VMware increases price again. As per VMware pricing FAQ, the following pricing model will be in effect on April 1, 2016. vSphere with Operations Management Enterprise Plus from US$4,245/CPU to US$4,395/CPU VMware vCenter Server™ Standard from US$4,995/Instance to US$5,995/Instance vSphere … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Hyper-v vs VMware
VMware vSphere 6.0 VS Microsoft Hyper-v Server 2012 R2
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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:
Microsoft’s Hyper-v Server 2012 and System Center 2012 Unleash KO Punch to VMware
VMware vs Hyper-v: Can Microsoft Make History Again?
In 1852 Karl Marx published “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon”. In his book, Karl Marx quotes “that history repeats itself, “the first as tragedy, then as farce”, referring respectively to Napoleon I and to his nephew Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III).
Here I am not talking about Karl Marx, I am not a specialist on this matter. I am a computer geek. So Why I am refer to Karl Marx? I believe above remarks can be connected to a history between Microsoft and Novell.
In my past blog I compared VMware and Hyper-v:
http://microsoftguru.com.au/2013/09/14/vsphere-5-5-is-catching-up-with-hyper-v-2012-r2/
http://microsoftguru.com.au/2013/04/07/is-vmwares-fate-heading-towards-novell/
I found some similar articles echoed by other commentator:
http://virtualizedgeek.com/2012/12/04/is-vmware-headed-the-slow-painful-death-of-novell/
Here is Gartner Inc.’s verdict:
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1GJA88J&ct=130628&st=sb
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1LV8IX1&ct=131016&st=sb
So the question is; can Microsoft defeat VMware? Can Microsoft make history again? Here is why I believe Microsoft will make history once again regardless what VMware fan boy think. Let start….
What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V
Microsoft has traditionally put out point releases to its server operating systems about every two years. Windows Server operating systems is no longer a traditional operating systems. This is cloud OS in true terms and uses. Let’s see what’s new in Windows Server 2012 R2 in terms of virtualization.
· New Generation 2 Virtual Machines
· Automatic Server OS Activation inside VMs
· Upgrade and Live Migration Improvements in Windows Server 2012 R2
· Online VHDX Virtual Disk Resize
· Live VM Export and Clone
· Linux Guest V Enhancements
· Storage Quality of Service ( QoS )
· Guest Clustering with Shared VHDXs
· Hyper-V Replica Site-to-Site Replication Enhancements
Generation 2 VMs
Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2 supports the concept of a totally new architecture based on modern hardware with no emulated devices. This makes it possible to add a number of new features, such as secure boot for VMs and booting off of virtual SCSI or virtual network adapters.
VM Direct Connect
In Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V with the addition of VM Direct Connect allows a direct remote desktop connection to any running VM over what’s now called the VM bus. It’s also integrated into the Hyper-V management experience.
Extend replication to a third site
Hyper-V Replica in Windows Server 2012 is currently limited to a single replication target. This makes it difficult to support scenarios like a service provider wanting to act both as a target for a customer to replicate and a source to replicate to another offsite facility. Windows Server 2012 R2 and Hyper-V now provide a tertiary replication capability to support just such a scenario. By the same token, enterprises can now save one replica in-house and push a second replica off-site.
Compression for faster migration
Two new options in Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V help improve the performance of live migrations. The first is the ability to enable compression on the data to reduce the total number of bytes transmitted over the wire. The obvious caveat is that tapping CPU resources for data compression could potentially impact other operations, so you’ll need to take that into consideration. The second option, SMB Direct, requires network adapters that support RDMA. Microsoft’s advice: If you have 10 GB available, use RDMA (10x improvement); otherwise, use compression (2x improvement). Compression is the default choice and it works for the large majority of use cases.
Online VM exporting and cloning
It’s now possible to export or clone a running VM from System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 with a few mouse clicks. As with pretty much anything related to managing Windows Server 2012, you can accomplish the same task using Windows PowerShell.
Online VHDX resizing
In Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, it is not possible to resize a virtual hard disk attached to a running VM. Windows Server 2012 R2 removes this restriction, making it possible to not only expand but even reduce the size of the virtual disk (VHDX format only) without stopping the running VM.
Storage QoS
Windows Server 2012 R2 includes the ability to limit individual VMs to a specific level of I/O throughput. The IOPS are measured by monitoring the actual disk rate to and from the attached virtual hard drives. If you have applications capable of consuming large amounts of I/O, you’ll want to consider this setting to ensure that a single I/O-hungry VM won’t starve neighbor VMs or take down the entire host.
