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Anybody tried Proxmox?

Geoff Burke
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Hi Everyone,

 

There are times that I think that my head has been stuck in the sand when it comes to technology. Maybe I just don’t read enough 😅. While forcing myself to consider black Friday/cyber Monday upgrades for my beleaguered home lab I stumbled upon Proxmox. Debian based KVM level 1 Hypervisor. Since I may go the route of purchasing an old powerful desktop I need something (free) that can help be getting vms’ running. Esx free won’t let me use API’s for Veeam backups anyways and I don’t know of any ways of getting a full working license other than time trial or attempting to become a vexpert (please correct me if I am wrong) I wanted to go with something else. I could just build KVM on top of a linux distribution myself but it would be nice to have something ready to go that has a community forum available.

Have any of you used Proxmox? and if so what are your thoughts about it?

https://www.proxmox.com/en/

cheers

VMCA2022, VMCE2023, CKA, CKAD, KCNA, LFCS, PCA,TARS

20 comments

coolsport00
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

I don't think your head's in the sand too much Geoff... I've never heard of Proxmox myself 🤷😊

Shane Williford - Veeam VMCA/VMCE | Veeam Legend | VUG Leader | VCP-DCV | Twitter: @coolsport00
Chris.Childerhose
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

I have heard about it before but never used it myself.  There are some on even the vExpert Slack that mention it and have used it with good results.

Guess it does not hurt to try it out and see.  😁

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2022 | VMCE2023 | Veeam Vanguard 7* | Veeam Legend 3* | vExpert 5* | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
marcofabbri
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Nearly 1.5x in performance on a WKS than ESXI on I/O, but it’s still in its early stages it you compare them… Surely is something to watch in the future btw. And not supported natively by Veeam and must use agents 😥

Backups are like pizza, I love them. | Linkedin: @marco-fabbri-it
Chris.Childerhose
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Nearly 1.5x in performance on a WKS than ESXI on I/O, but it’s still in its early stages it you compare them… Surely is something to watch in the future btw. And not supported natively by Veeam and must use agents 😥

Yeah, native Veeam integration is what kills it for me.

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2022 | VMCE2023 | Veeam Vanguard 7* | Veeam Legend 3* | vExpert 5* | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
marcofabbri
Userlevel 7
Badge +13

Nearly 1.5x in performance on a WKS than ESXI on I/O, but it’s still in its early stages it you compare them… Surely is something to watch in the future btw. And not supported natively by Veeam and must use agents 😥

Yeah, native Veeam integration is what kills it for me.

I’m on the same boat. I have in lab an not so new WKS that’ll reborn with Proxmox, but need to keep Esxi to manage Veeam

Backups are like pizza, I love them. | Linkedin: @marco-fabbri-it
TylerJurgens
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi Everyone,

 

There are times that I think that my head has been stuck in the sand when it comes to technology. Maybe I just don’t read enough 😅. While forcing myself to consider black Friday/cyber Monday upgrades for my beleaguered home lab I stumbled upon Proxmox. Debian based KVM level 1 Hypervisor. Since I may go the route of purchasing an old powerful desktop I need something (free) that can help be getting vms’ running. Esx free won’t let me use API’s for Veeam backups anyways and I don’t know of any ways of getting a full working license other than time trial or attempting to become a vexpert (please correct me if I am wrong) I wanted to go with something else. I could just build KVM on top of a linux distribution myself but it would be nice to have something ready to go that has a community forum available.

Have any of you used Proxmox? and if so what are your thoughts about it?

https://www.proxmox.com/en/

cheers

@Geoff Burke , you can get VMUG Advantage membership for $200 USD per year. Also, your local VMUG (paging @Chris.Childerhose ) can give away 2 VMUG Advantage Memberships each year, so its worth it to drop into the Toronto VMUG events and see if you can win. 

https://www.vmug.com/membership/vmug-advantage-membership/

Use JURGENSVMUG for 10% off if you are going to buy it. VMUG Advantage gives you a tonne of VMware licensing, usually more than enough for home labs.

As for Proxmox, heard good things, but don’t use it. For me, VMware/Veeam in my home lab is far more useful. 

