= discussionThe Bold Move by Broadcom: An In-Depth Look into VMware’s Changes in the Shadow of Acquisition
In November 2023, Broadcom acquired VMware, completely overhauling the company’s business strategies. This resulted in the discontinuation of VMware’s perpetually licensed versions of software and widespread layoffs. These changes have created unease among VMware’s customers and partners, causing concerns. However, Broadcom executives have made it clear that they have no plans to backtrack on their decisions.
One of the major casualties of this acquisition is the free version of VMware’s vSphere Hypervisor, also known as ESXi. This software is a bare-metal hypervisor, allowing users to run multiple operating systems on one hardware with direct access to system resources like disks and GPUs.
For home users and small organizations, Proxmox Virtual Environment is a viable alternative to ESXi. This Debian-based Linux OS offers similar functionality and is an actively developed product. To help those who have been using ESXi, the Proxmox team has recently added an integrated import wizard. This new feature supports importing ESXi VMS, making it easier to migrate between platforms.
According to the announcement, the imported ESXi VM will be mapped to Proxmox VE’s config model, minimizing downtime. Although the import wizard is still in its tech preview state and under active development, it currently works stably. It is compatible with ESXi versions 6.5 through 8.0 – the most recent version before Broadcom’s discontinuation.
Proxmox’s wiki article provides more details on preparing your VMs for the move, such as uninstalling guest tools specifically designed for ESXi, recording network configurations like MAC addresses and manually assigned IP addresses, and disabling full-disk encryption that stores its keys in your hypervisor’s virtual TPM. Currently, vTPM settings cannot be migrated between hypervisors, meaning that a recovery key will be needed to boot up a VM with disk encryption enabled.
Similar to ESXi’s free version, the free version of Proxmox VE does not have technical support. However, for those interested in deploying Proxmox VE for business, subscription tiers are available, providing access to more stable Enterprise Repositories and technical support from the software’s developers.
In conclusion, Broadcom’s acquisition has brought significant changes to VMware’s business strategies. Thankfully, the Proxmox team has provided a solution for those affected by the discontinuation of ESXi. With the new import wizard, migrating between platforms will be more seamless and less time-consuming. It’s a bold move by Broadcom, but with the support of a viable alternative like Proxmox, it may not be as daunting as it seems.