Dynamic Memory support for Linux
In the Windows Server 2012 R2 release, Hyper-V gains the ability to dynamically expand the amount of memory available to a running VM. This capability is especially handy for any Linux workload (notably Web servers) where the amount of memory needed by the VM changes over time. Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V also brings Windows Server backups to Linux guests.
Shared VHDX
With Windows Server R2 Hyper-V, Windows guest clusters (think traditional Windows Server failover clustering but using a pair of VMs) no longer require an iSCSI or Fibre Channel SAN, but can be configured using commodity storage: namely a shared VHDX file stored on a Cluster Shared Volume. Note that while the clustered VMs can be live migrated as per usual, a live storage migration of the VHDX file requires one of the cluster nodes to be taken offline.
Bigger Bang for the Buck: Licensing Windows Server 2012 R2
The Windows Server 2012 R2 product is streamlined and simple, making it easy for customers to choose the edition that is right for their needs.
Datacenter edition – Unlimited Windows Server 2012 R2 virtualization license.
Standard edition 2 virtualized server license or lightly virtualized environments.
Essentials edition for small businesses with up to 25 users running on servers with up to two processors.
Foundation edition for small businesses with up to 15 users running on single processor servers.
|
Edition |
Feature comparison |
Licensing model |
Server Pricing* |
|
Datacenter |
Unlimited virtual OSE All features |
Processor + CAL |
$6,155 |
|
Standard |
Two virtual OSE All features |
Processor + CAL |
$882 |
|
Essentials |
2 processor One OSE Limited features |
Server 25 user limit |
$501 |
|
Foundation |
1 processor Limited features |
Server 15 user limit |
OEM Only |
Client Access Licenses (CALs) will continue to be required for access to Windows Server 2012 R2 servers and management access licenses continue to be required for endpoints being managed by System Center. You need Windows Server 2012 CAL to access Windows Server 2012. You also need CAL to access Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS).
What’s New SCVMM 2012 R2
· Public Cloud for Service Provider using Windows Azure
· Private Cloud with System Center 2012 R2 VMM
· Any storage approach- Use any kind of Storage: DAS, SAN, NAS, Windows Server 2012 File Server, Scale-out File Server Cluster
· Networking – Management of physical network switches via OMI as well as virtual network infrastructure ( PVLANs, NV-GRE Virtualized Networks, NV-GRE Gateways )
· Virtualization host agnostic – Intel/AMD/OEM Hardware running Windows Server 2012/R2/2008 R2 Hyper-V, VMware or Citrix XenServer
· Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch
· Bootstrapping a repeatable architecture
· Bare-Metal Provisioning Scale-Out File Server Cluster and Storage Spaces
· Provisioning Synthetic Fibre Channel in Guest VMs using VMM
· Guest Clustering with Shared VHDXs
· VMM Integration with IP Address Management ( IPAM )
· Hybrid Networking with Windows Azure Pack and System Center 2012 R2 VMM
· Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager
· Delegating Access Per Private Cloud
· OM Dashboard for VMM Fabric Monitoring
Fire Power of System Center: Licensing System Center 2012 R2
System Center 2012 R2 has two version: Data Center and Standard. Both version is comprised with the following components
· Operations Manager
· Configuration Manager
· Data Protection Manager
· Service Manager
· Virtual Machine Manager
· Endpoint Protection
· Orchestrator
· App Controller
System Center license is per processor based license. Cost of System Center 2012 R2 data center is USD 3607 and cost of System Center 2012 R2 Standard is USD1323. System Center license comes with a SQL Server standard edition license. This SQL server can only be used for System Center purpose. You can virtualized unlimited number of VMs in SC 2012 R2 data center edition.
Comparing Server 2008 R2 and Server 2012 R2 in terms of virtualization.
Hyper-v is not the same as you knew in Windows Server 2008. To clear fog of your mind about Hyper-v, the following table shows the improvement Microsoft has made over the years.
Comparing VMware with Windows Server 2012 R2
While VMware still number one in Hypervisor markets but the Redmond giant can also leverage on almost a billion Windows OS user globally, as well as its expertise in software and a robust range of services (including Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, Skype and many more). A new battle ground is ready between Microsoft and VMware would make 2014 a pivotal hybrid cloud year. The hybrid cloud could indeed give Microsoft the chance to prevail in ways that it couldn’t with the launch of Hyper-V; Hyper-V’s market share has been gradually increasing since early 2011. According to Gartner, Microsoft gained 28% Hypervisor market share last year.
