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Linux - Virtualization and Cloud This forum is for the discussion of all topics relating to Linux Virtualization and Linux Cloud platforms. Xen, KVM, OpenVZ, VirtualBox, VMware, Linux-VServer and all other Linux Virtualization platforms are welcome. OpenStack, CloudStack, ownCloud, Cloud Foundry, Eucalyptus, Nimbus, OpenNebula and all other Linux Cloud platforms are welcome. Note that questions relating solely to non-Linux OS's should be asked in the General forum.

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View Poll Results: which do you use and prefer
Red Hat VM software 4 40.00%
VMware software 6 60.00%
Voters: 10. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 06-29-2011, 06:26 AM   #1
unix1adm
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doin research Vmware vs Red Hat vm


My company is using VMware to host several windows and Red Hat environments.

We are considering the Red Hat VM solution. So I am trying to get a feel for a few things from people that have used both or one or the other.

We would use it (starting off) for our Red Hat systems only.
Right now our RH environment co-exists with windows systems. We are considering building a new Linux farm so we have more control over it.

Trying to see if its worth our time to have them come in and do their sales pitch.

1 cost factor licensing etc.
2 cost of ownership on going
3 care and feeding of the RH vm environment.
4 ease of setup
5 reliability
6 performance of host os
7 ease of updating / upgrading host os and patching
8 any other thoughts people have.
9 anything i might have not thought of feel free to post.

Last edited by unix1adm; 06-29-2011 at 06:33 AM.
 
Old 06-29-2011, 06:37 AM   #2
acid_kewpie
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well firstly you need to decide what you're comparing. Sorry to sound pedantic, but you are *NOT* using VMware. You are using one of the virtualization products that VMware produce. What is it? ESX? Server? ESXi?

And what "Red Hat VM" are you referring to? Just KVM or RHEV?

And of course you need to understand what you NEED from your virtualization. ESX with vSphere does a hell of a lot more than RHEV, but if you don't need that functionality, who cares?
 
Old 06-29-2011, 09:00 AM   #3
unix1adm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by acid_kewpie View Post
well firstly you need to decide what you're comparing. Sorry to sound pedantic, but you are *NOT* using VMware. You are using one of the virtualization products that VMware produce. What is it? ESX? Server? ESXi?

And what "Red Hat VM" are you referring to? Just KVM or RHEV?

And of course you need to understand what you NEED from your virtualization. ESX with vSphere does a hell of a lot more than RHEV, but if you don't need that functionality, who cares?
Thank you I am not familiar with the VM terms. I just do the OS client side of things.

We are using ESX with VSphere.

I know what a KVM is but I am guessing you are talking about something different.

We are considering Red Hat virtualization similar to Vmware ESX if that helps.

Sorry for sounding dumb but VM software is new to me. I am reading a lot of different google hits.
 
Old 06-29-2011, 09:08 AM   #4
acid_kewpie
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Well As far as a feature comparison would go, you would be looking at RHEV IF you want the features like centralized management, automatic machine migration and monitoring. RHEV uses KVM for the actual virtualization, so if you use RHEV you use KVM. RHEV is very not free though, whilst you can have a bunuch of KVM hosts humming away fine, and just manage them with other tools. It really depends what you actually need from virt in the first place...
 
Old 06-29-2011, 03:52 PM   #5
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if you _are_ talking about RHEV you might want to get in touch with RH and ask for a demo.
 
Old 06-30-2011, 09:26 AM   #6
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I've looked at both. Here's the deal from my point of view and my somewhat limited research.

RHEV will do much of what VMWare ESX(i) does. It's got some catching up to do, but for MOST environments I think it would handle what is thrown at it. I don't believe it scales as well as VMWare does in terms of how many VM's running on the same hardware. Also there may be subtle differences in supported OS's and amounts of RAM and Virtual Processors you can devote to a VM.

Cost wise, the REAL difference is the cost of entry. VMWare is MUCH more expensive to get into. BUT, and this is a big one... the cost to maintain going forward is about the same. VMWare maintenance is about the same as the RedHat Subscription (for the VMWare gold service i believe, it would be more expensive for the higher level VMware support).

What I'm getting at is.... if you already have VMWare, stick with it. It's not costing you more year over year than RHEV would and it's a more mature product.

If you're looking at a new office or new location, then you should consider the RHEV (RedHat Enterprise Virtualization) product. It will save several thousands of dollars in acquisition costs.

I hope that helps a little.
 
Old 06-30-2011, 12:44 PM   #7
dyasny
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I don't believe it scales as well as VMWare does in terms of how many VM's running on the same hardware.
what makes you say that? any comparison tests done?
 
Old 06-30-2011, 02:41 PM   #8
acid_kewpie
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dyasny View Post
what makes you say that? any comparison tests done?
I did see a study recently which did highlight this issue. The very same VMware funded study did also highlight the fact that ESX works better with 11 hosts than with 10 or 12, so make of that what you will...
 
Old 07-01-2011, 07:17 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by acid_kewpie View Post
I did see a study recently which did highlight this issue. The very same VMware funded study did also highlight the fact that ESX works better with 11 hosts than with 10 or 12, so make of that what you will...
I wouldn't trust vendor-funded studies word for word

I did however see specvirt researches, which do seem to be objective
 
Old 07-06-2011, 06:53 AM   #10
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if you _are_ talking about RHEV you might want to get in touch with RH and ask for a demo.
Yes we are thinking of having them come in. I am just trying to figure out if its worth my time as we have many project on the burners now. This would take resources from them and us.
 
Old 07-06-2011, 06:55 AM   #11
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thank you all for the good input and keep it coming.
 
  


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