So time to switch my homelab from ESXi native to PROXMOX native, then I plan to run ESXi as a nested VM on it. I know things like MCS don't work in Proxmox, but has anyone testing PVS? The KVM image of NetScaler worked great in my test tool. And the PROXMOX to ESXi migration ability is so damn impressive. Anything I should prepare for with this? I already run Hyper-V and XenServer nested in ESXi, so I plan to run those the same on proxmox. Mainly looking at proxmox for better tiered storage support natively. The lack of Broadcom to provide full lab licensing for software for testing. And the nvidia driver bug due to the larger kernel size needed for nvidia.

Hi Jeff, we are running non-persistent vdi's (with pvs) on Proxmox. We have build a server that mocks vcenter enabling power management on vdi's 🙂

Interesting. Do you have info on that up on github or anything like that? Could be useful.

Been running proxmox for two years. No complaints. Rumor has it MCS might be in the works.

Thunderbolt card for my P720 showed up today. Just need my pcie x16 extension cable to come this weekend and I will ready to start the conversion. The majority of my lab is just going to be rebuilt. But have some old NUCs that I am migrating the stuff over I don't want to rebuild. In the little time I have been using it, it already outweighs every purchased software I have used.

Hi Jeff, i've developed the mock that @Remy is talking about. It's not on GitHub (jet?), but i've implemented some vSphere SDK calls that Citrix DDC's use to do power management on VDI's. The application translates those calls to Proxmox API calls. So Citrix DDC 'thinks' it talks to VMware vCenter, but actually the inventory and power actions are translated to Proxmox. We have it running in production for a couple of months now. I don't think the current version is ready for public release, but at least it solves a challange we had before migrating all VDI's (persistent and non-persistent) to Proxmox.

@Richard Faulkner My bosses are searching urgently for a way to ditch VMware, but all our processes heavily rely on MCS. Anything you are allowed to share?

Why not use xenserver?

I am running it nested. But Proxmox has just a ton more features that run natively.

@Mike Streetz (O_P) Vendor Lock?

@Mike Streetz (O_P) No Hyper Converged. My Boss loves vSAN like architectures.

If I was going to do XenServer with vSAN I would do XCP over Citrix's flavor. Proxmox can do ceph, but in my home lab I just use a single NFS share for the disparate hosts, and run the majority on local storage.

There was also a second issue. We don't want to run two hypervisors. We are a MSP who hosts his customers. So we have a mix of regular workload and CVAD MCS. All on VMware vSAN. Works super good, but the license costs increased as you all know. We would like a single Hypervisor, that is MCS compatible and HCI capable. AFAIK the only one close would be Azure local, which my boss would prefer.

Nutanix AHV can do it.

Costs the same as Broadcom VSAN, doesn't it? And you have quite the hardware/vendor look-in, more than you have with VMware vSAN. (AFAIK)

I have tried some Azure Local. Run away. But XCP would work for your needs. And Veaam even has backup agents now, so if you use that for backups it would work.

Yes, we use Veeam. Can Veeam Backup XCP native, or only the single VMs through agents? That would be a big step backwards. And I wasn't aware that XCP is able to do hyper converged?

👍🏻

No HCI support. Fairly vital for a home lab. LXC is nice too. I use CEPH because my TrueNAS disappears every so often. I may have found the problem and replaced a pair of RAM sticks, but my trust level has not returned.

@Richard Faulkner Is there anything about the Proxmox MCS rumors you are allowed to share?

Not much at this time. Sorry.