XenServer vs Proxmox

Question

Xen

There is a task: to raise virtualization (guests linux & win) without the cost of purchasing software. We need software with normal gouish admin panels, which will be relatively easy to set up and configure. Accordingly, according to these criteria, there are 2 options:
1) Citrix XenServer (free version).
2) Proxmox.

Initially, there will be no cluster with migration, but later it will appear (although it will be possible to change the platform later).

In practice, what are the advantages and disadvantages of one and the other product, what would you choose, under what conditions?

Answer 1

Thank you. So far
, I really choose for the most part on control systems. Fortunately, there is still a lot of time before the final decision is made in order to have time to take into account all the nuances. I will answer the questions: > 1) For what purpose will you use virtualization? Production. Servers in the DC, i.e. remote control. > 2) Whether it will be necessary to delegate access to virtual machines? No. > 3) How many will be physical servers under virtualization?
There will be 3 servers. The cluster is not planned yet. Virtualok will be 4-5, of which one is Windows. If something needs to be transferred, it can be done manually. In principle, guest migrations may only be needed in the event of a failure or growth. In this regard, it is not planned to allocate a separate disk storage. In any case, at the start (a year from the start).
> 4) How many virtual machines will there be?
On average, more than 3 per server is unlikely to ever happen.
> 4) Do you plan to take a disk shelf on iSCSI for Live Migration?
No.
> 5) do you plan to use device forwarding to guest machines
While such a need is not visible, it is unlikely to be needed in the future.
> 6) How do you plan to make backups?
So far, the question has not been considered. Right off the bat, I'm more inclined to backup the necessary information, and not the entire OS.
> 7) What do you work more comfortably with, Windows or Linux?
linux. With servers on Windows, I am generally weak, which cannot be said about servers on Linux. In particular, I work with Debian.
Virtualbox is not good, because. desktop platform with all the consequences. ESXi in the free version has a limit of 4 cores, there are probably some other restrictions. Hyper-V requires Windows (and it doesn't seem to be free) and Windows administration skills. Plus, it is more slow, and Linux will be virtualized by hardware (==minus speed), which cannot be said about OpenVZ and xen.

Answer 2

First, there are more options. There are also free ones:
1) Virtualbox (I wrote to Oracle, I asked, so far it’s really free)
2) VMware vSphere Hypervisor ™ (ESXi)
3) Hyper-V
Secondly, you are not comparing a hypervisor, but management systems, but in vain. Because you can't put Windows on OpenVZ. However, Proxmox VE can work not only with OpenVZ, but also with KVM, so it suits you.
However, more information is needed to fully answer your question. Questions:
1) For what purpose will you use virtualization? For production, for development?
2) Will it be necessary to delegate access to virtual machines? If yes, to whom and what?
3) How many physical servers will there be for virtualization? Is a cluster planned? If so, is a disk shelf planned?
4) How many virtual machines will there be?
4) Do you plan to take an iSCSI disk shelf for Live Migration?
5) do you plan to use device forwarding to guest machines, examples are a network card or

Answer 3

Windows has a hyper-v edition, it is free, but from the interface there is only a command line (there are graphical basic configuration tools). But after configuration, you can manage virtual machines from any computer with windows on which the management console is installed (with a limitation on windows generations, for example, if on a windows 2012 server, then you need it on a windows 8 computer)
Drivers for hyper-v are in the Linux kernel and in the latest versions debian, ubuntu, centos enabled by default

Answer 4

From all that I dug myself, here is a link, in my opinion quite useful. But other than that, he didn't really find anything.
http://forum.proxmox.com/threads/5950-Proxmox-OpenVZ-vs-Citrix-XenServer .
From the standpoint of theory, it is clear that the differences between these two platforms for the most part follow from the differences between XEN and OpenVZ. But I'm more interested in -/+ in practice when virtualizing web servers.

Answer 5

I didn’t get seven x64 on proxmox, if you have them, I advise you to go to xen.