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Azure Virtual Machines VS vSphere

Compare Azure Virtual Machines VS vSphere and see what are their differences

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Azure Virtual Machines logo Azure Virtual Machines

Build Linux and Windows virtual machines (VMs) and save up to 80 percent with Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances and Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server.

vSphere logo vSphere

Get started with VMware vSphere editions, the world’s leading server virtualization platform and the best foundation for your apps, your cloud, and your business.
  • Azure Virtual Machines Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-19
  • vSphere Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-25

Azure Virtual Machines features and specs

  • Scalability
    Azure Virtual Machines allow you to easily scale up or down based on your needs, providing flexibility to handle varying workloads.
  • Global Reach
    Azure offers a vast network of data centers around the world, enabling low-latency access and compliance with local data regulations.
  • Wide Range of VM Sizes
    Azure provides a variety of VM sizes and configurations to suit different types of applications and workloads.
  • Integrated Ecosystem
    Azure VMs can seamlessly integrate with other Azure services like Azure SQL Database, Azure App Services, and Azure Active Directory.
  • High Availability
    Azure offers features such as Availability Zones and VM Scale Sets to ensure high availability and resilience of your applications.
  • Security
    Azure VMs come with built-in security features, including Azure Security Center, for monitoring and defending against threats.
  • Pay-As-You-Go Pricing
    Azure's pricing model allows you to pay only for what you use, which can be cost-effective for many businesses.

Possible disadvantages of Azure Virtual Machines

  • Complexity
    Managing Azure Virtual Machines can be complex, especially for companies without dedicated IT teams or cloud experts.
  • Cost Management
    While Azure provides a pay-as-you-go model, costs can quickly add up if not monitored and managed effectively.
  • Learning Curve
    There is a significant learning curve associated with understanding and utilizing all the features and services offered by Azure.
  • Dependence on Internet
    Performance and availability are highly dependent on internet connectivity, which may not be universally reliable or fast.
  • Resource Limitations
    There are certain quotas and limits on resources that can be allocated, which might require quota increase requests for larger deployments.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Using proprietary technologies and services from Azure can lead to being locked into the Microsoft ecosystem, making migration to other platforms challenging.
  • Downtime
    While Azure aims for high availability, there can still be occasional downtime due to maintenance or unforeseen issues.

vSphere features and specs

  • High Availability
    vSphere offers built-in high availability (HA) features that ensure continuous availability of applications by minimizing downtime and providing quick failure recovery.
  • Scalability
    vSphere can scale both horizontally and vertically, meaning it can handle increasing workloads by adding more servers or by enhancing the capabilities of existing servers.
  • Advanced Resource Management
    Provides sophisticated resource management capabilities including Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and Network I/O Control, enabling efficient distribution and utilization of resources.
  • Security
    Incorporates numerous security features such as encryption, secure boot, and role-based access control (RBAC) to safeguard sensitive data and ensure compliance.
  • Ease of Management
    Comprehensive management tools like vCenter Server facilitate streamlined administration, monitoring, and automation of virtual environments.
  • Backup and Recovery
    Supports robust backup and recovery solutions, including integration with various third-party backup software for disaster recovery planning.
  • Performance Optimization
    Optimizes performance through features like VMotion and Storage VMotion, enabling live migration of virtual machines without downtime.

Possible disadvantages of vSphere

  • Cost
    vSphere is often considered expensive, with high initial licensing fees and ongoing maintenance costs, which may not be affordable for smaller organizations.
  • Complexity
    The platform can be complex to deploy and manage, necessitating skilled personnel for setup, configuration, and ongoing administration.
  • Hardware Compatibility
    Requires specific hardware for optimal performance and compatibility, which may necessitate additional investments in new hardware or upgrades.
  • Resource Intensive
    Resource-hungry environment that can impact performance if not properly managed, particularly in terms of CPU, memory, and storage requirements.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Heavily relies on VMware's ecosystem, creating potential vendor lock-in issues, making it difficult to switch to other solutions without significant effort.
  • Learning Curve
    Steep learning curve for new users, requiring extensive training and experience to utilize all the features and capabilities effectively.
  • License Compliance
    Complex licensing model can result in compliance challenges, necessitating rigorous tracking and management of licenses to avoid penalties.

