Analysis Microsoft will not ship a new version of Hyper-V Server, the free tool it offers with Windows Server for building hybrid clouds and fleet management from virtual machines, with Windows Server 2022.
The news of the change appeared in a TechCommunity thread. It spread quickly in a newsletter that the Veeam backup provider sent to its forum members, sparking a topic Reddit.
In his responses to TechCommunity, Elden Christensen, general product manager on Microsoft’s Windows Server development team, did not deny that Hyper-V Server no longer exists.
“Azure Stack HCI is Microsoft’s flagship proposal for locally launching virtual machines,” he wrote in a post. A message later added: “Our strategic direction for a hypervisor platform is with Azure Stack HCI, which is a hybrid infrastructure for a specially designed virtual machine startup solution.”
The register asked Microsoft to clarify whether the publications signaled the death of a stand-alone Hyper-V server and that Christensen’s observations were correct. The IT giant did not dispute any of the proposals.
What does this mean?
Hyper-V Server is Microsoft’s virtual machine management platform and works with Microsoft’s hypervisor, which, confusingly, is only called Hyper-V. Microsoft accounts Hyper-V Server offers enterprise-class virtualization for your data center and hybrid cloud.
Hyper-V Server is a free-price that Microsoft uses to contrast with the price of VMware’s competing product vSphere. The gambit doesn’t work: VMware owns more than 75% of the server virtualization market – and continues to grow – despite years of attempts by competitors to portray it as an expensive product.
Therefore, the transition to Azure Stack HCI as Microsoft’s preferred tool for managing private and hybrid clouds is very important.
Microsoft has been integrating Windows Server more closely with Azure for years, but Azure Stack brings more of Azure’s experience and Azure services beforehand. The cessation of Hyper-V Server as a private cloud option therefore again shows that Microsoft wants its customers in hybrid cloud environments that are more likely to drive their cloud services.
Or as Veeam’s CEO said in the bulletin above:
Aww.
The Azure Stack HCI’s performance also shows that Microsoft is involved in software-defined data centers — which should be because hybrid clouds are easier to build around software structures than around a disaggregated stack of discrete servers, storage arrays. and networking kit.
Windows Server 2019 and Hyper-V Server 2019 will be supported until 2029, so this move is not a time to panic. This is a time when future Windows Server 2022 users will need to have a good, persistent mindset as deployment options deviate from expectations.
Users of all versions of Windows Server have a moment to consider how to manage virtual machines. There is no shortage of opportunities: VMware tops the list, and the open source world offers KVM, Xen and XCP-NG. You can be sure that Nutanix will not miss the opportunity to remind everyone that its AHV is free. Red Hat and Oracle are also players. They all offer plug-in to the hybrid cloud – including Azure – without insisting on looking at the world through a Microsoft lens.
And one last thing: some read this message as a signaling rift for the Hyper-V hypervisor. There is no need for an alarm on this front, because the Hyper-V and the hypervisor used in Azure are already very close relatives. Microsoft just can’t do without a hypervisor for Azure and Windows Server, which technically loads as a guest operating system. ®
PS: As we understand, the role of Hyper-V will remain in Windows Server 2022. This is useful for running some virtual machines, but if you want to build and manage a private or hybrid cloud, Microsoft has clarified its position: it would really prefer to use Azure Stack HCI.