Demystifying Virtualization
Posted on Mon, Dec 14, 2009
Mirror, mirror on the wall, which virtualization solution-Vmware, Microsoft, or Citrix-is fairest of all?In the television special now being shown on HBO, The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall Fame Concert, Bono (of U2 fame) takes the stage to explain what rock and roll means to him. "For me," he says, "it all comes down to one word: Liberation. Political liberation, sexual liberation, and spiritual liberation."
In a very real way, that's what virtualization is all about too. Liberating your hardware-your servers-from their physical constraints.
By unlocking your storage, by freeing up more server capacity, by setting your IT staff free to work on more important things than provisioning or moving servers, you can optimize your investment in technology (often by as much as 65% more in server utilization rates) and people.
But, like so many other things IT, the choice of which vendor to partner with, which provider's product to adopt is more complex than the complexity it always purports to reduce.
Here's our quick take on the state of the server virtualization market:
VMware (Vmware.com)
On the plus side of our evaluation equation, VMware is a solid player in server virtualization, holding the lion's share of the market.
Their ESX and ESXi hypervisors support Windows, Mac, Linux, and a few other operating systems, giving you the widest selection of guest OS support. Their selection of pre-built appliances is also the broadest offering available.
On the negative side, the management tools you'll no doubt want are not included and will cost you more money on top of an already very expensive, often perplexing pricing configuration and per-seat licensing fee.
Microsoft (Microsoft.com/hyperV)
One of the primary benefits of choosing Microsoft's HyperV Server is that it comes free as part of your Windows Server 2008 64-bit implementation. Licensing guest Windows virtual machines is thereby also a cost-effective part of this solution.
If you're already an MS shop, running the Windows family, this is potentially a good choice for you. But keep in mind, HyperV Server has limited management tools, in fact, just one: System Center VM Mamager.
Citrix (Citrix.com)
With its acquisition of XenSource a couple of years ago, Citrix positioned itself to be a major contender in the virtualization space and the investment is paying off.
Whether you choose the free XenServer Express or the licensed XenServer Enterprise, you're getting a powerful server virtualization product. The open-source solution (a big plus, in our view) runs Windows and Linux and all the management tools you could want are included with the enterprise version.
Xen Server Enterprise also manages HyperV, offers 32 CPU support, and Citrix's partnership with Microsoft ensures broad adoption.
While currently Xen lacks pre-built appliances, those are already in the Xen pipeline.
Combine the XenServer with XenDesktop and you have a rather complete, very flexible, end-to-end solution for all your virtualization needs.