VMware Cost-Per-Application Calculator

VMware vSphere 4 vs. Microsoft Hyper-V R2 / Citrix XenServer 5.5 – Acquisition Cost Comparison

The VMware Cost-Per-Application Calculator compares the cost of virtualizing applications on VMware vSphere 4 versus other commodity virtualization offerings, like Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (Hyper-V)/Citrix XenServer. The calculator provides an accurate and simple methodology to determine and compare the deployment costs of virtualization solutions by 1) including both software and hardware infrastructure costs and 2) accounting for number of applications that a virtualization platform can run on each sever.

By leveraging the VMware Cost-Per-Application Calculator, you will see how VMware’s superior virtualization technology enables greater cost savings while at the same time greatly improves reliability and availability across your IT infrastructure.

Calculate the cost per application

Click Info to get more details

1.	Number of applications to virtualize Specify the number of applications that you plan to virtualize	( min 10 - max 1000 VMs )	info

2.	Virtualization host type Select a price and configuration for the virtualization hosts	Server A (2CPU Dual Core 16 GB RAM, $5000) Server B (2CPU Quad Core 32 GB RAM, $8000)	info

3.	Networked Storage Type Select the type of shared storage that meets your business needs	Fiber channel SAN iSCSI SAN NAS	info

4.	Compare to vendor Select a vendor to compare VMware against	Citrix Microsoft	info

5.	VMware vSphere 4 Edition Select the product edition that best meets your business goals	Essentials Plus Standard Advanced Enterprise Enterprise Plus	info

6.	Management deployed on physical or virtual Select how the virtualization management software should be deployed	Physical Virtual	info

7.	Electricity Select the electricity cost for this analysis	Low Average High	info

8.	Real estate Select the datacenter space cost for this analysis	Low Average High	info

What’s New:

Compare against Microsoft or Citrix

Networked Storage Types

Improved vSphere Editions Selection

Check out the “VMware Cost Per Application Calculator Methodology”

Read "Evaluating the ESX 4 Hypervisor and VM Density Advantage" (Taneja Group)

1. Number of applications

The number of applications to be virtualized can be approximated by the number of virtual machines (VMs) you plan to deploy.

2. Virtualization host type

The virtualization hosts are the servers on which you will install the hypervisor and that you will use to run your virtualized applications

The server price on the left does not include shared storage (HBAs, SAN switches, disk), networking infrastructure (switches), electricity, cooling, or space costs.

Server B is a more powerful server so will typically run more virtual machines than Server A.

Server A - ($5,000 – 2 socket, dual-core processors, 16 GB RAM, 3-5 network adapters)

Server B - ($8,000 – 2 socket, quad-core processors, 32 GB RAM, 4-6 network adapters)

3. Networked Storage Type

Type of shared storage that you plan to use for your virtual machines virtual disks

Fiber Channel SAN - assumes disk cost of 5$/GB (cost for HBAs and SAN switches are additional and included in the total cost for storage).

iSCSI SAN - assumes disk cost of 3$/GB .

NAS - assumes disk cost of 3$/GB.

4. Compare to vendor

Citrix - compare cost per app of VMware vSphere 4 and vCenter Server vs. Citrix XenServer with XenCenter and Citrix Essentials Enterprise.

Microsoft - compare cost per app of VMware vSphere 4 and vCenter Server vs. Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V and System Center.

5. Software Licensing

Essentials Plus - all-in-one solution for small offices (up to 3 hosts) to consolidate application with a low up-front investment. Includes high availability and data protection with de-duplication .

Standard - Create a solid foundation for consolidation of applications to slash hardware costs while accelerating application deployment.

Advanced - protect business-critical applications against planned and unplanned downtime to provide superior application availability.

Enterprise - eliminate downtime, protect data and automate resource management.

Enterprise Plus - deliver the full benefit of VMware vSphere and transform your IT infrastructure into the next generation of flexible, reliable IT services.

6. Management deployment

Virtualization management software (VMware vCenter, Microsoft System Center, Citrix Essentials) can be deployed either on physical servers or in virtual machines. Most customers choose to deploy virtualization management on physical servers. However, for some smaller deployments, running management components in virtual machines can enable some additional cost savings.

Physical - Virtualization management software (VMware vCenter, Microsoft System Center, Citrix Essentials) can be deployed either on physical servers or in virtual machines. Most customers choose to deploy virtualization management on physical servers. However, for some smaller deployments, running management components in virtual machines can enable some additional cost savings.

Virtual - VMware vCenter and all Microsoft System Center or Citrix Essentials components will be run in virtual machines. Management components will be run as virtual machines on each vendor’s hosts. Required databases will also be run in virtual machines.

7.Electricity

Low - 0.8 $/kWh (-20% of U.S. national average)

Average – 1.0 $/kWh (U.S. average)

High – 1.2 $/kWh (+20% of U.S. national average)

Using an Uninterruptable Power Supply can increase the power cost of your datacenter.

8.Real estate

Low - fully burdened datacenter real estate cost of 248 $/sqft. per year (-20% of U.S. average)

Average - fully burdened datacenter real estate cost of 310 $/sqft. per year (U.S. average)

High - fully burdened datacenter real estate cost of 372 $/sqft. per year (+20% of U.S. average)

“Fully burdened datacenter real estate” cost includes facilities capital cost for space build-out, power and cooling equipment capital cost, and factors in weighted depreciation