Open-source Linux virtualization advantages are more obvious than Windows

Article title: open-source Linux virtualization advantages are more obvious than Windows. Linux is a technology channel of the IT lab in China. Includes basic categories such as desktop applications, Linux system management, kernel research, embedded systems, and open source.

In the past decade's discussions about the total cost of ownership between Linux and Windows, it is widely believed that virtualization can provide great benefits for Linux systems. According to the latest research by Gabriel elconsultinggroup, enterprises deployed in a hybrid environment (that is, Windows and Linux) have a higher adoption rate of virtualization technology, and all the cost savings are reflected in: less money is spent on hardware and licensing.

This is an interesting conclusion, but it raises a more interesting question: why cannot a Windows administrator take advantage of virtualization technology like a Linux administrator? The answer-licensing costs and complexity-is Microsoft's ability to make changes without interest.

According to the research results, the degree of enterprise virtualization of Linux is 30% higher than that of Windows, and the proportion of users with high degree of virtualization deploying virtualization on Linux is higher than that of Windows,:

Linux and Windows: virtualization trends

The authors of the study said, "it is clear that Linux users adopt virtualization technology at a higher speed and level than those who implement standardization based on Microsoft operating systems ." But why?

Perhaps the main reason is that Microsoft hasn't really started to promote this technology for a long time after Linux users adopt virtualization. This is not surprising: Microsoft has fallen too far behind in virtualization. The fewer Windows servers that enterprises need to purchase, the worse Microsoft is.

Microsoft is now stepping into the virtualization market, and even providing users with their Hyper-V products for free ...... However, this is not the case. Indeed, the formal Microsoft server-oriented pricing strategy can best explain the reasons for the lack of attractiveness to Windows users, as stated in the report by Gabriel consultinggroup:

The difference in license fees directly affects the cost comparison. For Microsoft, users who have not signed a batch agreement or have not purchased an enterprise version or data center version at a higher price must buy licenses for each of their systems and each virtual machine running on these systems. On the other hand, Linux is actually free, that is, enterprises can deploy Linux in multiple virtual machines or virtual machines for free.

At the same time, this report also lists the benefits of source code access to Linux administrators. I think this is only a negligible benefit for most Linux users. Few people are concerned about "getting familiar with the code" to use the language of the report. they are more willing to trust the real cost savings that Linux virtualization can bring.

Page 1: Benefits of Linux standardization

There are other benefits for users who mainly adopt Linux or based on Linux standardization:

· 77% of respondents achieved higher hardware utilization through Linux virtualization, and 56% of respondents achieved higher hardware utilization through Windows virtualization.

· The proportion of standardized users of Linux virtualization with manageability (62%) is higher than that of standardized users of Windows Virtualization with manageability (48% ). Moreover, it is found that the Windows standardized users (23%) that are difficult to manage Windows Virtualization are four times higher than the Linux standardized users. only 6% of users Linux users think that Linux virtualization is difficult to manage.

· Therefore, Linux means higher server utilization, lower energy consumption, and more physical space: 59% of Linux managers do not think that "the power capacity of our data center will be exhausted, windows users who do not agree with this statement account for 38%. 60% of Linux administrators and 45% of Windows administrators disagree with the statement that "our data center occupies space and will soon be exhausted.

Enterprises only need to use free Linux and paid Windows to realize the more obvious cost saving gap. most enterprises will purchase commercial Linux support through RedHat, Novell or Canonical. However, even with this cost calculation, Linux uses virtualization to achieve cost savings more easily.

Microsoft has the ability to reverse the advantages of Linux in terms of the total cost of virtualization, which may not have much to do with the cost of Windows Server, but of course it has nothing to do with free Hyper-V.

This may simplify Byzantine pricing and make Windows server license more friendly to virtualization technology. For example, Microsoft does not allow users to migrate Microsoft products to a new physical server more than once within 90 days. This may be to relax the restrictions on users' purchasing licenses, but it also means they only purchase fewer Microsoft licenses.

Considering that commercial Linux is not free, Microsoft does not need to provide Windows for free to make Hyper-V more competitive than Linux virtualization. It seems that only simplification is most likely to make Windows virtualization more attractive.