Let’s dig deeper into comparison….
The following comparison is based on Windows Server 2012 R2 Data Center edition and System Center 2012 R2 Data Center edition Vs vSphere 5.5 Enterprise Plus and vCenter Server 5.5.
Licensing:
Virtualization Scalability:
VM Portability, High Availability and Disaster Recovery:
Storage:
|
Features |
Microsoft |
VMware |
|
Maximum # Virtual SCSI Hard Disks per VM |
256 |
60 ( PVSCSI ) |
|
Maximum Size per Virtual Hard Disk |
64TB |
62TB |
|
Yes |
No |
|
|
Boot VM from Virtual SCSI disks |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Hot-Add Virtual SCSI VM Storage for running VMs |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Hot-Expand Virtual SCSI Hard Disks for running VMs |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Hot-Shrink Virtual SCSI Hard Disks for running VMs |
Yes |
No |
|
Storage Quality of Service |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Virtual Fibre Channel to VMs |
Yes |
Yes. |
|
Live Migrate Virtual Storage for running VMs |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Flash-based Read Cache |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Flash-based Write-back Cache |
Yes |
No |
|
Yes |
No |
|
|
Automated Tiered Storage between SSD and HDD using commodity hard disks. |
Yes |
No |
|
Can consume storage via iSCSI, NFS, Fibre Channel and SMB 3.0. |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Can present storage via iSCSI, NFS and SMB 3.0. |
Yes |
No |
|
Storage Multipathing |
Yes |
Yes |
|
SAN Offload Capability |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Thin Provisioning and Trim Storage |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Storage Encryption |
Yes |
No |
|
Deduplication of storage used by running VMs |
Yes |
No |
|
Provision VM Storage based on Storage Classifications |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Dynamically balance and re-balance storage load based on demands |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Integrated Provisioning and Management of Shared Storage |
Yes |
No |
Networking:
|
Features |
Microsoft |
VMware |
|
Distributed Switches across Hosts |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Extensible Virtual Switches |
Yes |
Replaceable, not extensible |
|
NIC Teaming |
Yes |
Yes |
|
No of NICs |
32 |
32 |
|
Private VLANs (PVLAN) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
ARP Spoofing Protection |
Yes |
No |
|
DHCP Snooping Protection |
Yes |
No |
|
Router Advertisement Guard Protection |
Yes |
No |
|
Virtual Port ACLs |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Trunk Mode to VMs |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Port Monitoring |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Port Mirroring |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Dynamic Virtual Machine Queue |
Yes |
Yes |
|
IPsec Task Offload |
Yes |
No |
|
Single Root IO Virtualization (SR-IOV) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Virtual Receive Side Scaling ( Virtual RSS ) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Network Quality of Service |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Yes |
No |
|
|
Integrated Network Management of both Virtual and Physical Network components |
Yes |
No |
Virtualized Operating Systems Support:
|
Operating Systems |
Microsoft |
VMware |
|
Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows 8.1 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Server 2012 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows 8 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Server 2008 R2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows 7 with SP1 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows 7 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Server 2008 SP2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Home Server 2011 |
Yes |
No |
|
Windows Small Business Server 2011 |
Yes |
No |
|
Windows Vista with SP2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Server 2003 R2 SP2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Server 2003 SP2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows XP with SP3 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows XP x64 with SP2 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
CentOS 5.7, 5.8, 6.0 – 6.4 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
CentOS Desktop 5.7, 5.8, 6.0 – 6.4 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7, 5.8, 6.0 – 6.4 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5.7, 5.8, 6.0 – 6.4 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 & SP3 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
SUS Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP2 & SP3 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
OpenSUSE 12.1 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10, 13.10 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Ubuntu Desktop 12.04, 12.10, 13.10 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Oracle Linux 6.4 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Mac OS X 10.7.x & 10.8.x |
No |
Yes |
|
Sun Solaris 10 |
No |
Yes |
Windows Azure:
Here are a special factors that put Microsoft ahead of VMware: Microsoft Azure for on-premises and service provider cloud.
Windows Azure Pack is shipping with Windows Server 2012 R2. The Azure code will enable high-scale hosting and management of web and virtual machines.
Microsoft is leveraging its service provider expertise and footprint for Azure development while extending Azure into data centers on Windows servers. That gives Microsoft access to most if not all of the world’s data centers. It could become a powerhouse in months instead of years. Widespread adoption of Microsoft Azure platform gives Microsoft a winning age against competitor like VMware.
