Microsoft Hyper-V vs. VMware: How far is VMware Still Ahead?

Probably four of the best virtual platform developers are VMware (vSphere), Microsoft (Hyper-V), Red Hat (KVM), and Citrix (XenServer).

While they are all comparable, each with its own set of advantages, the two who seem to cause the most ruckus are VMware and Hyper-V.

There’s a lot of talk about which is better and in what way, so let’s dive into the two a little deeper.

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Azure Stack 101: The Definitive Introduction

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Microsoft’s Azure Stack is an excellent toolset that allows enterprises to run a hybrid cloud right in their own datacenters, giving them additional cloud options.

But to really use it to its best advantage, IT pros should know the ins and outs of Azure Stack so they can use it within their business IT infrastructures to better manage, speed up and control their Azure cloud deployments and workloads.

A good place to start is with a primer on Azure Stack itself to give business users a broad look at what’s under the hood of their IT infrastructure.

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What Is Hyper-V? The Authoritative Guide

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What Is Hyper-V? [Definition & Uses For It]

Whether you’re just beginning to look into virtualization platform options for your company, or you’re a new Hyper-V user trying to get up to speed, it can be a challenge to find all the information you need in one place. That’s why I created this guide—to give you an all-in-one resource you can bookmark and refer back to as often as you need to, so you can get up and running on Hyper-V more smoothly. Continue reading

Hyper-V: How To Backup Virtual Machines

hyper-v backupIf you’re new to Hyper-V and wondering how to back up your virtual machines (VMs), there are different ways you can approach the task. But like most things—some options are better than others.

Below are the most common ways Hyper-V users attempt to preserve data on their VMs, with one caveat: Some of these methods should not be relied upon as your sole backup strategy. But they do serve a purpose, and they can be useful in the right situation.
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Azure Migration: A 6-Step Checklist

In most cases, a lift-and-shift cloud migration does little more than provide basic redundancy. A better approach—that offers better efficiency and better value—is to move cloud-ready workloads over to Azure, keep legacy applications on-premise, and set up orchestration to manage cloud recovery and backup.

Following general evaluation and planning, when you reach consensus from each team on the cloud migration plan, you’ll need to execute the plan. Getting down to the details in your mind, you’ll find yourself asking: How do I proceed? In this guide, I’ll break down the major steps involved in each phase of the Azure migration process. Continue reading

Hacking Hypervisors

Virtual machines pose a significant cybersecurity risk – their underlying applications and data are consumed outside the network by customers, partners, consultants, and LOB workers. Malicious actors who target these individuals and their business systems understand the native security limitations of the virtual network. Prevent your next security breach by educating users, adopting best practices and procuring proven solutions. So, sit back and enjoy the show on “Hacking Hypervisors”. 🙂

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Windows Admin Center: Tutorial and First Impressions

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For more information, check out my blog post on Windows Admin Center: Strengths, Weaknesses, Enterprise Readiness and Everything Else You Need to Know or go to the Windows Admin Center site for details on how to get started.

Until next time, Rob