Windows Server 2012: Up and Running

Chapter 7. Hyper-V

If I had to pick the one sweet spot in Server 2012 that not only is a major impetus for organizations already running Windows to upgrade to Server 2012, but also has the potential to attract new Windows Server 2012 deployments, it would be Hyper-V.

Server 2012 introduces the latest version of Hyper-V: Hyper-V R3. Hyper-V R3 is bundled with Server 2012 and is also available as a free, standalone product.

Microsoft’s virtualization solution Hyper-V has gotten many new features and enhancements since Server 2008 R2’s release—so much so that Hyper-V has finally evolved into a sophisticated enough virtualization solution to make it a deadly threat for market share against dominant VMware.

Here’s a little background on the virtualization space. There are three major players in the virtualization market: Citrix, VMware, and Microsoft. The three have offerings targeted to both SMB (small- to medium-size business) and enterprise. VMware currently has the edge in market share. Microsoft, however, has been persistently making headway, and industry analysts report that Hyper-V is the second most widely used virtualization platform.

Those gains have been made in part from Microsoft’s fierce, almost obsessive competition with VMware. VMware has responded in kind, and both companies’ marketing machines have been busy churning out tables and charts that painstakingly compare VMware and Microsoft on features, scalability, total cost of ownership, and more. Neither VMware nor Microsoft ...