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it_user5496 - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Microsoft Hyper-V vs VMware vSphere

One topic that gets discussed quite often is Microsoft Hyper-V vs VMware vSphere, and a quick Google search for comparisons will return at least several hundred thousand hits. There seems to be a large number of posts and articles trying to make a case that one is better than the other by listing and comparing features of the hypervisors themselves one by one. The purpose of this post is not to claim that one platform is better than the other. Is that the best way to really compare the different virtualization technologies as a whole, or should we take a step back and really look at differences in approach for the virtual infrastructure and/or virtual ecosystems'

Microsoft:

In my opinion, Microsoft is defining and building their virtualization infrastructure as an extension or expansion of their current ecosystem, with System Center at the center of their universe. If you look at the System Center 2012 product page on Microsoft’s website, System Center product details are broken down into two different areas:

    1. Cloud and Datacenter Management
    2. Client Management & Security

Is this really a big surprise' Absolutely not, since it clearly makes more sense to build on what you already have in place than to reinvent the wheel. The majority of virtual machines that are running on the Hyper-V platform are running Windows, and System Center already has a solid foundation of features and capabilities for managing Windows environments. These features include:

  1. Application Delivery
  2. Mobile Device Management
  3. Virtual Desktop Management
  4. Endpoint Protection
  5. Compliance and Setting Management
  6. Software Update Management
  7. Power Management
  8. Operating System Deployment
  9. Client Health and Monitoring
  10. Asset Intelligence
  11. Inventory

VMware:

In my opinion, VMware is looking to create a completely isolated and separated ecosystem that consists of a collection of appliances with different capabilities working independently and making up the features within the infrastructure, including:

  1. vSphere
  2. vCloud Director
  3. vCloud Connector
  4. vCloud Network and Security
  5. vCenter Site Recovery Manager
  6. vCenter Operations Manager Suite
  7. vFabric Application Director
  8. vCloud Automation Center

 

Conclusions:

One of the main differences that I see in the two approaches is that Microsoft wants virtualization, cloud, and datacenter management to be an extension of the infrastructure, whereas VMware would like the vCloud Suite to be the complete infrastructure. This starts with VMware developing vCloud as an Infrastructure-as-a-Service to fulfill their promise of the software-defined datacenter.

Click here to read my complete review on TheVirtualizationPractice.com

Disclosure: My company The Virtualization Practice is sponsored by some vendors in this market

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user4401 - PeerSpot reviewer
it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Vendor

I recommend VMware vSphere for operating systems different than Windows and Hyper-V for hosting Windows. Hyper-V still offers a better backend for performing live backups of Windows guests and VSS is integrated better than with vSphere at the guest side. vSphere may offer better performance in various environments, especially in larger setups involving dozens of hosts.

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Pablo Ramírez - PeerSpot reviewer
Datacenter & Security Manager at Binaria IT Services
Reseller
Top 5
User-friendly and has native integration with Azure
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very user-friendly."
  • "The solution should improve its native integration with other public cloud solutions."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution for Jira visualization and Jira workload.

How has it helped my organization?

The solution is very user-friendly. Since we have an agreement with Microsoft, it is really easy to use and doesn't cost us much.

What is most valuable?

The feature of native integration with Azure is good.

What needs improvement?

The solution should improve its native integration with other public cloud solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the past 10-15 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is very scalable. However, we do not have a big cluster. At the moment, we do not have any plans to increase the usage of the solution.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. We did not have any issues at all.

What was our ROI?

We get ROI on the product.

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

Since we have an agreement with Microsoft, the solution is not very expensive.

What other advice do I have?

If someone plans to implement Hyper-V, they should seek an agreement with Microsoft to get a better value for the product. I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
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December 2024
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Ali Yazıcı - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Service Manager at Kuveyt Turk Participation Bank
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
An easy to use solution, but we would like it to migrate virtual machines without interruptions
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most valuable features of Hyper-V is ease to use."
  • "The technical support is good but it could improve by being faster."

What is our primary use case?

We use Hyper-V for test virtualization.

How has it helped my organization?

We used this product for our virtualization environment.

What is most valuable?

One of the most valuable features of Hyper-V is ease to use.

What needs improvement?

We would like it to migrate virtual machines without interruptions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution needs to improve the stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Hyper-V can scale well.

We have approximately 1,000 users using this solution in my organization.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is good but it could improve by being faster.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

The installation was not easy and it took approximately two days.

