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18.6.2026

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HYPERVISORS.en.md
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@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
- **VM — Virtual Machine** — full virtualization, own kernel
- **Container** — shared host kernel, lighter (Docker, LXC)
- **Paravirtualization** — guest OS knows it runs in a VM (better I/O performance)
- **NUMA** — Non-Uniform Memory Access, CPU/memory allocation optimization (see [SERVER-HW.md](SERVER-HW.md#numa))
- **NUMA** — Non-Uniform Memory Access, CPU/memory allocation optimization (see [SERVER-HW.en.md](SERVER-HW.en.md#numa))
- **Overcommit** — allocating more vCPU/RAM than physically available (ratio management)
- **Live Migration** — moving a running VM between hosts (vSphere vMotion, Hyper-V Live Migration)
- **HA (High Availability)** — VM restart on another host upon failure
@@ -86,20 +86,22 @@ According to Foundry/CIO.com survey (2025): **56%** of organizations plan to red
#### Target Platforms — Comparison
| Criterion | Proxmox VE | Nutanix AHV | Microsoft Hyper-V | Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization |
|-----------|-----------|-------------|-------------------|----------------------------------|
| **Hypervisor** | KVM + LXC | KVM (fork) | Hyper-V | KVM (KubeVirt) |
| **License** | Open source (free), support ~€500/host/year | Per node subscription (30–60% savings vs VCF) | Windows Server license (Standard/Datacenter) | OpenShift subscription (core-based) |
| **Live Migration** | Live Migration (Proxmox 8+) | AHV Live Migration | Live Migration (SMB/RDMA) | KubeVirt (VMI live migration) |
| **HA** | Proxmox HA (watchdog, fencing) | Built-in HA (Prism) | Hyper-V HA (WS Failover Cluster) | OpenShift HA (self-healing) |
| **Storage** | ZFS, Ceph, LVM | AOS (hybrid/SSD, erasure coding) | S2D, CSV, ReFS | OCS, Ceph, LSO |
| **Backup** | Proxmox Backup Server (free) | Native snapshot + DR | Windows Server Backup / Veeam | OpenShift APIs + OADP |
| **Price (3 years, 3 hosts)** | $0 + support $1,500 | ~$45,000–60,000 | $0 (Hyper-V Server free) or Windows Server license | ~$90,000+ (OpenShift) |
| **Price (3 years, 10 hosts)** | $0 + support $5,000 | ~$150,000–200,000 | Windows Server Datacenter for unlimited VMs | ~$300,000+ (OpenShift) |
| **Migration difficulty** | Medium (VMDK → QCOW2, VirtIO drivers) | Low (Nutanix Move tool) | Medium (V2V converter, SCVMM) | High (Kubernetes learning curve) |
| **Linux support** | Excellent (native KVM) | Excellent (KVM-based) | Good (LIS drivers) | Excellent (KVM + OpenShift) |
| **Windows support** | Good (VirtIO drivers) | Excellent (ALAS drivers, svpd) | Excellent (native) | Good (KubeVirt + VirtIO) |
| **GPU passthrough** | VFIO (excellent) | GPU passthrough | DDA (Direct Device Assignment) | VFIO + GPU Operator |
| Criterion | Proxmox VE | Nutanix AHV | Microsoft Hyper-V | Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization | **Sangfor aSV (HCI)** |
|-----------|-----------|-------------|-------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------|
| **Hypervisor** | KVM + LXC | KVM (fork) | Hyper-V | KVM (KubeVirt) | **KVM (aSV)** |
| **License** | Open source (free), support ~€500/host/year | Per node subscription (30–60% savings vs VCF) | Windows Server license (Standard/Datacenter) | OpenShift subscription (core-based) | **Per node (Enterprise Pro), all-inclusive** |
| **Live Migration** | Live Migration (Proxmox 8+) | AHV Live Migration | Live Migration (SMB/RDMA) | KubeVirt (VMI live migration) | **Yes** |
| **HA** | Proxmox HA (watchdog, fencing) | Built-in HA (Prism) | Hyper-V HA (WS Failover Cluster) | OpenShift HA (self-healing) | **Built-in HA** |
| **Storage** | ZFS, Ceph, LVM | AOS (hybrid/SSD, erasure coding) | S2D, CSV, ReFS | OCS, Ceph, LSO | **aSAN (distributed SDS, locality-aware)** |
| **Backup** | Proxmox Backup Server (free) | Native snapshot + DR | Windows Server Backup / Veeam | OpenShift APIs + OADP | **Built-in backup + CDP** |
