Forum Discussion
Solved
Hyper-V Server 2022
Anyone know whether there will be a Hyper-V Server 2022? i.e. the free version which is just for running VMs and has no GUI? I've seen mentions on forums that this SKU is being dropped, but not ...
Free 'Microsoft Hyper-V Server' product update
Since its introduction over a decade ago in Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V technology has been, and continues to be, the foundation of Microsoft’s hypervisor platform. Hyper-V is a strategic technology for Microsoft. Microsoft continues to invest heavily in Hyper-V for a variety of scenarios such as virtualization, security, containers, gaming, and more. Hyper-V is used in Azure, Azure Local, Windows Server, Windows Client, and Xbox among others.
Starting with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019, the free ‘Microsoft Hyper-V Server’ product has been deprecated and is the final version of that product. Hyper-V Server 2019 is a free product available for download from the Microsoft Evaluation Center: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-hyper-v-server-2019
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 will continue to be supported under its lifecycle policy until January 2029, see this link for additional information: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/hyperv-server-2019.
While Microsoft has made a business decision to no longer offer the free 'Microsoft Hyper-V Server' product, this has no impact to the many other products which include the Hyper-V feature and capabilities. This change has no impact to any customers who use Windows Server or Azure Local.
For customers looking to do test or evaluation of the Hyper-V feature, Azure Local includes a 60-day free trial and can be downloaded here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-local/ . Windows Server offers a free 180-day evaluation which can be downloaded from the Evaluation Center here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter
Microsoft remains committed to meeting customers where they are and delivering innovation for on-premises virtualization and bringing unique hybrid capabilities like no other can combined with the power of Azure Arc. We are announcing that Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2019 was the last version of the free download product and that customers begin transitioning to one of the several other products which include Hyper-V or consider Azure.
Thank you,
Elden Christensen
Principal Group PM Manager
Windows Server Development Team
Elden_Christensen
RE: Feature removal of Azure integration features
So, the core question you should be asking yourself here is "Do we want Enthusiast users who don't mind using pre-release software for free be able to get their toes wet with Azure, or are we going to make them switch to a 60-day trial and then pay for it in order to do that?"
Keep in mind:
1. Trying the Azure features will, at minimum, mean that an Azure account will get created. That is a foot in the door.
2. By using those Azure features, they will become more familiar with them and go deeper into the ecosystem.
3. As they go deeper into the ecosystem and start building things of higher importance/value, then the prospect of installing a supported/paid version of Azure HCI becomes better.
4. When the Azure credits get used up or expire, this could very well result in a paying Azure customer to keep using those paid Azure features, even if it's on an unsupported system (or they upgrade to a supported one).
No problems missing out on non-Azure features like Storage Spaces Direct and SDN on a free tier. They weren't even in Hyper-V Server 2019. If anyone wants to use those, that is a good use case to use a trial/paid version of Azure HCI.
It's your call. As I said before, it doesn't even affect me anymore because I have already moved on. I am just looking out for your best interest (to do a good job for Microsoft) if you were wanting Azure/Azure HCI to be as successful as can be. I think that you would want it to be easy to get hooked into Azure by making less barriers.
RE: Feature removal of Azure integration features
So, the core question you should be asking yourself here is "Do we want Enthusiast users who don't mind using pre-release software for free be able to get their toes wet with Azure, or are we going to make them switch to a 60-day trial and then pay for it in order to do that?"
Keep in mind:
1. Trying the Azure features will, at minimum, mean that an Azure account will get created. That is a foot in the door.
2. By using those Azure features, they will become more familiar with them and go deeper into the ecosystem.
3. As they go deeper into the ecosystem and start building things of higher importance/value, then the prospect of installing a supported/paid version of Azure HCI becomes better.
4. When the Azure credits get used up or expire, this could very well result in a paying Azure customer to keep using those paid Azure features, even if it's on an unsupported system (or they upgrade to a supported one).
No problems missing out on non-Azure features like Storage Spaces Direct and SDN on a free tier. They weren't even in Hyper-V Server 2019. If anyone wants to use those, that is a good use case to use a trial/paid version of Azure HCI.
It's your call. As I said before, it doesn't even affect me anymore because I have already moved on. I am just looking out for your best interest (to do a good job for Microsoft) if you were wanting Azure/Azure HCI to be as successful as can be. I think that you would want it to be easy to get hooked into Azure by making less barriers.
So, it just occurred to me that the business model for Azure Stack HCI is all wrong.
The most straightforward way is to shift the payment from being centered on the OS, itself over to what actually connects to Azure.
i.e. Instead of paying $10/core/month for the OS, you pay $10/core/month for each core *LINKED TO AZURE* (each core gets a 60-day free trial).
The Azure Stack HCI OS would still have basic functionality without the connection to OS roughly equivalent to Hyper-V Server 2019.
When you do link your HCI to Azure, that will unlock additional functionality, such as:
* Not be forced to install pre-release software on Patch Tuesdays
* Storage Spaces Direct
* SDN
* The actual functionality which Azure offers
If that link to a paid version of Azure is not maintained, then those extra features become deactivated.
The most straightforward way is to shift the payment from being centered on the OS, itself over to what actually connects to Azure.
i.e. Instead of paying $10/core/month for the OS, you pay $10/core/month for each core *LINKED TO AZURE* (each core gets a 60-day free trial).
The Azure Stack HCI OS would still have basic functionality without the connection to OS roughly equivalent to Hyper-V Server 2019.
When you do link your HCI to Azure, that will unlock additional functionality, such as:
* Not be forced to install pre-release software on Patch Tuesdays
* Storage Spaces Direct
* SDN
* The actual functionality which Azure offers
If that link to a paid version of Azure is not maintained, then those extra features become deactivated.
