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Queries the following Comparison is trying to Answer: VMware Virtual Infrastructure
3 VS
Microsoft
Virtual Server 2005 R2
How does MS Virtual Server
compare to VMware VI3?
Advantages & Disadvantages
of Microsoft Virtual Server & VMware VI3
What is better VMware VI3
or MS Virtual Server 2005? How?
Independent Unbiased
Comparison MS Virtual Server & VMware VI3
VMware VI3 VS MS Virtual Server 2005
Introduction:
Ok, decided on riding the
virtualization boat and confused on the right product for your company. You
are in the correct place as here we list the comparisons of most of the
virtualization solutions. On this page we will compare Microsoft Virtual
server 2005 R2 vs VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3, but other comparisons are
available and you can choose them from the menu on the left panel. Below is
our unbiased comparison, but we still offer the some what biased comparisons
which can find at the links below.
MS Virtual Server 2005 R2 VS VMware VI3 (VM-Biased)
MS Virtual Server 2005 R2 VS VMware VI3 (MS-Biased)
| |
VMware/EMC |
Microsoft |
| URL |
Vmware.com |
Microsoft.com/virtual server |
|
ITComparison Comments |
VMware site is a bit easier to browse
in regards of virtualization than Microsoft site due to the fact its their
core business and they don't offer as much products to jam their site
comparing to Microsoft. |
|
Product Name |
Infrstructure v3 (Starter, Standard, and Enterprise) |
Virtual Server 2005 R2 (Standard and Enterprise) |
|
ITComparison Comments |
Both are doing as good in
regards of their naming convention. |
|
Pricing range paid product |
$1000 - $5750 (two CPU versions) |
Free |
|
ITComparison Comments
-: MS Virtual Server 2005 R2 VS VMware
VI3:- |
This can really be misleading
as for MS Virtual Server you still
have to pay for the host operating system,
which you don't have
to do if using VMware. In addition,
in VMware VI3 you can run more
virtual machines on the same specs machine
as its running bare-metal
and waste less resource than Microsoft
virtualization solution and in
many cases that it self will make up for
the cost differences. Don't let
the initial price fool you.
|
|
Primary usage |
Production Environment |
Testing &
Development
Environment |
|
ITComparison Comments |
MS Virtual Server is mostly implemented in
testing and development
environment in the enterprise, comparing to
VMware which are mature
enough for production environment.
|
|
Required Host
OS (if any) |
Infra
v3:bare metal |
Windows Server 2003 SP1,
XP Pro SP2 (for testing
purposes only) |
|
ITComparison Comments
-: MS Virtual Server 2005 R2 VS VMware
VI3:- |
VMware bare-metal
installation harden the security of its product and
make it independent of
any operating system security risks and
breaches unlike the Microsoft
Virtual Server which unfortunately still
affected by the underlying OS (Windows
2003) bugs, viruses, and
security breaches. In addition, not using
underlying OS make it more
resource efficient. |
|
Management tools |
Virtual Center |
System Center Virtual Machine
Manager 2007 |
|
ITComparison Comments |
Microsoft has just released their System
Center Virtual
Machine Manager 2007. Its not as rich as
the VMware Virtual Center
features wise as its still in its early
days, but it do what it meant for. |
|
Support resources |
High |
Medium |
|
ITComparison Comments |
Microsoft might have more support resources
than VMware,
but not when it comes to virtualization,
though they are investing into
that direction. |
|
Supported Guest OS |
- Microsoft Windows NT4.0/2000/2003/XP/Vista
- Red Hat Enterprise 2.1/3/4/5
- Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 2.1
- Redhat Linux 7.2/7.3/8.0/9.0
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8/9/10
- SUSE Linux 8.2/9.0/9.1/9.2/9.3
-FreeBSD
4.9/4.10/4.11
- NetWare
6.5/6.0/5.1
- Solaris 10 for
X86
- Vista
(Experimental Support)
- Windows 2008
Beta (Experimental Support)
- Windows 2003 Standard/Enterprise SP1/SP2/R2 64-bit + Virtual
SMP (Supported in Production)
|
-
Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Standard/Enterprise SP1/SP2/R2
-
Windows XP Professional with SP2
- Vista(Enterprise/Business/
Ultimate)
(non-production use)
- Microsoft Server 2008 Beta 3
(non-production use only)
-
OS/2 4.5
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1
(update 7) - 3.0 (update 8) - 4.0
(update 4)
-
Suse Linux Enterprise 9.0/9.3/10.0/10.1/10.2
-
Solaris 10
|
|
ITComparison Comments |
Its obvious that VMware has production
support for more OS
than Microsoft. In addition, MS Virtual
server support for Linux requires
an additional extension and is not directly
developed by Microsoft.
|
|
Performance |
- Higher
Performance
- More virtual
Machines per hardware |
- Slower Performance
- fewer Virtual Machines per
hardware |
|
ITComparison
Comments |
The performance advantage of VMware is related directly with it being
running bare-metal and have a smaller foot print than Microsoft Virtual
Server. |
|
64-bit
Support |
Has full support for most of the 64-bit
Operating Systems. |
Does not support any 64-bit Operating Systems. |
|
ITComparison Comments |
Its odd that Microsoft still
does not support even their own 64-bit OS versions in their Virtual
Server, where VMware support them. |
|
Live Migration
(VMotion)
High Availability
(HA)
Dynamic Resources
(DRS) |
Supported
Supported
Supported |
Not Supported
Not Supported
Not Supported |
|
ITComparison
Comments |
Its a great features that VMware came up
with and Microsoft still does not offer any equivalence as it highly
reduce the needs for hardware maintenance windows, downtime, and balance
resources. |
|
Special Hardware Requirement |
Require supported SCSI or SATA controllers. |
Does not require any. |
|
ITComparison
Comments |
This is an advantage of Microsoft Virtual Server as
you can run it on any PC without requiring any special controllers, but
its still not a full win as VMware have their free virtual server being
able to run without requiring that type of controllers as well. |
Other Related Comparisons: Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V VS VMware ESX 4.0
Xen Server Enterprise
VS VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3
Microsoft
Virtual Server 2005 R2
VS Xen Server Enterprise
Microsoft Windows Hyper-V
(WSV)
VS VMware Virtual
Infrastructure 3.5
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