Windows Server Summit | Hyper-V
Krähe mit HutWe have been using VMware for years. Hyper-V or other solutions cannot compete with it.
This article is not intended to be yet another “away from VMware” rant. However, given the developments surrounding Broadcom and its questionable licensing policy, it may be worth taking a look at the alternatives. 🤔
With Hyper-V, Microsoft provides a powerful virtualization platform that is included in Windows Server and also serves as the basis for Azure. To get the full range of licenses, you have to use the Datacenter Edition, but medium to large companies usually use this anyway when operating a cluster (regardless of the manufacturer).
So what has changed with Windows Server 2025? Here is a brief overview of some important parameters and new features. For those who are not yet familiar with Hyper-V, we highly recommend watching the official video, which shows the architecture of Hyper-V in detail (see the link under “Further information”).
Scalability
Since Windows Server 2022, the following conditions apply:
- Hosts: max. 2048 logical processors, max. 4 PB RAM
- Virtual machines (specifications per VM): max. 2048 virtual processors, max. 240 TB RAM
- Clusters: max. 64 nodes, max. 8000 VMs (16 nodes with HCI storage)
Innovations
Dynamic processor compatibility mode
Hyper-V enables the use of different processors within a cluster. Earlier versions of Windows Server performed a static normalization process, which meant that many CPU instruction sets were removed across the board.
Windows Server 2025 dynamically analyzes the capabilities of the processors in a cluster and automatically activates the optimal combination of possible instruction sets for a virtual machine.
Performance improvements for live migrations
Live migrations are the equivalent of vMotion migrations in VMware and enable a VM and/or its virtual hard disks to be moved between cluster nodes and/or storage systems during operation. Such migrations are now twice as fast thanks to process optimizations and improved use of protocols such as SMB Direct and RDMA.
To speed up the process even further, improved logic for selecting the live migration network has been implemented in Windows Server 2025. This is explained in detail in the video (see link under "Additional information").
GPU partitioning
If necessary, physical graphics cards from the host system can be made available to virtual machines so that graphics-intensive applications can be run on them. This has been working for some time now.
With Windows Server 2025, it will now be possible to partition the GPU and thus allocate computing power to multiple VMs. Furthermore, live migration also supports the migration of the GPU partition to another host. However, all hosts must then use the same (supported) hardware.
Additional information
Official video: Windows Server Hyper-V architecture, features, GPUs, and more! - Windows Server Summit
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