VMware vs Hyper-V

Gung Pow Chicken · March 22, 2015

So I've been doing a little more work on my laptop and I decided to make a nice little test lab, I've use VMware for years now on my desktop and at work. But I've been doing a little more work with Hyper-V lately, I was wondering if any of you guys have used either of them and what you think.

So the issues I'm having with Hyper-V are domain and network related.

So the domain I've got them added on in VMware is just adatum.com, with nearly no network issues, honestly I don't even know why I said nearly when I haven't had any yet. But when I try and replicate all of the machines in Hyper-V I always get issues with the macines dropping connections and failure to join the domain.

Plus the ram usage is worse in Hyper-V, at least that's what Task Manager is saying, I use roughly 20gb in VMware and 30 in Hyper-V. All of the workstations have the same configuration. So it must be the host applications that is using up more ram.

Pancake · March 22, 2015

The big point is that HyperV is free, and VMware workstation / ESXi is not free. VMware is the industry standard for virtualization, but there is nothing wrong with HyperV for smaller installations. VMware products just generally have a lot more features. But you can save a LOT of money by just using HyperV

What brand network card do you have? I have seen some realtek ones go screwy with HyperV. Intel is generally your best bet

tyrz_939 · March 22, 2015

I have seen some realtek ones go screwy with HyperV. Intel is generally your best bet

This, Hyper-V seems to have something against realtek. It refused to work for me once (and only once, It's been fine since!) even though it worked perfect outside of the virtual adapter.

I've been using Hyper-V at home but It's just for learning/game servers so I'll probably move to KVM/OpenVZ for learning outside my comfort zone. I like that Hyper-V is much closer to a type 1 hyperviser than VMware Workstation but as for how much that matters to you, I don't know. Go with what you feel comfortable with, for me since I got my hands on a Server 2012 R2 key and put it on my server I like Hyper-V more than anything else windows can run, Before that I had (free) ESXi but I wanted a usable native OS. If it's just for learning I would say why not try something new so you can learn it's quirks but if it's in a business setting and it has to work, go with what what you know (VMware).