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Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) vs. VMware vSOM (discontinued)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    KVM

    Score9.5 out of 10
    N/AKernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a virtualization solution developed by small Israeli software company Qumranet and supported by Red Hat since that company's acquisition in 2008.N/A

    VMware vSOM (discontinued)

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AVSOM from VMware was a solution that delivered vSphere server virtualization, and also added capacity management and performance monitoring features. It is discontinued as of February 2019. Users were migrated to VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus and VMware vRealize Operations Standard.N/A
    Pricing
    KVMVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    KVMVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    KVMVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Server Virtualization
    Comparison of Server Virtualization features of Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) and VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Feature
    Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)
    9.2
    6 Ratings
    13% above category average
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    10.0
    1 Ratings
    21% above category average
    Virtual machine automated provisioning7.05 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Management console10.04 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Live virtual machine backup10.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Live virtual machine migration10.05 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Hypervisor-level security9.04 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    KVMVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Small Businesses
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    VMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Score10 out of 10
    Proxmox VE
    Score9.2 out of 10
    Enterprises
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    IBM PowerVM
    Score9.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    KVMVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    KVMVMware vSOM (discontinued)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Red Hat
    KVM is the best solution in the case you need to test and turn up any virtual environment with limited vCPU/RAM resources. The obvious area of its use is a network environment when we want to avoid being tied to one type of hardware/vendor and being able to swap from one instance to another with no downtimes. The use of a vSwitch (that supports VLAN tagging) is a significant bonus for network engineers that some other hypervisors do not provide.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    Vsphere Operation Management is suitable for automating the process of bringing up an alternate data center in case of a disaster. It also is a great way for testing your readiness of disaster. You have the ability to bring up a server in a "bubble" for testing. This way you can show your admins how the failover process will work.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Red Hat
    • KVM is really good at providing fast and reliable virtualization for Linux guests
    • Since KVM is a kernel module, every VM is a Linux process which can be managed by Linux system tools
    • KVM integrates very well with the management framework libvirt, which is why KVM can be integrated in automation tools as well
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • The best thing about VSOM is that it's built into VCenter so you only have one point of administration
    • VSOM does a great job of making applications intuitive
    • Re-IPing virtual machines are a must and VSOM does a great job of making this a simple process
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Red Hat
    • KVM itself doesn't ship with a management interface
    • KVM itself is a bit complicated to handle
    • KVM needs Qemu to virtualize Windows guests
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • The installation of VSOM is very tedious
    • It uses an MS SQL database
    • It should be able to adjust for hardware modifications in VCenter
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Red Hat
    It does the job and stays out of the way. The specifics of usability relies on the implementation, but with things like Icarus and libvirt, things are standardizing nicely.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Red Hat
    It is a very reliable solution that can be used for x86 architecture virtualization with low overhead. It is a free and open source software. Easy to use withOpenStack.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    vSphere with Operations Management has a much better way of automating the re-IPing of servers so you can stand them up in a different environment or location. You do, however, need another way of replicating your servers to your DR site, VSOM will not do that. We used EMC Recover Point for replication.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Red Hat
    • Fast provisioning of new servers.
    • Huge drop of the cost of servers compared to bare metal.
    • Easy upgrades of resources, sometimes now even requiring a server restart.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Discontinued Products
    • In the case of a disaster, the ROI would be substantial.
    • The license for VSOM is pretty expensive initially.
    • Support for VSOM is terrific.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
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