Firms could download and install as many copies of the free Hyper-V 2008 R2 as they want, but Hyper-V does not include the normal Windows graphical user interface or much of the other software found in the full Windows Server 2008 suite. Instead, it includes only enough software to run virtual machines, with management taking place from a remote server on the LAN.
The obvious choice here is Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008. However, like Hyper-V, this can only be run on hardware fitted with a modern x64 CPU. Also, VMM2008 requires Windows Server 2008, so the cost of that software must be factored into the equation when buying VMM2008. The current version of VMM2008 does not support all the features in R2, but Microsoft is preparing VMM2008 R2, which will support Hyper-V R2. VMM2008 R2 will be released within 90 days of the launch of Hyper-V R2.
Another new feature in R2 is Cluster Shared Volumes software, which is a vital component of the Live Migration feature. Live migration speeds will depend on the architecture in place and how busy the hosts currently are.
One of the most useful things about Live Migration is that it can be combined with free Performance and Resource Optimisation (PRO) tools from Microsoft and third party vendors. This combination could then automatically manage things if something goes wrong with a particular Hyper-V server. For example, Microsoft distributes a PRO management pack with VMM2008 that monitors Hyper-V resources such as CPU and RAM and could trigger a migration if a server is working too hard and there is spare capacity elsewhere. To use PRO you need to install Operations Manager agents on your hosts and virtual machines, so it’s a bit more intrusive than VMware’s Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and works only with guest operating systems for which agents are available.
Whether these features prove to be as popular as VMware’s DRS and HA features remains to be seen. However, Hyper-V’s Live Migration and PRO features mean Microsoft provides pretty much everything many organisations need for hosting and running their virtual machines.