Assistant Manager - IS Infrastructure at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees

Jan 6, 2019

Costly yet it gives a 360 degree view of the environment

Pros and Cons

"The most valuable feature is the ability to integrate the Hyper-Visor center from one console."

"The cost and licensing can be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use the Hypervisor and manage the VMs. We then get a 360 degree view of the infrastructure, hardware, networking, storage, VMs, and more.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is the ability to integrate the Hypervisor center from one console.

What needs improvement?

The cost and licensing can be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

Buyer's Guide

Hyper-V

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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a very stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have servers in several African countries. All of the management of the infrastructure is done through the system's center. We have about 400 users who are currently using this solution. It is definitely scalable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to use GenServer. Unfortunately, GenServer does not support a 10-gigabyte network, but Hyper-V does. This was a major factor in our switch to Hyper-V.

How was the initial setup?

The deployment was straightforward. It took us about one week for each site. This included Hyper-V and the entire infrastructure.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

In terms of the licensing, if you are using Microsoft Windows 100%, it is okay, but, when you start mixing other environments it becomes quite tricky.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have seriously considered Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor. It is more cost-effective.

What other advice do I have?

Unfortunately, due to cost, we have begun to look at other products in the market.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user8253

Architect at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees

Aug 22, 2016

What is Hyper-V over SMB?

Hyper-V over SMB

With the release of Windows Server 2012 Microsoft offers a new way to store Hyper-V Virtual Machine on a shared storage. In Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Microsoft did only offer block-based shared-storage like Fiber channel or iSCSI. With Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Microsoft allows you to used file-based storage to run Hyper-V Virtual Machine from via the new SMB 3.0 protocol. This means Hyper-V over SMB allows you to store virtual machines on a SMB file share. In the past years I did a lot of Hyper-V implementations working with iSCSI or Fiber channel storage, and I am really happy with the new possibilities SMB 3.0 offers.

The common problem of block storage is that the Hyper-V host has to handle the storage connection. That means if you use iSCSI or fiber channel you have to configure the connection to the storage on the Hyper-V host for example multipath, iSCSI initiator or DSM software. With Hyper-V over SMB you don’t have to configure anything special because SMB 3.0 is built-in to Windows and supporting features like SMB Multichannel are activated and used by default. Of course you have to do some design considerations but this is much less complex than an iSCSI or Fiber Channel implementation.

How did they make it work

The first thing which was important was speed. SMB 3.0 offers a huge performance increase over the SMB 2.x protocol and you totally have to think about it in a different way. There are also a lot of other features like SMB Direct (RDMA), SMB Multichannel or Transparent Failover and many more which help in terms of performance, security and availability, but more on this supporting features in the next post.
Hyper-V over SMB Multichannel

Why Hyper-V over SMB?

Well I already mentioned a lot of reasons why you should use Hyper-V over SMB, but if you think about it there are there main reasons why you should use it.

Costs – Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V allows you to build cluster up to 64 nodes and if you build a clusters this size with fiber channel storage this will be quiet an investment in terms of fiber channel hardware such as HBAs, Switches and cables. By using Hyper-V over SMB you can reduce cost for infrastructure dramatically. Sure maybe you have already invested in a fiber channel storage and a fiber channel infrastructure and you don’t have to change that. For example if you have 100 Hyper-V hosts you may have about 200 HBAs and you also need fiber channel switches. What you could do with Hyper-V over SMB, you could create a Scale-Out File Server Cluster with 8 nodes which are attached to the fiber channel and present the storage to the Hyper-V hosts by using a SMB file share. This would save you a lot money.

