Hyper-V Reviews

Name: Hyper-V
Brand: Microsoft
Rating: 4.0 (138 reviews)

Vendor: Microsoft

4.0 out of 5

138 reviews
86% willing to recommend

5,481 followers

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What is Hyper-V?

Hyper-V is a hardware virtualization tool that allows users to create virtual computer environments with multiple operating systems on a single physical server. Each virtual machine has computer parts, such as memory, processor, storage, and networking, and acts like a standard computer - running its own operating system and software programs. Each component of the virtual machine can be configured to meet your specific requirements.

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Hyper-V is the #3 ranked solution in best Server Virtualization Software. PeerSpot users give Hyper-V an average rating of 8.0 out of 10. Hyper-V is most commonly compared to Proxmox VE: Hyper-V vs Proxmox VE. Hyper-V is popular among the midsize enterprise segment, accounting for 43% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a educational organization, accounting for 35% of all views.

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Featured reviews

Tommy Myo Min Aung

Senior System Engineer at Vantage Drilling

In our environment, we have a special custom configuration for the Hyper-V switches we use. We have a full-scope VM in our environment and especially for certain Cisco configurations, such as the spam folder in the Hyper-V. It is really difficult to configure from scratch. In this scenario, the…

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Ramon Ruiz

Director IT at Servnet

Scaling was a major issue with Hyper-V—it wasn't scalable and didn't work well. The only way to get it functioning was to manage everything manually, starting with the installation. Now, it's much more scalable, but the key is to plan the architecture based on the workloads you want to offer. You need to design an architecture that can handle the demands of heavy workloads. If the customer has different types of workloads, each requires a tailored architecture. Using the same setup for all workloads will lead to inefficiencies and wasted time and resources. To ensure scalability, it's crucial to build the infrastructure correctly, especially regarding storage, networking, CPU, and RAM resources. When done properly, Hyper-V scales very well.

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Charan Teja Sana

Senior Consultant at HGS - Hinduja Global Solutions

The solution is used to make effective use of resources. We had a data center locally and wanted to manage multiple instances, applications, and services. So, we had to use a virtual environment to efficiently use them at a reduced cost The scope of the solution is valuable. Hyper-V is a…

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Hyper-V mindshare

As of November 2024, the mindshare of Hyper-V in the Server Virtualization Software category stands at 14.9%, down from 17.4% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Virtualization Software

Key learnings from peers

Last updated Nov 6, 2024

Valuable Features

Hyper-V features include high cost-effectiveness, integration with Microsoft environments, dynamic memory allocation, live migration, failover clustering, and scalability. Users highlight excellent virtual networking, ease of use, and support for up to 4TB of memory and 320 logical processors. They appreciate automation via PowerShell, advanced resource allocation, hypervisor portability, and seamless Azure integration. Organizations benefit from high availability, stability, vast management tools, straightforward setup, and rapid advancement in virtual machine implementations.

"It's scalable."
"The tool is very easy to implement, so we can manage it in our company."
"Migration is easy."

Room for Improvement

Hyper-V needs significant improvement in areas like cloning functionality, licensing costs, and compatibility with non-Windows platforms. It struggles with usability in its management interface and networking setup. Performance issues include higher CPU and memory consumption than competitors. Storage options and live migration features require enhancement, and management tools need to be more user-friendly. Integration with third-party applications and automation capabilities also need refinement. Backup capabilities and security features lag behind market counterparts.

"Virtualizing Linux isn't as easy as virtualizing Windows."
"The user interface of the tool is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The tool is expensive."

ROI

Hyper-V helps keep IT costs low compared to VMware and is often included with Windows Server, making it cost-effective, especially for organizations looking to reduce server expenses. Users report significant savings on hardware and maintenance. Many benefit from cost reductions and faster implementation. Some organizations find its features valuable for virtualization. Not-for-profit organizations and some others note little financial gain, but others experience substantial returns, sometimes 3x their investment.

Pricing

Enterprise users report varying Hyper-V costs, mainly influenced by licensing and additional management tools. While Hyper-V itself is free, costs arise with host OS licensing and optional management solutions like System Center. Some find Hyper-V economical compared to competitors, especially under Microsoft agreements offering significant discounts. Users highlight the Datacenter edition for unlimited VMs and its associated premium cost. Concerns exist over costly upgrades, but overall, many consider Hyper-V's pricing competitive in the virtualization market.

