Virtualization adds an abstraction layer between physical hardware and the systems and programs interacting with it. Having a virtual layer between your software and hardware provides huge benefits to many applications and potential future-proofing, flexibility, and resiliency to many more.
There are a few big names in the virtualization world, and the largest proprietary virtualization software is widely adopted. However, we’re not going to focus on the proprietary offerings or the general benefits of virtualization in today’s blog — that blog is available right here!
Instead, we will be talking about the premier choice for open-source virtualization, Proxmox — what steps we’ve taken to make it easier for our customers to adapt, and why you would want to go open-source.
So first, what is Proxmox?
Proxmox Explained
“Proxmox VE is a complete, open-source server management platform for enterprise virtualization. It tightly integrates the KVM hypervisor and Linux Containers (LXC), software-defined storage, and networking functionality on a single platform. In addition, with the integrated web-based user interface, you can manage VMs and containers, high availability for clusters, or the integrated disaster recovery tools with ease.”
This all might seem complicated if you’re not into Linux. But really, it’s just the standard virtualization benefits:
As an added bonus, Proxmox has no paywalls, licensing fees, or the general “BS” you need to deal with when using proprietary virtualization solutions. Proxmox is a complete, open-source hypervisor management platform for enterprise virtualization. It combines everything into a single platform on an easy-to-use web-based user interface.
At the risk of sounding like a 3 am infomercial — Proxmox is also extremely easy to use! It has a web-based user interface that makes managing your systems intuitive and pain-free. In addition, Proxmox offers an approachable learning curve, similar to the large proprietary alternatives. Finally, Proxmox has been around since 2008 and isn’t going anywhere soon. So, there is no need for concern about the software being abandoned.
To sum it up, Proxmox is open-source and free of licensing fees, which can certainly be a difference-maker on its own (especially compared to proprietary alternative prices). However, the real reason it works for the users we’ve seen is that in our experience — Proxmox is reliable and powerful in the vast majority of virtualization applications.
Why use Proxmox supported by 45Drives?
A common complaint we’ve heard from countless customers over the years would occur when there were several different components to their infrastructure with disparate support teams. Many times, customers spoke of hardware vendors blaming issues on software, while software vendors try to pass the buck to the hardware vendors – all the while with the customer left holding the bag.
45Drives’ support offerings have stood out because of our flexibility in supporting the whole of your infrastructure. Even when you have multiple vendors’ hardware or software integrated into your infrastructure, 45Drives will try our best to help you when you need it.
It would be impossible to be an expert on every single piece of software. Still, over time our technicians have built up a lot of expertise in areas commonly related to our core values of open-source and providing you great storage.
Things like Ceph, ZFS, and you guessed it — Proxmox.
Why those specifically? We love them for many reasons, but it really comes down to two:
But when it comes to virtualization, we have been assisting customers for years with Proxmox. This is due to the frequency of customer inquiries and the benefits we saw for those who implement Proxmox solutions. As a result, we recently decided to expand our offerings to provide these solutions in a more optimized and standardized manner.
Storage and Compute for Virtualization
So, why would you want to go open-source with your virtualization setup?
45Drives can provide the hardware for the virtualization front end with the back-end storage, which means your entire solution would be under one support umbrella. You can have the utmost confidence that your IT infrastructure won’t hamper your essential business operations. In addition, our Proxmox solutions have been tested, implemented, and supported in the real world for years.
You also gain access to our engineer’s knowledge and experience at any stage of your projects, similar to what a proprietary solution would offer. The difference is that you won’t be placed on an automated phone message to wait and will talk to a real person without jumping through hoops.
So, if you’re thinking about a virtualized setup or have questions reach out to our team, we’d be happy to help and would love to hear about your requirements.
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