Alternatives to VMware: The Benefits of Open Source

Originally published on Le Monde Informatique.

As the effects of VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom materialize, VMware’s dominance could be challenged by the rise of alternative solutions.

Some companies are choosing to replace VMware with other proprietary solutions, such as Nutanix, Citrix, or Microsoft, with equivalent functionalities. Others, frustrated by vendor lock-in and often high prices, are looking to avoid the same model of technological and financial dependency, turning instead to open-source technologies like Proxmox VE or XCP-NG.

What advantages does open source offer in the virtualization market? How could it address the new landscape introduced by VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom? What open-source alternatives should be considered?

Open Source: Inherently Cost-Effective

The first well-known advantage of open source is its cost-effectiveness. Unlike proprietary solutions, there are no licenses or subscriptions to pay, and the software is completely free to use. Additionally, most open-source solutions are partially developed or supported by companies that often offer paid support services. However, these are optional and more affordable compared to licenses and support services from proprietary solution providers.

That said, it’s not enough to simply consider the lack of licensing fees. To properly compare open-source and proprietary approaches, you must also factor in the costs associated with the skills required to deploy and maintain operational platforms. These costs are typically higher in the open-source world because the expertise needed is more specialized and rarer, whether with in-house teams or external infrastructure experts.

“Even factoring in the cost of expertise, open-source solutions generally remain significantly more affordable than proprietary ones,” notes Aurélien Violet, Marketing Director at Enix. “For example, on on-premise virtualization platforms, comparing options A (vSphere + vSAN + VMware support) and B (Proxmox + Ceph + our cloud managed services), we observed price differences of 2 to 3 times lower for some clients, even before VMware’s recent price hikes.”

Another important factor contributing to lower costs is that companies only pay for the functionalities they actually use, rather than being locked into a comprehensive package of services, whether fully utilized or not—such as the bundles recently introduced by VMware.

Different Models, Different Functional Scopes

Generally speaking, two different logics apply when choosing between open-source and proprietary models. In open source, the priority is to assemble technologies that address specific functional needs. In proprietary models, the priority is the simplicity of using integrated services offered by a single vendor.

The proprietary approach may be relevant for complex, cutting-edge technologies, particularly when a provider has a technological lead. However, its value diminishes for established technologies that have become commodities over time, such as virtualization.

Open-source solutions like Proxmox VE or XCP-NG now offer virtualization functionalities similar to their VMware counterparts and cover the needs of the vast majority of businesses. From a functional standpoint, the choice between these options is more about the needs for services related to virtualization. “VMware’s ecosystem of services is broader than just virtualization, including vSAN storage, SDN networking, multi-cluster interfaces, etc.,” comments the marketing director. “On the open-source side, these services can be added around the virtualization solution with custom services. For example, Proxmox VE can be paired with Proxmox Backup Server and Ceph, either in hyperconverged setups or not, meeting almost all private cloud needs.”

It’s also important to note that most organizations don’t need all these services and can rely on a simple but robust and cost-effective virtualization solution. As such, a thorough assessment of current and future needs is highly recommended before choosing the best approach and solution for continuing with or moving away from VMware.

“Finally,” adds Aurélien Violet, “open source works well in combination with specialized proprietary solutions (for firewall, backup, etc.). You don’t necessarily have to choose between the two approaches; you can combine the best of both worlds to meet specific and complex needs.”

End of Vendor Lock-In!

Another benefit of using open source is the ability to avoid being locked into a proprietary ecosystem, which risks total dependency and the consequences that can follow, as seen with VMware’s acquisition by Broadcom.

Open-source solutions are designed to be scalable and portable, allowing companies to deploy them across various infrastructures, from the cloud to on-premise environments. This flexibility, for example, facilitates reuse of existing hardware as well as migration between platforms, preventing vendor lock-in issues. “It will always be easier to replace a small company of open-source technology experts with another than to overhaul your entire IT system by switching from one major software provider to another,” he points out.

Finally, the source code is open and accessible to everyone, unlike proprietary models, which leave CIOs dependent on the vendor’s goodwill and availability. This isn’t an issue with open source: “Open-source projects benefit from an active, engaged community of developers and system administrators worldwide,” the executive notes. “This collaboration results in regular updates, rapid fixes, and a valuable knowledge-sharing network. Businesses can rely on continuous, responsive support from the community and regularly benefit from the latest innovations.”

Competence Sovereignty?

Beyond costs, features, and the issue of vendor lock-in, CIOs must also consider competence sovereignty.