Flexibility – Another point which I already mentioned is flexibility. By using Hyper-V over SMB you are removing the Storage dependency from the Hyper-V host and add the storage configuration to the Virtual Machine. In this case you don’t have to configure zoning or iSCSI initiators which is making life for Virtualization Administrators much easier. Here are two examples how IT teams can reduce complexity by using Hyper-V over SMB. First in small IT departments you may not have a dedicated storage team and if you have to add an new Hyper-V host or if you have to reconfigure your storage this can be a lot of difficult work for some people who haven’t much experience with the storage. In enterprise scenario you may have a dedicated Storage and a dedicated Virtualization team and in the most cases they have to work really closely together. For example if the Virtualization team adds another Hyper-V host, the Storage team has to configure the Storage for the host on the Storage site. If the Storage team makes changes to the Storage the Virtualization team eventually has to make changes to the Hyper-V hosts. This dependencies can be reduced by adding a layer between Storage and the Hypervisors and in this case this could be a Scale-Out File Server.

Technology – The third point in my list is technology. Microsoft is not really mention this point but since I have worked with different options like iSCSI, fiber channel or SMB I am a huge fan of SMB 3.0. Fiber channel is a great but expensive technology and people who have worked with iSCSI know that there can be a lot of issues in terms of performance. SMB 3.0 has some great supporting features which can help you increase performance, RDMA which is a technology which can increase networking performance by multiple times and SMB Multichannel which allows you to use multiple network adapters for failover and load balancing are working very well and let you make the most out of your hardware. Another part can be security if you think about encrypting iSCSI networks via IPsec you know that this can be something complex, with SMB Encryption there is a very easy solution for that on the SMB scenario.

I hope I could give you a quick introduction to Hyper-V over SMB and why it’s a good idea consider this in your deployment plans. In the next post I will quickly summarize the supporting features in SMB 3.0.

Disclosure: The company I work for is a Microsft Partner

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user810477IT Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees

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Jul 5, 2018

This is a great budget friendly solution for companies who are looking to reduce costs associated with storage hardware and software and still want to maintain speedy experience. Many people think that Hyper-V over SMB will result in lower VM performance, however, with the advent of RDMA and SSD based disks, the performance of this solution is very much comparable to that of FC.

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it_user240039

Lead Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

May 17, 2015

Not equal or superior to VMware’s ESXi

“We are 4x cheaper with better technology versus VMware.”

I’ve been fairly open in my opinion against the latest round of Microsoft FUD coming out of their Worldwide Partner Conference this week but I felt strongly enough by the utter crap coming out of their mouths to respond in a post.

It’s not so much about the claim to be 4x cheaper than the VMware Cloud Suite…but more the outright incorrect claims that their technology is somehow superior to that of VMware’s.

I’ve found myself in the position to have been exposed to both Hyper-V and ESXi (not counting the Management and Orchestration suites) and in fact I cut my teeth in the Virtualization world on Hyper-V…so unlike others out there who see things only through the rose colored glasses Microsoft seem to sew onto peoples faces… I go by a real world operational perspective that’s not blinkered.

So here it is…Microsoft Hyper-V is not the equal or superior to VMware’s ESXi! And rather than go through feature by feature..In the interest of keeping this post short and to the point, I would challenge anybody to sit someone who has had zero exposure to the Virtualization market to evaluate both Hyper-V and ESXi side by side…without bias or without prejudice there is no doubt in anyone's mind that no logical person would choose Hyper-V as the better hypervisor platform over ESXi. To reinforce that…ESXi will come out on top.

It’s that simple!

Of course I now fall firmly with the side of VMware and some will argue that my own view is blurred but I can tell you that my current opinions are based on fact and experience…not desperate attempts to discredit otherwise far far superior technology…but then again…Microsoft have made a habit of this so it doesn’t surprise me.

Kevin Turner you are a disgrace!

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user361485Product Engineer at a recruiting/HR firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Dec 24, 2015

To keep it short; when working with VMM I found some tasks to be too cumbersome compared to vSphere and vCenter. Setting access rights was a nightmare in VMM, a dream in ESXi and vCenter. However, I liked the IP pools concept in VMM. vCenter also has IP pools, but they are designed for usage with virtual appliances and can't as easily be used for auto assigning static IP-adresses to auto-deployed virtual machines like in VMM. Automation worked better with VMM and Microsofts Orhestrator, then with Microsofts Orhestrator and VMWare.

