Virtualization Platform Comparison in Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

Applies To: Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

The following table provides an overview comparison of the features and support in the following products:

  • Hyper-V Server 2008

  • Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (Enterprise and Datacenter editions)

Capabilities Hyper-V Server 2008 Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2008 R2

x64-based processor architecture only

Yes

Yes

Yes

Hypervisor-based

Yes

Yes

Yes

Product type

Stand-alone product

Stand-alone product

Operating system

Number of sockets (licensing)

Up to 4

Up to 8

Up to 8 (Enterprise)

Up to 64 (Datacenter)

Number of cores supported by the hypervisor

24 (with Service Pack 2 or KB956710 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=157983))

64

64

Memory

Up to 32 GB

Up to 1 TB

Up to 1 TB

Virtual machine migration

None

Quick and live migration

Quick and live migration

(Enterprise and Datacenter)

Maximum number of cluster nodes

Not applicable

16

16

Administrative UI

Command line, text-based configuration tool, and remote GUI management (with Remote Server Administration Tools or a Full installation of Windows Server 2008 R2)

Command line, text-based configuration tool, and remote GUI management (with Remote Server Administration Tools or a Full installation of Windows Server 2008 R2)

Command line, text-based configuration tool, remote management, and local GUI (Hyper-V Manager MMC)

Management

Existing management tools

Existing management tools

Existing management tools

Manageable by System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Yes

(Virtual Machine Manager 2008 and Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2)

Yes

(Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2)

Yes

(Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2)

Virtualization rights for Windows Server guest virtual machines

0

0

4 virtual machines (Enterprise)

Unlimited virtual machines (Datacenter)

Number of running virtual machine guests

As many as physical resources allow, up to 192

As many as physical resources allow, up to 384

As many as physical resources allow, up to 384

Maximum number of virtual processors

8 times the number of logical processors

8 times the number of logical processors

8 times the number of logical processors

Hyper-V Server 2008 and Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 also provide the following support:

  • Storage

    Direct-attached storage: You can use Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA), external Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (eSATA), Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (PATA), Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), SCSI, and Firewire.

    Storage area networks (SANs): You can use Internet SCSI (iSCSI), Fibre Channel, and SAS technologies.

  • Guest operating system support

    See article 954958 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=157981).