Server virtualization tool partitions physical servers into many virtual portions that can be operated separately. Organizations utilize server virtualization tools, often known as hypervisors, to divide dedicated servers into scalable virtual machines called virtual private servers.

IT professionals can use virtualization to create many virtual computers on the same hardware. Users can use these tools to design self-contained virtual environments that imitate a specific piece of hardware, such as a server. Users can run many VMs on a single server, distributing available compute resources better across multiple applications and operating systems.

The tools you choose to assist your virtual machines will determine the success of your virtualization initiatives, just like any other digital endeavor. Here are some of the top tools that will enhance your virtualization projects.

1. SolarWinds Virtualization Manager

SolarWinds Virtualization Manager is a virtualization management tool that provides centralized monitoring and control for servers and other virtual machines on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. You can utilize this tool to get a rapid summary of your virtualized servers, containing information on storage, CPU power, and expected capacity, rather than digging into individual VMs one by one.

Key Features:

• It can provide total visibility of VMware and Hyper-V on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments.

• The same dashboard that you use for on-premises or hybrid virtual environments will be able to notify and track Azure and AWS infrastructure.

• You will be able to do a range of VM monitoring and control tasks without the need for additional software.

• The program will allow you to manually initiate such operations, using customized notifications or scripts, to optimize resources.

Cost:

Starts at $1759

2. VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere is a collection of server virtualization software products designed for enterprise-level needs and IT budgets. This bare-metal virtualization is a fan favorite for IT teams needing power to set up sophisticated virtual environments, even if it can be a little complex for small and midsize businesses that are new to the field of virtualization.

Key Features:

• VMware's signature product supports hybrid cloud, enabling big data virtualization across numerous hosts, and simplifies the migration of existing Unix infrastructures to virtual Linux workstations.

• The numerous tools included in vSphere allow load balancing, live migration, and a variety of other useful features.

• Makes software upgrades, patches, and firmware updates simpler and less disruptive to simplify lifecycle management.

• AI and Kubernetes applications will benefit from increased efficiency, scale, and security of this tool.

• Protects your hybrid cloud architecture with built-in fundamental security rather than point solutions added after the fact.

Cost:

Contact Sales

3. Parallels Desktop

In 1999, Parallels Desktop was released to offer cross-platform solutions, allowing businesses and individuals to access and use programs and files from any device or operating system. Renton, Washington is where the company's headquarters are located. They have offices all around the world, including Europe, North America, Australia, and Asia. Parallels offers four business-oriented products and three personal-oriented products. This software allows Mac users to run Windows on their computers.

Key Features:

• Windows 10 and Mac OS High Sierra are both supported.

• It provides you with additional tools to assist you in completing your daily tasks.

• There's no need to restart.

• Excel, PowerPoint, the start menu, and other programs will be available.

• Its Windows OS display has been upgraded.

• It includes a new view mode that makes seeing the virtual machine more easier.

Cost:

Starts at $79.99

4. Virtuozzo

Virtuozzo's open-source Virtual Machine services are its most well-known component. It has improved Kernel-based Virtual Machine in many ways, making it the most preferred arrangement for providing commercial assistance.

Virtuozzo is an excellent choice for all small enterprises. It also demonstrates support for virtualizing Linux servers and SMBs. However, because it is compatible with expanding the scalability of roughly 50 virtualization instances per server, it is a wonderful mix of software-defined storage, container, and virtualization in one location.

Key Features:

• With Virtuozzo's software-defined storage functionality, you can now create fault-tolerant, scalable, and high-performance storage groups utilizing existing on-premises or off-the-shelf hardware.

• Virtuozzo makes use of encryption to keep its users safe.

• Virtuozzo services provide 24-hour customer assistance from a team of experts.

• Shows the optimal working environment for a Kernel-based Virtual Machine and provides commercial assistance that is adaptable.

• A backup solution is included with Virtuozzo Hypervisor. No need to entrust data security to a third party.

