I have been involved in various virtualization platforms for a decade or so. I have a few thoughts about four of them. Performance is not discussed because I have a motley collections of “servers” and have not taken the time to explore this. None immediately stand out as being slower than the rest.
Proxmox
In my experiences, proxmox is an excellent choice for a homelab and in a lot of situations, a great choice fpr simpler enterprise situation. It is open source, free to use and you can purchase a support contract. It has many enterprise features that normally cost a lot of money and/or take a lot of work. It is based on KVM.
- Virtualizations of many types of hardware and operating systems using the x86 platform, 32 and 64 bit.
- Clustering of several ‘hosts’
- High availability (HA) works well.
- Software defined storage (CephFS) aka ‘shared storage’.
- Snapshots
- Cloud-Init
- Built-in backups
- An additional backup appliance available for more features (https://proxmox.com/en/proxmox-backup-server)
- Any host in a cluster can manage the entire cluster.
- Live migration (computer and storage)
All free and a great way to learn. Hardware requirements are modest. Very well thought out and constructed in such a way to reduce issues. Great community support. Does not require command line work unless you want to do something a bit unusual. You can define a VM and install an OS all from the command line.
XCP-NG
I have just started to look into XCP-NG the past two months. It is free and open source. “Pro Support” is available.
Based on XenServer, XCP-ng is the result of massive cooperation between individuals and companies, to deliver a product without limits. No restrictions on features and every bit available on GitHub!
- Virtualizations of many types of hardware and operating systems using the x86 platform, 32 and 64 bit.
- Clustering of several ‘hosts’
- High availability (HA) works well.
- Snapshots
- Built-in backups
- Live migration (computer and storage)
- The host by itself, has very limited functionality.
- Requires Xen Orchestra in a VM to completely manage a host or cluster (https://xen-orchestra.com/#!/xo-home)
Has many enterprise type features. Not the easiest to use and will require use of the command line sometimes. My feeling feeling is XCP-NG is rather new but growing quickly. Has several high-profile promoters on YouTube.
My general feeling is try it first and see how you like it. Since it is based on XenServer, a very mature product, it has deep roots.
ESXi/VSphere/VMware
https://www.vmware.com/products/esxi-and-esx.html
First of all:
- VMware is the company
- VSphere is the paid version of ESXi
- ESXi is a free, feature limited version
If you have the money for it, VSphere is the Cadillac of this bunch. In the corporate world it is definitely the “no one ever got fired for recommending it” choice. It is the safest but the cost… Every thing you want (like HA) costs more money.
- Virtualizations of many types of hardware and operating systems using the x86 platform, 32 and 64 bit.
- Clustering of several ‘hosts’
- High availability (HA) in the Enterprise version
- Snapshots
- Can be backed up with Veeam but nothing comes with VSphere
- ESXi can not be backed up at all and does not support clusters or compute migration
- Live migration (computer and storage)
- Trials are available
- A yearly subscription through VMUG (https://www.vmug.com/membership/vmug-advantage-membership/) for their entire portfolio is available for $200. Personal use only.
If you are interested in exploring the best and what is used in most enterprise data centers, the VMUG subscription is well worth the money.
A couple of warnings:
- The most fickle about hardware compatibility of this bunch. Prepare to buy an Intel NIC. https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php
- The Broadcom purchase of VMware has spooked a lot of people including me. Just do a web search on the purchase. Prices are expected to go up. Broadcom has a history of concentrating on their ‘best’ customers and ignoring the rest.
Hyper-V
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/virtualization/hyper-v/hyper-v-technology-overview
I have the least number of hours of these platforms on Hyper-V. Seems to work well, but the licensing of Microsoft software is quite odious. You can get 90 day trials of Windows Server to get Hyper-V to try it out. Certain versions of Windows 10/11 also have Hyper-V. It is closed source software.
No support during the trial period unless it is through forums. Integrates with PowerShell. Can be backed up with Veeam.