Hypervisor choice
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I use XS at home (and at my last job) it was a perfect fit for the business (and at my home I don't really invest to much into different hypervisors).
XSXO is a very solid solution in a lot of cases. 2 server, primary stand-by. Single server, bunch of individual or pooled servers.
All works well.
There are limitations to XS though, like 2TB - 4GB local storage limitation (is one that comes to mind)
It all depends on what the business needs, both are offered for free, and both will act as a hypervisor. Weight the options.
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No need for HA. The volunteer work is for a few Boys and Girls Club locations that shut down every night and most weekends, so maintenance windows are large. Even a mid-day failure can be worked around with the redundancy currently in-place.
I'm always trying to learn and will probably switch one of my two homelab servers to KVM just for the experience. My task for this week is to settle on a simple-to-use replacement for the clubs though, and I am really enjoying XO.
5nine made Hyper-V usable especially in non-AD environments. Without it, bringing a Hyper-V (core) server up and getting it configured was a bear. I do some powershell, but not enough. The rsat tools are OK, but Windows only and require more effort without AD. In a nutshell, without 5nine there is almost no local config or management ability on a Hyper-V server and most remote management requires expensive MS tools. Probably fine for your datacenter, but a PITA in a one or two server environment.
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@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
No need for HA. The volunteer work is for a few Boys and Girls Club locations that shut down every night and most weekends, so maintenance windows are large. Even a mid-day failure can be worked around with the redundancy currently in-place.
I'm always trying to learn and will probably switch one of my two homelab servers to KVM just for the experience. My task for this week is to settle on a simple-to-use replacement for the clubs though, and I am really enjoying XO.
Did you use the community version of Xen Orchestra or did you download the appliance from their website?
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@DustinB3403 I started with the appliance, but have since installed the community version in my homelab. If I settle on XS / XO for the clubs, I'm going to make a budget request for the XO Starter Edition because I'd like to support the project.
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@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
@DustinB3403 I started with the appliance, but have since installed the community version in my homelab. If I settle on XS / XO for the clubs, I'm going to make a budget request for the XO Starter Edition because I'd like to support the project.
How much is the 5Nine's support renewal compared to the $700/yr price for XOA?
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@Dashrender said in Hypervisor choice:
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
@DustinB3403 I started with the appliance, but have since installed the community version in my homelab. If I settle on XS / XO for the clubs, I'm going to make a budget request for the XO Starter Edition because I'd like to support the project.
How much is the 5Nine's support renewal compared to the $700/yr price for XOA?
$749 /year
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@Dashrender said in Hypervisor choice:
I never used the 5Nine's product - what did it give you that was so great?
A decent interface
And cross version compatibility. -
@wirestyle22 Until 5nine decides to change the licensing model again. They completely lost my trust with the latest change - I assumed I would at least have the free version features if they increased the price yet again. They have moved full version pricing from <$100 to $350/core to $700 enterprise and killed the free version in the span of a few years.
If XO were to fork a closed source branch, we would at least have full source for the current version. -
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
No need for HA. The volunteer work is for a few Boys and Girls Club locations that shut down every night and most weekends, so maintenance windows are large. Even a mid-day failure can be worked around with the redundancy currently in-place.
It's funny because I've had IT at other boys and girls clubs (paid IT, not volunteer of course) stating that it's worth every penny that they bring in to not be down for one second, even on a Sunday early morning off hours. That's how strongly people in those non-profit places overstate their cases trying to build unnecessarily large and complicated infrastructures.
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@scottalanmiller said in Hypervisor choice:
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
No need for HA. The volunteer work is for a few Boys and Girls Club locations that shut down every night and most weekends, so maintenance windows are large. Even a mid-day failure can be worked around with the redundancy currently in-place.
It's funny because I've had IT at other boys and girls clubs (paid IT, not volunteer of course) stating that it's worth every penny that they bring in to not be down for one second, even on a Sunday early morning off hours. That's how strongly people in those non-profit places overstate their cases trying to build unnecessarily large and complicated infrastructures.
Don't even get me started
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@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
@wirestyle22 Until 5nine decides to change the licensing model again. They completely lost my trust with the latest change - I assumed I would at least have the free version features if they increased the price yet again. They have moved full version pricing from <$100 to $350/core to $700 enterprise and killed the free version in the span of a few years.