| **Price (3 years, 3 hosts)** | $0 + support $1,500 | ~$45,000–60,000 | $0 (Hyper-V Server free) or Windows Server license | ~$90,000+ (OpenShift) | **~$15,000–25,000** |
| **Price (3 years, 10 hosts)** | $0 + support $5,000 | ~$150,000–200,000 | Windows Server Datacenter for unlimited VMs | ~$300,000+ (OpenShift) | **~$50,000–80,000** |
| **Migration difficulty** | Medium (VMDK → QCOW2, VirtIO drivers) | Low (Nutanix Move tool) | Medium (V2V converter, SCVMM) | High (Kubernetes learning curve) | **Low (VMware import tool)** |
| **Linux support** | Excellent (native KVM) | Excellent (KVM-based) | Good (LIS drivers) | Excellent (KVM + OpenShift) | **Excellent (KVM-based)** |
| **Windows support** | Good (VirtIO drivers) | Excellent (ALAS drivers, svpd) | Excellent (native) | Good (KubeVirt + VirtIO) | **Good (VirtIO drivers)** |
| **GPU passthrough** | VFIO (excellent) | GPU passthrough | DDA (Direct Device Assignment) | VFIO + GPU Operator | **vGPU support (standard)** |
| **Integrated security** | — | — | — | — | **Yes (NGFW, IPS, WAF, EDR — aSEC)** |
| **Min. cluster (3 copies)** | 3 (Ceph) | 3 | 2–3 | 3 | **3** |
#### Migration Tools
@@ -112,8 +114,47 @@ According to Foundry/CIO.com survey (2025): **56%** of organizations plan to red
| **virt-v2v** | VMware ESXi, Xen, Hyper-V | KVM (libvirt) | Open source CLI tool, disk + driver conversion (virtio), suitable for bulk migration |
| **Windows Admin Center VM Conversion Extension** | VMware ESXi | Hyper-V | Microsoft WAC extension, free, GUI-based, bulk migration |
| **Platform9 vJailbreak** | VMware ESXi | OpenStack / KVM | In-place migration (no swing gear), open source |
| **Sangfor VMware Import Tool** | VMware ESXi | Sangfor aSV (HCI) | VMware import tool, disk + driver conversion, can retain network config |
#### TCO Comparison — Example: 3 hosts (2× 20C CPU), 50 VMs
#### Cross-Hypervisor Migration Matrix
Comprehensive overview of all source→target pairs with methods, tools, limitations, and complexity.
| Source → Target | Method | Tools | Complexity | Limitations |
|-------------|--------|----------|-----------|---------|
| **VMware → Proxmox** | Disk conversion VMDK→QCOW2, driver reinstall | Proxmox Import Wizard, Veeam, StarWind, virt-v2v | Medium | VirtIO drivers required, UEFI not supported in Import Wizard (< 8.1), snapshots must be removed |
| **VMware → Hyper-V** | Disk conversion VMDK→VHDX, driver reinstall | StarWind, WAC Converter, SCVMM, Microsoft MTC | Medium | Integration Services required, network config differences (VMXNET3 → Hyper-V Synthetic) |
| **VMware → KVM/XCP-ng** | Disk conversion VMDK→raw/QCOW2, driver swap | virt-v2v, StarWind | Medium | VirtIO drivers, UEFI support (OVMF), host passthrough compatibility |
| **VMware → Nutanix AHV** | Automated migration via Move appliance | Nutanix Move, Veeam | Low | AHV is also KVM — minimal issues, retain IP/MAC, UEFI support |
| **VMware → Sangfor aSV** | Import via VMware Import Tool, disk + driver conversion | Sangfor VMware Import Tool | Low | Built-in tool, retain network config, UEFI support |
| **VMware → OpenStack** | In-place or swing | Platform9 vJailbreak, virt-v2v + Glance | High | Network redesign (Neutron), storage (Cinder), image format (Glance) required |
| **Hyper-V → VMware** | Disk conversion VHDX→VMDK, driver reinstall | StarWind, virt-v2v, VMware vCenter Converter (standalone) | Medium | VMware Tools required, network driver change (VMXNET3), UEFI/secure boot issues |
| **Hyper-V → Proxmox** | Disk conversion VHDX→QCOW2, driver swap | StarWind, virt-v2v, qemu-img | Medium–High | VirtIO drivers, integration services → guest agent, secure boot issues |
| **Hyper-V → KVM/XCP-ng** | Disk conversion VHDX→raw/QCOW2 | virt-v2v, qemu-img | Medium | VirtIO drivers, Linux generic drivers usually work |
| **Hyper-V → Nutanix AHV** | Automated migration | Nutanix Move | Low–Medium | Similar to VMware→Nutanix, UEFI support, retain IP |
