What Is Microsoft Hyper-V?

Microsoft is the name that tells a lot even to the people distant from the IT-sphere. Strictly speaking, it has long become a quality mark of itself. So, it's hardly surprising that Microsoft became one of the pioneers of comparably recently emerged virtualization, and is holding this position until today. So, what is Microsoft Hyper-V? This is a virtualization technology that lets you create a virtualized computing environment where you can create and manage virtual machines (VMs). Microsoft hypervisor is efficient and multifunctional enough to help you to establish or expand a private cloud environment, use your hardware more effectively, improve business continuity, and to develop or expand a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

What Is Hyper-V Technology?

What Does Hyper-V Do?

Microsoft Hyper-V allows for a flexible distribution of resources among your VMs. Guests (end-users) can then run whatever software they need via the resources available on VMs. Windows Hyper-V uses virtualization to create the conditions as if guests were running their software on physical hardware right there next to them. But, in actuality, it all happens thanks to the utilization of cloud resources.

The idea behind Windows Hyper-V, like any other hypervisor, is to exceed existing licensing and physical IT resources limitations. VMs enable you to run software otherwise incompatible with the hardware, OS, or such that you got on hand. For example, you can use Microsoft Hyper-V to run a macOS instance on your Windows PC and then run macOS-specific software. This would be impossible without virtualization.

There are multiple other reasons to use Microsoft Hyper-V. Your engineers may simply prefer working on Linux, so you pool your hardware and software resources into a virtualized environment that allows them to do that. Also, deleting stuff on Windows always leaves traces. With Hyper-V, you can create a VM, do all the necessary work in the desired software there and then delete the VM after you've finished.

What Is Hyper-V Server?

There are all sorts of terminology being thrown back-and-forth when it comes to virtualization. Put bluntly, Hyper-V server is the host (primary) bare-metal machine that runs your Microsoft Hyper-V, and any other physical servers that run Windows Hyper-V directly on them as hosts. Microsoft hypervisor is part of the Windows Server or Windows10 package, which you can decide to install and run if you want to.

Hyper-V server provides for all sorts of benefits. You can use it to create VMs specifically for testing purposes. Windows Hyper-V enables you to separate VMs from the rest of the system and run tests there, keeping the rest of your IT environment safe and without overloading. You can use Hyper-V Manager and create testing sites virtually: see how your software performs with different OS platforms, etc.

Hyper-V server allows you to scale IT infrastructure easily and conveniently. You can get your existing hardware resources to work more effectively via virtualization than you could in a hardware setup. Also, Windows Hyper-V provides for significantly easier IT environment management and monitoring thanks to Hyper-V Manager. You can backup, migrate, or recover in a way you wouldn't be able otherwise.

How to Install Hyper-V?

The installation of Microsoft Hyper-V isn't really that complicated. As it was mentioned, Hyper-V comes pre-installed with Windows 10 and it's a part of Windows Server OS. You will need to use Hyper-V Manager to help you out. There aren't that many steps and, after finishing them, Hyper-V Manager will be your guide regarding anything related to Hyper-V.

To begin with, you should open the control panel on your Windows and proceed to "Uninstall a program." Further, click on the "Turn Windows features on or off." In the list of folders, locate the Hyper-V and put the ticks on it. Afterward, confirm the action by pressing "OK." Your Windows will perform the necessary installations and will request a reboot, which you should confirm and that'll be it!

If you're using Windows Server or you're more comfortable with using a command-line interface (CLI), you can go with that option to activate Microsoft Hyper-V. Open your CLI in Administrator mode. Then, execute the command DISM /Online /Enable Feature /All /FeatureName:Microsoft-Hyper-V. You will need to reboot in this case, too. After the reboot is done, you're Windows Hyper-V will be activated.

How to Use Hyper-V?

Most of the time, Hyper-V Manager will be your go-to. Locate your Hyper-V manager and open it. To ensure that everything works fine, you have to be connected to Hyper-V server all the time. In Hyper-V Manager, proceed to "Connect to virtualization server" and then click on "Local computer." You will then be able to view your newly established virtualized environment resources in Hyper-V Manager.

