Virtualization comparison & reviews

Summary
Rank
5th 2nd 1st
Score
0%
0%
User Reviews
Question?
Not Enabled Not Enabled Not Enabled
Analysis expand Gica Livada
Romain Serre
by Roman Macek
Select All
General expand
0%
0%
0%
  • Fully Supported
  • Limitation
  • Not Supported
  • Information Only
Pros
  • + pending
  • + mature and feature-rich offering
  • + great ecosystem & support
  • + skills prevelant
  • + not specified
Cons
  • - pending
  • - needs clear strategy for public cloud future
  • - comprehensive capability but can become expensive
  • - NSX leading SDN solution but skills scarce
  • - not specified
  Content  
  •  
Content Creator
Enzo Raso (Citrix) and The VIRTUALIST
THE VIRTUALIST
THE VIRTUALISTS
  Assessment  
  •  
Overview
XenServer 7 Standard Edition includes Citrix support. XenServer 7.0 Standard Edition includes the following new features:
-Health Check
-Open FCoE support
-Software-boot-from-iSCSI for Cisco UCS
-Support Windows Server Containers
-Greatly increased configuration limits for host and guest memory as well as physical and virtual CPUs
-Static guest IP setting

For Standard vs Enterprise edition, please check: http://bit.ly/2ddQiVL
vSphere 6.5 Standard - Click Here For Overview
vSphere 6.0 - Click Here For Overview
  •  
Maturity
XenServer 7 Release date May 2016
Release Dates:
vSphere 6.5 : November 15th 2016
Release Dates:
vSphere 6.0 : Feb 2nd 2015 (ESX: 2001/2002, ESXi: Dec-2007) - more in details
  Pricing  
  •  
Virtualization
Open Source (free) or two commercial editions, pricing for Standard Edition is: Annual: $345 / socket, Perpetual: $763 / socket - both including 1 year of software maintenance.
Std: $995/socket + S&S:$273 (B) or $323 (Prod);
Std + Ops Mgmt: $1995 / socket + S&S:$419 (B) or $499 (Prod)
Ent+ :
$3,495/socket + S&S 1Y: $734 (B) or $874 (Prod)
  •  
Management
Free (XenCenter)
$5,995(Std) + $1,259(B) or $1,499 (P)
$4995(Std) + $1049(B) or $1249 (P)
  •  
Bundle/Kit Pricing
No
yes
See vSphere AK with OM
See vSphere with OM
  •  
Guest OS Licensing
No
VM Mobility and HA expand
0%
0%
0%
  VM Mobility  
  •  
Live Migration of VMs
Yes XenMotion (1)
Yes vMotion
- Cross vSwitch vMotion Only
Yes vMotion
  •  
Migration Compatibility
Yes (Heterogeneous Pools)
Yes (EVC)
Yes (EVC)
  •  
Maintenance Mode
Yes
Yes
NEW
Yes
  •  
Automated Live Migration
No Workload Balancing
No
Yes (DRS) - CPU, Mem, Storage IO
  •  
Power Management
No Workload Balancing
No
Yes (DPM), Enhanced Host Power Management (C-States)
  •  
Storage Migration
Yes (Storage XenMotion)
NEW
Yes (Live Storage vMotion)
Yes (Live Storage vMotion); including replicated VMs
  HA/DR  
  •  
Cluster Size
16 hosts / resource pool
max 64 nodes / 8000 vm per cluster
max 64 nodes / 8000 vm per cluster
NEW
  •  
Integrated HA (Restart vm)
Yes
Yes (VMware HA)
NEW
Yes (VMware HA)
NEW
  •  
Automatic VM Reset
No
Yes (VMware HA)
NEW
Yes (VMware HA)
  •  
