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SmartOS

SmartOS is an open-source operating system designed for cloud computing environments. It is built on top of the Illumos kernel, a derivative of Solaris, and enhances security, virtualization, storage, and networking features.

What is SmartOS?

SmartOS is an open-source server operating system based on the Illumos kernel, a derivative of Solaris. It was originally developed by Joyent and focuses on security, virtualization, and cloud computing features.

Some key features of SmartOS include:

  • Built-in hypervisor for virtualization using KVM or zones
  • ZFS file system for storage with snapshots and cloning
  • DTrace for observability and troubleshooting
  • Kernel Zones for Docker container isolation
  • Software-defined networking support
  • Triple parity RAID for storage resilience
  • Role-based access control for security

SmartOS is designed to be lightweight and efficient for running large deployments of virtual machines in the cloud. The ZFS file system provides volume management, storage efficiency, and resilience. The built-in KVM and OS virtualization features make it easy to manage VMs and containers. DTrace and Zones enhance debugging, security, and isolation capabilities.

Overall, SmartOS offers an advanced, enterprise-grade open-source operating system optimized for cloud environments demanding security, storage, networking, and virtualization solutions.

The Best SmartOS Alternatives

Top Apps like SmartOS

VMware vSphere Hypervisor, Proxmox Virtual Environment, Portable Virtualbox, KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), Microsoft Hyper-V Server, OpenStack, UCS Virtual Machine Manager, MicroCloud, Danube Cloud, Citrix Hypervisor, OpenVZ are some alternatives to SmartOS.

VMware vSphere Hypervisor

VMware vSphere Hypervisor is a free bare-metal hypervisor that enables server virtualization, allowing multiple operating systems to run on the same physical server. It provides a robust, production-grade hypervisor layer that allows for greater hardware consolidation, improved availability and simplified management.Some key features of vSphere Hypervisor include:Workload optimization...

Proxmox Virtual Environment

Proxmox Virtual Environment (Proxmox VE) is an open-source server virtualization management solution based on QEMU/KVM virtualization and LXC containers. It allows you to manage virtual machines and containers using a web-based GUI. Key features include:Hypervisor built on Linux Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology for virtualizationLinux Containers (LXC) for...

Portable Virtualbox

Portable Virtualbox is a free, open-source virtualization software that allows you to run multiple guest operating systems on your Windows host computer without needing to go through a lengthy install process. It runs directly off a USB thumb drive, making it easy to take your virtual machines with you wherever...

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine)

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is an open-source virtualization technology built into Linux. It allows you to create and run virtual machines (VMs) on any Linux server or desktop with hardware virtualization capabilities.KVM is implemented as a kernel module that leverages the virtualization extensions of modern CPUs like Intel VT...

Microsoft Hyper-V Server

Microsoft Hyper-V Server is a free, standalone product from Microsoft that provides a hypervisor-based virtualization platform for running virtual machines on x64 Windows servers. It has a small footprint and requires limited system resources while providing a simple and reliable virtualization solution.As a hypervisor, Hyper-V creates and runs virtual...

OpenStack

OpenStack is an open-source cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources. It is managed through a dashboard or via the OpenStack API. OpenStack works with popular enterprise and open source technologies, making it ideal for heterogeneous infrastructure.OpenStack provides an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solution through...

UCS Virtual Machine Manager

UCS Virtual Machine Manager (UCS VMM) is a comprehensive virtualization management platform designed specifically for Cisco UCS environments. It enables IT administrators to centrally manage their entire virtual infrastructure from one simple web-based interface.Key capabilities and benefits of UCS VMM include:Automated provisioning of virtual machines on UCS serversMonitoring...

MicroCloud

MicroCloud is an open-source private cloud computing platform built using proven open-source technologies. It aims to provide users with an easy way to deploy virtual machines and containers in their own private cloud infrastructure, without the cost and privacy concerns of public cloud providers.At its core, MicroCloud uses libvirt...

Danube Cloud

Danube Cloud is an open source, multi-cloud platform-as-a-service (PaaS) solution developed by EuroLDAP and designed to make life easier for developers. With Danube Cloud, developers can quickly build, deploy and efficiently scale applications without having to manage the underlying infrastructure.Some key features and benefits of Danube Cloud include:Supports...

Citrix Hypervisor

Citrix Hypervisor, formerly known as Citrix XenServer, is an enterprise-grade open-source virtualization platform powered by the Xen hypervisor. It allows you to manage virtual machines, storage, and networking in a simple yet robust manner.Some key capabilities and benefits of Citrix Hypervisor include:Supports hosting Windows, Linux, BSD and Solaris...

OpenVZ

OpenVZ is an open source container-based virtualization platform for Linux operating systems. It provides operating system-level virtualization that allows multiple isolated virtual containers, called Virtual Private Servers (VPSs), to run on a single physical server.With OpenVZ, each VPS runs its own operating system and applications separate from the other...