[rhelv6-beta-list] RHEV v. RHEL+KVM -- WAS: My first experiences with RHEL6 beta

[Bryan J. Smith]

Lamar Owen <lowen at pari.edu> wrote:
> I'm actually looking more towards the 'replace VMware
> {ESX|VI3|vSphere} with RHEL6 plus KVM' crowd ...

Understand:  
  VMware ESXi/vSphere             !~   RHEL6 + KVM  

It's more like the option of ...  
  RHEL6/Win2008 + VMware Wks/Svr  ~   RHEL6 + KVM
So ...
  VMware ESXi/vSphere              ~   RHEV-H/RHEV-*

Because people make the statement that RHEL6 + KVM is a VMware
ESX Server / vSphere replacement, customers assume Red Hat doesn't
offer management, and only ships a platform-integrated hypervisor,
based on what RHEL6 + KVM is.

RHEV-H with RHEV-* modules is designed to be the direct competitor
of VMware ESXi + vSphere, at a greatly reduced price.  The more this
information is proliferated and that clarification is made, the more
people see the difference.  I wouldn't stress this except it is very
much difficult to break customers of this assumption, because there
are very few people making the distinction.

RHEV-H is the "standalone HyperVisor" (minimal host OS + KVM in flash)
ESXi is designed the same way (minimal host OS + VMware HV in flash)

It's the management that makes all the difference, from simply a
"platform-integrated" HV like Xen, KVM or the "install atop of host"
VMware Workstation and Server products.

-- Bryan

P.S.  Yes, one portion of RHEV-* has a Windows dependency, because it
was built with .NET.  That is being rectified, but porting from .NET
(a decision made by the entity prior to Red Hat's acquisition) to Java
doesn't happen overnight.  And VMware's marketshare is still
overwhelmingly Windows-centric (I think it only recently dipped under
90%).


-- 
Bryan J  Smith             Professional, Technical Annoyance 
Linked Profile:           http://www.linkedin.com/in/bjsmith 
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