VM Lockstep Protection
No
Yes (Fault Tolerance) 2 vCPUs.
NEW
Yes (Fault Tolerance) 4 vCPUs.
NEW
  •  
Application/Service HA
No
No
App HA
  •  
Replication / Site Failover
Integrated Disaster Recovery (no storage array control)
Yes (vSphere Replication)
DR Orchestration (Vendor Add-On: VMware SRM)
NEW
Limited (native): vSphere Replication
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: SRM )
Management expand
0%
0%
0%
  General  
  •  
Central Management
Yes (XenCenter)
Yes (vCenter Server Standard)
NEW
Yes (vCenter Server Standard + enhanced Web Client), enhanced vCSA, SSO
  •  
Virtual and Physical
No
Limited (plug-ins)
Limited (plug-ins)
  •  
RBAC / AD-Integration
Yes (hosts/XenCenter)
Yes (vCenter and ESXi hosts)
Yes (vCenter and ESXi hosts), enhanced SSO
  •  
Cross-Vendor Mgmt
No (native)
Yes (Vendor Add-On: CloudPlatform)
vRealize Automation (Vendor Add-On)
Limited (Free Add-On): Multi-Hypervisor Manager 1.1 ;
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: vCloud Automation Center)
  •  
Browser Based Mgmt
No (Web Self Service: retired)
Yes (vSphere Web Client, HTML5 Web Client)
Yes - Enhanced Web Client (with enhanced SSO and BDE)
  •  
Adv. Operation Management
No
Limited (native) - vCenter Operations
Full (with Vendor Add-On: vRealize Operations)
Limited (native) - vCenter Operations Manager Foundation
Full (with Vendor Add-On: VMware vRealize Suite)
  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)
NEW
Yes (Update Manager)
NEW
Yes (Update Manager)
  •  
VM Patching
No
Limited (Update Manager)
Limited (Update Manager)
  •  
Live VM Snapshot
yes
Yes
Yes
  •  
Backup Integration API
Limited
Yes (vStorage API Data Protection)
Yes (vStorage API Data Protection)
  •  
Integrated Backup
No (Retired)
Yes (vSphere Data Protection) - Replication of backup data, granular backup and scheduling
Yes (vSphere Data Protection) - Replication of backup data, granular backup and scheduling
  Deployment  
  •  
Automated Host Deployments
No
No
Yes - Auto Deploy
  •  
VM Templates
Yes
Yes (Content Library)
Yes (Multi-­‐Site Content Library)
NEW
  •  
Tiered VM Templates
vApp
Yes (vApp/OVF)
Yes (vApp/OVF)
NEW
  •  
Host Profiles
No
No
Yes (Host Profiles) - enhanced for Auto Deploy
  •  
Storage Profiles
No
Yes (Storage Based Policy Management)
Yes (Storage Policy-Based Management)
  Other  
  •  
Resource Pools
No
Limited (host-level only)
Yes
  •  
P2V
No (XenConvert: retired), V2V: yes
Yes (vCenter Converter)
Yes (VMware Converter)
  •  
Self Service Portal
No (Web Self Service: retired in XS6.2)
No
No (native)
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: vCloud Suite)
  •  
Orchestration / Workflows
Yes (Workflow Studio)
Yes (vRealize Orchestrator)
Yes (vCenter Orchestrator)
  •  
Security
Basic (NetScaler - Fee-Based Add-On)
Yes (ESXi Firewall, vShield Endpoint)
Free: ESXi Firewall, vShield Endpoint;