• Windows and Linux are the best platforms to use.

Cost:

Starts at $990 per business per month

5. V2 Cloud

V2 Cloud is a desktop virtualization service that is fully integrated. In only 20 minutes, you can set up and administer a Windows cloud desktop. Their virtual machines are really quick, and the software is simple to use. V2 Cloud does not require any IT knowledge and provides unwavering technical support.

Key Features:

• Multi-user Windows 10

• Processors and drives that are lightning quick.

• Dedicated technical assistance

• AzureAD and Office365 Integration

• 50 GB of storage (expandable)

• User cooperation made simple

• Backup snapshots every day

• Global teleportation is unlimited.

Cost:

Starts at $40 per month

6. IBM PowerVM

IBM PowerVM is an excellent alternative for larger enterprises with complex digital environments. PowerVM, as you might assume, performs very well with IBM programs and receives positive feedback from customers for AIX and Linux clients. However, if organizations want to add value to their virtualization activities beyond the price of the product, they'll need qualified IT workers. As a result, small and midsized organizations may not find it to be the greatest solution.

Key Features:

• IBM PowerVM employs live Partition Mobility to transfer active or dormant AIX, Linux, or IBM logical partitions between systems.

• Owing to IBM PowerVM's Active Memory Duplication, all trash and duplicate pages are immediately deleted from memory.

• Because IBM PowerVM uses a cloud storage architecture, all data is protected by a strong security system.

• Power Virtualization Performance is a feature of IBM PowerVM that informs users about how their servers are doing and how resources are being used to examine performance at its finest.

• It logically distributes storage among all partitions in a cluster using shared storage pools.

Cost:

Starts at $590 per core

7. VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion is a simple tool that allows you to create and utilize a virtual machine running the Windows operating system on an Intel-based Mac. Users can install Linux, NetWare, or Solaris in addition to Windows. It allows Mac users to run Windows on Mac, as well as several other operating systems, alongside Mac programs without having to reboot. Fusion is user-friendly for home users while also being powerful for IT experts, developers, and companies.

Key Features:

• It offers IT experts, developers, and enterprise solutions.

• You can run numerous applications on different operating systems simultaneously. There will be no need to restart the computer.

• Fusion Pro has the ability to integrate with a variety of development tools.

• VMware Fusion and VMware vSphere can work together.

• It can be used in conjunction with third-party data center topology software. Fusion Pro is required to use this functionality.

Cost:

Contact Sales

8. Citrix Hypervisor

Citrix Hypervisor supports enterprise workloads without being too difficult for new participants in the virtualization industry. It's also less expensive than business competitors like VMware vSphere, yet user reviews routinely place it in the same tier. This makes it a viable investment for businesses of all sizes and sectors.

Key Features:

• Citrix Hypervisor provides businesses with industry-leading graphics support from NVIDIA and Intel.

• Hypervisor, like other proprietary virtualization solutions, works well with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops installations

• Citrix Hypervisor provides enhanced cybersecurity features via Direct Inspect APIs.

• It's a capable virtual server consolidation solution for most Windows and Linux operations.

Cost:

Contact Sales

9. Oracle VM Server

Oracle VM VirtualBox is certainly a solid solution for Oracle application customers in an x86 or AMD/Intel64 setting. Experienced IT teams like its flexibility and rapid performance for testing, creating, demonstrating, and delivering solutions across various platforms from a single system because it's open source. The virtual server keeps up with shifting market trends and updates its features on a regular basis to provide better service to its consumers.

Key Features:

• Oracle VM is the only professional virtual server solution that includes the GNU General Public License version 2, which is hard to come by as a paid offering on the market.

• Oracle VM Server offers its users all of the high-quality professional capabilities for free.

• The servers are now more secure than ever thanks to RDP and SDK authentication.

• Maintains feature updates whenever a new feature becomes available.

