This means that unlike Proxmox or other hypervisors on this this list, you can't just start spinning up new VMs right out of the gate. You can think of it sort of like a vendor-agnostic take on VMware's vSphere. OpenNebula differs somewhat from other hypervisors on this list, because the platform is actually a management plane. OpenNebulaĪnother reader favorite is OpenNebula which provides a cloud-like web interface for managing virtualized and container workloads. Paid support options are also available for XCP-ng starting at $600 per-host. It should be noted that XCP-ng, unlike Proxmox, doesn't support containerized workloads natively. This approach enables users to manage large numbers of hosts from a single interface. The actual management console is provided by running something like Xen Orchestra in a VM. Much like ESXi and vSphere, XCP-ng is only part of the what's needed to run a datacenter and is responsible for virtualization on each of the hosts. However, the platform is reportedly limited to 5TB of memory and 288 logical cores supported on each host. It is compatible with most x86 systems using AMD or Intel CPUs and at least 2GB of memory.
XCP-ng was launched in 2018, after Citrix stopped providing XenServer under a free and open source license and rebranded to Citrix Hypervisor. While a relatively new entrant into the hypervisor arena, XCP-ng's roots actually stretch back to formation of the XCP project in 2010, which sought to provide an open source version of Citrix's XenServer.
For organizations that want or require a support package, Proxmox Server Solutions – the company behind the the FOSS hypervisor – offers paid licenses on a per-socket basis that unlock access to the enterprise software updates and premium support. Proxmox VE is available at no cost under a standard GNU license, regardless of whether it's deployed for personal or enterprise use. And while there isn't a hard cap on the number of hosts per cluster, many recommend against clusters larger than 32. If you fall into this category, drop me a line – I have questions. However, users coming from VMware's ESXi may run into platform limitations on hosts equipped with more than 12TB of memory or more than 768 CPU threads. Proxmox will also run on just about any system with at least 1GB of RAM. Proxmox also supports storage systems like local volume management, ZFS, and Ceph. The platform has evolved steadily since its introduction in 2008 to include support for a bevy of enterprise features, including high-availability clusters and live VM migration between hosts.