FEATURES
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RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION
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VMWARE VSPHERE 5.5
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MICROSOFT HYPER-V 2012
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HYPERVISOR
Bare-metal hypervisor can be installed directly on the server hardware without a full operating system.
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Small footprint of <200MB
|
Y
|
Y
|
N
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Guest device
drivers are optimized for virtualization, resulting in high performance
network and disk operations.
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
Red Hat
Enterprise Linux guests require
installation of the Linux integration services.
|
Certified on all
hardware certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including the latest Intel
Xeon and AMD Opteron chipsets
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
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SCALABILITY LIMITS
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Per
Cluster
|
|
|
|
Cluster
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200
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32
|
64
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Per Host
|
|
|
|
Max
cores per host
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160
|
160
|
160
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Max
Ram per host
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3TB/host
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4TB/host
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4TB/host
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Max
virtual CPUs per host
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No limit
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4096
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2048
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Per
virtual machine (VM)
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|
|
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Max
vCPUs per VM
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160 vCPU/vm
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32 vCPU with standard or Enterprise Edition
64 vCPU with Enterprise Plus Edition
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64 vCPUs/VM for Win 2012, Win 2008, and Win
7
32 vCPUs/VM for Linux requires the
installation of the new Linux integration services
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Max
vRAM per VM
|
2TB/VM
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1TB/VM
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1TB/VM
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GUEST OS SUPPORT
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Guest
OS Support
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Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2010, 2012,
Windows XP, 7 and 8 (32bit and 64bit)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, 5, 6 (x86
and x64)
Vendor support for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10, 11
Other OS are known to work and are
community supported
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Windows, Linux, UNIX (x86 and x64)
Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8
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Windows 2003, 2008, 2012 (certain SPs only)
Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8
SLES
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5+, 6+ (certain
releases only)
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MEMORY MANAGEMENT
|
Memory
overcommitment: Allows the allocation of more virtual memory to its VMs than
the host has physical memory
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
dynamic memory only available with some
Microsoft operating systems
|
Memory
page sharing: Enables VMs with similar
operating systems to share physical memory
|
Y
|
Y
|
N
|
Transparent
huge pages: Large memory pages can be dynamically created for
VMs that require them
|
Y
|
Y
|
N
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MANAGEMENT FEATURES
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High
Availability
|
|
|
|
VM
restart in case of host failure
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Y
|
Y
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Y
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Restart
order can be prioritized, allowing the most critical VMs to be restarted first
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
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No
single point of failure for high
availability
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Maintenance
mode: Guest VMs of hosts undergoing
maintenance are automatically migrated
to other available hosts
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
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High
availability for enterprise management module: Automatic fail over to stand-by management server in the event
of a primary server failure
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
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MIGRATION
|
|
|
|
VM
live migration
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Y
|
Y
|
Y
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Storage
live migration
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Y
|
Y
Requires Enterprise or Enterprise Plus
|
Y
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WORKLOAD AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
|
System
scheduler: Cluster policies
automatically distribute workload evenly across cluster host servers
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Y
|
Y
requires Enterprise or Enterprise Plus
|
Y
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Power
saver: During off-peak hours, concentrates VMs on fewer hosts to save power
|
Y
|
Y
requires Enterprise or Enterprise Plus
|
Y
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Storage
load balancing: Automatically balance storage I/O and storage capacity
|
Y
|
Y
requires Enterprise Plus
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Y
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Shared
resource pools: CPU, memory, and storage resources are aggregated and managed
at the cluster level.
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
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Hot
add VM NICs, Disk: Add networks and disk storage to running VMs
|
Y
|
Y
requires Enterprise or Enterprise Plus
|
Y
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Hot
add VM vCPUs and RAM: Add more vCPUs and RAM to running VM (guest operating
system and application must support feature)
|
N
|
Y
requires Enterprise or Enterprise Plus
|
N
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IMAGE MANAGEMENT
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Thin
provisioning: Virtual disks don’t use all of their allowed space upon creation.
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Templates:
VMs can be deployed from master installations.
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
VM
snapshots: Roll back patches and upgrades
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Live
VM snapshots: Snapshot a running VM
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Import/export
VMs in the standard OVF format
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
VM
conversion: Includes tools to convert VMs from other formats to native format
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
VM
backup: Certified third-party
solutions are available for backing up virtual servers (for both data and
operating system backup).
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION AND CONTROL
|
Single
view for centralized control
|
Y
|
Y
|
N
requires multiple management tools
|
Host
and VM system monitoring and management
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Self
service user portal: Provides administrative access to users for
creating/running VMs and managing the environment
|
Y
|
N
requires purchase of VMware Lab Manager
deprecated or vCloud Director with Enterprise Plus
|
Y
limited capability through SC2012 App
Controller
|
Roles
and permissions: Granular, inheritable, directory-based security roles for all actions and objects
|
Y
|
Y
|
N
requires Authorization Manager
|
Identity
management: User authentication domains supported
|
Y
choice
of Active directory, IPA, Red Hat Directory Services, or IBM Tivoli
Directory Server
|
Y
|
Y
AD only
|
Remote
console: Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager includes access to VMs
using a secure graphical console
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Remote
network boot via PXE (Preboot Execution Environment)
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
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REPORTING AND MONITORING
|
Provides
customizable reporting for historic usage, trending, and quality of service
|
Y
|
N
Requires vCenter CapacityIQ
|
Y
LIMITED
|
Alerts
and notifications: Errors and warnings are immediately reported to
administrators via email
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Logging:
Supports remote logging and crash analysis
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Guest
agents: Enables monitoring of VM health and status
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
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INTEGRATION, AUTOMATION, AND CUSTOMIZATION
|
API:
Programmatic access to all management commands
|
Y
all open
|
N
some proprietary/closed, some open
|
N
some proprietary/closed, some open
|
Scripting
and automation of management commands
|
Y
Linux Python-based CLI
|
Y
Powershell-based CLI
|
Y
Powershell-based CLI
|
Hooks:
Used to run system commands or to execute scripts that modify VM operation
|
Y
|
Y
LIMITED
|
N
|
SECURITY
|
Kernel
level: Includes SELinux and sVirt for an effective intrusion detection,
isolation, and containment
|
Y
|
N
application layer security with add-on
vShield products
|
N
application layer security
|
Small
hypervisor footprint minimizes attack surface
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
NETWORKING
|
Device
support: All network hardware and interfaces are certified for Red Hat
Enterprise Linux
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
vLANs:
Support for virtual LANs are inside the virtual infrastructure
|
Y
|
Y
|
Hyper-V Network Virtualization
|
Support
for OpenStack Neutron networking
|
Y
Supports OpenvSwitch and Linux Bridge 2
|
N
Only supports VMware NSX 3
|
Y
Supports OpenvSwitch 4
|
Network
offload: Offloads virtual networking and network I/O to compatible NIC
hardware
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Supports
jumbo frames
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
STORAGE
|
Supports
iSCSI, FC, and NFS shared storage infrastructure
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Includes
native support for Red Hat Storage Server, including a built-in GlusterFS
Storage domain and datacenter type that use Gluster as the storage back-end
|
Y
|
N
|
N
|
Storage
multipathing: Redundant path to storage for fault tolerance and enhanced
performance
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Local
disk support
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Supports
storage domains backed by POSIX-compliant file systems
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Shared
disks: Includes disks that are shared by multiple VMs at the same time
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
Direct
LUN support: Provides the ability to directly attach any block device to a VM
as a disk
|
Y
|
Y
|
Y
|
