This document compares and contrasts the virtualization platforms VMWare and Hyper-V. It discusses the differences between type 1 and type 2 virtualization, common file extensions used, and management infrastructures. Details are provided on VMWare vSphere 4 product editions and licensing costs. Microsoft Hyper-V is described as a feature of Windows Server 2008 that uses a type 2 hypervisor and manages guests through SCVMM. An example cost comparison is given for virtualizing a host with specific hardware specs.

1. VMWare vs. Hyper-V By Anthony Zschusschen

2. What is Virtualization A virtual environment consists of one or more Virtual Machines (VMs), in which guest operating systems reside. The virtualization layer presents virtual hardware to the virtual machine. The Host operating system runs the software that implements virtualization. This is known as the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM)

3. Type 1 Virtualization The VMM provides device drivers that the guest operating systems use to directly access the underlying hardware. The software is a small amount of code that only concerns itself with virtualization (example: Vmware ESX, ESXi)

4. Type 2 Virtualization A general-purpose operating system provides virtualization, it performs the I/O on behalf of the guest (example: Vmware Workstation & Fusion, Parallels, Virtual Box and Windows 7 Virtual PC)

5. Type 1 vs. type 2

6. File Extensions Vmware uses VMDK Hyper-V uses VHD Open Industry Standard (under construction) is Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF)

7. Management Infrastructure Microsoft Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) vCenter Server (previously VirtualCenter)

8. Virtualization Pros and Cons

9. VmwarevSphere 4 Consists of: ESX Hypervisors (incl. Linux distro for installation and user interface) ESXi Hypervisors (Micro hypervisor for bare metal installs) vCenter Server management (centralized management of servers) Available in several flavors: Essential (Small office environments, supports max 3 dual processor servers, USD166,- per processor) Essential Plus (adds HA and data protection, USD499,- per processor) Standard (ESX and ESXi Hypervisor, management agent, HA, thin provisioning of storage, USD795,-) Advanced (adds vMotion, Fault tolerance, vShield Zones & Data protection, USD2245,- per processor)

10. To these product costs must be added any operating system licenses (and application licenses). Also needed is a license for one or more copies of vCenter Server. (standard USD4995,- (unlimited hosts) and Foundation USD1495 (max 3 hosts))

11. Microsoft Hyper-V Feature of Windows Server 2008 Type 2 hypervisor Management trough SCVMM (also able to manage third party guests)

12. Application Licenses must be added to these costs.

16. In this example a site needing to virtualize Windows Server 2008 on a host with 8 processors, 64 cores, 256GB of memory, needing 4vCPUs per guest, 8 guests, live migration, HA, and storage management.