Migrating from VMware to Proxmox VE

Since the Broadcom takeover, many organisations are looking for a way out of VMware. inett plans the move to Proxmox VE, migrates your VMs and supports the new cluster.

Why so many organisations are leaving VMware

Broadcom acquired VMware at the end of 2023 and then changed the licensing model fundamentally. Perpetual licences are gone; only subscriptions remain. Individual products were merged into large bundles. Broadcom ended some existing contracts and partner programmes at short notice.

For many organisations, the same environment now costs several times as much. Reported increases range from a few hundred to over a thousand per cent. The European cloud association CISPE told the European Commission about increases of 800 to 1,500 per cent (The Register, May 2025). The German IT user association VOICE has filed a complaint with the Commission.

Trust is the other issue. If you plan your virtualisation for five or ten years, you need a vendor whose terms stay predictable. When the next renewal comes, you have to decide: stay on the new terms or move.

Why Proxmox VE as the target

Proxmox VE covers what most vSphere environments use day to day: clusters, high availability, live migration, shared storage, a firewall and role-based permissions. It is open source and has no licence fees. It comes from Vienna, has been on the market since 2008 and, according to the vendor, runs on more than 2.3 million servers worldwide.

For the move itself, Proxmox VE includes an import wizard. It reads VMs directly from an ESXi host or through vCenter.

How we work

Our team has worked with Proxmox VE since 2009 and has moved many VMware environments since then. inett is a Proxmox Gold Partner.

  1. Inventory. We record your VMs, datastores, networks and dependencies. You then know which systems can move as they are and where preparation is needed.
  2. Target design. We size the hardware, the number of nodes, the network separation and the storage. If you need shared storage without a SAN, we include Ceph in the design. Existing hosts can often be reused.
  3. Build. We install the nodes, configure the cluster, high availability, the firewall, user permissions and backup, and document the set-up.
  4. Pilot. We move non-critical VMs first and check them with you in operation.
  5. Migration. The remaining VMs follow in waves, in maintenance windows agreed with you. Your VMware environment keeps running until sign-off, so you always have a way back.
  6. Handover and operation. Your team receives documentation and an introduction. If you wish, our managed services take over operation.

We estimate the effort after the inventory. On that basis, a fixed price is also possible.

What the import wizard can and cannot do

The import wizard has limits worth knowing before you plan. The source VM must be powered off during the import. vTPM state is not transferred. Encrypted disks and VMs on vSAN cannot be imported. Importing through vCenter is much slower than connecting to the ESXi host directly. Windows guests need VirtIO drivers to perform well after the move.

Proxmox still labels the wizard a technology preview (Proxmox wiki), so we check every VM before it moves. Whatever the wizard cannot handle, we move by other means, for example through an OVF export or by importing individual disks.

What is included

  • Review of your VMware environment and a migration plan per VM
  • Hardware and network design for the cluster
  • Installation and configuration of the Proxmox VE nodes
  • Cluster, high availability, firewall and permission set-up
  • Storage integration and backup with Proxmox Backup Server
  • Pilot migration, then migration of the remaining VMs
  • Documentation and handover to your team
  • Introduction for your administrators; in-depth training on request

When a move needs more preparation

If you rely heavily on VMware add-ons such as NSX, we redesign the network architecture. Proxmox VE has its own network features with SDN and the built-in firewall, but it does not replace NSX one to one.

If the vendor of a business application only supports VMware, we clarify this with them before the move. The same applies to backup software and virtual desktop solutions. Omnissa certified Proxmox VE for Horizon in September 2026 (Proxmox). We check during the inventory whether your configuration fits.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a migration take?

That depends on the number of VMs, the amount of data and your maintenance windows. After the inventory you receive a schedule.

How long is a VM unavailable during the move?

The VM is powered off while its disks are copied. The time depends on disk size and network. For large VMs we plan separate maintenance windows.

Can we carry out the migration ourselves?

Yes. We then support you with planning and the pilot and are available for questions. A training course prepares your team.

Can we reuse our current VMware hosts?

Often, yes. Proxmox VE needs a 64-bit CPU with Intel VT or AMD-V. We check during the inventory whether your RAID controller suits ZFS or Ceph.