On premises client install Windows Azure pack to manage their system center 2012 R2 and use Azure as self-service and administration portal for IT department and department within organization. To gain similar functionality in VMware you have to buy vCloud Director, Chargeback and vShield separately.
Conclusion:
This is a clash of titanic proportion in between Microsoft and VMware. Ultimately end user and customer will be the winner. Both companies are thriving for new innovation in Hypervisor and virtualization market place. End user will enjoy new technology and business will gain from price battle between Microsoft and VMware. These two key components could significantly increase the adoption of hybrid cloud operating models. Microsoft has another term cards for cloud service provider which is Exchange 2013 and Lync 2013. Exchange 2013 and Lync 2013 are already widely used for Software as a Service (SaaS). VMware has nothing to offer in Messaging and collaboration platform. Microsoft could become for the cloud what it became for the PC. It could enforce consistency across clouds to an extent that perhaps no other player could. As the cloud shifts from infrastructure to apps, Microsoft could be in an increasingly powerful position and increase Hyper-v share even further by adding SaaS to its product line. History will repeat once again when Microsoft defeat VMware as Microsoft defeated Novell eDirectory, Corel WordPerfect and IBM Notes.
References:
http://www.datacentertcotool.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/solutions/virtualization.aspx#fbid=xrWmRt7RXCi
http://wikibon.org/wiki/v/VMware_vs_Microsoft:_It%27s_time_to_stop_the_madness
http://www.infoworld.com/d/microsoft-windows/7-ways-windows-server-2012-pays-itself-205092
Supported Server and Client Guest Operating Systems on Hyper-V
Compatibility Guide for Guest Operating Systems Supported on VMware vSphere
Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter: Switching from vSphere to Hyper-v Made Easy
Are you having difficulty funding a renewal license of expensive VMware vSphere? There is an alternative brand that adds greater value to the business reducing costs, and accelerating your journey to the cloud. Making the shift from VMware to Microsoft could be the wise decision you ever made after years of working as a CIO or IS Manager. By migrating from VMware to Microsoft, you gain a unified infrastructure licensing model and simplified vendor management, off course it gives you less pain in your wallet too.
Whether you are looking to add value to your organisation, save cost, support grown or you are a fanatical environmentalist reducing carbon foot print, Hyper-V is the correct choice for you. A move to Microsoft’s virtualization and management platform can help you better meet your business needs. Simply buying Windows Server 2012 data center, you get the cloud computing benefits of unlimited virtualization and lower costs consistently and predictably over time.
System Center 2012 enables physical, virtual, private cloud, and public cloud management using a single platform. It offers support for multi-hypervisor management, third-party integration and process management, and deep application diagnostics and insight. You can see what is happening inside the performance of your applications, remediate issues faster, and achieve increased agility for your organization.
With the help of free tools like Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP), and with the Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter (MVMC), you can quickly, easily and safely migrate over to Hyper-V. For enterprise customers with large numbers of virtual machines to migrate, the Migration Automation Toolkit (MAT) provides the scalability to handle mass migrations in an automated fashion. System Center 2012 and Hyper-v Server 2012 support guest virtual machine of all major Linux and Unix distribution inclusive Microsoft OS off course.
In a nutshell Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter:
Provides a quick, low-risk option for VMware customers to evaluate Hyper-V.
Converts VMware virtual machines to Hyper-V virtual machines.
Convert virtual hardware and keep same configuration of original virtual machine.
Supports a clean migration to Hyper-V with un-installation of VMware tools on the source virtual machine.
Provides GUI or scriptable CLI and Windows PowerShell, making it simple to perform virtual machine conversion.
Installs integration services for Windows 2003 guests that are converted to Hyper-V virtual machines.
Supports conversion of virtual machines from VMware vSphere 4.1 and 5.0 hosts.
Support migration of guest machine that is part of a failover cluster.
Supports offline conversions of VMware-based virtual hard disks (VMDK) to a Hyper-V-based virtual hard disk file format (.vhd file).
Relevant Articles
Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter Solution Accelerator
Migration Automation Toolkit (MAT)
Cost Calculator
Download Windows Server 2012
Download System Center 2012
Hyper-v vs vSphere
Is VMware’s fate heading towards Novell?
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.
