Hyper-V and VMware — Part 1: Usability

Posted on July 14th, 2009 by Gosia Grabowska

Hyper-V and VMware — Part 1: Usability

Which is better — Hyper-V or VMware?

Many will argue one way or another, but there is no real answer. The reality is that both of these are great virtualization solutions and it is up to you to choose the one that works best for your situation.

So today I have decided to do something different. Instead of comparing Hyper-V and VMware with different comparison tables and charts (as many websites have been doing) I want to talk about these two virtualization solutions as two separate entities.

I’m not going to push my opinions on you and tell you that one is superior over the other, instead I’m simply going to help you make the right decision by giving you all the facts.

Before you decide which solution to choose, you need to examine your current infrastructure, find out how many servers you are going to virtualize, what functionality and management options you are looking for, and how much your company is willing to invest in this project.

Once you have all these answers you can then look into the different virtualization solutions and decide which one would best fit your scenario. This is not an easy task so take your time and do your research.

Virtualization may save you tons of money and if done properly you can maximize these benefits, so take advantage — but don’t choose one over the other just because someone said it is “better”.

In today’s article I’m going to talk about Hyper-V and VMware’s usability — how easy it is to use their interfaces, what are some of their benefits, and how much training you are going to need before you’re able to utilize them.

Hyper-V Usability

Hyper-V is quite easy to understand and use, especially for Microsoft people. It has the Microsoft look and feel so you won’t have to get used to a different GUI.

The Hyper-V role is easy to install and the Hyper-V Manager is integrated into Server Manager so, as you can imagine, the look is identical.  You have all your Virtual Machines listed in the middle, followed below by their snapshots and some detailed information about the VMs.  On the right side you get a nice Actions column with all the necessary options.

ServerManager

So really, once you get Hyper-V installed, your virtual machines created, and servers migrated, it shouldn’t take long before you can fully manage your virtual infrastructure, especially if you’re used to Windows Server.

VMware Usability

VMware ESXi and vSphere are a little different and it may take some time to get used to for some people, especially for Microsoft guys and gals. But there is nothing difficult about it — it’s just different.

With ESXi (the free VMware version) you get a very nice window with multiple, easy to read tabs that are quite self explanatory.

ESXi

As for vSphere you have 3 management options. For those of us who love GUIs, you have vSphere client and vSphere Web Access. They are both very similar and very easy to understand — you get your tabs on top and necessary commands in the right column.

vSphere Client:

vSphereClient

vSphere Web Access:

vSphereWeb

Command-line junkies have their own way of managing vSphere. There is not much I can explain here though — you get a black window with a command prompt.

vSpherecommand

Once you get them installed and VMs configured you should be able to manage them pretty easily.

Linux/Unix people will probably love the command-line option for managing their VMs and the rest of us will probably pick either the Client or Web Access to do our jobs.

How Much Training Will You Need?

I think it’s a great idea to get some type of training on either one of the virualization solutions you select.  Sure you might be able to “figure things out” but the training will save you a lot of time and money, trust me.

By teaching yourself you will probably need lots of time in your test environment to do “trial and error” type of stuff, figuring things out, how they work, what they do, how the specific settings will affect your network, etc.  You will break things, maybe configure them incorrectly and therefore lose the cost efficiency that you are looking for.

Don’t get me wrong, trial and error and playing around with technology is a great way to learn, but it is much more efficient to have some guidance in the form of training. And I’m not just saying that because I work at Train Signal; I’ve passed my share of certifications and I’ve mastered many different technologies including virutalization.

Getting your hands on some training will eliminate all the frustration and you are not going to waste valuable time. You will get your questions answered and you will find out some awesome tips and tricks.

So get a book or a training video and get it done the right way.  Once you find out how, when, where and why — virtualization will not only be a breeze, it will be your favorite technology to use.

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