What about the implementation team?

We needed to have a consultant for the implementation. We have two administrators and one manager that does the maintenance of the solution.

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

There is a license required for this solution. I would recommend purchasing the support.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate Hyper-V a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Timur Assembayev - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Specialist at Wattum
Real User
Good functionality, works well on Windows, and offers useful virtualization capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the functionality."
  • "When it comes to Hyper-V the worst thing is it's based on the Windows operating system. For the installation of Hyper-V, you're supposed to install the right operating system. For me, it's strange."

What is our primary use case?

I use it personally for training. I do some testing for myself. I use it for virtualization and have used it to compare testing functionality. 

How has it helped my organization?

It has not helped my organization. I just use it for testing.

What is most valuable?

The solution works well on Windows.

The product, overall, works well. 

I like the functionality. Users can use it in a hybrid scenario.

The virtualization capabilities are good.

What needs improvement?

When it comes to Hyper-V, the worst thing is it's based on the Windows operating system. For the installation of Hyper-V, you're supposed to install the right operating system. For me, it's strange.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have some experience with the solution, however, I haven't used it for too long. I've used it for the last 12 months, at least. I might have used it for six months in total. 

What other advice do I have?

I'm not sure which version I'm using. It was the basic setup on the 2016 servers.

I use the solution for my personal projects. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1613121 - PeerSpot reviewer
Test Environment Manager at a wireless company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Helpful import wizard, good reporting tools, and the replication feature works well
Pros and Cons
  • "The replication, creation, and import wizard, as well as the integration with reporting tools, are the most useful features."
  • "In my opinion, it would have been better to truncate the site-to-site replication."

What is our primary use case?

I work in an environment where we are required to use them, as well as for DevOps and a few other things like Helios and similar things. As a result, I use it for DevOps testing, infrastructure, and implementation within the product areas of my clients.

What is most valuable?

The replication, creation, and import wizard, as well as the integration with reporting tools, are the most useful features.

What needs improvement?

The WSUS could stand to improve a little bit. It is also foggy at times. Again, I use a wide variety of products and services, but going through each one would take much longer, but WSUS is an awesome Microsoft product that could use some improvement in terms of reporting tools and such. Even the additions and servers work is more difficult. Even the manual add is difficult, and reporting occasionally breaks into the endpoints, but that could be one to five servers when I'm checking a hundred to 200 servers.  I suppose it's insignificant, but when it causes problems with those minor details, it can be difficult. But, aside from that, it works well.

It does what it needs to do and is adequate for the time being. It completes tasks such as replication cycles and other similar tasks. That's probably the only way it can be. In my opinion, it would have been better to truncate the site-to-site replication. If it could have been a simpler process, or if there was another way they could have done it, it would be beneficial. For example, if I'm doing site-to-site replication, I would normally have to do that in terms of bandwidth; Cisco has some, and they have some different tools that would enable the packages to be smaller and faster, but maybe just Microsoft takes a while to do the site-to-site replication.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Hyper-V for approximately 15 years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is used by 10 administrators, and the product itself has 500,000, or 600,000 users.

How are customer service and support?

We have pretty good in-house expertise, we haven't needed to reach out for actual technical support.

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

I test products ranging from VOIP to Microsoft to virtualization, VMware, and Hyper-V. I am always testing products and then deciding whether to put them into production for use or scale operations.

In the last year, I would say it has been a voice over IP products as well as a couple of SBC products. This is also true for VM testing and Microsoft products, such as Hyper-V, and a couple of software for voice over IP integration.

Microsoft, as well as perhaps eight or nine others.

I also work with DevOps.

We haven't used the VMware solution to its full potential, and the reason for that is that the software that is currently used on that platform lacks certain features that would allow us to use VMware to its full potential, but it resides on the VMware platform.

What other advice do I have?

In order to obtain the products, we must go through a third-party vendor. We can't go directly to Microsoft.

I would rate Hyper-V an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Muzamil Yakub - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Executive Officer at Infoview Limited
Real User
A hardware virtualization product that comes free with Windows Server, but management could be more straightforward.
Pros and Cons
  • "I like that Hyper-V comes for free with Windows Server. You don't need to buy the license, and you only have to pay for the management aspect in System Center."
  • "Hyper-V isn't a lightweight solution like VMware. Management could be more straightforward. Even as far as disk management tools are concerned, it would be better if that could be made simpler. The same applies to performance."

What is our primary use case?

We use Hyper-V for data center virtualization.

