In September 2008, VKernel announced its plans to deliver support for Microsoft Hyper-V in Q1 2009 in VKernel Capacity Analyzer and VKernel Chargeback. Fifteen months after its announcement and nine months after its scheduled delivery date, VKernel finally launched a beta version of only its Capacity Analyzer with support for Hyper-V.

Unlike its first-class support for VMware ESX, where it now faces competition from VMware vCenter CapacityIQ and VMware vCenter Chargeback, VKernel's support for Hyper-V has the following limitations and requirements:

1. Breaking of Virtual Appliance Encapsulation

VKernel Capacity Analyzer cannot work with Hyper-V without a new VKernel Capacity Analyzer Hyper-V Collector agent and a shared Microsoft SQL Server database. Because this agent and the database must run on Microsoft Windows, neither one can be deployed within the Linux-based virtual appliance running VKernel Capacity Analyzer.

2. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 Requirement

While many Microsoft customers are using Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, making it a system requirement for running a virtual appliance is going to be an issue for some customers.

3. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager must be integrated with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager

According to the user guide, VKernel Capacity Analyzer not only requires Microsoft System Center Operations Manager R2, but Operations Manager must also be integrated with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. Again, this is a feasible configuration but not a trivial requirement for a virtual appliance that should be self-contained.

4. Microsoft SQL Server Requirement

Instead of pulling data into its own database, VKernel Capacity Analyzer now requires Microsoft SQL Server database to be shared between the VKernel Capacity Analyzer and the VKernel Capacity Analyzer Hyper-V Collector agent. 

These limitations and requirements raise the following questions:

1. Why do enterprises running Microsoft Hyper-V have to be burdened with additional system requirements for running VKernel Capacity Analyzer compared to enterprises running VMware ESX?

2. Why can't VKernel Capacity Analyzer simply run as a self-contained virtual appliance on Microsoft Hyper-V and collect data directly from Microsoft Hyper-V hosts without additional requirements for systems management and commercial database products?

3. How much additional value would enterprises actually get from VKernel Capacity Analyzer if they are already running Microsoft System Center Operations Manager and Virtual Machine Manager?

To provide enterprises with virtualization management capabilities, Citrix offers Citrix Essentials for XenServer and Hyper-V in Enterprise and Platinum editions. What's interesting is that the pricing for the Hyper-V version is actually cheaper than it is for the XenServer version. In essence, Citrix is incentivizing customers to go with Hyper-V.

As of October 22, 2009 the per-server pricing is as follows:

• Citrix Essentials for XenServer, Enterprise Edition: $2,750 USD
• Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V, Enterprise Edition: $1,650 USD
• Citrix Essentials for XenServer, Platinum Edition: $5,500 USD
• Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V, Platinum Edition: $3,300 USD

In a nutshell, Citrix Essentials is

• $1,100 more expensive per physical server running XenServer for the Enterprise Edition
• $2,200 more expensive per physical server running XenServer for the Platinum Edition

 

  What's even more interesting is that Citrix even offers a free Citrix Essentials Express Edition for Hyper-V but not for XenServer.

Regardless of the underlying platform selected, Lanamark Suite supports virtual infrastructure solution design (including licensing calculations) for both Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V. Citrix Essentials in Enterprise and Platinum Editions as well as Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager can be included in the what-if scenarios presented to enterprise customers by Lanamark partners.

Citrix today announced that it will make Citrix XenServer Enterprise available at no charge to customers. How does its offering compare to that of Microsoft?

Since Microsoft Hyper-V is free and because Microsoft is making revenue from its System Center family of systems management products, this move will further align Citrix with Microsoft. Furthermore, because Citrix is going to support Hyper-V in its Citrix Essentials management package and because Microsoft is going to support Citrix XenServer in System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the virtualization offerings from both vendors are becoming increasingly symmetrical:

• Citrix XenServer Enterprise (free) with Citrix Essentials management applications ($).
• Microsoft Hyper-V (free) with System Center management applications ($).

That said, there are several areas where the offering from Citrix shines compared to the one from Microsoft:

Live Migration

• XenMotion is included with Citrix XenServer Enterprise.
• Microsoft is not going to have live migration capabilities until Windows Server 2008 R2 is released (in 2010 most likely).

Multi-server Management

• Citrix is giving away XenCenter for free to allow enterprises to manage multiple hosts.
• The equivalent Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager offering is priced at $869 USD per managed server. Alternatively, customers may purchase Virtual Machine Manager as part of the System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise at $1497 USD per managed server.

Lab Management and Stage Management

• Citrix partnered with VMLogix to include stage and lab management capabilities as part of Citrix Essentials.
  
• Microsoft is going to offer lab management capabilities as part of Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010.
  

It is clear that Citrix and Microsoft will continue creating a unified front against VMware. The most recent announcement from Citrix declaring extension of its 20-year partnership with Microsoft into server virtualization underscores this.

Regardless of whether Citrix XenServer Enterprise or Microsoft Hyper-V is the target virtualization platform, planning for these environments side-by-side is becoming increasingly important. Products such as Lanamark Suite and Novell PlateSpin Recon make this possible.

Learn more about the Sever Virtualization Design Module with support for Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V and other virtualization platforms.