Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) Review

Around 92% of companies are currently using server virtualization, and the number of businesses using the technology is expected to grow to 97% by the end of 2022. 

The adoption of server virtualization is mainly due to the increased hardware potential provided to companies by a variety of software vendors in the market. 

For instance, Proxmox virtual environment (VE) is an open-source server management platform to help control virtual machines (VMs) and integrate disaster recovery (DR) tools. Proxmox VE uses two platforms, KVM hypervisor and Linux container, to get both software-defined storage (SDS) and network functionality in a single platform.

Organizations in a variety of industries, including health care, education, and government, use Proxmox VE as part of their server virtualization

See below to learn all about Proxmox VEand where they stand in the server virtualization market:

Proxmox and the server virtualization market 

The server virtualization market was estimated to be valued at $7 billion in 2020. In 2026, the market is expected to reach a value of $10 billion, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8%. 

Proxmox VE competes with around 62 competitor products in the virtualization market, with one of their top competitors being VMware and the vSphere and ESXi offerings.

Proxmox VE is working with over 500 companies in 2022. Most of the customers are in the U.S., and they also many customers in Germany and France. In the global market for server virtualization, the U.S. and Europe sit on the forefront, putting Proxmox VE in a good position with their client base.

Key features 

Proxmox VE offers high availability between servers, storage software, networking, and disaster recovery.

The product also offers several other key features:

• Complete, open-source platform

• • Designed for the community
  • Accessible public code
  • Issue tracking
  • Community support

• Web-based management interface

• • Integrated, no need for separate tool
  • Create virtual machines
  • Integration and platform management
  • Handle multiple VMs
  • Available in multiple languages

• Supports two different virtualization technologies

• • KVM hypervisor
  • Linux container

• Enterprise support agreements

• • Subscriptions to ensure stability
  • Define, access, and manage services
  • Support from Proxmox

Key benefits 

Proxmox VE can help cut costs for IT departments and add server stability and efficiency as well as several other benefits:

• Multi-master design: carry out tasks from any node
• Enhanced security: Multiple authentication sources: support Linux PAM, Proxmox VE authentication server, LDAP, Microsoft Active Directory, and OpenID Connect, to keep businesses information safe
• Reduce downtime: less hardware maintenance and help stop potential disasters
• Granular access: ability to control access for different users and different positions
• Several storage options: ability to add multiple storage types: LVM Group, iSCSI target, NFS Share, SMB/CIFS, Ceph RBD, GlusterFS, CephFS and more
• Scheduled backups: able to schedule backup when best for the business
• IT infrastructure protection: built in firewall with the ability to be customized

Use cases 

Native Instruments is a German company that manufactures software and hardware for audio production and DJ-ing. 

Native Instruments needed server virtualization to preserve electricity and space until they could fulfill their high requirements with dedicated hardware.

The company officially switched to Proxmox VE for server virtualization, and the standardized technology and open source helped them create a solution. After they tested some fail-over scenarios, they were able to move forward and push their IT resources to other offices.

“There is a really fantastic community behind the Proxmox VE project always providing help, but it was clear to us that professional support provides even more security — especially if you have business-critical systems running in a production cluster,” saysDaniel Wedewardt, director of IT, Native Instruments.

Native Instruments was able to keep their information safe and controlled with the help of Proxmox VE. 

Differentiators 

• Container-based virtualization
• Management
  • Command line interface (CLI)
  • Proxmox VE mobile
  • Proxmox cluster file system (pmxcfs)
  • Live/online migration
  • REST API
  • Role-based administration

• Proxmox VE high availability (HA) cluster

• • Proxmox VE HA manager
  • Proxmox VE HA simulator

• Bridged networking

• • Host can have up to 4094 bridges
• Flexible storage options

User reviews 

“Efficient, effective, reliable, researchable. … You’ll be impressed with the range of features, ease of use, scalability. … As your skills and confidence with it grow, you’ll soon be using it for more important loads.” -Technology consultant, review at G2

“The initial setup is straightforward. … The documentation is great.” -User, review at PeerSpot

“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. … Proxmox has granted us this flexibility, while at the same time ensuring we don’t have vendor lock-in.” -Engineer and business owner, review at TrustRadius

Pricing 

* As of 6/15/22

• Premium: Access to Enterprise repository, full feature set, unlimited support tickets, two-hour response time within business hours, remote support
• Standard: Access to Enterprise repository, full feature set, 10 support tickets a year, four-hour response time within business hours, remote support
• Basic: Access to Enterprise repository, full feature set, three support tickets a year, one business day response time
• Community: Access to Enterprise repository, full feature set, community support
• Free: Access to Enterprise repository, open source

Conclusions 

As the server virtualization market continues to grow, companies are looking to platforms such as Proxmox VE, which is often reported as one of the top solutions in the space.

“I recommend Proxmox for those IT professionals who want to increase the availability of their servers, to reduce the administration complexity, and also to make the most of their IT budget,” says Valentín Ortiz Ferretiz, IT Manager at GRIVER and a Proxmox VE user. 

Proxmox VE is an open-source server management platform for that various users report is an effective virtualization tool.