Network bandwidth configuration tool for Xen virtual machines

Abstract

Performance differentiation has always been a requirement in virtualized environments, especially in case where virtualization is used in high-end data center applications. In this paper, we present a command-line tool for Network bandwidth differentiation in Xen, which is an open source solution for virtualization. Though the CPU credit scheduler in Xen can be configured using command-line tools to specify weights and caps for a virtual machine, no such tools exist to specify the network bandwidth limits. Through our tool, xmsetbw, network bandwidth limits for a virtual machine in Xen can be specified and dynamically reconfigured (without kernel recompilation). Experimental evaluations show that bandwidth utilization is limited within specified values.