In a proprietary model, teams become simple users of off-the-shelf solutions, with no need for advanced skills, as those are entirely delegated to the third-party vendor. The open-source model, on the other hand, allows companies to maintain expertise within their internal teams or with infrastructure expert partners.

“Given what’s happening with VMware, now more than ever, it’s essential to ask: rather than paying exorbitant fees for licenses to use off-the-shelf services, wouldn’t it be better to invest in the expertise to develop and deploy open-source solutions that are open and less costly? It’s the only way to preserve true freedom and sovereignty in managing your IT systems and infrastructures.” suggests Aurélien Violet.

Open Source: Reliable and Robust Despite Common Misconceptions

Despite its many advantages, open source is still sometimes subject to misconceptions: it’s complex, less stable, has limited support, or has a steeper learning curve.

However, open source is not just for experimentation. Numerous solutions have proven their stability in production and high availability: “With over 15 years of experience in infrastructure technologies, we’ve tested the stability, security, and performance of multiple open-source solutions, including Openstack and Proxmox for virtualization. These solutions are perfectly suited to enterprise needs, with 99.99% availability across all Proxmox clusters we operate for our clients,” confirms the marketing director of the cloud and virtualization specialist.

Furthermore, he reminds us that the open-source and proprietary worlds are not mutually exclusive but complementary: “We need to move away from ideological opposition. We specialize in open-source-oriented solutions, but we don’t limit ourselves to them. Each model has its advantages and disadvantages that need to be weighed against the needs and priorities of each company. Additionally, the two worlds converge as many vendor solutions are built on open-source foundations. For example, Cisco has two operating systems based on… Linux.” Moreover, the development of open-source solutions is often accompanied or driven by companies that are also vendors.

Another testament to the robustness and maturity of open-source solutions: “Veeam, the leading provider of proprietary backup solutions, is widely recognized and used by many companies. Veeam is preparing to support the Proxmox VE solution: the beta version of ‘Veeam for Proxmox’ was introduced in early June at VeeamON24 and is already being tested at Enix,” he notes. This is a significant advantage as some companies still express the need for reassurance regarding the stability and performance of such open-source solutions.

Proxmox VE: The Most Popular Open-Source Alternative to VMware

In light of the questions raised by VMware’s acquisition, there are numerous open-source alternatives for virtualized platforms, including Proxmox VE, XCP-NG, Openstack, Open Nebula, and oVirt.

While this list isn’t exhaustive and each solution may be appropriate depending on needs, Proxmox VE stands out with several significant advantages noted by many since VMware’s acquisition. This comprehensive virtualization solution, created in Austria in 2008, is distinguished by its free usage, optional low-cost support, ease of use, advanced virtualization features, broad hardware compatibility, wide adoption, and its proven robustness in all types of production environments.

Some noted limitations mainly concern the additional services sometimes required for a private cloud, such as backup features not covered by Proxmox Backup Server or certain networking and security features. “To bridge the gap between VMware’s advanced services and virtualization with Proxmox VE, Enix, as an infrastructure expert, has been providing complementary custom-managed services for years. These services meet clients’ needs where Proxmox VE doesn’t cover them 100%. Recently, we’ve pushed the integration of these features even further to create a complete managed private cloud offering based on Proxmox called PPC - Proxmox Private Cloud,” explains Aurélien Violet.

Many companies have already taken the leap and migrated their IT systems from VMware to this solution, including Econocom’s IT department and Weka’s

. “However,” he adds, “this acquisition didn’t trigger the adoption of Proxmox, as many platforms had already been deployed using Proxmox, both for IT systems and business infrastructures (e-commerce, SaaS services, AI services, etc.). Some companies manage it very well on their own, while others rely on partners like us. For example, we’ve been managing Proxmox clusters for several years for OOdrive, Ulule, Lighton, IMIO.BE, XBTO, and many others.”

Finally, and importantly: virtualization based on Proxmox works very well alongside another key open-source technology: Kubernetes. The marketing director at Enix explains: “On many platforms, we manage both stacks complementarily. Simplified, Proxmox provides robustness and enables VM-level service segmentation, while Kubernetes offers advanced infrastructure and application management features, such as self-healing and auto-scaling, and simplifies and secures operations, whether for maintenance or updating applications in production.”

See also:

1/3 - VMware Buyout: What Strategy Should You Adopt?

3/3 - A Guide to Migrating from VMware to Proxmox for CIOs and CTOs

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