Hyper-V has been around over 16 years initially released with Server 2008. It can run on most hardware and either on hyperconverged or distributed infrastructure. Since it is based on Windows Server, it can be managed easier with a graphical UI which is familiar with most technical staff. However, that also comes with the stigma that it is Windows š, plus Microsoft had announced the end of Hyper-V as they transition to Azure Local until the Broadcom announcement and then they reversed that decision.
From a use case perspective, it can be used in small distributed (ROBO) deployments or large-scale hosting and Veeam has current customers that reflect this. Microsoft used to have a self-service portal via System Center Service Provider Foundation but that has been discontinued and now there are third party solutions like Hosting Controller or Cloud Assert. It is highly recommended to utilize System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) for centralized orchestration and fabric management at the service provider layer.
From a Veeam perspective, Veeam has supported Hyper-V since Nov 2011and has the closest feature parity between VMware and Hyper-V. This includes backup and replication, replication to a Cloud Connect provider, and application awareness of the VMs. One key issue is the lack of VM and storage snapshot integration, so Veeam cannot recover a VM, application items, or files from a storage snapshot of a Hyper-V VM. There is not an IaaS hosting self-service portal for customers to run their own backups or restores. Hyper-V is currently supported by Recovery Orchestrator for backups and automated restores back into Hyper-V and into Azure. Veeam One also has Hyper-V infrastructure monitoring capabilities for hosts, datastores, VMs, VM in-guest processes and services, to include performance charts and alarms.
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Based on this information, I feel Hyper-V would be a good fit for most use cases, especially for those with limited or no Linux experience. There are cost benefits at the smaller scale based on Windows server licensing. With the Veeam functions added in, you also get more use out of the Advanced and Premium editions with Veeam One and Recovery Orchestrator, and the ability to use Cloud Connect Replication. I would be a little concerned about the future roadmap as Microsoft seems destined to push this to Azure Local, which may be a positive in the long run. Also, good or bad, can get support from Microsoft which is 24/7/365 globally.
