Open source virtualization suite Proxmox has taken an important step towards becoming a stronger contender for those considering VMware alternatives by commencing beta testing for a datacenter management tool that can control multiple hardware clusters.
Proxmox’s main offering is the Virtual Environment (PVE), a hyperconverged infrastructure suite that allows users to run and manage virtual machines and containers. Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH, the Austrian company behind the product, says users employ its wares on over 1.6 million hosts.
Fully-functioning PVE clusters must use at least three nodes, but the company is aware of production setups in which clusters comprise tens or even hundreds of servers. The architecture of PVE, however, means each cluster is effectively an island.
Vendors of rival virtualization platforms offer tools that allow management of multiple clusters, so that users in large environments don’t have to use one console for each cluster.
Proxmox is heading in the same direction with the beta of its “Datacenter Manager”, which the company says it developed with “the objective of providing a centralized overview of all your individual nodes and clusters. It also enables basic management like migrations of virtual guests without any cluster network requirements.”
Those are must-have requirements for organizations that adopt hyperconverged infrastructure at scale, because central management of multiple clusters and easy movement for virtual machines reduces admin work.
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Under its new owner, Broadcom, VMware is clearly not very interested in prioritizing products for smaller customers who don’t need more than a basic server virtualization platform and the ability to run a