Hyper-V 2012 without SCVMM

Z

zero1945

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Messages
139
I am starting to take a serious look at Server 2012 with Hyper-V as a replacement for VMware for small client implementations. By small, I mean 2 or 3 host setups with a SAN (or even SMB 3.0 eventually).

Hyper-V is cheaper but the calculation changes when you factor in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 which is a costly add-on.

For a small setup, it looks like SCVMM doesn't buy you a lot.

What is everyone doing here? Are you purchasing SCVMM for small environments?
 
I'm not. I love both of the big two (What's a XenServer?), and I don't see any major need for SCVMM if you've got a basic install. For major installations, of course, but not for anything small with a light cluster.
 
I would not get SCVMM for just a 2 or 3 host setup. Its great, but not really needed for that small of an environment.
 
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SCVMM is wayyy too much complexity for a small deployment. You will consume a huge % of your resources by using it in a small setup (since it needs not only a VM for itself, but also SQL)

I ran it on my 2 host setup (around 10 VMs) and it did not provide anything but complexity. The main power in SCVMM is for doing automated deployments, but with only a couple hosts you are not doing that many deployments anyhow. It also has nicer reporting, but again for a small deployment you really dont need it.

All the other good stuff is built right into Hyper-V (Live Migrations, Replication, Power Mgmt (Auto start and priorities), disk management, current status, etc.

The one thing I did find you need SCVMM for is Citrix, as Xen desktop/app interface with the SCVMM APIs, but I moved over to RemoteApp so I dont need it anymore.
 
I am seriously considering Hyper-V to replace VMware for small deployments.

I can really reduce costs if I can eliminate the SAN in favor of a quality file server running SMB 3.0.
 
You can install full server 2012 and just add the Hyper-V role. Just RDP into it and admin it. There are a couple of programs out there for managing hyper-v also.
http://vtutilities.com/
http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/HVRemote
not 2012 compatible yet
http://www.manageengine.com/free-hyper-v-configuration/free-hyper-v-configuration-index.html

SCVMM is nice and we will be getting it soon. Only have 3 hosts, but with our edu discounts it ends up being $200 a year for the Datacenter System center license.
 
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