A newer version of OpenVZ has been available for quite some time now. There are still many users that are either unaware of this or are migrating to it without realizing the differences of the older 6th edition when compared to the newer 7th. Of course, since it is essentially the same program the contrast between the two is not that great, but choosing the latest program is a beneficial step. It offers various upgrades that can enhance the experience of hosting operating-system-level virtualization.
Newer Kernel Version
The kernel is a crucial link between the hardware and the software of the computer. Without them, devices would not function. Although it is essential to every system, it runs quietly in the background so not many users have noticed that it has been updated.
OpenVZ 6 operated on the kernel version 2.6.32. It offers a stable, secure and quality performance of the containers. But users noticed that it sometimes lacked while interfacing and did not offer as much wanted support and features. Now, the 7th edition offers a new 3.x kernel base that offers a lot more needed updates. Comparatively, it is more powerful and offers more storage.
Support For Hardware Virtualisation
One big drawback of the 6th version is the fact that it has no HW virtualization support (Hypervisor) which is the technology that enables the hosts to run Virtual Machines (VM). That is why many users leaned towards using KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) virtualization.
Unlike OpenVZ 6 where the host kernels are shared, the newer edition now supports hardware virtualization. There is no need to use different tools for containers and VMs and it allows a full isolated and segregated guest environment by using KVM virtualization. However, as it was with the previous one, version 7 it is still possible to share the host node kernel, which allows higher density and performance.
New EZ Template Format and Newer OS
EZ templates, which allow the hosts to create Virtual Environments (VE), also got a new format. This makes the customization and (re)installation of containers easy, fast and fun. Plus, they make the whole OpenVZ experience more convenient.
In addition, version 6 doesn‘t support Ubuntu distributed containers, which is a bit of a deterrent for many hosts. But the newer one fully supports and runs Ubuntu 18.04 containers and functions well under new upgrades.
The new 7th edition provides more system monitoring and managing tools, so it is a big improvement for users of this software. The containers require fewer resources and the program itself is still being continually developed, bringing many updates over time. It is definitely beneficial to switch to OpenVZ 7.