Azure Virtual Machines videos

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vSphere videos

What is VMware vSphere ESXi and vCenter?

More videos:

  • Review - VMware vSphere Review (Real User: Stewart Hardy III)
  • Review - VMware vSphere Review (Real User: Marcelo Garcia)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Azure Virtual Machines and vSphere)
Cloud Computing
42 42%
58% 58
Virtual Machine Management
Virtualization
36 36%
64% 64
Cloud Infrastructure
53 53%
47% 47

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Azure Virtual Machines and vSphere

Azure Virtual Machines Reviews

10 Best VMware Alternatives and Similar Software
Azure Virtual Machines are one of the numerous forms of scalable, on-demand computing resources like VMware. VMs are typically used when you want greater control over any computer system than the other options provide.

vSphere Reviews

Best Server Virtualization Software for 2021
VMware is the vendor to beat in server virtualization with VMware vSphere. It is likely to be on all shortlists as it has dominated the market for so long. It top all competitors on overall user ratings.
10 Open Source/Commercial Control Panels For Virtual Machines (VM’s) Management
VMware vSphere is the world’s leading server virtualization platform for building cloud infrastructure. With tons of its different powerful features, vSphere is a truely state-of-the-art software virtual machines management software. It is an ideal solution for large VPS providers with appropriate budgets and professional staff.
Source: www.tecmint.com
Best Server Virtualization Software
The wide range of capabilities vSphere offers has made it popular for a long time. For instance, the signature tool in VMware is compatible with the hybrid cloud, enables big data virtualization across multiple hosts, and makes it easy to migrate legacy Unix infrastructures to virtual Linux machines. The many tools within vSphere provide support for load balancing and live...
2020's Ultimate Guide to Virtual Machine Management Software for Web Hosts: SolusVM vs. VMware vSphere vs. VMmanager vs. Others
A leading platform for server virtualization and building cloud infrastructure, VMware vSphere is an ideal, state-of-the-art solution for enterprises and large VPS providers. You’ll pay a premium — a basic, 1-year subscription with support costs $273 each year — but vSphere serves up streamlined automation, comprehensive security, a universal app platform, along with...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Azure Virtual Machines seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 9 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Azure Virtual Machines mentions (9)

  • Stealing everything you've ever typed on your Windows Recall PC is now possible
    More than 60% of Azure is run on Linux [1] and the writing was already on the wall when the Linux subsystem was conceived so I don't think it's a good example of EEE. [1] https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Open source versus Microsoft: The new rebellion begins
    Https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux#:~:text=Get%20up%20and%20running%20with,CentOS%2C%20Debian%2C%20and%20CoreOS. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Linux Crosses 4% Market Share Worldwide
    "More than 60 percent of customer cores in Azure run Linux workloads" https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux So the Linux share would actually decrease if you exclude Azure ;). - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Azure has run out of compute. Anyone else affected?
    So does google, so does azure etc. etc. https://cloud.google.com/spot-vms, https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/spot/ Spot instances exist just to try to turn over-provisions in to not a complete loss. You're at least making some money from your mistake. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Infrastructure as code (IaC) for Java-based apps on Azure
    You can use virtual machines or virtual machine scale sets to host your Java applications. Scale sets, in particular, allow you to scale your applications across hundreds to thousands of VMs very rapidly. As we all probably know, virtual machines require a high level of management and configuration versus some other options out there. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
View more

vSphere mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of vSphere yet. Tracking of vSphere recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Azure Virtual Machines and vSphere, you can also consider the following products

Amazon EC2 - Amazon Web Services offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services. Free to join, pay only for what you use.

Proxmox VE - Proxmox is an open-source server virtualization management solution that offers the ability to manage virtual server technology with the Linux OpenVZ and KVM technology.

Hyper-V - Install Hyper-V on Windows 10

VirtualBox - VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as...

Citrix Hypervisor - Optimized for server virtualization infrastructures, Citrix Hypervisor is a leading virtualization management platform that enables server consolidation and provides industry-leading scalability and performance under load.

Evolve IP Virtual Desktop - Evolve IP has been enabling businesses to deploy both cloud computing and cloud communications services on a single, unified platform.