Cost:

Open-source

10. Proxmox VE

Proxmox VE has established itself as a trustworthy and efficient virtualization solution for Linux workloads and settings. Proxmox is a direct rival to Virtuozzo since it combines server virtualization, containerization, and software-defined storage features into a single open-source product. Proxmox is well noted for its disaster recovery capabilities, web management interface, and strong cluster management capability.

Key Features:

• Provisioning virtual machines, distributing updates, monitoring performance, and a variety of other duties are all made much easier with Proxmox.

• Data is better protected from viruses and ransomware by virtualizing servers because backup, recovery, and snapshot abilities are simplified.

• The hypervisor maintains a record of the networks to which a VM must connect

• It gives IT teams the flexibility to monitor workloads, quickly shift tasks between VMs and CPUs depending on performance data, and more fairly distribute workloads across the enterprise.

Cost:

Open-source

11. VMware Workstation

You can run various operating systems with VMware Workstation. Users of Linux or Windows can use this system. This system was created with IT professionals and developers in mind. It will assist developers in creating software that is interoperable with many operating systems and platforms.

Key Features:

• It works with a variety of operating systems, including Linux and Windows.

• This system is cloud-compatible. 'vSphere Connectivity' is the name of this functionality.

• It will enable you to save alternative privacy settings and network configurations for a virtual PC.

• Data transfer between the virtual machine and your PC is simplified.

• Software testing benefits from the 'Helpful Snapshot' functionality.

Cost:

Contact Sales

12. Scale Computing HC3

Scale Computing's HC3 server virtualization platform is one of the best and most popular among mid sized businesses. The device combines server virtualization with server, storage, and virtualization functionality. HC3 earns points for merging diverse operations into a single package, allowing businesses to save money and streamline their technology stack.

Key Features:

• HC3 is praised for its automation ability.

• The technology can detect and fix potential problems across virtual infrastructures before they become larger problems.

• HC3 does not force consumers to pay additional software license costs or buy external storage capacity.

Cost:

Contact Sales

13. QEMU

QEMU is a machine emulator and virtualizer that is free and open source. QEMU supports a wide range of architectures and systems, and it may be configured to run efficiently. As a result, it's ideal for use in hardware appliances with little resources.

Key Features:

• It supports almost all architectures and provides nearly complete machine virtualization with QEMU system mode.

• It is configurable, and the developer community is extremely responsive.

• Without having physical hardware, you can test your initial bare metal support and Linux BSP on QEMU.

• GDB stubs are also provided by QEMU for debugging the kernel and application workflow.

• It features a variety of network options to configure with the machine, such as the User network, which provides rudimentary network connectivity within the QEMU system mode

Cost:

Open-source

14. XEN Project

The Xen Project is a free, open-source virtual machine monitor that was created by a team at Cambridge University. The team eventually founded their own firm, Xen Project, which was later acquired by Citrix. Since then, the Xen Project has collaborated with The Linux Foundation to advance collaboration tools.

Key Features:

• In terms of virtualization, Xen Project is optimized for hyperscale cloud systems and is compatible with AWS, Azure, Oracle, and other platforms.

• The Xen Project provides critical virtualization capability for both open-source and commercial ecosystems, with a focus on security through lean architecture.

• Because of its unique architecture, the Xen Project solution is very versatile and customizable, giving the potential of virtualization to everyone.

• It is the safest and most dependable hypervisor to utilize in security-first environments.

Cost:

Open-source

15. Windows Virtual PC

Microsoft Company's virtualization software is known as Windows Virtual PC. It first came out in September of 2009. This solution will allow users to run numerous Windows operating systems simultaneously on the Windows 7 PC to complete all the tasks.

Key Features:

• You can run numerous operating systems at once.

• The host operating system is Windows 7.

• The print option in the guest OS can be used.

• Multiple virtual machines can be run at the same time.

Cost:

Free

16. Microsoft Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V is one of the greatest server virtualization tools that works well in both an open-source and a Microsoft-centric environment. Furthermore, it can support numerous hardware at the same time and provides many additional features to its customers without charging an additional license charge, making it the most cost-effective option available. Azure Hyper-V contains a number of virtualization technologies to improve the operating system's connection and management.

