IBM Power servers vs. XenServer

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
IBM Power servers
Score 9.1 out of 10
N/A
The IBM Power product line is a family of servers.N/A
XenServer
Score 7.2 out of 10
N/A
XenServer (formerly Citrix Hypervisor) is a virtualization management platform optimized for application, desktop and server virtualization infrastructures.N/A
Pricing
IBM Power serversXenServer
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
IBM Power serversXenServer
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
IBM Power serversXenServer
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
IBM Power serversXenServer
Server Virtualization
Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Product A and Product B
IBM Power servers
-
Ratings
XenServer
6.6
11 Ratings
23% below category average
Virtual machine automated provisioning00 Ratings2.010 Ratings
Management console00 Ratings5.011 Ratings
Live virtual machine backup00 Ratings8.010 Ratings
Live virtual machine migration00 Ratings9.011 Ratings
Hypervisor-level security00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Best Alternatives
IBM Power serversXenServer
Small Businesses
Dell PowerEdge R
Dell PowerEdge R
Score 8.6 out of 10
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
HPE ProLiant DL
HPE ProLiant DL
Score 7.3 out of 10
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Z
IBM Z
Score 9.3 out of 10
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
VMware vSOM (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
IBM Power serversXenServer
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(208 ratings)
8.0
(11 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.6
(7 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(4 ratings)
6.1
(2 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(1 ratings)
5.5
(1 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(8 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
In-Person Training
-
(0 ratings)
2.7
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.7
(4 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
5.5
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
5.5
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(1 ratings)
6.4
(1 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
8.2
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
IBM Power serversXenServer
Likelihood to Recommend
IBM
I'd strongly recommend IBM Power servers to anyone who has the budget for it. A Power Virtual Machine, what is generally called FlexTB VM, can support as many small VM of 256GB, and scale up to 32TB on the fly. If IBM recommended architecture is combined with your organizational reference architecture, then forget about running into unplanned downtimes.
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XenServer
It can be really helpful & useful if we are using Citrix Hypervisor with other provisioning tools. Here are some specific scenarios where Citrix Hypervisor (formerly Citrix XenServer) is well-suited: Server Consolidation, Virtual Desktops, Disaster Recovery, Development & Testing Environments. On the other hand, there are some scenarios where Citrix Hypervisor may be less appropriate: Small-scale Deployments, Highly Heterogeneous Environments, and Limited Virtualization Requirements.
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Pros
IBM
  • I love how it supports a mix of operating systems
  • protection of our sensitive energy data and ensuring compliance with industry regulations.
  • It provides a flexibility that ensures that we can accommodate increased workloads without a complete overhaul of our infrastructure.
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XenServer
  • Citrix hypervisor does price very well for small organizations. It is free.
  • Since this product is open source it does not have any type of vendor lockdown issues.
  • Allows live migration of VM's so you can keep systems up and running when changes are needed to the hardware in the background.
  • The GUI management tools are quite easy to learn.
  • Has Snapshot capability which is a great way to protect against malware as well as do risk-free upgrades.
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Cons
IBM
  • A solid IDE for editing programs. SEU was simple and solid. Then it became outdated and support for it ended as the language continued to evolve. That's fine. But RDi is expensive and shaky at best, and VS Code, while free, is severely lacking even the modicum of features RDi has.
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XenServer
  • Adding or presenting additional storage to the host can often be a task that is far more involved than competitive products.
  • The product can require reboots more frequently than competitors due to the DOM kernel getting "hung up".
  • Sometimes when a virtual machine is deleted it still leaves behind orphaned vdisks.
  • Recovering from the loss of a host can sometimes cause virtual machines to require lengthy command prompt scripting to fix so they can be powered back on from another host.
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Likelihood to Renew
IBM
This is one of the best systems on the market. You can have Flash/Copy which created another LPAR to look like the system you are copying. This takes seconds and not minutes. Then you can use BRNS to do full system backups nightly with no downtime. I am ready for us to upgrade to a Power 10.
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XenServer
With the knowledge and usage of solutions from VMware and Microsoft offering more compelling cloud integrated options it makes it more compelling in many environments which I consult. XenServer is a good product and fits the bill in many smaller environments but as clients look to the cloud or a hybrid cloud it can in some cases make it a bit more difficult.
