Proxmox delivers datacenter manager beta that makes it a more viable VMware contender
One console to manage multiple clusters is table stakes, but some users are betting on mixed environments
Open source virtualization suite Proxmox has taken an important step towards becoming a stronger contender for those considering VMware alternatives by commencing beta testing for a datacenter management tool that can control multiple hardware clusters.
Proxmox’s main offering is the Virtual Environment (PVE), a hyperconverged infrastructure suite that allows users to run and manage virtual machines and containers. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, the Austrian company behind the product, says users employ its wares on over 1.6 million hosts.
Fully-functioning PVE clusters must use at least three nodes, but the company is aware of production setups in which clusters comprise tens or even hundreds of servers. The architecture of PVE, however, means each cluster is effectively an island.
Vendors of rival virtualization platforms offer tools that allow management of multiple clusters, so that users in large environments don’t have to use one console for each cluster.
Proxmox is heading in the same direction with the beta of its “Datacenter Manager”, which the company says it developed with “the objective of providing a centralized overview of all your individual nodes and clusters. It also enables basic management like migrations of virtual guests without any cluster network requirements.”
Those are must-have requirements for organizations that adopt hyperconverged infrastructure at scale, because central management of multiple clusters and easy movement for virtual machines reduces admin work.
Under its new owner, Broadcom, VMware is clearly not very interested in prioritizing products for smaller customers who don’t need more than a basic server virtualization platform and the ability to run a modest containerized application estate. PVE can handle those jobs well, and its status as FOSS means it’s extremely competitive with VMware’s prices.
Whenever The Register considers VMware alternatives, readers often express their liking for, or curiosity about, Proxmox. The debut of Datacenter Manager, a stable release of which Proxmox says will emerge “later this year,” will likely make the product even more intriguing.
Analysts, however, advise that VMware’s stack is more mature and better-featured than all rivals.
Some users acknowledge VMware’s superiority but feel they can’t afford it for all workloads and therefore review their IT estate to determine which applications can thrive in other environments. At the recent Gartner Symposium event in Australia, The Register met a rep from a major Australian retailer who, faced with a 180 percent price increase for VMware products, conducted just such a review and now plans to move some workloads to Hyper-V (for which they have entitlements under their Microsoft licenses) and Nutanix. ®