If XO were to fork a closed source branch, we would at least have full source for the current version.I spoke to someone claiming to be a VP and I told him that this decision is ultimately going to lose them customers. No one is going to pay what they are asking. I'd rather switching hypervisors
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@wirestyle22 said in Hypervisor choice:
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
@wirestyle22 Until 5nine decides to change the licensing model again. They completely lost my trust with the latest change - I assumed I would at least have the free version features if they increased the price yet again. They have moved full version pricing from <$100 to $350/core to $700 enterprise and killed the free version in the span of a few years.
If XO were to fork a closed source branch, we would at least have full source for the current version.I spoke to someone claiming to be a VP and I told him that this decision is ultimately going to lose them customers. No one is going to pay what they are asking. I'd rather switching hypervisors
5Nines probably doesn't care. Those low end customers weren't paying the bills, so they dumped them.
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@Dashrender said in Hypervisor choice:
@wirestyle22 said in Hypervisor choice:
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
@wirestyle22 Until 5nine decides to change the licensing model again. They completely lost my trust with the latest change - I assumed I would at least have the free version features if they increased the price yet again. They have moved full version pricing from <$100 to $350/core to $700 enterprise and killed the free version in the span of a few years.
If XO were to fork a closed source branch, we would at least have full source for the current version.I spoke to someone claiming to be a VP and I told him that this decision is ultimately going to lose them customers. No one is going to pay what they are asking. I'd rather switching hypervisors
5Nines probably doesn't care. Those low end customers weren't paying the bills, so they dumped them.
How many future purchases will that kind of mindset cost them?
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@wirestyle22 said in Hypervisor choice:
@Dashrender said in Hypervisor choice:
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
@DustinB3403 I started with the appliance, but have since installed the community version in my homelab. If I settle on XS / XO for the clubs, I'm going to make a budget request for the XO Starter Edition because I'd like to support the project.
How much is the 5Nine's support renewal compared to the $700/yr price for XOA?
$749 /year
This seems like a small amount compared to switching the whole platform. Plus I thought they had no budget for the renewal? But now they can come up with $700 less?
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This seems like a small amount compared to switching the whole platform. Plus I thought they had no budget for the renewal? But now they can come up with $700 less?
See my comment above about loss of trust. What about next year when it becomes $5000 / year and this year's license expires leaving zero functionality? I'm out.
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@wirestyle22 said in Hypervisor choice:
@Dashrender said in Hypervisor choice:
@wirestyle22 said in Hypervisor choice:
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
@wirestyle22 Until 5nine decides to change the licensing model again. They completely lost my trust with the latest change - I assumed I would at least have the free version features if they increased the price yet again. They have moved full version pricing from <$100 to $350/core to $700 enterprise and killed the free version in the span of a few years.
If XO were to fork a closed source branch, we would at least have full source for the current version.I spoke to someone claiming to be a VP and I told him that this decision is ultimately going to lose them customers. No one is going to pay what they are asking. I'd rather switching hypervisors
5Nines probably doesn't care. Those low end customers weren't paying the bills, so they dumped them.
How many future purchases will that kind of mindset cost them?
Again, probably not many that they care about. This is the same mindset that XOA is in. They don't want the low end SMB, because supporting those people costs them money, not making them money.
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This seems like a small amount compared to switching the whole platform. Plus I thought they had no budget for the renewal? But now they can come up with $700 less?
Also, note that I said I would put in a budget request. If they can't afford the Starter Edition, I'll make do with the limitations of the free edition. I just lost that ability with 5nine.
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@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
This seems like a small amount compared to switching the whole platform. Plus I thought they had no budget for the renewal? But now they can come up with $700 less?
Also, note that I said I would put in a budget request. If they can't afford the Starter Edition, I'll make do with the limitations of the free edition. I just lost that ability with 5nine.
The free edition is unlimited (besides XOSAN (HA) solution). It literally does all of it.
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@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
This seems like a small amount compared to switching the whole platform. Plus I thought they had no budget for the renewal? But now they can come up with $700 less?
Also, note that I said I would put in a budget request. If they can't afford the Starter Edition, I'll make do with the limitations of the free edition. I just lost that ability with 5nine.
Stick with the free edition unless you need or want the additional features, then use the XO script that is provided here.
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@black3dynamite said in Hypervisor choice:
@jfath said in Hypervisor choice:
This seems like a small amount compared to switching the whole platform. Plus I thought they had no budget for the renewal? But now they can come up with $700 less?
Also, note that I said I would put in a budget request. If they can't afford the Starter Edition, I'll make do with the limitations of the free edition. I just lost that ability with 5nine.
Stick with the free edition unless you need or want the additional features, then use the XO script that is provided here.
The difference isn't free vs paid. It's Community Support vs Developer Support.
