VMware vSphere 6.0 VS Microsoft Hyper-v Server 2012 R2

Since the emergence of vSphere 6.0, I would like to write an article on vSphere 6.0 vs Windows Server 2012 R2. I collected vSphere 6.0 features from few blogs and VMware community forum. Note that vSphere 6.0 is in beta program which means VMware can amend anything before final release. New functionalities of vSphere 6.0 beta are already available in Windows Server 2012 R2. So let’s have a quick look on both virtualization products.

Features	vSphere 6.0	Hyper-v Server 2012 R2
Certificates	Certificate Authority	Active Directory Certificate Services
	Certificate Store	Certificate Store in Windows OS
Single Sign on	VMware retained SSO 2.0 for vSphere 5.5	Active Directory Domain Services
Database	vPostgres database for VC Appliance up to 8 vCenter	Microsoft SQL Server No Limitation
Management Tools	Web Client & VI VMware retained VI	SCVMM Console & Hyper-v Manager
Installer	Combined single installer with all input upfront	Combined single installer with all input upfront
vMotion	Long distance Migration up to 100+ms RTTs	Multisite Hyper-v Cluster and Live Migration
Storage Migration	Storage vMotion with shared and unshared storage	Hyper-v Live Storage Migration between local and shared storage
Combined Cloud Products	Platform Services Controller (PSC) includes vCenter, vCOPs, vCloud Director, vCoud Automation	Microsoft System Center combined App Controller, Configuration Manager, Data Protection Manager, Operations Manager, Orchestrator, Service Manager, Virtual Machine Manager
Service Registration	View the services that are running in the system.	Windows Services
Licensing	Platform Services Controller (PSC) includes Licensing	Volume Activation Role in Windows Server 2012 R2
Virtual Datacenters	A Virtual Datacenter aggregates CPU, Memory, Storage and Network resources.	Provision CPU, Memory, Storage and network using create Cloud wizard

Another key feature to be compared here that those who are planning to procure FC Tape library and maintain a virtual backup server note that vSphere doesn’t support FC Tape even with NPIV and Hyper-v support FC Tape using NPIV.

References:

What’s New in vSphere 6.0: vCenter

VMware vs Hyper-v: Can Microsoft Make History Again?

Microsoft’s Hyper-v Server 2012 and System Center 2012 Unleash KO Punch to VMware

Hyper-v Server 2016 What’s New

Is VMware’s fate heading towards Novell?

Previously I wrote a blog on comparing price and features of Hyper-v and VMware. I got lot of feedback and questions why I believe Microsoft will win the battle. Here is a short answer for this question.

Living in mining city of Australia, its truth that most mining, oil and gas company isn’t adopting Microsoft Hyper-v yet excluding Fortescue Metals (FMG). FMG took a smart decision to go for Microsoft cloud than any other cloud technology. But wind is shifting quickly. Not just mining, oil and gas companies. Here are other examples: ING Direct case study and Suncorp Bank case study. There is nothing to hide that Microsoft came late to Hypervisor game. Slowly but surely Microsoft is gaining momentum.

I worked in almost 15 years now. I have seen in many occasions that Microsoft crashes its opponent and gain market in their own business. This is what happening in Hypervisor battle. Let’s be honest VMware is THE leader in virtualization. I am sure there are skeptics who believe, beating VMware isn’t possible. Those skeptics betted their money on Novell Netware, IBM Lotus Notes and Corel Word Perfect in those days. If I had told you in year 2000 that Active Directory would beat Novell e-directory, you would have burst out of laugh. But now there’s nothing to comment on this. By now you rarely see and work e-directory, word perfect or lotus notes. These examples says it all. VMware’s fate is written when Microsoft released Windows Server 2012, Hyper-v Server 2012 and System Center 2012. By the next Windows, Hyper-v and System Center release VMware may extinct.

If you need more evidence then you can find Microsoft’s Oil and Gas customer’s success stories on Microsoft View Point.