VMware ESXi is what we are going with
This is basically a wrap up of my previous blog posts here and here. A couple weeks ago we decided to go with VMware ESXi. The performance factor was probably a deciding point. Our Windows 2000/2003 servers were probably running up to 2 to 3 times faster on our VMware ESXi servers as opposed to the Hyper-V servers. Deployment was easier as well. Hyper-V had some advantages though, such as backups were easier and migrating Windows Virtual Server machines would be easier. Those few advantages though was not enough, and we decided to go with VMware. Hopefully my company will pony up the cash so we can go to the Enterprise edition. That is another battle altogether 
.
Microsoft Finally Comes Out with some Details on Hyper-V Standalone
Here is the link for it from Paul Thurrott at WindowsIT Pro. Personally, a little disappointed in it. Their standalone verson is less as robust as VMware ESXi. Only up to 4 CPUs and 32gigs of RAM. They also don't recommend running Windows Server 2008 in their standalone version of Hyper-V. Sounds like a good solution for small to maybe medium sized businesses, but doesn't sound like a serious solution (or competitor) to VMware ESX/ESXi platforms. At least they decided to stop charging for it and make it a free download. I thought that was kind of shooting themselves in the foot by charging for it.
Initial Findings with VMware ESXi and Hyper-V Comparison
I have been working with both for the last couple of weeks, these are some of my initial impressions and findings:
- ESXi is bare metal (running with no real underlining OS, well something that looks like about a 32meg Linux Kernel). Hyper-V requires 64bit Windows 2008. Apparently there is supposed to be a bare metal version available, but I have not been able to find it.
- ESXi seems to perform better with data copying and memory management. I have copied multiple .iso images (around 2 gigs worth) and VMware seemed to like it better.
- Server OS loaded so far: Windows 2003 Standard R2 32bit , Windows 2003 x64 Enterprise, Ubuntu Linux v8.04, SUSE Linux, and OpenBSD. So far, all have worked well, no major problems.
- Dell's PowerEdge 2950 from the factory need the Virtualization turned on in the BIOS in order to use ESXi or Hyper-V. They will install, but not function properly.
- Hyper-V's console seems snappier and more responsive. VMware Infastructure Client seems like running a Java client, sometimes very slow and unresponsive.
- Hyper-V is pretty simple to create a sysprep image for mass distribution of servers. ESXi, I had to find some articles on the web on how to hack the console so I could do this, not a supported feature. If we went with the full ESX suite, this would not be needed as you can use templates (which if they are available for ESXi, I can not find it). The hacking the console is a pain as I have to edit XML files as well, but doable. Something else I am going to try is just create a sysprep image and make it into an .iso, would be very close to the same thing I am trying to accomplish now.
Dell and Virtualization
I found this link while browsing around the other day. Even though it is Dell specific, they seem to be trying out a bunch of different products. The reality is, hardware is not going to be your show stopper (usually), it is how the virtualization software you want to use takes advantage of it.
VMware ESX, Hyper-V, or Other…
For the next couple of weeks I get to test out VMware's ESXi, Windows 2008 Hyper-V, and any other Virtual Machine packages I can get my hands on. Will try my best to update the blog with my results as probably some other people will benefit from our experiments possibly. We are trying to determine what is going to be the best solution for our small/medium business type environmnet. We will be virtualizing approximately 30-50 servers, more if we can afford it. Currently we are using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2, it is working OK, but we don't think it will take advantage of the 4 Quad Core machines we just got from Dell.
What I'm Doing...
- Finished "The Road" (finally) on the the flight home. Great book, looking forward to watching the movie. 16 hrs ago
- Cool, eating lunch at the Yardhouse and bumped into a seller for Deschutes brewery, bought us a round! 1 day ago
- In "The Revolution" club after "Live". Awesome show! http://twitpic.com/2le3qe 3 days ago
- Gives you warn and fuzzes (in the LV airport). #FAIL http://twitpic.com/2kxgez 4 days ago
- What is with all of the OSU fans here at the airport? I quack in your general direction. #UofOFan 4 days ago
- More updates...
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