Often the most challenging aspect of trying a new technology is getting started with it. There are costs involved; hardware, software, time. Often we avoid jumping in because of the inconvenience of making a move. Well, Microsoft has made it easy for anyone who wishes to get a feel for Hyper-V. They have included it in their Windows 8 Professional version, the first desktop edition if Windows to include the Hyper-V virtualization host.
What you get with Windows 8 is not a product on which you will build a data center, but it is very similar to the version provided with Windows Server 2012. For those who want to create a VM or two to experience Hyper-V, this is a great option.
What can you do on your laptop or PC running Windows 8 and virtualization? How about this:
- Test a new operating system
- Work with applications in a “sandbox” environment
- Test an application with different operating systems
- Use VM snapshots to quickly revert back to a prior state
- Troubleshoot production VMs
It is easy to deploy Hyper-V on your personal system as long as you have an Intel Core i3, i5, i7 or AMD Phenom II or later processor. Hyper-V will require 4 GB of RAM and 64-bit version of the operating system. If your system meets these requirements, enable the Hyper-V feature. Instructions on how to enable and use Hyper-V with Windows 8 can be found here.
Unitrends also has an easy way to test our backup appliance using a free version of our Unitrends Enterprise Backup. UEB provides free backup for life for up to four virtual machines. Find out more about Unitrends UEB here.