Advanced (with Vendor Add-On: NSX / vCloud Networking and Security)
  •  
Systems Management
Yes (API / SDKs, CIM)
vSphere’s REST API, PowerCLI, vSphere CLI, ESXCLI, Datacenter CLI
SNMPv3 +CIM, esxcli, vMA
Network and Storage expand
0%
0%
0%
  Storage  
  •  
Supported Storage
DAS, SAS, iSCSI, NAS, SMB, FC, FCoE, openFCoE
DAS, NFS, FC, iSCSI, FCoE (HW&SW), vFRC, SDDC
DAS, NFS, FC, iSCSI, FCoE (HW&SW), vFRC, SDDC
  •  
SAN Multipath
Yes (limited for SAS)
Yes (enhanced APD and PDL) PDL AutoRemove
Yes (enhanced APD and PDL) PDL AutoRemove
  •  
Shared File System
Yes (SR)
Yes (VMFS v6)
NEW
Yes (VMFS v5)
  •  
Boot From SAN
Yes (iSCSI, FC, FCoE)
Yes (FC, iSCSI, FCoE and SW FCoE)
Yes (FC, iSCSI, FCoE and SW FCoE - NEW)
  •  
Boot from USB
No
Yes
Yes
  •  
Virtual Disk Format
vhd, raw disk (LUN)
vmdk, raw disk (RDM)
vmdk, raw disk (RDM)
  •  
Max Disk Size
2TB
64TB
62TB for vmdk, RDM and snapshots
  •  
Thin Disk Provisioning
Yes (Limitations on block)
Yes
Yes (incl. SE Sparse Disk)
  •  
NPIV Support
No
Yes (RDM only)
Yes (RDM only)
  •  
Linked Images
Yes - Clone on boot, clone, PVS, MCS
No
No (native)
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: vCloud Suite)
  •  
SW Storage Replication
No
Yes (vSphere Replication)
Yes - vSphere Replication
  •  
Caching
IntelliCache
No
Yes (vSphere Flash Read Cache)
  •  
Virtual SAN
No
No (native)
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: vSAN 6.5)
No (native)
Yes (with Vendor Add-On: Virtual SAN 6.0)
  •  
Storage Integration (API)
Integrated StorageLink (deprecated)
No
Yes (VASA, VAAI and VAMP)
  •  
Storage QoS
Basic
Limited (basic, no SIOC)
Yes (SIOC) - incl. NFS
  Networking  
  •  
Advanced Network Switch
Yes (Open vSwitch) - vSwitch Controller
No
Yes (VDS), Various Improvements (for LACP, DSCP for QoS, filtering etc.)
  •  
NIC Teaming
Yes (incl. LACP - New)
Yes (no LACP Support)
Yes (up to 32 NICs)
  •  
VLAN
Yes (limited for mgmt. traffic)
Yes
Yes
  •  
PVLAN
No
No
Yes
  •  
IPv6
Yes (guests only)
Yes
Yes
  •  
I/O Pass-Through
SR-IOV
VMDirectPath (No SR-IOV)
Yes (SR-IOV and VMDirectPath)
  •  
Jumbo Frames
Yes
Yes
Yes
  •  
Offload Support
Yes (TSO)
Yes (TSO, NetQueue, iSCSI)
Yes (TSO, NetQueue, iSCSI)
  •  
Network QOS
Yes (outgoing)
Limited (no NetIOC)
Yes (NetIOC), DSCP - NEW
  •  
Traffic Monitoring
Yes (Port Mirroring)
No
yes (Port Mirroring)
Hypervisor expand
0%
0%
0%
  General  
  •  
Hypervisor Details/Size
XenServer 7.0: Xen 4.6 -based
NEW
Virtual Hardware version 13
Virtual Hardware version 11
  Host Config  
  •  
Max Consolidation Ratio
1000 VMs per host
NEW
1024 VMs
2048 VMs
  •  
Max CPU / Host
288 (logical)
NEW
576 physical
480 physical
  •  
Max Cores per CPU
unlimited
unlimited
unlimited
  •  
Max Memory / Host
5TB
12TB (EXCLUDING Reliable Memory Technology)
12TB
  VM Config  
  •  
Max vCPU per VM
32
NEW
128 vCPU
128 vCPU
NEW
  •  
Max RAM per VM
1.5TB
NEW
6TB
NEW
4TB
NEW
  •  
Serial Ports
No
32 (no vSPC)
