Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is also available to download for FREE!! Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is standalone hypervisor product, which enables you to create virtual environments for your virtual machines at no cost. It has improved security and stability, and with R2 edition it has ability for Live migration!!!
Download Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=fdac7be8-1847-4839-991d-f84be95a33a0&displaylang=en
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 official website here: http://www.microsoft.com/hyper-v-server/en/us/r2.aspx
Hyper-V Server 2008 is basically Hyper-V-only product (Microsoft is promoting it as a product, not as a operating system), that enables you to have Hyper-V on your machine without need to buy Windows Server 2008. There are some cool improvements in R2 version, and here is the list that compares Hyper-V Server 2008 with Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V role installed.
As you can see, in R2 version you can have more sockets, more cores, more memory, but I think the biggest news is ability to have quick and live migration and failover clustering. Compared to Windows Server 2008, the biggest change is the price. While Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is free, it lacks virtualization rights for guest. While using Hyper-V Server 2008, you have to pay licence for every guest operating system, but while using Windows Server 2008 you have some free licence for guest operating systems. For example, when you buy Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, you get licence for home OS and for 4 guest operating systems, which is total 5 licences for one price. So, you should use Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 only if you plan to install your existing operating systems for which you already have licence as guest machines, or you plan to install some free Linux machines as guest OS.
| Capabilities |
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 |
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 EE, DC |
| Processor Architecture x64 only |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Hypervisor-based |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Product Type |
Standalone product |
Standalone product |
Operating System |
| Number of Sockets (Licensing) |
Up to 4 |
Up to 8 |
Up to 8 = EE | Up to 64 = DC |
| Number of cores supported by the hypervisor |
24 (with QFE) |
32 |
32 |
| Memory |
Up to 32 GB |
Up to 1 TB |
Up to 1TB |
| VM Migration |
None |
Quick and live migration |
Quick and live migration (EE & DC) |
| Administrative UI |
Command line, text based configuration utility and remote GUI management |
Command line, text based configuration utility and remote GUI management |
Command line, remote management, and local GUI (Hyper-V Manager MMC) |
| Management |
Existing management tools |
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| Manageable by SCVMM |
Yes (SCVMM 2008) |
Yes (SCVMM 2008 R2) |
Yes (SCVMM 2008 R2) |
| Virtualization Rights for Windows Server guests |
0 |
0 |
EE = 4 VM, DC Edition = unlimited VM per proc |
| Number of running VM Guests |
Up to 192, or as many as physical resources allow |
Up to 256, or as many as physical resources allow |
Up to 256, or as many as physical resources allow |
| Storage |
Direct Attach Storage (DAS): SATA, eSATA, PATA, SAS, SCSI, Firewire, Storage Area Networks (SANs): iSCSI, Fiber Channel, SAS |
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| Planned Guest OS support |
Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 SP2, Windows 2000 Server SP4, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP1/SP2, Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 & Windows XP SP3/SP2 |
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