At first, it may seem like very little is going on. However, after you migrate to operating your infrastructure on Windows Hyper-V, you will see how crowded your Hyper-V Manager's interface will get with: dozens of hosts, hundreds of guests, workload intensity, resources available, backups, and such. You will be able to perform most of the baseline tasks through command options on the right side of Hyper-V Manager.

Despite these first few steps looking not that complex, it will get more complicated as you grow more accustomed to Microsoft Hyper-V and other features in Windows Server, Azure, etc. You should get really comfortable with Microsoft Hyper-V at these initial stages. Later on, you will be able to switch to more sophisticated Hyper-V managers or entirely other software that'll help you run Hyper-V even better.

To get the most out of your Hyper-V though and achieve optimal use, opting for VSAN from StarWind is the ultimate choice. StarWind VSAN will allow you to pool, organize and distribute your hardware and software resources in the most efficient manner so that your Microsoft Hyper-V can realize its full potential as the upstanding hypervisor that it's meant to be.

Why Is StarWind VSAN?

StarWind Virtual SAN is a hypervisor-agnostic software-defined storage solution that is able to provide you with high performance and data high availability starting with two nodes already (no witness entity necessary). If you need to build and maintain a virtual infrastructure without costly proprietary hardware and need a universal storage solution, StarWind VSAN deserves more than just your attention. Thanks to its elaborate set of features, StarWind Virtual SAN needs only a minimum set of requirements to make the production of your SMB, ROBO, or Edge fly as if it was operating an enterprise-class battle cruiser.

Microsoft Hyper-V and StarWind VSAN for Hyper-V

As a Microsoft hypervisor-centric hardwareless VM storage solution, StarWind Virtual SAN has a number of undoubted advantages for Microsoft hypervisors:

  • VMware places a serious focus on its security. vSphere is built on the zero-trust principle and, among others, it brings significantly better security than containerized systems, like Marathon, Docker Hub, or Kubernetes
  • VMware workstation is a good chunk of work. There are multiple VMware tools to manage and monitor. To that end, VMware offers vCenter, which encompasses everything necessary for data center management
  • Thanks to an elaborate set of features, VMware VSAN and other VMware tools allow for better applications and resources provisioning. VMware server offers solid performance and disaster resistance options
  • VMware cloud, along with other VMware tools, ensures high levels of flexibility and efficiency of your hyper-converged IT infrastructure. You get to achieve way more than you would have with just regular hardware

Microsoft Hyper-V is a virtualization solution that provides a lot of functions and options to go with. In alliance with StarWind VSAN for Hyper-V, it can enable you with an unprecedented level of performance. Windows Hyper-V becomes an entirely new version of itself thanks to StarWind VSAN, as hardware restrictions are lifted, high availability becomes easily achieved, and management and monitoring more simplified.

Features and Benefits of StarWind VSAN

Physical storage solutions still have a lot to offer, but many businesses neither require them nor can afford them. What to do when your infrastructure seemingly has no other option? StarWind Virtual SAN is the answer to that question. It gives you everything you'll need for a reasonable price, and it doesn't take a computing prodigy to run it.

Budget
Efficiency

By limiting the hardware footprint accompanying traditional physical shared storage, StarWind VSAN allows you to double your savings by lowering CapEx and OpEx. You can forget about additional licensing expenses as well. The difference in price between custom hardware and commodity one is evident enough.

Outstanding
Simplicity

Despite offering impressive performance, StarWind VSAN isn't following that scale in managing and administering. You can run it wherever you want, and it doesn't get more simple in configuring. If you have ever been working with a virtualized environment, you'll have no trouble running and deploying StarWind Virtual SAN.

Feature-Packed
Offer

StarWind VSAN isn't limited to just price, reliability, and flexibility. It also offers a set of features such as server-side cache, NFS support, or Automated Storage Tiering to provide your environment with fault tolerance, high availability, and maximum performance. You can scale however you want with no vendor lock-in.

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