Hyper-V Deployment Options Best Practices
- by Erv Walter
In what circumstances would you choose each of the following deployment options:
Hyper-V installed as the bare bones Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 R2
Hyper-V role installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core installation
Hyper-V role installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Full Installation
For example, I know there are licensing considerations for each option:
With Hyper-V on top of a full installation of Enterprise or Data Center edition, you can use Windows Server as a guest OS without needing additional licenses (4 for Enterprise, unlimited for Data Center)
With "Windows Hyper-V Server" you have to obtain licenses for each guest OS.
But my real question is, are there technical considerations as well?
I understand that the Full Installation doesn't perform as well as the other two options, but is there a significant difference between Server Core and "Windows Hyper-V Server"? What are the pros and cons of Hyper-V on Server Core vs "Windows Hyper-V Server" and when would you choose each?
