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Hyper-V

Score8.4 out of 10

282 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Hyper-V?

Categories & Use Cases

Key Features

Learn about the best (and worst!) features Hyper-V has to offer, as determined by TrustRadius' reviewers.
Based on 282 ratings of Hyper-V's features
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Top Performing Features

  • Live virtual machine backup

    Ability to backup vms without interrupting service

    Category average: 7.7

  • Hypervisor-level security

    Hypervisor-level security including antivirus and anti-malware

    Category average: 8.2

  • Management console

    Management console for central administration of vm environment

    Category average: 7.9

Areas for Improvement

  • Live virtual machine migration

    Downtime minimization by migrating live vms between hosts and across clusters

    Category average: 7.7

  • Virtual machine automated provisioning

    Automation of virtual machine provisioning through use of vm templates

    Category average: 7.6

Reviews

What users are saying about Hyper-V.
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Hyper-V fulfils its role with readability and confidence.

Incentivized
Luiz Eduardo GarciaView profile
System Administrator in Information Technology at JET e-business (51-200 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Hyper-V as a virtualization solution for our environment. As we host several Windows-based applications built with Microsoft solutions, we decided to run our virtualized environment on their technology, prioritizing reliability and compliance with MS licensing. Over the years, we have also deployed some Linux-based applications, and Hyper-V still performs this role very well, hosting dozens of virtual machines running Linux-based OSs.

Pros

  • Management of very large virtual machines.
  • High availability of virtualized environment.
  • Virtualization of physical network.
  • Very fast boot of virtual machines.
  • Hability of moving VMs from one host to another.
  • Reliable instrumentation for IaaC with PowerShell.

Cons

  • VHD Set support for Cluster Shared Volumes.
  • VM console improvements, such as more integration with hosting OS.
  • Native backup solution.

Return on Investment

  • Positive: every Windows Server VM is automatic licensed.
  • Positive: friendly user interface for management.
  • Positive: fast deploy of new VMs.
  • Positive: very fast boot of Windows Server based VMs.
  • Negative: missing a native backup tool.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Oracle VirtualBox, VMware ESXi and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

Other Software Used

Windows Server Failover Clustering, Microsoft IIS, pfSense, OpenVPN Access Server, NAKIVO Backup & Replication, SolarWinds Serv-U, Microsoft Teams

Hyper-V rocks for MSPs serving the SMB market. Virtualize EVERYTHING

Incentivized
Verified User
Manager in Information Technology (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are a managed service provider focusing on the SMB market. We virtualize every server we put out to bolster supportability, disaster recovery, scalability, and ease our next lifestyle migration by divorcing the production environment from the hardware all together. Hyper-V's simplicity of implmentation and inexpensive licensing (included in Windows server) allows us to do this and lower the cost to service our customers while providing superior functionality!

Pros

  • Allows for agilty
  • Runs production reliably
  • Enhances backup and disaster recovery abilites
  • Gives us a secure platform from which to admin the production environment

Cons

  • Limited functionality without domain joined hosts

Return on Investment

  • Positive ROI reducing hardware lifecycle replacement costs by 50 or greater compared to no virtualization
  • Positive ROI due to RTO being reduced 25-50% and enabling simplicity of remote recovery as compared to no virtualization
  • Positive ROI due to no licensing costs above and beyond windows server licenses where as many other virtualization platforms require additional licensing

Usability

Alternatives Considered

VMware vSphere

Other Software Used

WatchGuard AuthPoint, Huntress, Microsoft 365, ConnectWise Automate, ConnectWise PSA, Veeam ONE, Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows, Synology DiskStation, FluentCloud

Hyper-V easy start into virtualization world

Incentivized
Verified User
Account Manager in Information Technology (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our company use Hyper-V virtualization software for production servers and replication of virtual machines between multiple physical hosts. It allows to isolate our VMs from hardware level and run multiple VMs on one host. For example, production software servers plus Domain controllers plus File shares all in one host computer.

Pros

  • virtualization of multiple machines
  • Replication
  • vhdd management

Cons

  • Tracking and alerts for replication status

Return on Investment

  • Saving $ on server hardware by running multiple server VM at once
  • License savings for Microsoft licensing

Usability

Alternatives Considered

VMware ESXi, VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation Pro and AWS Organizations

Other Software Used

VMware ESXi, AWS Backup, AWS Certificate Manager, AWS Service Catalog

Built-in, Free Hypervisor

Incentivized
Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology (11-50 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It helps to setup, maintain and troubleshoot virtual machines to critical services like application and data servers, phone systems, email backup appliances, etc.

Pros

  • Built-in, free hypervisor
  • Easy remote access through Remote Desktop Services
  • Easy management through the Hyper-V console or remote via the Windows Admin Center

Cons

  • Almost impossible to upgrade between version 1 and version virtual machines
  • Basic built-in backup and replication services offered through the native Hyper-V console. Only Azure backup offerings available at the Windows Admin Center
  • If the Hyper-V feature is disabled, it's difficult to access your VMs Configuration Files and Virtual Hard Disks

Return on Investment

  • No upfront cost giving that you have already workstations and servers you can use it on
  • In-house deployment so costs are reduced to the antivirus/backup solution of your choice
  • In-house migration of VMs between hosts so the cost is only for a new host

Usability

Alternatives Considered

VMware Workstation Player and VMware Workstation Pro

Short review on Hyper-V

Incentivized
Taner ImamogluView profile
Senior Information Technology Specialist in Information Technology at Öksüt Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (501-1000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Hyper-V in our organization for Virtual servers with various roles and also for virtual clients for test applications.
Our scope of use case has two main cases first having virtual servers to update/upgrade servers easily/revert changes or bring servers back online from backups and also having virtual clients for testing new applications, group policy rules, and other organizational changes

Pros

  • Editing configuration of virtual machines.
  • Installing Windows operating system based VM client computer easier than rivals.
  • Efficient resource use and management.

Cons

  • Able to use usb drives for operating system installation without needing .iso file.
  • Dedicated gpu virtualisation could be easier for VMs.
  • The console interface could be improved and shows a small thumbnail of running machines.

Most Important Features

  • Based on windows OS environment.
  • Easy to install and remove.
  • Efficient resource management.
  • Clean and easy user interface.

Return on Investment

  • With Hyper-V implementing new software or rules on a test, beds take fewer resources and time which is a great bonus.
  • Virtual SAN management and Virtual Switch management make it easy to manage network and storage options.
  • Editing the disk option made us resize disks on the fly and saved us maintenance, production time, and costs.

Alternatives Considered

VMware ESXi

Other Software Used

VMware ESXi, Citrix Workspace

Usability