Many companies choose an open-source virtualization solution to simplify their IT infrastructure with server virtualization and consolidation. It helps them quickly reduce operating costs as well as maintenance and administration time. The open-source platform Proxmox VE comes with zero license cost, provides full access to all functionalities, and increases the flexibility, security, and reliability of your IT infrastructure.
Comparing Proxmox VE to alternatives
Proxmox VE is already the best choice for thousands of satisfied customers when it comes to choosing an alternative to VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V or Citrix XenServer. The following list will help you to compare Proxmox VE with alternatives in the server virtualization market:
Overview |
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Base OS: | Debian GNU/Linux |
License: | GNU Affero GPL, v3 |
Full virtualization: | KVM/QEMU |
OS-level virtualization: | Linux Container (LXC) |
Architecture: | x86_64 |
Installation: | Bare-metal ISO installer |
max. RAM and CPU per host: | 128 TiB [64 PiB] RAM, 8192 logical CPUs, 8 sockets |
Key Features |
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100% software-based | yes |
Clustering: | yes, any node in Proxmox VE can manage the cluster (no master node) |
High Availability (HA): | yes |
Storage: | LVM, LVM-thin, iSCSI/kernel, iSCSI/libiscsi, Ceph/RBD, ZFS over iSCSI, ZFS (local), directory, NFS, CIFS, GlusterFS, Proxmox Backup Server |
Virtual networking: | Bridged-Networking, Open vSwitch |
Guests: | Linux, Windows, other operating systems are known to work |
Memory deduplication/sharing: | yes, KSM |
Firewall: | built-in, cluster-wide, IPv4 and IPv6 |
Cloud-ready: | yes |
Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI): | yes |
Management |
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GUI: | full-featured, web-based user interface |
CLI: | yes |
API: | yes (REST) |
Monitoring: | yes (InfluxDB, Graphite), plugins for external monitoring solutions |
User Management: | LDAP, AD, two-factor authentication for GUI |
Permission Management: | yes, granular |
3rd party tools: | yes |
VM Lifecycle |
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Backup/Restore: | yes, integrated (vzdump) & Proxmox Backup Server |
Live Restore: | yes (virtual machines with Proxmox Backup Server) |
Migration: | yes |
Live Migration: | yes, interchangeable CPU *configure oldest CPU type |
Storage Live Migration: | yes |
Snapshot: | yes |
Template and Clone: | yes |
Replication: | yes |
Export / Import: | yes |
Virtual CPU Overcommit: | yes |
V2V: | yes |
P2V: | yes |
Support and Pricing |
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Free software license: | yes, AGPL,v3 |
License cost: | no |
Enterprise support: | commercial, subscription-based |
Forum support: | public community forum with free access |
Training courses: | yes |
Mailing lists: | yes, for discussion, support, feature requests |
Bugtracker: | yes |
Code repository: | public (Git) |
Self-learning paths: | documentation, project page, videos, books, etc. |