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it_user8256

Senior Manager of Infrastructure with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 2, 2013

Configuring and Managing Hyper-V Replica

Management Considerations
Hyper-V servers are managed locally using the Hyper-V Manager interface or remotely using the Hyper-V Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) or System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). If the configuration is a Hyper-V Failover Cluster, the Failover Cluster Management interface is used.

Configuration and Management UI
Hyper-V Replica settings are configured in the Hyper-V Manager interface for standalone Hyper-V servers and the Failover Cluster Manager interface for Hyper-V Failover Clusters.

Configuration Settings

Configuring a Standalone Hyper-V Replica Server
1. In the Hyper-V Manager interface, Click on Hyper-V Settings in the Actions pane
2. In the Hyper-V Settings dialog box, Click on Replication Configuration
3. In the Details pane, Select Enable this computer as a replica server
4. Choose an Authentication method to include the port that will be used (The default ports are 80 for HTTP and 443 for HTTPS). There are default firewall rules already in place that just need to be enabled when replication is enabled on the Hyper-V server.
5. Configure Authorization and storage. This includes designating a specific location to store replica virtual machine files if the default location is not to be used. Should you not desire to allow all Primary servers to be serviced, there is an option to allow only specific servers (Primary servers) to send replication requests. If you want to allow all servers within the domain, a wildcard character can be used (e.g. *.contoso.com). When using a wildcard, only one storage location can be specified. If individual server entries are used, different storage locations for replica files can be configured. Complete all entries for the Primary Server, Storage Locations, and Security Tag information. Click Apply or OK when finished.

Configuring a Hyper-V Replica Failover Cluster
A Failover Cluster consists of multiple physical servers also known as nodes. Each node must have the Hyper-V role installed as well as the Failover Clustering feature. Installation of the Hyper-V role has already been covered. To install the Failover Clustering feature:
1. In Server Manager, start the Add Roles and Features Wizard (ARFW) by first choosing the Dashboard view and then choose Add Roles.
2. Step through the ARFW choosing the local node and making the following choices:
a. Installation Type: Role-based or Feature-based installation
b. Server Selection: Choose local node
c. Server Roles: Make no selections and click Next
d. Features: Choose Failover Clustering
e. Confirmation: Review the information and click Install (a reboot is not required when installing the Failover Clustering feature)
f. Results: Ensure the result is a successful installation of the Failover Clustering feature.
3. Complete this action across all nodes that will be members in the cluster
NOTE: The Failover Clustering feature can also be installed from the command line interface (CLI) by using the Deployment Image and Service Management (DISM) command line tool. At a command prompt, type: dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Failover-Clustering. A reboot is not required to complete the installation.

After the Failover Clustering feature is installed and a Failover Cluster is created, the Hyper-V Replica Broker Role needs to be configured. To create the Hyper-V Replica Broker role:
1. Open the Failover Cluster Manager interface (located under Tools in the Server Manager Menu bar)
2. In the left-pane, connect to the cluster
3. With the name of the cluster highlighted in the left-hand pane, click on Configure Role in the Actions pane
4. The High Availability Wizard initializes
5. Select Hyper-V Replica Broker in the Select Role screen
6. Complete the wizard by providing a properly formatted NetBIOS name and IP address (as needed) which serves as the connection point (Client Access Point (CAP))when configuring virtual machines for replication
7. Ensure the Role comes Online and is able to failover between all nodes in the cluster

Configuring the Failover Cluster as a Replica cluster

With the Hyper-V Replica Broker Role configured in the cluster, the cluster can be configured as either a Primary cluster or a Replica cluster. This is accomplished using the Highly Available Hyper-V Replica role. To accomplish this:
1. Open the Failover Cluster Manager interface (located under Tools in the Server Manager Menu bar)
2. In the left-pane, connect to the cluster
3. With the name of the cluster highlighted in the left-hand pane, click on Roles in the details pane under the Navigate category
4. Right-click on the Role and choose Replication Settings
5. In the Hyper-V Replica Clustering Broker Configuration screen, make the appropriate selections as needed to configure the cluster as a Replica server.

