Hyper-V or ESX 3i

[markroe]

I am looking into the differences between using Hyper-V and ESX 3i as a solution for remote offices with an average 50 users per host site and 15 users per satelite site

Each host site will have a single high spec-ed box which will need to run 2008 AD, Exchange 2007, File/Print and possibly SCCM

Bearing in mind cost is the key issue for having a single box and another server is NOT an option, what are the business and technical benefits of using Hyper-V over 3i bearing in mind 3i is now free.

[mreferre]

For what you need to be doing (technically) .... to me it's kind of like.... throw your dice and go with what they say.

From a business/$ perspective ... well it depends on your scenario I guess. See this:

Massimo.

[ablej]

ESX is a proven product ,as where Hyper-V is new.Hyper-V is more flexible on what hardware it will install on. ESXi you will need to make sure it is certified hardware. Hyper-V also doesn't support NIC teaming. Since you can't use another server you will not be able to take advantage of the real pro's of VM ware like DRS, HA, VMotion etc. I think both are viable solutions ,but the biggest being what hardware will you be using. I think if you go with ESXi you probably will sleep better at night.

[markroe]

Dell 2950 is the hardware we will use

[weinstein5]

I think the big issue is to go with a more mature product like ESXi or 1.x release form Microsoft -

[Texiwill]

Hello,

The other option could be upfront costs.... Purchasing Windows 2008 w/Hyper-V support or using the Free version of ESXi. At least that is one consideration, also consider, how you will do backups as the free version of ESXi does not have VCB support so you will end up using a more traditional approach. Also, having a tape device within the host implies you will need to map that to a VM as the ESXi console is non-functional for tape purposes.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

CIO Virtualization Blog: http://www.cio.com/blog/index/topic/168354

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

[azn2kew]

Here's an article from Eric about ESXi & Hyper-V check out for details.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[mreferre]

Ed, the licensing thing is tricky.

If you only have to load 3 to 4 VMs a Windows EE license will allow you to use 4 VMs + a host license making hyper-V effectively "free" (assuming you would need to buy EE to license VMs on ESXi).

As per the tape I don't think VMware supports direct attach tape at all (my suspect).

Massimo.