Virtualization Software
Introduction
Nowadays, many companies turn to virtualization software (hypervisors) to emulate physical PCs and use virtual machines installed on a single physical platform. Such virtualization software can become a great advantage for any company, and this software can help to cut costs and improve various business processes. Thus, the Hertz Corporation, a world-known car rental company, should consider using virtualization software in its core business activities. There are many types of virtualization software designed and developed by different companies, and all software brands have their pros and cons that should be taken into close consideration when choosing an appropriate virtualization software for every single company or organization.
As Hertz Corporation is a large company that operates in many countries and runs many local businesses, this report will focus on the enterprise-type hypervisors.
According to David Davis (2013), a VMware Certified Professional, the top three brands of virtualization software used by large corporations are VMware vSphere, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, and XenServer by Citrix. These brands differ in their prices, features and components, such as hardware requirements, standard configuration, and various associated costs.
When comparing these top three virtualization software brands, it is of the greatest importance to determine the needs of the company and its customers. All these brands offer such features, as various conversion tools, storage motion and live migration, high availability, but there are some differences as well. Thus, in order to determine the most suitable software out of these three brands, we will focus on standard configuration, hardware requirements, and associated costs.
Standard Configuration
An enterprise version of vSphere is a rather sophisticated software when compared with other 2 hypervisors. There are multiple components that have to be set up when installing and configuring standard settings of this virtualization software. As it is mentioned in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide (vmware.com, n.d.), standard configuration of vSphere includes taking such steps as installing ESXi, configuring its boot and network settings, installing a vCenter Server, deploy vCenter Server Appliance, etc. So, we can conclude that vSphere developed by VMware has a very complicated standard configuration and it is significantly harder to configure it; on the other hand, enterprise-type of vSphere has many unique components that other virtualization platforms do not offer.
At the same time, standard configuration of Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V takes less time and efforts as the process of configuration is more user-friendly and automated. Main steps of standard configuration include adding roles and features, selecting servers from the pool, adding tools that will be used to manage virtual machines, and making further minor adjustments (microsoft.com, 2016).
Finally, the process of default configuration of XenServer is not as complicated as the one of vSphere, but is harder than configuring Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. The process includes downloading the ISO file, burning it to a CD/flash drive, installing and deploying scenarios, installing media and methods, and many other steps (citrix.com, 2015).
Hardware Requirements
The minimum recommended hardware requirements to install vSphere include ESXi requirements, vCenter Server for Windows requirements, vCenter Server Appliance and other requirements. Basically, hardware requirements are supported server platform, a host machine (with at least 2 CPU cores), multi-core processors, 4 GB of RAM (8 GB are recommended), fast (more than 1 Gigabit) Ethernet controllers (vmware.com, n.d.).
The XenServer host should meet the following requirements: a single-core 1.5GHz CPU, 2 GB of RAM, 60 GB of disc space, a fast NIC (1 or more Gigabit), and a suitable operating system (citrix.com, 2015).
Associated Costs
Using any of the abovementioned virtualization software includes additional, the so-called associated costs. If the company cannot install the virtualization software with help of its own technical specialists, then the company will need to pay a setup fee to a third party that will configure the software. Thus, vSphere will have a higher associated cost of configuration as the process of its installation is more complicated when compared to Windows Server 2012 and XenServer. In addition, associated costs include recurring annual costs per server (management software maintenance, storage and network connectivity) that have to be carried by the company to deploy its servers (Bigelow, 2014), and again, VMware offers pricier solutions.
Other associated costs may be SQL Database Server licenses (that users of vSphere will have to pay), licensing for Private Cloud Management and Enterprise Operations Monitoring (again, companies using vSphere will have to pay for the licenses), etc. (Pracheta, 2014).
Thus, it can be concluded that in case the company prefers vSphere by VMware, it will be able to use more features and functions. At the same time, the hardware requirements are higher, and the company will have to carry fewer costs if it chooses vSphere virtualization software.
Major Pros and Cons
VMware vSphere, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and XenServer by Citrix have their pros and cons, as they offer different packages to their customers (although many options and features are the same).