Key Features:

• To deliver the finest security services, Microsoft Hyper-V uses secure boot.

• Admins can relocate running VMs to other hosts easily, efficiently, and without downtime using Hyper-live V's migration tool.

• This virtualization software for servers is capable of supporting 240 virtual processors per virtual machine.

• Multiple guest operating systems for which Microsoft Hyper-V provides support have built-in integration services.

• Provides simple configurations and is compatible with lowering hardware power, lowering overall power usage.

Cost:

Starts at $24.95

17. RedHat Virtualization

Another prominent player in the server virtualization software market is Red Hat. This x86 virtualization solution is a strong alternative for small, midsized, and big enterprises serious about their VM deployments. Red Hat is known for providing powerful virtualization capabilities at a lower cost than enterprise rivals. It is manageable and offers a solid foundation for cloud-native and containerized systems.

Key Features:

• Red Hat Virtualization understands how to adapt to shifting industry trends and keeps its system up to date every six weeks.

• This virtual server provides storage back-end maintenance as well as live storage migration.

• It's a free and open-source program. As a result, you can configure it to integrate with the systems as needed.

• It's simple to use, set up, and maintain.

Cost:

Open-source

18. Veertu for Mac

Veertu Desktop was created to allow a native virtualization strategy for running Windows and Linux VMs on macOS utilizing Apple's hypervisor technology. Veertu Desktop hypervisor was released as open-source in September 2016 and continues to gain popularity among users of legacy macOS desktop virtualization technology.

Key Features:

• With a 15MB size, it runs as a native application on Mac systems.

• For guest macOS VMs, use native macOS resource allocation and power management.

• For on-demand provisioning, INSTANT START technology allows VMs to start in less than a second.

• Para Virtual drivers for improved disk and network performance inside virtual machines

• Allows users to connect iOS devices to macOS virtual machines through USB passthrough.

Cost:

Open-source

19. Boot Camp

Boot Camp is a Mac-only tool that allows users to switch between macOS and Windows. After downloading Windows 10, use Boot Camp Assistant to guide you through the setup process on Intel-based Macs. Apple created the Boot Camp software. It's designed specifically for Mac users who want to run Windows on their computers.

Key Features:

• There's no need to download anything because it'll already be on your Mac.

• Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 are all supported.

• Apple and Windows users can use the same keyboard.

Cost:

Free with Mac

20. Vagrant

Vagrant is a free and open source virtualization tool designed in Ruby by Hashicorp, but it may also be used in applications written in PHP, Python, Java, C#, and JavaScript. This command-line utility creates, manages, and distributes virtualized development environments by providing a framework and customizable format.

Key Features:

• Users can use Vagrant Share to share their operating Vagrant environment over the internet.

• Makes it simple to collaborate and share development environments, resulting in uniform working conditions for virtual machine-based software development teams.

• Vagrant is compatible with configuration management technologies such as Puppet and Chef.

• It works with a declarative configuration file that lists all of your software needs, packages, operating system settings, users, and more.

Cost:

Open-source

21. AWS Auto Scaling

AWS Auto Scaling continuously analyzes your applications and adjusts capacity as needed to ensure consistent, predictable performance at the lowest feasible cost. It's simple to build up application scalability for many resources across different services in minutes using AWS Auto Scaling. The service has a simple yet powerful user interface that allows you to create resource scaling strategies.

Key Features:

• AWS Auto Scaling simplifies scaling by providing recommendations that help you maximize performance, costs, or a combination of the two.

• You may now integrate Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling with AWS Auto Scaling to scale extra resources for other AWS services.

• Your applications will always have the proper resources at the right moment thanks to AWS Auto Scaling.

• It is easy to set up and has a low learning curve.

