{Goethals, Tom and Sebrechts, Merlijn and Al-Naday, Mays and Volckaert, Bruno and De Turck, Filip}},
booktitle = {{2022 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDGE COMPUTING & COMMUNICATIONS (IEEE EDGE 2022)}},
editor = {{Ardagna, C. A. and Bian, H. and Chang, C. K. and Chang, R. N. and Damiani, E. and Elia, G. and He, Q. and Puig, V. and Ward, R. and Xhafa, F. and Zhang, J.}},
isbn = {{9781665481403}},
issn = {{2767-9918}},
keywords = {{containers,unikernels,microVM,microservices,virtualization,edge computing}},
language = {{eng}},
location = {{Barcelona, Spain}},
pages = {{60--68}},
publisher = {{IEEE}},
title = {{A functional and performance benchmark of lightweight virtualization platforms for edge computing}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1109/edge55608.2022.00020}},
year = {{2022}},
}
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