This action implements the configuration across all nodes in the cluster. Keep in mind this does not automatically enable the correct firewall rules in each node of the cluster nor does it properly configure authentication if certificates are being used. Those actions will have to be completed by the administrator on each node in the cluster. When using certificate based authentication in a Failover Cluster, all of the cluster nodes and the Client Access Point (CAP) supporting the Hyper-V Replica role will need machine certificates.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user8256

Senior Manager of Infrastructure with 501-1,000 employees

Oct 2, 2013

Enabling a Virtual Machine for Replication

Replication is configured on a per virtual machine basis. Virtual machines running on Primary site Hyper-V servers (or Hyper-V Failover Clusters) are configured to replicate to Replica servers (or Replica Failover Clusters) at remote sites.
1. In Hyper-V Manager, in the Details pane, Click on a virtual machine
2. With a virtual machine selected, Right-click and choose Enable Replication. This starts the Enable Replication wizard
3. In the Specify Replica Server screen, enter either the NetBIOS or the Fully-Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) for the Replica Server in the Replica Server box. (Note: If the Replica server is a Failover Cluster, ensure the connection point for the Hyper-V Replica Broker is used). Click Next

4. If Remote WMI is enabled, then Hyper-V Replica automatically fills the port and authentication settings
5. In the Choose Replication VHDs screen, deselect the disk(s) you do not want to replicate for the virtual machine and then click Next
6. Replication changes are sent to a Replica server every 5 minutes. In the Configure Recovery History screen, make selections for the number and types of recovery points to be sent to the Replica server. If Only the latest point for recovery is chosen, then there will be only the parent VHD that is sent during Initial Replication and all changes are merged into that VHD. If Additional recovery points is chosen, set the number of desired additional recovery points (Standard Replicas) that will be saved on the Replica server. The final selection in this screen, Replicate incremental VSS copy every : (available only if Recovery History is enabled) can be used to save Application-consistent Replicas for the virtual machine on the Replica server. After completing the selections, Click Next

7. In the Choose Initial Replication Method screen, several methods can be used to perform an initial replication for the virtual machine to the Replica server. The default selection is to Send initial copy over the network. This starts replication immediately over the network to the Replica server. If immediate replication is not desired, it can be scheduled to occur at a specific time on a specific date. If the administrator does not want to consume the bandwidth due perhaps to the large amount of data that needs to be replicated, he can choose Send initial copy using external media. This method copies all the virtual machine data to a portable storage device that can then be sent to a Replica site and the initial replication can be completed there by importing the data. The final option available to an administrator is Use an existing virtual machine on the Replica server as the initial copy. A restored virtual machine or snapshot of a virtual machine on the Replica server will be used as the initial copy. Make a selection and then Click Next

8. In the Completing the Enable Replication Relationship Wizard, review the information in the Summary and then Click Finish
9. A pop-up dialog box is presented indicating replication was successfully enabled for the virtual machine. In the dialog box is a Settings button that can be used to configure the network the replica virtual machine will connect to on the Replica server. This can be useful because the replica virtual machine is not connected to any network on the Replica server by default
The Enabling Replication process will start and should complete successfully (i.e. a virtual machine is created on the Replica server and delta replication commences. If the Replica server is a Failover Cluster, the virtual machine is made highly available). If any errors occur, refer to the troubleshooting section later in this document.

Once the replication relationship is established and if Send initial copy over the network was selected (Default setting), the Status column for the configured virtual machine will indicate Sending Initial Replica. Progress as a percentage of the total replication is also displayed.
Note: If a virtual machine is being replicated to a Failover Cluster (using the Hyper-V Replica Broker), a highly available virtual machine is created in the cluster. This allows the replica to be migrated to other nodes in the cluster if needed.
If Send initial copy using external media was selected, the Status for the virtual machine will indicate an Initial Replication in Progress. In this case, the progress reflects the copying of the virtual machine files to a location other than the Replica Server (perhaps a portable storage device) so the files can be transported to the Replica server location and then the Initial Replication can be completed by importing the files on that server. Once the import process completes, the Replication State for the virtual machine in the Primary Site will reflect a new Replication State of Replication Enabled.
If Use existing restored virtual machine as initial copy was selected, the virtual machine files restored from a backup on the Replica server will be used for Initial Replication (IR). Before delta replication actually begins, a quick resynch is executed.

