I have been a big pusher of ESXi... Since I work in the K-12 sector, I get excellent vSphere pricing which is always a plus :) .
Back over 2 years ago when we evaluated Hyper-V, XenServer & vSphere, we found vSphere gives us more VM's per host and is much friendlier to mange with vCenter... vSphere seemed to work with almost anything out there and since we are now already vested with XenDesktop for our VDI deployment (500 desktops coming this summer), it makes sense to stick with something we know works and performs well. I was impressed with Hyper-V but had a terrible time with the management console and I couldn't get as many VM's per host as I got with vSphere. When I further thought about Hyper-V, it was more Windows than anything which of course requires regular patching which can be a pain.. I felt it was just not a good fit for our environment and would require more hands on.... If you work in K-12, you know we are the jack of all trades and if one of us isn't around, Another good reason we stayed with vSphere was the bare bone install and the low footprint on the server. It allowed us to install it on a SD card which in turn we didn't have to get any hard drives on the host (we redirect the logs to the SAN) which saved us about $500 per host. We use Veeam Backup and Replication for all of our backups and it has performed very well and has given us very reliable restore points in our environment. Sent from Outlook Web App/Exchange 2013 Sent from Exchange 2013 Matt Hawes 556 Ridgelawn Crown Point,IN 46307 (219)613-6319 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Microsoft Certified IT Specialist - Enterprise Administrator A+,Network +, Server + "I'd tell you a UDP joke but I'm afraid you won't get it. TCP jokes are the best because you always get them" ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Jeff S. Gottlieb <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2014 7:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [NTSysADM] Fun virtualization projects coming up We have several server refreshes coming up... our choices are ESXi, Hyper-V, or CITRIX XenServer. Was wondering if this is a forum to post concerns, experiences, and look forward to recommendations? Oddly, we haven't seen a single post regarding the above in the past. -J This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited.