Cost:

Pay as you go

22. Scaleway

ScaleWay is a cloud-based platform that works best for any company. It comes with a number of high-quality features. ScaleWay offers a variety of price levels to help its customers get the most out of their software. Please bear in mind that the ScaleWay virtual server only costs for the services that are used hourly, making it a reasonable tool.

Key Features:

• ScaleWay server virtualization program has a user-friendly interface that requires no technical knowledge.

• ScaleWay enables for extensive automated control and management via API.

• This virtual server offers a variety of payment options for its users, including hourly billing for only used services.

• As industry trends change, regular platform updates introduce more new features.

• Most typical apps and OSes may be deployed in a matter of minutes using ScaleWay.

Cost:

Starts at $0.27 per hour for the service used

23. Nutanix AHV

Nutanix AHV intends to make server virtualization more accessible. It replaces the outdated notion of virtualization as a sophisticated layer of the IT stack that must be licensed, installed, and managed independently. Nutanix AHV, on the other hand, provides a secure, enterprise-grade virtualization platform that can deploy and optimize virtual machines and containers.

Key Features:

• Nutanix HCI (Hyper-Converged Infrastructure) and virtualization management are integrated.

• Security, network microsegmentation, and built-in configuration audit and cleanup are all implemented smoothly.

• In comparison to alternative virtualization solutions, lower operational costs have been noted.

• On Nutanix HCI, AHV is tailored to deliver optimal system performance for demanding enterprise workloads.

• Machine learning technology helps to balance resource usage.

Cost:

Contact Sales

24. Runecast Analyzer

Runecast is a corporate IT platform that allows your Security and Operations staff to take a proactive approach to ITOM, CSPM, and compliance, saving time and money.

Key Features:

• With a single platform that analyzes all of your cloud infrastructure for better visibility, safety, and time savings, your organization can do more with less.

• Across many standards and technologies, security professionals benefit from simpler vulnerability management and regulatory compliance.

• Operations teams may minimize operational overheads and boost transparency, allowing you to be proactive and focus on the job that matters most to you.

Cost:

Contact Sales

25. SUSE Manager

SUSE Manager was created to enable enterprise DevOps and IT Operations teams simplify and recover control of their IT assets by providing a single solution for managing Linux systems across a range of hardware architectures, hypervisors, container, IoT, and cloud systems. It automates Linux system and IoT device provisioning, patching, and configuration for faster, more consistent, and repetitive server deployment, allowing operations to run more smoothly and expenses to be reduced.

Key Features:

• You may assure compliance with internal security standards and external requirements by automating the monitoring, tracking, auditing, and reporting of your systems.

• Automate the provisioning, patching, and configuration of Linux servers for faster, consistent, and repeatable server deployments.

• All of your systems, VMs, and containers in your development, test, and production environments are monitored, tracked, audited, and reports are generated.

• Manages any Linux system across several hypervisors.

Cost:

Contact Sales

26. SoftNAS

SoftNAS is a fully-featured cloud computing NAS filer product line for main data storage, secondary storage, and hybrid cloud data integration. It allows current apps to securely transfer to and connect with the cloud without having to rewrite them. SoftNAS has the most storage choices in terms of cost vs. performance and backend storage selection, available on-demand.

Key Features:

• High-availability

• Deduplication

• Compression

• Thin-provisioning

• Replication

• Encryption

• LDAP and Active Directory integration

• Support for NFS, CIFS, iSCSI or AFP storage protocols

Cost:

Starts at $0.20 per hour

27. SolusIO

SolusIO offers a comprehensive collection of virtualization technologies, including hypervisor and container-based virtualization. Its mission is to provide solutions to its partners and customers for their individual digital transformation journeys. Companies must use technology to improve customer experience and develop new market opportunities across industries.

Key Features:

• Supports several other server virtualization systems

• It simplifies virtual infrastructure management by providing clients with lightning-fast on-demand VMs

• It provides a simple API, and an easy-to-use self-service control panel, as well as a sophisticated administration control panel for service providers.

