VmWare or Proxmox/oVirt/...

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levak

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
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Hello!

I'm in a process of overhauling my network and server infrastructure and can't decide which way to go...

I already have SAN/NAS based on OmniOS and I will add 2 virtualization nodes to that setup which will host a couple VMs I need for myself(LAMP, transmission, tvheadend,...) and will also serve as a test/lab for learning about virtualization.

Currently I can't decide weather to go with ESXi or opensource solution. I'm using ESXi on a few servers and I tested proxmox on my local server for the last 3 months.

What will server me better on the long run? ESX would probably look better in my resume?
I want to experiment with HA/live migration. Is that possible on all platforms?
Which system is pickier with the hardware? Probably ESXi right?

Why would you decide for one or the other?

Matej
 
ESX still rules the roost as far as enterprise acceptance, especially if you're looking for resume fodder. Hyper-V is also solid. Xen is less common than those, given the general lack of effort that way in recent years. The rest are significantly different from those.
 
I read a little on the internet and I came to the same conclusion.

I think I will go with ESXi. Xen is becoming less popular and there is poor linux support in Hyper-V. At least that is what I read on the interwebs and since 3/4 of my VMs are linux, I really need good support for them.

If I go with ESXi, what "packages" would be good for start and get some basic knowledge, HA, vMotion,...

ESXi is essential:)

Would I need vCenter server? What's the purpose of it?
Would I need vSphere with Operations Management? What's the purpose of it?
What do I need for live migrations?
What do I need for doing some backup of VMs(preffered live ones)
What do I need to setup a cluster of 2 nodes?

Matej
 
vCenter is the central management system - you can run it for 60 days on a trial, but it's a paid licensing feature.
Ops Management is for enterprises - you probably don't want to blow the 16+G of RAM and 150+G of space to run it, unless you're learning it for work. It's also a very highly priced enterprise feature.
Live Migrations - shared storage and vCenter.
Backups - Same as live migrations at first, but Veeam has a free version that will do single-host.
Cluster- shared storage and basic networking and vCenter. :)

There are some quick and easy how-tos to get you started out there as well. Don't be afraid to ask questions!
 
Thanks for the answers...

I'm currently on version 5.1, since I have some old equipment which is not supported in 5.5 anymore. Are there any important changes in 5.5? Can I stay on 5.1 or is it advised to upgrade to 5.5?

I see there is an option for vCenter to have it either as a standalone appliance or as a Windows application. Which one should I use? Does Windows one have any advantages over standalone appliance?

If I install vCenter, do I manage hosts in vSphere client or do I manage everything from vCenter?

I already have a central storage based on OmniOS and ZFS. For storage I plan to use NFS to ZFS SAN. Is that smart or is iSCSI a better way?

Matej
 
For free version, very little that changed in 5.5 is useful to you.

The appliance is easiest, especially since you're on 60 day trials. Windows can do linked-mode, which you don't need, and scales higher (also don't need).

Once you install vCenter, you either use the webclient (built in to the vCenter machine, it's a web-page) or the vSphere client to VC to control things (your choice, I recommend the thick client to avoid building a box you can't manage with the thick client).

For ZFS, NFS is best.
 
levak said:
there is poor linux support in Hyper-V. At least that is what I read on the interwebs and since 3/4 of my VMs are linux, I really need good support for them.
Click to expand...

That's the problem with the Internet, especially with undated blog posts. Hyper-V did have a rocky start with Linux in part because the Linux crowd didn't take the advice they usually dish out and RTFM. There are lots of blog posts raging about no NIC support when all that needed to be done was to change a single setting and NICs in Linux would work just fine.

Centos/Redhat, Debian/Ubuntu, and SUSE are well supported, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn531030.aspx

Of course, if you run some sort of fringe distro then you may run into issues, though that's no different on ESXi.

Having said all that, VMware is a solid choice.

As far as resume goes virtualization skills are imho pretty much expected these days so you won't really stand out one way or another, only those who have no virtualization skills at all stand out. If you are actually job hunting then you really need to be at least familiar with vSphere and Hyper-V offerings, lots of corporate legacy systems run Xen because Citrix has been doing app virtualization years before founding VMware was even an idea in anyone's mind.
 
Thuleman:
Yea, I notices on some later posts the HyperV drivers were accepted to the main kernel and that not the support is much better. Some people still say it's quite PITA to use and AFAIK you need extra software for HA, I think it way Microsoft Hearbeat?

As far as virtualization skills go, that's exactly my point. I don't want to stand out saying I have no experience with virtualization:) That's why I need to do some training at home, since I have/will have the equipment to learn.

lopoete:
Ok, then I guess appliance will do:)
I read about Linked mode and no, I'm not going to need that:)

What are specs for normal performance of vCenter in case of 2 nodes. 4GB memory is enough?
Where is vCenter usually installed? On one of the nodes or is it on a standalone server?

Thanks for help everyone.

Matej
 
vCenter - take whatever the appliance deploys with and you'll be good forever.
It's normally installed on one of the nodes, yes :)
 
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