Within 30 days IT departments will be able to download
Microsoft Hyper-V server, free hypervisor software, which lets
users run several virtual machines on a single hardware server. The
Microsoft product will compete directly with the market leader,
VMWare ESX Server.
Both are free, but the two are very different platforms for
virtualising servers in the datacentre.
VMWare is a mature product with advanced functions that support
live migration. This a technology that allows enterprise users
to move applications from one Virtual Machine to another without
disruption, a key requirement in business continuity.
The VMWare Live migration technology,
dubbedVMotion,
is a paid-for add-on. It relies on a storage system called the
VMware cluster file system (VMFS), which stores a virtual machine
as a set of files on shared storage. The shared files can be access
by two virtual machines simultaneouly, allowing applications and
data to be transferred easily from one machine to another.
Microsoft's Hyper-V product is much less sophisticated. "It is
aimed at small and medium-sized businesses who want to consolidate
servers. Microsoft appears to be targeting users that do not need
the advanced features of VMWare," says Ray Illsey, senior research
analyst at Butler Group.
For organisations that want a more sophisticated product
Microsoft has tied up with Citrix, to offer IT departments
XenServer. The product has some of the high-end features
available in VMWare, like live migration.
Ron Oglesby, service director at IT consulting firm Glasshouse
Technologies, said XenServer is about half the price of VMWare, but
he believes Citrix' strength will be in desktop virtualisation
rather than server virtualisation.
"With the introduction of Hyper-V many businesses will simply
install the Microsoft hypervisor when they install Windows 2008
Server. Those that want datacentre features will probably use
VMWare, which means Citrix will have to focus on virtualisation of
the desktop."
If they go the Microsoft route, users will need to check that
their hardware will support Hyper-V.
Illsey said Hyper-V would only work with the latest generation
of Intel and AMD server chips that support virtualisation, namely
AMD Virtualization (V) and
Intel
Virtualization Technology (VT).
However, VMWare works on older generations of AMD and Intel
server processors, which power many of today's PC servers in
datacentres.
Businesses are expected to buy AMD V and Intel VT processors as
datacentre servers are replaced over the next few years, which
means more machines will support Hyper-V.
Users who want to use virtualisation to improve the uptime of
their datacentre are likely to run VMWare with the live migration
features in VMotion.
But users may deploy Microsoft Hyper-V if they are interested in
server consolidation. Since it will be bundled with Windows Server
2008, users can simply install it when they install the operating
system. With Microsoft entering the virtualisation market users of
Citrix Xenserver will need to keep an eye on where Citrix takes the
product.
Microsoft Hyper-V
Free download or bundled with Windows 2008 Server
Only runs on AMD V or Intel VT server chips
Designed for server consolidation
VMWare ESX Server
Free hypervisor
Supports all AMD and Intel serevr chips
Use for consolidation and live migration