HyperV vs VMware
The two competing virtualization solutions, VMware and HyperV both allow virtualization to be installed on a server or client machine to allow the creation of virtual machines to test operating systems and/or use spare computing resources to run a virtualized server instance without requiring the user to install more physical hardware to run a simple server operating system for a given task.
HyperV
The HyperV software is free to install for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2. The consumer Windows 8.1 may also use this platform to virtualize operating system software for testing purposes. There is a stand-alone server version of HyperV that is controlled via the client software remotely after initial configuration using the command-line interface. This uses less computing resources than the Windows feature installation and leaves more available for virtualization. This is a freely installable solution for all Windows 8 and server users. Therefore the cost difference is the main argument for this solution. This is of course up to the system administrator. The ease of installation of HyperV is the main drawcard. The easy to use virtual switch allows virtual networks to be created with the editor. This allows subnets to be used to separate virtual servers from each other. HyperV includes a virtual switch to enable easy network creation. This integrates well with System Center 2012 and App Controller for deploying a private virtualization cloud.
VMware
The VMware platform is a product that is made by VMware Inc. The free VMware ESXi hypervisor is a product that allows users to deploy virtualized servers on a high specced server machine that allows the spare server resources to be used to their maximum. The vCenter server product is required to complement the free VMware ESXi hypervisor if you desire high availability, live migration and the distributed virtual switch. Something that is quite necessary when you are in a corporate environment. vCenter server is a paid product, but this is required for a corporate virtualization setup. The virtual switch enables the creation of subnets to segregate various virtual servers on a network. (Dineley, 2014)
For testing older operating systems like the aforementioned Windows `98, VMware is preferable to HyperV, as it has very good compatibility and offers VMware additions that support legacy operating systems. VMware ESX is a server-based virtualization product that allows a user to load a bare-metal hypervisor and then build virtual machines on top of this system. This is without the overhead of an operating system and other software running on the system as well. The VMware workstation software may be used to interface with the VMware ESX server software to control it and create virtual machines. Another point is that the SCVMM System Center Virtual Machine Manager can be connected to the VMware ESX server. This is another way that VMware could be integrated into the server infrastructure.
Bibliography
Dineley, D. (2014, Oct 14). Virtualization Showdown. Retrieved from Infoworld:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/2614229/virtualization/virtualization-showdown–microsoft-hyper-v2012-vs–vmware-vsphere-5-1.html.
Kelley, B. (2014, Sep 23). How to Create Secure SQL Server Service Accounts. Retrieved from mssqltips.com:
http://www.mssqltips.com/sqlservertip/2503/how-to-create-secure-sql-server-service-accounts/.
Tuxradar. (2014, Sep 23). Tuxradar. Retrieved from Configure Apache to have personal websites in home directories:
http://www.tuxradar.com/answers/457
vmware. (2014, Sep 22). VMware system requirements. Retrieved from VMware: http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50%2FGUID-67C4D2A0-10F7-4158-A249-D1B7D7B3BC99.htm.