NEW
32 ports
NEW
  •  
USB Support
No (except mass storage)
Yes (USB 1.x, 2.x and 3.x) with max 20 USB devices per vm
Yes (USB 1.x, 2.x and 3.x) with max 20 USB devices per vm
  •  
Hot Add/Plug
Yes (disk, NIC)
Yes (CPU, Mem, Disk, NIC, PCIe SSD)
Yes (CPU, Mem, Disk, NIC, PCIe SSD)
  •  
Graphic Acceleration
Yes
NEW
No
Yes (NVIDIA vGPU)
NEW
  Memory  
  •  
Dynamic / Over-Commit
Yes (DMC)
Yes (Memory Ballooning)
Yes (Memory Ballooning)
  •  
Memory Page Sharing
No
Yes (Transparent Page Sharing)
Yes (Transparent Page Sharing)
  •  
Large Pages
No
Yes
Yes
  •  
HW Memory Translation
Yes
Yes
Yes
  Interoperability  
  •  
OVF Support
Yes, incl. vApp
Yes
Yes
  •  
HW Compatibility
Improving
Very Comprehensive (see link)
Very Comprehensive (see link)
  •  
Guest OS Support
Good
NEW
Very Comprehensive (see link)
Very Comprehensive (see link)
  •  
Container Support
Yes
No
NEW
  •  
Scripting / APIs
Yes (SDK, API, PowerShell)
Web Services API/SDK, CIM, Perl, .NET, Java SDKs, Client Plug-In API, vSphere Clip, vMA
Web Services API/SDK, CIM, Perl, .NET, Java SDKs, Client Plug-In API, vSphere Clip, vMA
  •  
Cloud API
CloudStack APIs, support for AWS API and OpenStack
No (vCloud API)
vCloud API
Extensions expand
0%
0%
0%
  Cloud  
  •  
Overview Cloud
CloudPlatform; OpenStack
NEW
No
vCloud Suite (private), vCloud Hybrid Service (hybrid/public), Pivotal Spin-off
  Desktop Virtualization  
  •  
Overview VDI
Citrix Desktop Virtualization (XenDesktop & XenApp 7.6 - NEW; ViaB; associated products)
VMware Horizon 7 (Vendor Add-On)
VMware Horizon Suite (Vendor Add-On)
  1  
  •  
Virtual SAN
no
vSAN 6.5 (Vendor Add-On)
Vendor Add-On: Virtual SAN
  2  
  •  
Application Management
Vendor Add-On: XenDesktop
EdgeSight, Director
App Volumes
VMware vFabric Hyperic - (disc.)
  3  
  •  
Security Add On
Vendor Add-Ons: NetScaler Gateway, App Firewall, CloudBridge, Direct Inspection API
NEW
NSX (Vendor Add-On)
NSX (Vendor Add-On)
  4  
  •  
Workflow / Orchestration
Workflow Studio (incl.)
vRealize Orchestrator
Orchestrator (incl.)
  5  
  •  
Site Failover
Integrated Site Recovery (incl.)
Site Recovery Manager (Vendor Add-On)
Site Recovery Manager - (Fee- Based Add-On)
  6  
  •  
Chargeback
Vendor Add-On: CloudPortal Business Manager, CloudStack Usage Server (Fee-Based Add-Ons)
NEW
vRealize Business (Vendor Add-On)
vCenter Chargeback Manager (Vendor Add-On - discontinued for non Service Providers)
  7  
  •  
Network Extensions
No
yes (IBM 5000v and Cisco Nexus 1000v) - (Fee- Based Add-On)

Matrix Score

  •  
  •  
  • Citrix
  • Microsoft
  • VMware
  •  
  • 5 th
  • 2 nd
  • 1 st
X
Login to access your personal profile

Forgot your Password?
X
Signup with linkedin
X

Registered, but not activated? click here (resend activation link)

Login to access your personal profile

Receive new comparison alerts

Show me as community member

I agree to your Terms of services

GDPR