Hyper-V Replica implements the standard Hyper-V virtual machine folder structure on the Replica server in the location specified when the Replica server (Replica Failover Cluster) is configured. A Hyper-V Replica folder is created as the root folder in the specified location. Under the Hyper-V Replica folder is a series of subfolders as seen here -

NOTE: The Snapshots folder is not created unless Recovery History is configured for the virtual machine.

The folders support the necessary files for each virtual machine configured to replicate with the Replica server. The virtual machines are identified by Globally Unique Identifiers (GUID) as seen here -

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user8256

Senior Manager of Infrastructure with 501-1,000 employees

Aug 1, 2013

Enhanced Session Mode on Hyper-V 2012 R2

One of the new features or improved feature on Windows Server 2012 R2 is the enhanced session mode through virtual machine connection. Hyper-V and the Virtual Machine Connection tool now support redirection of local resources to a virtual machine session. This feature provides similar type of device redirection to a virtual machine as you get with a Remote Desktop Connection session.

Enhanced Session Mode

In previous versions of Hyper-V the Virtual Machine Connection utility only provided redirection of the virtual machine screen, keyboard, and mouse along with limited copy / paste functionality. To get additional redirection abilities a Remote Desktop Connection to the virtual machine could be initiated, but this would require a network path to the virtual machine.

Starting with Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview, Hyper-V can now redirect local resources to a virtual machine session through Virtual Machine Connection tool. The enhanced session mode connection uses a Remote Desktop Connection session via the virtual machine bus (VMBus), so no network connection to the virtual machine is required.

The following local resources can be redirected when using the Virtual Machine Connection tool.

· Display configuration

· Audio

· Printers

· Clipboard

· Smart cards

· USB devices

· Drives

· Supported Plug and Play devices

This feature is enabled by default in Client Hyper-V and is disabled by default on Hyper-V running on Windows Server.

The following guest operating systems support enhanced session mode connections:

· Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview

· Windows 8.1 Preview

Practical applications

In previous versions of Hyper-V the way to copy files to and from a virtual machine was via a Remote Desktop Connection session or a network file copy, but these require a working network connection. When connecting to a virtual machine using the Virtual Machine Connection tool you could only copy and paste a limited amount of ASCII text to the virtual machine.

Enhanced session mode allows you to redirect local resources to the a virtual machine in the same way as you can with Remote Desktop Connection, but you do not need network connection to the virtual machine. You only need to be able to connect to the server running Hyper-V where the virtual machine is running.

Enhanced session mode can useful in the following scenarios:

· Troubleshooting a virtual machine without the need for a network connection to the virtual machine.

· Login to the virtual machine via smart card

· Printing from a virtual machine to a local printer

· Developers can now fully test and troubleshoot applications running in a virtual machine that require USB and sound redirection without the need to use Remote Desktop Connection.

Configuring Enhanced Session Mode

Configuration of enhanced session mode is done in the following areas:

· Server settings –Enhanced Session Mode Policy

· User setting –Enhanced Session Mode

· Guest operating system

Server settings – Enhanced Session Mode Policy

This setting affects all virtual machines running on the server running Hyper-V.

The Allow enhanced session mode setting will determine to allow or not allow enhanced session mode connections to virtual machines running on the server running Hyper-V. If this setting is enabled Hyper-V will allow enhanced session mode connections to a virtual machine when the following conditions are met:

· An enhanced session mode connection has been requested by the Virtual Machine Connection tool.

· The virtual machine is running an operating system which supports enhanced session mode.

· The Remote Desktop Service is running in the virtual machine.

When the Allow enhanced session mode setting is disabled, connections from the Virtual Machine Connection tool will use a basic session.

