Some popular virtualization solutions
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 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 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.
KVM On Linux
This is yet another Virtualization solution. This allows the emulation of different CPU architectures. This means that the ARM version of an operating system may be run in a window on an X86-64 machine. This is built into the Linux kernel and works at a low level. It can be connected to a physical spare GPU on the host system and run various games in the VM just as in a physical machine. It can be used with the graphical GUI manager to setup a virtual machine, or with shell scripts to load a certain VM. But this emulates real hardware very well. And sound can work too. Here is an example of creating a Windows 7 VM using shell scripts to create and load a nice and fast VM. If you separate the VM from the host machine in terms of shared drives and shared access to other resources, it can be used to test a Windows OS on the Internet and see how long it lasts before it is full of viruses. But seriously, this is a powerful tool, using the graphical KVM manager, this can run multiple Virtual Machines very well. This allows one VM to run Windows Server, and another to run Windows Client and Group Policy may be tested. Great for students who want free software to create a virtual Machine without the cost of VMware.
Citations
Dineley, D. (2014, Oct 14). Virtualization Showdown. Retrieved from Infoworld: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2614229/virtualization/virtualization-showdown–microsoft- hyper-v-2012-vs–vmware-vsphere-5-1.html.