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35th 12th 4th
Total SCORE
60%
86%
58%
Enhanced Analysis Not Enabled Not Enabled Not Enabled
Pros
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Cons
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User Reviews
Details (by section) Expand All Data
General
60%
86%
58%
Content
Content Creator
The VIRTUALIST and Enzo Raso (Citrix)
VENDOR-Submitted (IBM GTS)
Click here for details and disclaimer.
THE VIRTUALISTS
Assessment
Overview
XenServer 7.3 Standard Edition includes Citrix support. XenServer 7.3 extends alignment with XenApp and XenDesktop release cycles while the expanded XenServer Enterprise entitlement ensures you can leverage unique app and desktop performance integrations only available with XenServer. For Standard vs Enterprise edition, please check: http://bit.ly/2ddQiVL
NEW
PowerVM 2.2.2. (Express, Standard or Enterprise Edition)
Includes VIO 2.2, HMC V7.7.7, Power Systems firmware.
Optional PowerVC
Optional PowerVP
Optional PowerSC
Optional System Director with VMControl
vSphere 6.0 Enterprise Plus with Operations Management - Click Here For Overview
Maturity
XenServer 7.3 Release date December 2017
Mature and stable technology.
Latest version of PowerVM, published in 2013.
First version published in 2004, under the name of APV: Advanced Power Virtualization.
Release Dates:
vSphere 6.0 : Feb 2nd 2015 (ESX: 2001/2002, ESXi: Dec-2007) - more in details
Market Position
Pricing
Virtualization
Open Source (free) or two commercial editions, pricing for Standard Edition is: Annual: $763 / socket, Perpetual: $1525/ socket - both including 1 year of software maintenance.
Greatly varies: Starts at 280$ OTC and 200$ 3-year maintenance for a 4 core P710 with express edition
OM Ent+ :
$4,245/socket + S&S 1Y: $891 (B) or $1061 (Prod)
Management
Free (XenCenter)
Included in Virtualization cost (IVM, HMC, FSM).
$4995(Std) + $1049(B) or $1249 (P)
Bundle/Kit Pricing
Yes
No
See vSphere AK with OM
See vSphere with OM
Guest OS Licensing
No
No
No
VM Mobility and HA
60%
86%
58%
VM Mobility
Live Migration of VMs
Yes XenMotion
Live Partition Mobility. Application Live Mobility
Yes vMotion
Migration Compatibility
Yes (Heterogeneous Pools)
Yes, between Power6 and Power7 technology.
Yes (EVC)
Maintenance Mode
Yes
Yes
Yes
Automated Live Migration
No, Workload Balancing
Yes
Yes (DRS) - CPU, Mem, Storage IO
Power Management
No Workload Balancing
Integrated Power management, plus additional features using Active Energy management.
Yes (DPM), Enhanced Host Power Management (C-States)
Storage Migration
Yes (Storage XenMotion)
Yes, with Shared Storage Pools, or using SVCs.
Yes (Live Storage vMotion); including replicated VMs
HA/DR
Cluster Size
16 hosts / resource pool
HA/DR independent from Virtualization layer (PowerHA)
max 64 nodes / 8000 vm per cluster
NEW
Integrated HA (Restart vm)
Yes
Possible using the VMControl option.
Yes (VMware HA)
NEW
Automatic VM Reset
No
No
Yes (VMware HA)
VM Lockstep Protection
No
No
Yes (Fault Tolerance) 4 vCPUs.
NEW
Application/Service HA
No
Yes (PowerHA). Outside of Virtualization toolset
App HA
Replication / Site Failover
Integrated Disaster Recovery (no storage array control)
Yes (PowerHA). Outside of Virtualization toolset
Limited (native): vSphere Replication
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: SRM )
Management
60%
86%
58%
General
Central Management
Yes (XenCenter)
Yes.( HMC, IVM, FSM)
Yes (vCenter Server Standard + enhanced Web Client), enhanced vCSA, SSO
Virtual and Physical
Limited (plug-ins)
NEW
Yes.(Various level of management, using only PowerVM or additional tools: System Director with VMControl, PowerVC)
Limited (plug-ins)
RBAC / AD-Integration
Yes (hosts/XenCenter)
Yes, on VIO.