Microsoft’s Hyper-v Server 2012 and System Center 2012 Unleash KO Punch to VMware
Hyper-V has been integral part of Windows Server 2008 and enhanced with great features in Windows Server 2012. According to Gartner’s magic quadrant Microsoft Hyper-v has been positioned in the leader category second to VMware. Combining Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 provide you a high performance Cloud Technology. Microsoft licensing model is highly flexible and charges only by physical processors and offer unlimited virtualization rights with Datacenter editions. With Hyper-v, your return on investment (ROI) increases as your workload density increases.
Pricing Comparison:
The pricing is based on the following assumptions:
- Average consolidation ratio of 12 VMs per physical processor.
- Number of physical hosts required 21. Each physical host contains 2 physical processors with six cores each.
- Three years License and Maintenance; VMware cost includes Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition for running guests
- costs do not include hardware, storage or project cost
- Pricing is based on published US prices for VMware and Microsoft as of September, 2012.
- The cost above doesn’t include Microsoft Windows Server license cost for guest operating system.
- Windows Server 2012 Datacenter allows you to run unlimited Windows Server 2012 on Hyper-v Server 2012 host.
Server Virtualization Environment:
Pricing Summary:
Microsoft Server Virtualization Cost break-down
VMware Server Virtualization Cost break-down
Features VS Cost Breakdown- Multi-Site Private Cloud Computing
Together with Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 is truly a cloud and datacenter management solution with eight separate components such as management, monitoring, provisioning, disaster recovery integrated into one unified product. A unified System Center management solution delivers greater OPEX cost savings than VMware in addition to CAPEX cost savings.
Number Game:
Breakdown in resources (/Host/Guest/Cluster):
Network Virtualization
DR Solutions
Truth about VMware lies:
You don’t have to be Einstein to understand that VMware is in significant pressure from all sides. Hence they are misleading Cloud market with biased information. I would strongly recommend you to assess your business position, compare apple to apple before renewing/buying your next Cloud products. Though VMware is still no.1 player in Cloud Computing market but their fear is real that VMware loyal Customer is switching continuously to Microsoft Cloud Technology. A declining enterprise market leads them to spread the following one sided information.
1. VMware claim: VMware vSphere 5.1 can achieve an 18.9% higher VM density per host than with Microsoft Hyper-V.
Facts: In one of VMware’s own tests, when provided adequate memory to support the number of users the performance variance between vSphere 5.1 and Hyper-V R2 SP1 was only 2% (using 24VM’s).
2. VMware claim: Hyper-V performance is poor. If performance is important to you, choose VMware.
Facts: In reality, Hyper-V offers near-native levels of virtualization performance, for which there are multiple supporting proof points (including independent third party validations):
- Enterprise Strategy Group Report (2011) – SharePoint, Exchange, & SQL on Hyper-V Host.
- Microsoft & Intel – 700,000 IOPS to a VM | Near Native with VMq: Windows Server and Hyper-V are not a limiting factor to IO performance. There shouldn’t be any significant concern around IO for virtualizing with Hyper-V.
- Project Virtual Reality Check (Terminal Services on Hyper-V).
3. VMware claim: Hyper-V isn’t ready for the enterprise. It can’t handle the most intensive of workloads like VMware can.
Facts: Hyper-V offers near native levels of performance for key workloads, ensuring that customers can virtualize their mission critical, high-performance applications and workloads with confidence on Hyper-V. Additionally, a growing number of enterprise customers are running their businesses on Microsoft Hyper-V. Please read Microsoft Private Cloud success stories.
4. VMware claim: Hyper-V is lacking some of the key VMware features today. Features such as vMotion, HA, Memory Overcommit, DRS, Storage vMotion and Hot-Add are important features for us, and Hyper-V simple doesn’t come close.
Facts: Hyper-V R2 SP1 and System Center 2012 provide Live Migration, High Availability, Storage Live Migration, Dynamic Memory Allocation, Hot-Add and subsequent removal of storage.
5. VMware claim: VMware vSphere 5.1 is more secure than Hyper-V because it’s architecture and small code base.
Facts: Small footprint doesn’t equal a more secure hypervisor. Both vSphere and Hyper-V use the same memory footprint to run. The disk Footprint in ESXi 5.0 (144 MB) doubled from ESXi 4.0 (70 MB). Microsoft follows the rigorous, industry-leading Secure Development Lifecycle (SDL) for all its products. It is possible to achieve a 40-60% reduction in patches using Server Core based on historical data.