How has it helped my organization?

Hyper-V has improved our organization by enabling consolidation, high availability, disaster recovery, backups, and more. It makes it all simple.

What is most valuable?

I like that Hyper-V comes for free with Windows Server. You don't need to buy the license, and you only have to pay for the management aspect in System Center.

What needs improvement?

Hyper-V isn't a lightweight solution like VMware. Management could be more straightforward. Even as far as disk management tools are concerned, it would be better if that could be made simpler. Performance can also be better.

For how long have I used the solution?

We used Hyper-V from 2008 to 2019.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Hyper-V is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Hyper-V is a scalable solution. 

How are customer service and support?

I haven't used Microsoft's technical support much.

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

We have used Citrix and VMware. I would say VMware is simpler for the deployment side of it. Hyper-V is also easy to deploy, but you need to set it up as a role.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup and installation are straightforward. The deployment time depends on the hardware. It can take anywhere from 20 minutes to half an hour. One engineer can implement, manage, and maintain this solution.

What was our ROI?

It's free with a Windows license, but you can say that there is an ROI in separating workloads.

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

Hyper-V is free when you buy Windows Server. You only have to pay for engaging in the management aspect in System Center.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Hyper-V for small-scale users with one or two VMs. 

On a scale from one to ten, I would give Hyper-V a seven.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Benjamin Bodenehim - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Technology Officer at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 10Leaderboard
Low price for a hyper-virtualized environment
Pros and Cons
  • "It allowed us to add on servers and fix things in an expedient manner."
  • "Microsoft tech support is horrible."

What is our primary use case?

I use this solution for some of my virtual machines.

How has it helped my organization?

It allowed us to add on servers and fix things in an expedient manner.

What is most valuable?

I find the hardware and the cost reduction most valuable.

What needs improvement?

The backup has room for improvement. 

For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a pretty stable solution. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not scaled it because I am not running it in a cluster environment anymore. I do know that the clusters work and that Hyper-V can easily scale for an organization's greater needs.

How is customer service and technical support?

Microsoft tech support is horrible.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. It took a day to deploy. 

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

The Hyper-V pricing and licensing are very good. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I looked at Hyper-V vs AHV, which is a Nutanix product. Nutanix Acropolis is a hyperconverged product that does a lot of next-level type of virtualization software

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
CTO for Pydynamix
Real User
There is a tremendous ease of use due to the familiarity with Microsoft.
Pros and Cons
  • "The flexibility and API are the most valuable features. It helps us be able to integrate with other systems and then push data easily."
  • "The interface could be more user friendly. In addition, the documentation and security could use improvement."

How has it helped my organization?

There is an ease of use, and it is able to deploy it because there are people throughout my country of South Africa that all understand Microsoft. They can easily fire up a virtual environment because they are familiar with Microsoft. 

What is most valuable?

The flexibility and API are the most valuable features. It helps us be able to integrate with other systems and then push data easily. It has 100% functionality and speed. 

What needs improvement?

The interface could be more user friendly. In addition, the documentation and security could use improvement.

Some customers have been complaining of running into Immobility Licensing Restrictions. They were running on an ELA, and there was no flexibility with a volume license agreement. 

In addition, it would be nice to have the ability to assign more dynamically, like VM-ware does. Furthermore, it would be nice to return the SRM feature back into Hyper-V so that you're not looking at a virtual box which is a cheap version, but that you're looking at enterprise, you're looking at VM-ware. If this could be placed into a one-button feature, that would be very attractive.

For how long have I used the solution?

One to three years.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. For me, it's all about getting the right architecture approval before even looking at Hyper-V layer and then virtualizing where we can, but if not, we go physical. At the same time, it'll all be on a Microsoft platform, hence why I have Hyper-V.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex. When compared to firing up a virtual box, there are too many prompts.

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

The pricing is not an issue for us because we have a licensing agreement with Microsoft. So we are given an 80% discount. 

What other advice do I have?

If I was going to a demo, and somebody had given me an iPhone and I had to quickly gut it, my first choice would not be Hyper-V. It is not a user-friendly solution. 

I would say the ability to assign more dynamically, like VM-ware does. And the SRM feature to be brought back into Hyper-V so that you're not looking at virtual box which is a cheap version, but that you're looking at enterprise, you're looking at VM-ware. But if there was one button to move everything over to the new system, if that could be put in as a feature
then it would be very attractive.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Hyper-V Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Hyper-V Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.