• Allows users to KVM virtual machines in a single platform

Cost:

Contact Sales

Things to Consider While Choosing Server Virtualization Tools

When it comes to choosing server virtualization software, there are a few crucial considerations such as:

Support for Operating Systems

Any virtualization system should, of course, support all operating systems (OS) that are used within the company. However, certain server virtualization types are better suited to a single operating system, while others are OS neutral.

Preference for Vendors

Some businesses are loyal to providers like Microsoft, VMware, Oracle, IBM, and Citrix. In those situations, choosing a virtualization tool that goes against the grain is usually not a good idea. Those who have decided on Microsoft, for example, should continue with Hyper-V. Similarly, people that are heavily invested in open source platforms like Red Hat or Proxmox should definitely stick to them.

Scalability

Some solutions for virtualization scale better than others. If scalability is crucial, it may be worth paying more for a tool with more scalability capabilities and the underlying infrastructure to handle a large number of virtual machines. Furthermore, scalability can work in both directions. Due to seasonal needs and other variables, some tools do a better job than others at ramping up and down VM counts.

Consumption of Resources

Virtualization tools require more memory than others. As a result, the virtualization environment's ease or complexity must be evaluated. Choose a system that saves headroom primarily for VMs while avoiding a slew of needless bells and whistles for fundamental needs. Others, on the other hand, require those additional capabilities and should choose more sophisticated systems that require more memory and CPU power.

Conclusion

So, this was the list of the top server virtualization tools that can help with your organization's virtualization activities. You can select the tool that is better-suited for your company’s needs.

FAQs

What are server virtualization tools?

Server virtualization allows you to divide and optimize server resources by managing many physical servers through virtual segments. They utilize a comparable software called server virtualization software for this. Each virtual server is capable of running on its own operating system. Virtualization software for servers is now utilized by practically every enterprise. It is completely safe and simple to use.

These tools will help businesses who are considering setting up virtualized servers. Virtualization can make things easier to get additional virtualized servers up and running than physical counterparts, in addition to better utilizing server resources.

What are the things to consider while choosing server virtualization tools?

The ideal server virtualization tool depends on whether it represents a company's specific business demands and goals. Here are a few things to think about while selection a server virtualization tool.

• Supported operating systems

• Virtualization software scalability

• Reduce resources with virtualization

• Scalability

What are the benefits of server virtualization tools?

Some of the benefits of server virtualization tools include:

Reduced operating costs

Virtualization provides undeniable cost and resource savings to enterprises. As physical servers are less important to SMBs and the virtualization software industry expands, more businesses will seize the chance to save money on overhead, electricity, and maintenance. The time and effort committed to on-premises servers are all resources saved.

Faster deployment of workloads

Server virtualization solution is well-known for its ease of installation. Spinning up servers, in particular, allows developers to deploy applications and resources more quickly. This boost gives the IT team more flexibility to manage the infrastructure's performance and reactivity.

More resilient

Virtual machines provide the portability and security required to study, identify, and defend against threats. Administrators can migrate virtual machines practically instantly to another hypervisor when using a hypervisor, providing redundancy, recovery plans, reduced downtime, and adds to the speed at which VMs can be installed or transferred.

What is the importance of virtualization?

The importance of virtualization is:

• Improved server/desktop utilization.

• To make disaster recovery simple.

• New servers will be deployed more quickly.

• System migration becomes very simple.

• For management, fewer resources are necessary.

In cloud computing, how does virtualization work?

Virtualization plays a crucial part in cloud computing technology. Usually, in cloud computing, users share the data stored in the clouds, such as applications, but with virtualization, users share the infrastructure.

The following are the steps in the virtualization process:

• Physical resources are separated from their physical contexts by hypervisors.

• Resources are obtained from the physical setting and distributed to the numerous virtual environments as required.

• Users interact with the virtual world and make calculations there.

• A user or program can convey any instruction that demands additional resources from the physical environment after the virtual environment is up and running.