VMware vSphere pros and cons
Companies using this hypervisor enjoy the broadest vendor support, as they have many available options when they build virtualized environment (Vanover, n.d.). More than that, vSphere support the largest number of various features when designing their infrastructures, including vShield Endpoint protection, distributed resource scheduler, vCenter Single Sign On and other components (Davis, 2013). However, the price of using VMware software is higher when compared to Microsoft and Citrix software, and this is the major disadvantage that the companies may face when they choose vSphere.
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V pros and cons
Major advantages of using this virtualization software are a good interface that will be familiar to all customers who have previously used Microsoft products. This user-friendly interface is what makes Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V user-friendly and easy to use. Also, this software has a broad hardware compatibility as it supports many devices. More than that, it can be easily integrated with existing virtualization infrastructure of the customers (Vanover, n.d.).
On the other hand, this software does not have a full vendor virtualization support (third-party applications rarely support Hyper-V), and includes less features than vSphere does.
XenServer pros and cons
This software offers the strongest free virtualization, including shared storage driver integration virtual-to-virtual conversions, physical server to virtual machine conversions, live migration, and other features (Vanover, n.d.). Also, companies that want to produce virtualization solutions can use Citrix open source. However, when compared to the previous two brands, XenServer has a very poor vendor and partner support (almost no partner support for backup and recovery, lifecycle management and other products).
Recommendations
After close consideration of pros and cons of the top three brands of virtualization software, I would recommend using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V software. The rationale of this recommendation is based on:
good number of features included in the enterprise version of the hypervisor
user-friendly interface of this software
lower price when compared to vSphere
broad hardware compatibility.
These advantages clearly indicate that Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V is the most suitable software that our company can use.
Major Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Virtualization Software
Although virtualization software can bring many competitive advantages to any company, using such software can have some disadvantages as well.
The main pros of using Virtualization Software are the following (Ward, 2015):
less money spent on physical hardware, its replacement and maintenance
one single location from which all assets can be managed
reduced time for disaster backup and recovery
easy way to deploy a new machine, which enhances the company’s potential for expansion
safe and easy way to upgrade system and software licenses.
At the same time, there are the following disadvantages (Ward, 2015):
high cost of virtualization software and servers’ deployment
configuration process can be time-consuming and take many efforts
no way to move the virtual machine without moving the hardware key
there may be a problem with various hardware add-ons as they may not be supported by virtual machines.
However, the disadvantages of using virtualization software are insignificant, especially for Hertz Corporation. The company will be able to cut the costs it carries when buying new hardware, reduce the backup and recovery time. Also, the company can manage everything from one single location, which can save time spent on everyday activities.
Thus, after taken pros and cons of using virtualization software in general, and pros of using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V in particular, I believe that this software is the right fit for the Hertz Company.
Engagement in Virtualization
References
Bigelow, S. (2014). VM Cost Calculation Guide. TechTarget. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/feature/Computing-with-a-price-tag-VM-cost-calculation-guide
Citrix.com. (2015). Citrix XenServer ® 6.5 Installation Guide. Citrix. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/38322-102-714672/XenServer-6.5.0_Installation Guide.pdf
Davis, D. (2013). The Top 5 Enterprise Type 1 Hypervisors You Must Know. Virtualization Software. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from http://www.virtualizationsoftware.com/top-5-enterprise-type-1-hypervisors/
Microsoft.com. (2013). System Requirements for Windows Server 2012. Microsoft. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn383626(v=ws.11).aspx
Microsoft.com. (2016). Install Hyper-V and create a virtual machine. Microsoft. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846766(v=ws.11).aspx
Microsoft.com. (n.d.). How to buy Windows Server 2012. Microsoft. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/windows-server-2012-r2/Purchasing.aspx
Pracheta. (2014). VMware or Microsoft? Microsoft TechNet. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/pracheta/2014/01/21/vmware-or-microsoft-quick-comparison-between-vsphere-5-5-and-windows-server-2012-r2-hyper-v/
Vanover, R. (n.d.). Comparing Hyper-V R2, vSphere and XenServer 5.5 pros and cons. TechTarget. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/tip/Comparing-Hyper-V-R2-vSphere-and-XenServer-55-pros-and-cons
VMware.com. (n.d.). vSphere Installation and Setup. VMware. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-60-installation-setup-guide.pdf
Ward, D. (2015). The Pros and Cons of Virtualizing a Control System. Cross Integrated Systems. Retrieved 9 June 2016 from http://innovativecontrols.com/blog/pros-and-cons-virtualizing-control-system