6. VMware claim: There is no virtual firewall in Hyper-V while VMware provides vShield Zones.
Facts: Windows Server 2012 also includes an integrated firewall with advanced security features. An old version of vShield Zones is included with vSphere 5.1 (details here) and vShield Zones has several limitations like every VM’s traffic passes through the Zones virtual appliances which slows down the traffic.
7. VMware claim: Microsoft doesn’t offer anything comparable to VMware Fault Tolerance.
Facts: VMware Fault Tolerance has limited applicability and severe limitations. It cannot function with:
- Thin Provisioning and Linked Clones
- Storage vMotion
- Hot plug devices and USB Pass-through
- IPv6
- vSMP
- N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)
- Serial/parallel ports
- Physical and remote CD/floppy drives
- no more than 4 FT VMs per host be used
8. VMware claim: VMware significantly support for Linux operating systems than Hyper-V.
Facts: In production environment, Hyper-v supports Microsoft Windows Server and Linux Server without modifying any guest operating systems or installing tools.
9. VMware claim: VMware supports broad applications, while Hyper-V does not.
Facts: Since VMware does not have certified logo program for any application, they are not in position to dictate which application are supported or not. On the contrary, every single application that achieves a logo for Windows Server can be run on guest operating system on a Hyper-V, and is therefore inherently supported. There are over 2500 ISV applications listed on Microsoft Pinpoint that work with Hyper-V. Truth is neither Microsoft nor VMware mention which application you can install on a guest operating systems. It’s completely up to you what you would like to run on guest operating systems.
10. VMware claim: VMware’s Site Recovery Manager (SRM) enables us to simplify our DR story, and provides us with a solution to not only perform a planned failover, but test it whenever we like. Microsoft simply can’t deliver an alternative to this.
Facts: System Center 2012 components like Data Protection Manager and Orchestrator can provide tailored DR solutions. Windows Server 2012 includes an inbox replication capability, Hyper-V Replica, at no cost.
11. VMware claim: Microsoft Hyper-v isn’t ready for Hoster or Service Provider.
Facts: Hyper-v has been adopted by service provider industry to host their own infrastructure and public cloud simultaneously on Hyper-v utilizing Microsoft Network Virtualization. Click here and filter using hosting and public cloud to find the list of hoster. Examples: hostway, softsyshosting , hyper-v-mart , geekhosting , BlueFire and many more.
12. VMware Claim: Hyper-v does not fully comply with Trunking, VLANs
Facts: Microsoft Network virtualization is more advanced than VMware standard Switch and DV Switch. Microsoft Hyper-v is fully compliant with 802.1q trunking, VLANs, VIP, networking Tunneling, multitenant IP management. VMware is catching up on network virtualization. Being in back foot VMware advertised to hire a PR professional to campaign on network virtualization.
Bottom-line: Why Selecting Hyper-v Over VMware
Other than cost savings, the following reasons why you should select Hyper-V and System Center 2012 over VMware vSphere 5.1
1. Built-in Virtualization: Hyper-V is an integral part of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012
2. Familiarity with Windows: In-house IT staff can utilize their familiarity and knowledge of Windows environment to deploy Hyper-v minimizing training cost and learning time.
3. Single Platform Cloud Management Technology: System Center 2012 enables you to manage physical, virtual, private and public cloud using a common console view for multi-hypervisor management, 3rd party integration and process automation, ability to manage applications via a single view across private and public clouds, and deep application diagnostics and insights.
4. Running common Microsoft Application: It is obvious that Microsoft application will run better on Hyper-v 2012. Still Microsoft has published third-party validated lab results that prove best-in-class performance for Microsoft workloads on Hyper-V.
5. Private, Public or Hybrid Cloud: Microsoft provides complete solutions for Private, Public or Hybrid cloud with next generation computing technology like IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.
6. Value for Money: Microsoft Private Cloud provides value for money. You will receive unrestricted virtualization license once you buy Windows Server 2012 Datacenter and System Center 2012.
7. Easy Migration: Convert VMware virtual machine to Microsoft Hyper-v virtual machine in few easy steps. See this link.
8. Single Vendor: Since your existing virtualization workload is mostly Windows Server, from vendor communication and contract management point of view, having Microsoft Hyper-v make more sense.
References:
Microsoft Cloud Summit Australia
Microsoft Private Cloud Cost Calculator
Microsoft Private Cloud Success Stories
Download Microsoft System Center Private Cloud Evaluation Software
Blog by Raihan Al-Beruni 