NOTE: The default setting for the Allow enhanced session mode is:

Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview – Disabled
Client Hyper-V – Enabled

User settings – Enhanced Session Mode

This setting will determine if the Virtual Machine Connection tool will attempt to use enhanced session mode when available in a guest operating system. When Use enhanced session mode is enable device redirection will take place when the following conditions are met:

· Allow enhanced session mode is enabled on the server running Hyper-V.

· The virtual machine is running an operating system which supports enhanced session mode.

· The Remote Desktop Service is running in the virtual machine.

Guest operating system

The following is a list of the guest operating systems that support enhanced session mode connections.

· Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview

· Windows 8.1 Preview

Additionally the Remote Desktop Service needs to be running and the user account you be using to log on to the virtual machine needs to be a member of the Remote Desktop Users local group or the local Administrators group.

NOTE: Remote Desktop Services group policy and local group policy settings are enforced for enhanced session mode connections. So if there is a policy in effect that does not allow the redirection of printers, printer redirection in a Virtual Machine Connection session will be blocked as it would be for regular Remote Desktop Connection sessions.

Disclosure: The company I work with is partners with several vendors

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user1068Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Aug 11, 2013

Hello Marcos

Will the enhanced feature of Hyper-V 2012 R2 save on any costs? If yes would you kindly elaborate on that (how it will actually save on costs)?

Thank you

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it_user1122

Infrastructure Expert at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Jul 11, 2012

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Microsoft has a winner with Hyper-V

Valuable Features:

Hyper-V definitely has its pro's, some of which are painfully apparent.- The first one is that it is a Microsoft product, which is baked into its Server 2008 and 2008 R2 platforms. You also have the option of a Hyper-V server core, which is only the Hypervisor (this allows for more resources to be dedicated to the individual VM's). - It has Powershell scripting support built in and also excellent Virtual Networking technology.- The VM's are portable. That means that each VM is stored in a single VHD file, which can be transferred to another server and configured and ready to run in less than a minute.- It fully integrates into the Windows environment, allowing access via MMC consoles to change settings and create/administer virtual machines remotely.

Room for Improvement:

The only cons I can really think of are as follows:- Individual licensing costs for each server. - If you aren't using Hyper-V Core and are running Hyper-V on top of the full Server 2008 R2 platform, then you have less resources to allocate to your Virtual Machines. - Except through RDP, there is no way to access the VM's on alternative platforms (like Mac or Linux).I use Hyper-V almost exclusively for all my virtualization needs. From a Network Administrators viewpoint, specifically one catering to a Windows client base, there is no better choice than Hyper-V. Like I said before, it fully integrates into the Windows environment, allowing access via MMC consoles to change settings and create/administer virtual machines remotely.

Other Advice:

All in all, Microsoft Hyper-V is an excellent platform and a great competitor for VMWare.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.

it_user3876Database Manager at a tech company with 51-200 employees

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Dec 22, 2013

Another drawback of this product is its incompatibility with 32-bit machine versions. Hyper-V runs only on 64-bit versions, so the users of older servers remain unable to use it.

MINBALEYENEW

IT proffesional at Ambo university

Jun 27, 2022

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Solution for network virtualization and application virtualization

Pros and Cons

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the storage virtualization."

"When one server or one virtual machine fails, or one is turned off, the virtualization stops, and we have to initiate again with human intervention."

What is our primary use case?

Our organization is a financial institution in the banking industry. We use Hyper-V for network virtualization and storage and application virtualization. There are five or six users of the solution.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of the solution is storage virtualization.

What needs improvement?

Hyper-V has limitations. When one server or one virtual machine fails, or one is turned off, the virtualization stops, and we have to initiate again with human intervention.

In the next release, I would like to see virtualization replication added.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Hyper-V for five years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Hyper-V is scalable.

How are customer service and support?

Customer support for Hyper-V is good. I would rate the support a four out of five.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

No setup of Hyper-V is required. It is a feature of Windows Server 2016 and 2012.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.