How to install LXC (or other linux container) on centOS 5 (2.6.18 kernel) without modify kernel?

Question

[Background]

I would like to regulate the resource allocation between different processes running on CentOS 5. I am not familiar with related tools. I have searched for a while and think LXC may be a good choice (Please correct me if I am wrong). But the problem is that the kernel version of our CentOS is 2.6.18, which does not have LXC built in. And it is a shared cluster. I do have sudo authority but I am not allowed to modify the kernel. The tutorials I found all require to modify the kernel or recompile it somehow.

[Question]

How can I install and use LXC (or other light weight linux virtualization tools) on CentOS 5 (2.6.18 kernel) without modify the kernel?

Thanks

Answer 1

In order to install it without changing the kernel, someone will have had to back-port it to the 2.6.18 EL5 kernel, and compile it as a kernel module.

Assuming you have a recent CentOS EL5 kernel, KVM is a good option as it's a kernel module and doesn't require a kernel change, like xen does. You just have to have hardware that supports virtualization.