What is the best Virtualization server core and Why.
Most people will say VMWare, but they are also Hyper-V and Xen server.
Whos the best at the lower cost ?
It's for production environnement, so it will be on a server, with multiple virtual machine on each Host.
For no cost, I like KVM. It's an alternative to Xen, but has some very compelling features (and is also missing some of the mature features of Xen). It supports recent kernels and doesn't require the patching and hand-holding Xen requires to setup initially.
Depends on what you're trying to do. They're all free if you're just trying to virtualize something, so I guess that's pretty low cost.
VMWare is the oldest and has the most toys, commercially. They have mature features that you pay through the nose for. They also have a format that is available for conversions and since they're big and mature they have a robust community out there available for help. My main problem with them (aside from their cost) is that their tools are like freakin' lego bricks of gold...you can do live migration? Sure! Download this then pay this much. Oh, you wanted to support this feature too? That's this module with this license and costs this much. Ooh, you want to convert a physical system without the converter? We have a bootable disc for that. It comes with this license that costs this much...mix and match, mix and match! It also means that when someone else tells you to "oh sure, just open this then click here and here and run this to fix the problem," you suddenly realize you didn't license a feature that they licensed. It's confusing and a PITA at times. VMWare is also using bully tactics now against vendors in a market that is really changing now thanks to MS and Citrix, and they're innovating by stifling their third party vendors (for example, Veeam was told to disable certain functionality they had in their products for use with VMWare ESXi, the free bare-metal hypervisor).
Hyper-V is the new kid on the block and has plenty of people saying that the management tools aren't quite there yet, but if it's typical of Microsoft they'll come along later on and probably will eventually have more third-party tools.
Xen is mature and has decent tools; I've heard good buzz about it, but I'm kind of wary of companies that use outdated information on their site for their propaganda (er, sales comparisons). Xen also has a history from the open source side of the development before it was available as a commercial thing.
So if you're just wanting to play with virtualization, all of them have free offerings to try that are limited just by your hardware. If you want additional features you need to ask specifically with what your goals are.
I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned OpenVZ or VServer. Both are 'light-weight' virtualisation options for Linux. They are by far, the most resource efficient. However, it all depends on what it is that you wish to achieve. You can only run a single Linux kernel with it.
The virtualizationmatrix web can provide some insight into various hypervisors features and their comparison. I use it for answering such generic questions.
Like anythin in this industry you have to decide what's most important to you; speed, functionality, support or cost - you can often have two or three of these things but not always all four - what's most important to you?
It all comes down to what you need.
VMWare is good because it is cross platform and you can move virtual machines about without having to worry if it is Workstation, ESX or the free server or player, or if it needs to run on a windows, linux or bare metal base system.
It is easy to move between the free and paid for versions if you need to scale or use the more advanced features without having to recreate your VMs.
VirtualBox is another good dual license option. There is an open source version available and a commercial licensed version that is available to try out for free.