Yes (vCenter and ESXi hosts), enhanced SSO
Cross-Vendor Mgmt
No (native)
Yes (Vendor Add-On: CloudPlatform)
Not with the base Virtualization (PowerVM). Yes with the extension (PowerVC) virtualization management tool.
Limited (Free Add-On): Multi-Hypervisor Manager 1.1 ;
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: vCloud Automation Center)
Browser Based Mgmt
Not directly with XenCenter but possible with XenOrchestra (Open Source)

More info: http://bit.ly/2m7FVIG
Yes
Yes - Enhanced Web Client (with enhanced SSO and BDE)
Adv. Operation Management
No
Yes
vRealize Operations Edition Standard
Updates and Backup
Hypervisor Upgrades
The XenCenter released with XenServer 7.0 allows updates to be applied to all versions of XenServer (commercial and free)
Yes
Yes (Update Manager)
VM Patching
No
Yes, but independent from the Virtualization products. SUMA, NIM,
Limited (Update Manager)
Live VM Snapshot
Yes
Possibility exists to backup an image online (mksysb for AIX), but independent from the virtualizaiton tools.The Shared Storage Pool feature of VIO also supports a snapshot feature.
Yes
Backup Integration API
Limited
Yes. TSM,
Yes (vStorage API Data Protection)
Integrated Backup
No (Retired)
No
Yes (vSphere Data Protection) - Replication of backup data, granular backup and scheduling
Deployment
Automated Host Deployments
No
Yes, with PowerVC, FSM, System Director
Yes - Auto Deploy
VM Templates
Yes
Yes. Using NIM or PowerVM.
Yes (Multi-­‐Site Content Library)
NEW
Tiered VM Templates
vApp
Yes, using FSM or System Director
Yes (vApp/OVF)
NEW
Host Profiles
No
Yes
Yes (Host Profiles) - enhanced for Auto Deploy
Storage Profiles
No
Click for Details
Yes (Storage Policy-Based Management)
Other
Resource Pools
No
Yes. Multiple Shared processor Pools
Yes
P2V
No (XenConvert: retired), V2V: yes
Not needed. Servers are Virtual. No physical servers since Power5.
Yes (VMware Converter)
Self Service Portal
No (Web Self Service: retired in XS6.2)
yes, with additional Cloud tools.
No (native)
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: vCloud Suite)
Orchestration / Workflows
Yes (Workflow Studio)
Yes, with additional Cloud tools.
Yes (vCenter Orchestrator)
Security
Basic (NetScaler - Fee-Based Add-On)
Yes, built-in powerVM, VIO and HMC. Possibility for additional Security features using PowerSC.
Free: ESXi Firewall, vShield Endpoint;
Advanced (with Vendor Add-On: NSX / vCloud Networking and Security)
Systems Management
Yes (API / SDKs, CIM)
Yes, built-in, plus agents for additional management (Tvoli, BMC, CA, HP etc. agents for VIOs).
SNMPv3 +CIM, esxcli, vMA
Network and Storage
60%
86%
58%
Storage
Supported Storage
DAS, SAS, iSCSI, NAS, SMB, FC, FCoE, openFCoE
FC, SCSI, FCO, SAS, SATA, …?
DAS, NFS, FC, iSCSI, FCoE (HW&SW), vFRC, SDDC
SAN Multipath
Yes (limited for SAS)
Yes: MPIO, SDPCM, PowerPath, …
Yes (enhanced APD and PDL) PDL AutoRemove
Shared File System
Yes (SR)
Yes: NFS, GPFS, SSP
Yes (VMFS v5)
Boot From SAN
Yes (iSCSI, FC, FCoE)
Hypervisor: Not Applicable
VIO: Yes: FC, NPIV, SCSI, vSCSI
Yes (FC, iSCSI, FCoE and SW FCoE - NEW)
Boot from USB
No
No
Yes
Virtual Disk Format
vhd, raw disk (LUN)