Item: Hyper-V
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Hyper-V

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 and Cons

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

You can start using it right away since it's a feature within Windows and Windows is a common OS for organizations. Also, it's free. Provisioning VMs is easy. They even have some quick VM templates for Windows 10/11 and Ubuntu.

Alternatives Considered

VMware Workstation Player and VMware Workstation Pro

VMware Workstation Player and Pro are now free for Small Businesses, but Pro used to be paid and quite expensive. There are compatibility issues between those products and Windows hosts, giving that Microsoft has their own hypervisor platform already. Also, if you use Linux, you have compatibility issues with the Linux kernel that requires you to perform some command line tweaks and updates on your own.

Key Insights

Do you think Hyper-V delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Hyper-V's feature set?

Yes

Did Hyper-V live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Hyper-V go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Hyper-V again?

Yes

Likelihood to Recommend

- In-house deployment of VMs for critical infrastructure.
- No upfront cost of the appliances themselves. It's built-in and free for Windows 10/11 and Windows Server hosts.
- Setup is straightforward since you only need to enable the feature within Windows.
- Backup, Disaster Recovery and Replication services are almost universal compatible. In our case, we use Acronis Cyber Protect, but Veeam is suitable too.

Hyper-V Feature Ratings

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Built-in, Free Hypervisor