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Usability
IBM
They are very easy to set up and use once you re knowledgeable enough to deal with it. They are continuously enhance the user experience on the HMC and operations on the systems. Once setup it's like a beast, going on and on. I have experience with servers that are not being rebooted for more than 1000 days
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XenServer
XenServer is quite usable due to the simplicity the management and installation provide for an administrator. The console for management is very intuitive and can easily be installed on any Windows operating system. There is a relatively simple web console that can be implemented as well that enhances the usability to provide service to non-administrators.
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Reliability and Availability
IBM
In all of the years I have used various Power System, I have never had any problems at all. Even when hackers were attacking our email servers and many users PCs, the IBM Power System came out completely unscathed. I haven't even had any application errors that were able to take the system down. Nor have I ever experienced an unplanned outage
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XenServer
It's been a little problematic in the past at larger VDI deployments requiring a bit more care and feeding than other vendors. But the latest releases (6.5.x) have brought about huge improvements in the stability and availability.
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Performance
IBM
The IBM Power System is built for integration. It supports multiple operating systems and you can run multiple OS's on the same box with no problems at all. It also supports a number of open source languages such as PHP, Java, Python, and Perl which helps you continue to grow and integrate with lots of other systems.
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XenServer
When running like a top XenServer is a fantastic hypervisor. There is relatively low overhead on the Dom0 so workloads get the most of the resources.
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Support Rating
IBM
On large-scale systems, the rating would have been 10. However, I have seen some cases in more rural areas where the IBM onsite support is not as available or of the highest quality as in the past. For software support, there are sometimes instances of language barriers.
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XenServer
The staff I've worked with are very knowledgeable or able to get a very well articulated and capable support team member on the phone or helping them if necessary and they always want to ensure the best experience possible for you on the platform. The ability for the support team to reach out to hardware vendors for assistance is a nice plus too.
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In-Person Training
IBM
No answers on this topic
XenServer
Part of a training for certification to become a trainer for Citrix included an in-person training with a Master CCI. The XenServer training at this time was pretty simplified due to the product primarily being installed however you did have to work with it and mildly configure the system.
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Online Training
IBM
No answers on this topic
XenServer
Haven't given it a real go with any online training however there are some options out there. I have taught a course following Citrix material for XenDesktop which leverages XenServer and it is pre-built so not the best for XenServer specifically for installation but configuration is mildly touched on
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Implementation Rating
IBM
Systems are robust and you need to know exactly what your are going to do with them. There are multiple configurations possible and you need to gather your requirements first, before going on with the implementation. Tuning is a must before migrating production systems
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XenServer
Ensure you review the HCL (hardware compatibility list) and reach out to the hardware vendors to ensure they support the platform and in case they have documentation that can be followed for the implementation. Also ensure the prerequisites are completed prior to implementation so that as few unexpected delays occur as you can control.
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Alternatives Considered
IBM
Power server do not need a stack of software for viruses, spam and others... Power server do not need to have release often power server are much more strong then other manufacturer Power server do not need to restart offen
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XenServer
Feature for feature they are neck and neck. I have used Hyper-V 2012 and 2016, VMware ESXi and XenServer evenly. XenServer is a fast install, good documentation, with enterprise features out the box that compare or exceed what VMWare offered with a higher cost of entry.
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Scalability
IBM
This system can work in a small factory with a few users and easily scale out to thousands of users. It is truly amazing on how much you can throw at this box and it will just keep humming. It is great for use across multiple departments and even across multiple corporations. I worked at one company where we were hosting multiple corporations on just one large Power System and had ZERO problems.
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XenServer
The servers latest versions have made massive improvements to scalability. But from past experience there have been issues when running workloads for extended periods of time without reboot on the hosts. I would need to run similar workloads on the 6.5 release which has changed much of the bottlenecks or issues so I'd imagine its far more capable now, Perhaps able to stand near the best in the market.
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Return on Investment
IBM
  • In the event of a crash, IBM Power servers offer a variety of simple options to recover the operating system.
  • With the flexibility offered by IBM Power servers, the production business can be improved by making the most of its physical servers.
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XenServer
  • Xenserver is easy to learn. We paid for support only for installation and deployment in the first three years, and now our team has the knowledge to solve most problems.
  • Low CAPEX if you have a team that uses open source software day by day.
  • But paid support is necessary to solve critical problems. The open source community is not enough. Actually, we have difficulty solving some bugs without paying for support.
  • Medium OPEX if you have a team that uses open source software day by day.
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