| **Proxmox → VMware** | Export OVF/OVA, qemu-img convert | qemu-img (QCOW2→VMDK), ovftool, manual OVF export | High | VMware Tools required, storage format differences, no live migration, downtime required |
| **Proxmox → Hyper-V** | qemu-img convert, driver reinstall | qemu-img, manual VHDX conversion | High | Hyper-V Integration Services required, no automated tool, edge case |
| **Proxmox → KVM/XCP-ng** | Direct QCOW2 (same format), XML edit | libvirt, virsh dumpxml/define | Medium | libvirt XML/QEMU args differences (storage pool, network), validation required |
| **Proxmox → Nutanix AHV** | qemu-img + manual import | qemu-img, Nutanix Image Service CLI | High | No hot tool, conversion + manual VM reconfiguration required |
| **XCP-ng → VMware** | Disk conversion VHD→VMDK | qemu-img, StarWind, virt-v2v | High | VMware Tools required, paravirtualization differences (Xen PV vs VMware) |
| **XCP-ng → Proxmox** | Disk conversion or direct VHD | qemu-img, manual import | Medium | Disk conversion, VHD format not native in Proxmox |
| **XCP-ng → Hyper-V** | Disk conversion VHD→VHDX (direct) | StarWind, qemu-img | Medium | VHD/VHDX compatible, Integration Services required |
| **Nutanix AHV → VMware** | Export + conversion | qemu-img, Nutanix Export, VMware vCenter Converter | High | VMware Tools, AHV is KVM → usually easier than Hyper-V→VMware |
| **Nutanix AHV → Proxmox** | qemu-img + manual import | qemu-img, Nutanix self-service restore | Medium | AFS disks → QCOW2, metadata must be reconstructed |
| **Nutanix AHV → Hyper-V** | qemu-img + manual | qemu-img, StarWind | High | Edge case, no hot tool |
| **OpenStack → (any)** | Glance export + qemu-img | glance image-download, qemu-img, ovftool | Medium–High | Image format (raw/QCOW2), metadata (flavor, security groups) must be recreated |
| **Sangfor aSV → (any)** | qemu-img conversion + manual | qemu-img, manual OVF/OVA export | Medium–High | KVM-based → conversion to QCOW2/VMDK/VHDX via qemu-img, metadata must be recreated |
| **(any) → Sangfor aSV** | aSV API import + VMware Import Tool | Sangfor VMware Import Tool (for VMware), manual qemu-img import for others | Medium | KVM-based → standard formats supported, import tool for VMware only |
**Migration success keys:**
- **Drivers** — each platform requires its own paravirtual drivers (VMware Tools, VirtIO, Hyper-V Integration Services, Xen Tools). Always swap after migration.
- **UEFI / Secure Boot** — not all combinations support UEFI (Proxmox Import Wizard < 8.1 does not). Test UEFI VMs before migration.
- **Snapshots** — snapshots must be removed (merged) before migration. Most tools only migrate flat disks.
- **Network** — MAC addresses, IP addresses, VLAN tagging — verify after migration. Some tools (Nutanix Move, VMware Converter) can retain MAC.
- **Storage format** — VMDK ↔ VHDX ↔ QCOW2 ↔ raw are inter-convertible via `qemu-img`, but metadata differs (snapshots, backing files).
- **Live migration** — no live migration exists between different hypervisors. Downtime is always required (minutes to hours depending on VM size).
- **Migration temperature** — the "colder" the VM (fewer changes), the easier the migration. Real-time database applications require a separate DB migration plan.
| Platform | Year 1 | 3 Years Total | Note |
|-----------|--------|---------------|----------|
@@ -123,6 +164,7 @@ According to Foundry/CIO.com survey (2025): **56%** of organizations plan to red
| **Nutanix AHV** (average) | ~$18,000 | ~$54,000 | Per node subscription, estimate |
| **Hyper-V** (Windows Server Datacenter) | $12,400 | $37,200 | One-time license per core, without SA |
| **Hyper-V** (Azure Stack HCI) | ~$7,200 | ~$21,600 | ~$10/core/month, 120 cores |
| **Sangfor HCI** (Enterprise Pro) | ~$5,000–8,000 | ~$15,000–25,000 | Per node, all-inclusive, 3 nodes |
**Real-world example from Spiceworks (2026)**: A user reports VMware Essentials+ increasing from $1,900/year to $14,000/year (VVF) — a 7.4× increase.
