This thesis is on developing an Autonomic System Engineering testbed using operating-system-level virtualization technologies. The ASE testbed is a basis on which autonomic applications are to be developed, experimented with, and demonstrated. The thesis identifies and examines different virtualization concepts and technologies. Various solutions are compared, measured and benchmarked in order to find out, which product can be adapted best to and deployed for the ASE testbed. Finally, based on the virtualization measurements taken, the realization of the ASE testbed is described.