Item: Proxmox VE
Rating: 9
Author: Joseph Brower

Overall Satisfaction with Proxmox VE

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We needed to have a flexible virtualization environment that granted us control over how the virtual machine was presented as well as compatibility with other platforms. This was for our own organization, as well as for our clients, some being financial institutions, schools, and large investments companies. Proxmox has granted us this flexibility while at the same time ensuring we don't have vendor lockin.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Virtualization
Backups
Integration with storage solutions
Clustering

Cons

Can't manage ZFS replication or snapshots as easily as I'd like
Encrypted disks aren't easily deployed in VMs
Moving disks between VMs is not automated

Return on Investment

Due to the open source nature of Proxmox, we have no licensing costs while training our employees
We've migrated 100% of our clients to Proxmox and have found improved uptime, and flexibility.
In the 10 years of using Proxmox, we've yet to lose any data or not be notified of backup issues.

Alternatives Considered

VMware ESXi and Citrix Hypervisor (formerly XenServer)

Proxmox emulates hardware exceptionally well. This makes migration easier between systems. Additionally, the licensing model is friendly and the system is quite featureful. On top of that, by having a common base (Debian Linux) we have access to tools without needing to jump through a lot of hoops. This has made our time to resolution on issues quicker, which has lead to happier customers.

Key Insights

Do you think Proxmox VE delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Proxmox VE's feature set?

Yes

Did Proxmox VE live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Proxmox VE go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Proxmox VE again?

Yes

Other Software Used

pfSense, Cisco Meraki MX, Laravel PHP Framework

Likelihood to Recommend

We've been able to deploy Proxmox and easily migrate machines to and from the environment. This has proven invaluable as each of our clients is unique. One great example was when a client had some mishaps with VMWare. The environment became difficult to use due to some licensing issues and we were easily able to export the VMDKs and import them into Proxmox.

Another interesting situation that Proxmox really shines is with integration with snapshot based filesystems (like ZFS). We have ZFS shares with snapshots exported to Proxmox via NFS. When we need to recover an individual file from the VM, rather than needing to copy the entire snapshot back, we can log into Proxmox via SSH and use the CLI to mount the disk from the snapshot. Then we can copy just the data we need out. Because this happens outside of the virtual machine and on a completely separate network, it is protected against ransomware and malicious users. It also is super convenient.

Proxmox VE Feature Ratings

Comments

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Proxmox allows for easy deployment, management, and peace of mind when virtualizing