"I would not say that it is a totally reasonably priced product as it is merged with our overall costs associated with Microsoft products. We bought some enterprise licenses for our company's data center for Windows Server 2019."
"It's not expensive."
"The tool's pricing is cheap."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily utilize Hyper-V for virtualization, supporting critical workloads, and consolidating infrastructure. It facilitates managing virtual machines, enhances flexibility, high availability, and disaster recovery, and supports development, testing, and production environments. It reduces costs and optimizes resources in both on-premises and cloud environments. Hyper-V is used for services like SQL, Exchange, Active Directory, and a range of applications across various sectors, including IT, finance, education, and manufacturing.

Service and Support

Users report that Hyper-V’s customer service is generally good, while technical support experiences are mixed. Responses vary, as some users find support very efficient, while others mention inconsistency. The effectiveness often depends on the level of expertise of the support staff involved. Many users rely on extensive documentation, forums, or internal expertise to troubleshoot, minimizing the need for direct support. Some face challenges with ticket resolution speed and regional support availability, particularly in areas like Sri Lanka.

Deployment

Users find Hyper-V's initial setup generally straightforward and easy to deploy, often citing its intuitive process and quick installation. While some highlight challenges with networking, others emphasize its simplicity once documentation is followed. The deployment time varies, typically ranging from minutes to a few hours. Many benefit from Microsoft's resources and community support, experiencing minimal difficulties. A portion finds it complex but manageable, especially with advancements improving user experience over time.

Scalability

Hyper-V is recognized for its scalability, allowing easy expansion with additional hosts and storage. Users highlight its efficiency in smaller environments, though some find it less scalable than alternatives like VMware. Scalable licensing options are important, with many users managing large workloads across multiple countries. The ability to plan architecture effectively can significantly enhance scalability, leading to smooth operations in various organizational setups across different users and workloads.

Stability

Many users find Hyper-V stable and reliable, praising its dependability and good performance. Some report occasional stability issues during high I/O loads or when managing backups, highlighting the importance of maintaining updated environments. There are mentions of overhead concerns due to Windows Server. Despite a few minor challenges, such as network issues or when compared to VMware, users generally appreciate Hyper-V's robustness and ability to sustain environments effectively with hardware and system compatibility.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

Download our Hyper-V Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers

By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

35%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

University

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Energy/Utilities Company

Construction Company

Retailer

Insurance Company

Media Company

Hospitality Company

Non Profit

Legal Firm

Wholesaler/Distributor

Real Estate/Law Firm

Outsourcing Company

Performing Arts

Transportation Company

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Compare Hyper-V with alternative products

Learn more about Hyper-V

Hyper-V creates a cost-effective, stable, and productive server virtualization environment by running multiple operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, and more, in parallel on one machine or server. Each virtual machine runs in its own isolated space, which means you can run many virtual machines simultaneously but independently of each other. This helps prevent problems such as a crash affecting the other workloads and enables different users to separately access various systems.

Benefits of Hyper-V

Simplify application testing: With Hyper-V you can easily add and remove operating systems from your virtual machines, enabling you to run and test your applications on each of them all from one single computer.
Minimize resource usage and scalability: Virtual machines are easier to manage than physical hardware and less expensive. You can also maximize your server use by allocating its resources more efficiently than you can with physical hardware alone.

Hyper-V key features:.

Replication and migration: Hyper-V can replicate virtual machines for backups onto different sites. Hyper-V also provides a migration tool for moving a virtual machine from one Hyper-V host to another without causing any downtime.
Remote connection: Hyper-V’s remote connectivity tool allows administrators to remotely access a virtual machine.
Security: Hyper-V keeps virtual machines secure from malware attacks, unauthorized access, and data breaching attempts.

Reviews from Real Users

Hyper-V stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Several major ones are its flexibility, its replication capabilities, and the fact that its virtual machines utilize a small amount of resources..

Liam L., the owner of a tech services company, writes, “It is actually very low on resources. It doesn't use many resources. It is also very easy to tailor. You can change things like the amount of memory and storage on the fly. It is very stable and reliable. I like its replication feature, which is very good. It is also very easy to move the virtual machines across push servers without any difficulty. Its performance is also very good. Now with this pandemic, a lot of workers are working from home. A lot of workers have been using laptops as their desktop computers, and they would remote into a virtual PC. There is no difficulty, and they can't tell the difference between this and the real one. It is much easier to manage.”

Kevin E. an IT director at Homeland Technology Group, LLC, notes, “We've probably seen a 50 percent speed increase on our SQL server. Hyper-V has also significantly reduced our downtimes with faster boot-up and reboot. If we have to reboot a server, there is maybe two or three minutes of downtime. When we were on a bare-metal server, it could be five to ten minutes due to the total boot time.”