Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualisation technology, is available as an integral feature of Windows Server 2008 and enables you to implement server virtualisation with ease. Hyper-V allows you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a single physical machine. With Hyper-V, you can also efficiently run multiple different operating systems—Windows, Linux, and others—in parallel, on a single server, and fully leverage the power of x64 computing.
Key Features of Hyper-V
New and Improved Architecture
New 64-bit micro-kernelised hypervisor architecture enables Hyper-V to provide a broad array of device support methods and improved performance and security.
Broad OS Support
Broad support for simultaneously running different types of operating systems, including 32-bit and 64-bit systems across different server platforms, such as Windows, Linux, and others.
Symmetric Multiprocessors (SMP) Support
Ability to support up to four multiple processors in a virtual machine environment
Network Load Balancing
Hyper-V includes new virtual switch capabilities. This means virtual machines can be easily configured to run with Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB) Service to balance load across virtual machines on different servers.
New Hardware Sharing Architecture
With the new virtual service provider/virtual service client (VSP/VSC) architecture, Hyper-V provides improved access and utilization of core resources, such as disk, networking, and video.
Quick Migration
Hyper-V enables you to rapidly migrate a running virtual machine from one physical host system to another with minimal downtime, leveraging familiar high-availability capabilities of Windows Server and System Center management tools.
Virtual Machine Snapshot
Hyper-V provides the ability to take snapshots of a running virtual machine
Scalability
With support for multiple processors and cores at the host level and improved memory access within virtual machines, you can now vertically scale your Virtualisation environment to support a large number of virtual machines within a given host and continue to leverage quick migration for scalability across multiple hosts.
Extensible
Standards-based Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) interfaces and APIs in Hyper-V enable independent software vendors and developers to quickly build custom tools, utilities, and enhancements for the Virtualisation platform.
The following table outlines which Hyper-V–enabled product would suit your needs:
System Center Virtual Machine Manager
System Center Virtual Machine Manager is a comprehensive heterogeneous management solution for the virtualised data center. Virtual Machine Manager enables increased physical server utilisation, centralised management of virtual machine infrastructure, and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator and authorized end users. Virtual Machine Manager provides the best solution for leveraging existing IT administrative skills and processes for managing the virtual and physical environment.