Tyler Jurgens | Cloud Infrastructure Engineer | Veeam Legend x2 | vExpert ** | VMSP/VMTSP | VCP-2020 | VSP/VTSP | Tanzu Vanguard | VMUG Calgary Leader | VUG Canada Leader | https://explosive.cloud | @Tyler_Jurgens | BlueSky: @tylerjurgens.bsky.social
Geoff Burke
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Hi Everyone,

 

There are times that I think that my head has been stuck in the sand when it comes to technology. Maybe I just don’t read enough 😅. While forcing myself to consider black Friday/cyber Monday upgrades for my beleaguered home lab I stumbled upon Proxmox. Debian based KVM level 1 Hypervisor. Since I may go the route of purchasing an old powerful desktop I need something (free) that can help be getting vms’ running. Esx free won’t let me use API’s for Veeam backups anyways and I don’t know of any ways of getting a full working license other than time trial or attempting to become a vexpert (please correct me if I am wrong) I wanted to go with something else. I could just build KVM on top of a linux distribution myself but it would be nice to have something ready to go that has a community forum available.

Have any of you used Proxmox? and if so what are your thoughts about it?

https://www.proxmox.com/en/

cheers

@Geoff Burke , you can get VMUG Advantage membership for $200 USD per year. Also, your local VMUG (paging @Chris.Childerhose ) can give away 2 VMUG Advantage Memberships each year, so its worth it to drop into the Toronto VMUG events and see if you can win. 

https://www.vmug.com/membership/vmug-advantage-membership/

Use JURGENSVMUG for 10% off if you are going to buy it. VMUG Advantage gives you a tonne of VMware licensing, usually more than enough for home labs.

As for Proxmox, heard good things, but don’t use it. For me, VMware/Veeam in my home lab is far more useful. 

Sweet. I will look into that. If I had better hardware I would 100% go for one of those options. Right now looking like junk center setup so …. don’t want to spend more on the software :). We will see no decisions made. I was not really planning to use this with Veeam (other than agents). At the end of the day if the thing hardware wise can’t run more than 4 VMs then….. 

VMCA2022, VMCE2023, CKA, CKAD, KCNA, LFCS, PCA,TARS
wolff.mateus
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

I have never use it, however I'm get myself thinking to test it.

I don’t know, but I confess that Proxmox could be the next hypervisor that Veeam can cover.

IT Lover | Veeam Vanguard | VUG Leader | Blogger
Iams3le
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

Hey @Geoff Burke, I have used Proxmox in the past and it is a pretty cool virtualisation solution. If you would like to apply as a vExpert, it is not too late to create some blog posts or make some videos until the application deadline. We have some vExpert Pro as Veeam Vanguard. You can contact them. To be more specific, I would recommend contacting @victorwu  for more information.

[Microsoft MVP | Veeam Legend 5* | VMware vExpert 4* | Cisco Champion 3* | Object First Ace]
HangTen416
Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hey, @Geoff Burke . I was just looking at Proxmox for my lab. It looks really cool and does a lot of the things that ESXi can do but I will be going the VMWare route initially as I will be testing on that environment. I will be using some cheaper mini-PCs (Beelink) to start.

VMCE2024 | VMCA2022 | Veeam Legend
HunterLAFR
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

I’ve never tested myself, but I had some close experiences of a couple of companies running proxmox, and after lacking of support and maturity, they run into issues and at the end, migrating back to vsphere!

I think is something really to take into count.
If I had to choose, I will go with Nutanix first, as a similar model like Vmware vsphere model, and got powerful in the latest 4-5 years or so.

expensive, but good stuff.
Just personal opinion.

cheers.

Luis F.- HunterLF - HunterLAFR - lfconsulting.org
Iams3le
Userlevel 7
Badge +9

I’ve never tested myself, but I had some close experiences of a couple of companies running proxmox, and after lacking of support and maturity, they run into issues and at the end, migrating back to vsphere!

I think is something really to take into count.
If I had to choose, I will go with Nutanix first, as a similar model like Vmware vsphere model, and got powerful in the latest 4-5 years or so.

expensive, but good stuff.
Just personal opinion.

cheers.