@@ -142,8 +184,9 @@ According to Foundry/CIO.com survey (2025): **56%** of organizations plan to red
3. Select target platform (1-2 candidates)
├─ Proxmox: lowest TCO, Linux-heavy shops
├─ Nutanix: enterprise HCI, low migration difficulty
├─ Hyper-V: Windows-centric, Azure hybrid
└─ OpenShift: Kubernetes-first, platform engineering
├─ Hyper-V: Windows-centric, Azure hybrid
├─ Sangfor: HCI all-in-one, security-first, VMware exit (SMB/mid-market)
└─ OpenShift: Kubernetes-first, platform engineering
4. Plan migration phases
├─ Wave 1: non-critical (dev/test, 1-2 months)
@@ -269,9 +312,71 @@ Hardware ──> QEMU (I/O emulation) + KVM (kernel module, virtualization)
- Load KVM modules: `kvm`, `kvm_intel`/`kvm_amd`, `vfio-pci`
- Optimize storage: raw/LVM (avoid qcow2 for performance workloads)
## Sangfor aSV (HCI)
[Chinese vendor](https://www.sangfor.com) — KVM-based hypervisor, part of Sangfor HCI stack (aSV + aSAN + aNet + aSEC). Distributed through partners in EMEA.
### Stack architecture
| Component | Role |
|-----------|------|
| **aSV** | Hypervisor (KVM-based) |
| **aSAN** | Distributed SDS (locality-aware, data tiering, dedup, compression) |
| **aNet** | Network virtualization (distributed switches and routers, WYDIWYG visual editor) |
| **aSEC** | Security (NGFW, IPS, WAF, EDR, east-west segmentation) |
| **Sangfor Cloud Platform** | Management orchestrator, unified dashboard |
### Key features
| Feature | Detail |
|-----------|--------|
| **Hypervisor** | KVM (aSV) — custom fork with HCI extensions |
| **License** | Enterprise Pro — per node, all-inclusive (compute + storage + network + security) |
| **Min. cluster** | 3 nodes (3 data copies) |
| **Live Migration** | Yes |
| **HA** | Built-in HA |
| **Storage** | aSAN — locality-aware, data tiering (SSD + HDD), dedup, compression, erasure coding |
| **Backup** | Built-in backup + CDP — no 3rd party needed |
| **Security** | Integrated NGFW, IPS, WAF, EDR — no external appliances |
| **VDI** | aDesk — integrated VDI solution |
| **Kubernetes** | SKE (Sangfor Kubernetes Engine) |
| **Migration** | Sangfor VMware Import Tool (from vCenter), qemu-img for others |
| **vGPU** | Standard support (no extra license) |
### Comparison with VMware
| Feature | Sangfor | VMware |
|---------|---------|--------|
| **License** | Per node, all-inclusive | Multi-tier (vSphere + vSAN + NSX + Aria) |
| **vGPU** | Included (standard) | Enterprise Plus only |
| **Backup + CDP** | Built-in | 3rd party or extra license |
| **Security (NGFW, IPS, WAF)** | Built-in (aSEC) | NSX + 3rd party |
| **Network management** | WYDIWYG visual editor | NSX Manager (more complex) |
| **Min. cluster (3 copies)** | 3 nodes | 5 nodes (vSAN) |
| **Data locality** | Yes | No |
| **SSD life prediction** | Yes | No |
### Use case
- **VMware exit** — VMware replacement for SMB and mid-market
- **Greenfield HCI** — new DCs, branch offices, remote sites
- **VDI** — aDesk integrated with HCI
- **Security-first** — organizations requiring integrated security
- **Asia-Pacific / EMEA** — strongest in Asia, expanding to Europe
### Risks and limitations
| Risk | Detail |
|--------|--------|
| **Geopolitical** | Chinese vendor — possible regulatory restrictions (GDPR, EU, NATO, government) |
| **Ecosystem** | Smaller community than VMware/Proxmox, less documentation and ISV certifications |
| **Support** | Primary support from Asia, local partner critical |
| **Vendor lock-in** | Closed ecosystem (aSV + aSAN + aNet + aSEC), harder to mix with 3rd party |
| **References in CZ/EU** | Very limited — pilot required before production |
## Storage in Hypervisors
See also: [STORAGE.md](STORAGE.md) — detailed overview of storage protocols and configurations.
See also: [STORAGE.en.md](STORAGE.en.md) — detailed overview of storage protocols and configurations.
| Type | Description | Protocols |
|-----|-------|-----------|
@@ -443,7 +548,7 @@ For telco, large private clouds, MANO/NFVI environments.
## Resources
Links, books and standards: [sources/infrastructure/sources.md](sources/infrastructure/sources.md)
Links, books and standards: [sources/infrastructure/sources.en.md](sources/infrastructure/sources.en.md)
### Recommended Reading