Most open source support works this way “In order to keep the IT infrastructure always up to date, we offer an additional service for IT professionals and companies with Proxmox subscriptions. A subscription makes it possible to supplement extensive open source software with high-quality services and enterprise support. This allows you and your team to conveniently keep Proxmox solutions up to date and - if necessary - access technical support from the Proxmox support team”. 

I think this would have solved the above issue you mentioned!

[Microsoft MVP | Veeam Legend 5* | VMware vExpert 4* | Cisco Champion 3* | Object First Ace]
Geoff Burke
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Hey @Geoff Burke, I have used Proxmox in the past and it is a pretty cool virtualisation solution. If you would like to apply as a vExpert, it is not too late to create some blog posts or make some videos until the application deadline. We have some vExpert Pro as Veeam Vanguard. You can contact them. To be more specific, I would recommend contacting @victorwu  for more information.

Thanks Iams3le!

The thing is time. I would have to do at least something to get vExpert (blog, or some kind of evangelism) and I barely can keep up with what I have now. We will see. Again this is going to go on an old but powerful desktop so not sure it can handle too much anyways. Will keep everyone posted :) 

VMCA2022, VMCE2023, CKA, CKAD, KCNA, LFCS, PCA,TARS
Geoff Burke
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Hey, @Geoff Burke . I was just looking at Proxmox for my lab. It looks really cool and does a lot of the things that ESXi can do but I will be going the VMWare route initially as I will be testing on that environment. I will be using some cheaper mini-PCs (Beelink) to start.

I saw those Beelink minis as well. I might check them out also. My issues are universal, space, power, cost. 

VMCA2022, VMCE2023, CKA, CKAD, KCNA, LFCS, PCA,TARS
Chris.Childerhose
Userlevel 7
Badge +20

Hey, @Geoff Burke . I was just looking at Proxmox for my lab. It looks really cool and does a lot of the things that ESXi can do but I will be going the VMWare route initially as I will be testing on that environment. I will be using some cheaper mini-PCs (Beelink) to start.

I saw those Beelink minis as well. I might check them out also. My issues are universal, space, power, cost. 

Isn't that the list for all of us. 😜😂

Chris Childerhose - VMCA2022 | VMCE2023 | Veeam Vanguard 7* | Veeam Legend 3* | vExpert 5* | VCAP-DCV/VCP-DCV | Object First Ace | Cisco Champion | Twitter: @cchilderhose | Blog Site – https://just-virtualization.tech
Scott
Userlevel 7
Badge +8

It works well, but isn’t as mature as ESXi. 

It comes down to your needs, requirements and if the software will do it for you. 

I stick with ESXi as that is what I deal with every day. 

 

Geoff Burke
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Ok folks. Set it up on the weekend and boom.. easy. So far so good. Very intuitive!

VMCA2022, VMCE2023, CKA, CKAD, KCNA, LFCS, PCA,TARS
dloseke
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

If you spend any time in in the r/homelab subreddit, you’ll finds Proxmox mentioned a lot.  I haven’t played with it, but it sounds like it’s getting closer and closer to a good business-grade solution as I’m told it how has clustering capabilities.  With that said, I HATE HATE HATE the name.  As superficial as that is, it makes me not want to play with it.  There have also been a couple requests for Proxmox support for Veeam, but the only option currently is to use the Veeam agents on the VM’s.

Derek M. Loseke, Senior Systems Engineer | Veeam Legend 2022-2023 | VMSP/VMTSP | VCP6-DCV | VSP/VTSP | CCNA | https://technotesanddadjokes.com | @dloseke
dloseke
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

I should also note that there were some questions in either /r/sysadmin or /r/msp a while back (I think it was /msp) of what you plan on using if the whole Broadcom acquisition of VMware causes VMware to tank, and Proxmox was certainly on the list as well as a few other options.  Proxmox isn’t fully matured yet, but it certainly sounds like it has potential.

Derek M. Loseke, Senior Systems Engineer | Veeam Legend 2022-2023 | VMSP/VMTSP | VCP6-DCV | VSP/VTSP | CCNA | https://technotesanddadjokes.com | @dloseke
Geoff Burke
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

yeah Proxmox does sound like detergent 😂

VMCA2022, VMCE2023, CKA, CKAD, KCNA, LFCS, PCA,TARS

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