[{"content":"Proxmox VE 9: my view on an alternative to VMware 📌 Note Type: Guide / Review 🗂️ Category: Virtualization | Operating Systems 🏷️ Tags: #proxmox #virtualization #kvm #lxc #ceph #esxi\nWhat is Proxmox VE? Proxmox VE is an open-source Type 1 virtualization platform that installs directly on bare metal. It combines two technologies in one convenient web interface:\nKVM - full-fledged virtual machines with hardware virtualization. LXC - lightweight Linux containers. Plus built-in functionality: clustering, High Availability, backups, Ceph, SDN and much more.\nWhy I started to consider migrating from ESXi Currently, the working infrastructure is based on the classic VMware ESXi stack, which provides the usual stability. However, my experience using Proxmox in home labs and test environments has shown that the platform provides functionality comparable to ESXi without the strict licensing restrictions.\nThe decisive factor was not the technical choice in favor of Proxmox, but the natural fit of its architecture to our tasks: in scenarios where support for a massive vendor stack is not required, Proxmox provides the same level of functionality without unnecessary complexity. The transition is due to the following reasons:\nOptimization of licensing policy: Changes in the Broadcom model after the company\u0026rsquo;s acquisition made the platform less attractive in the long term. Proxmox is completely free, with no hidden fees or limits on the number of sockets, cores or virtual machines. Technological independence: The transition to Proxmox provides complete transparency and control over the infrastructure without being tied to proprietary solutions and vendor lock-in. Ecosystem flexibility: The open nature of Proxmox allows you to build more flexible and manageable systems for projects where independence and ease of administration are important. The platform offers a modern web interface, a built-in backup system, clustering, live-migration, as well as support for both full-fledged virtual machines (KVM) and lightweight containers (LXC). Transparency and predictable costs: No dependence on vendor policies and sudden changes in licensing conditions. Active development: Regular updates, a rich ecosystem and the possibility of deep customization for specific tasks. When maintaining the “vendor stack” remains justified\nAt the same time, it is important to soberly assess the limits of applicability of both platforms. VMware continues to be the benchmark in large enterprise environments where Proxmox may face limitations:\nCertification and support: Business-critical systems (for example, SAP or Oracle) often require official vendor support with a strict SLA and hardware certification. Deep integration with hardware: VMware\u0026rsquo;s long-term partnerships with hardware manufacturers (Dell, HPE, Lenovo) provide deeper integration of drivers and monitoring at the BIOS/Firmware level. Managing huge scale: vCenter remains a more convenient tool for managing hundreds of servers distributed across different data centers. In Proxmox, such tasks require more manual automation efforts through Ansible or Terraform. Bottom line\nFor projects where transparency, control and the absence of a rigid connection to changing vendor policies are important, Proxmox becomes a logical and economically sound choice. This is a transition from a “boxed” enterprise product to a flexible, open system in which the administrator truly owns his infrastructure.\nReal tests in a laboratory environment I deployed Proxmox VE 9 in a test environment and ran typical tasks that I regularly solve on ESXi:\nStart Windows Server + MSSQL Works stably. After installing VirtIO drivers, disk and network performance is good.\nLive Migration of a running VM Without shared storage, migration occurs over the network. The result is tolerable.\nClustering I assembled a cluster of two nodes. I checked HA - when one node is turned off, the VMs are automatically restarted on the second.\nStorage I used local disks with ZFS. For fully synchronous shared storage, I plan to raise Ceph in the future.\nBackups Built-in vzdump + Proxmox Backup Server with deduplication and encryption. Significantly more convenient and economical compared to Veeam.\nKey differences from ESXi LXC containers out of the box are what I always lacked in VMware. Everything in one interface - hypervisor, storage, backups, cluster, network. Open ecosystem - the server runs on Debian, you can install any packages and freely script. Flexibility - easily scales from a small homelab to a full-fledged cluster. What difficulties did I encounter? ZFS and memory - if you enable deduplication, RAM is consumed very actively. I had to switch to compression. Network - built-in SDN is powerful, but sometimes it\u0026rsquo;s easier to configure VLANs through standard Debian tools. Support - in case of serious problems in production, rely mainly on yourself and the community. Who I recommend to switch to Proxmox Yes, it’s worth it if:\nYou want to get away from vendor dependence. Build infrastructure from scratch or update the old one. LXC containers and maximum flexibility are needed. Transparency and control over the system are important. Stay with VMware if:\nYou have a large corporate environment with strict requirements for certification and vendor support. My immediate plans I would like to prepare a series of practical materials:\nSetting up a cluster of 2–3 nodes Organization of reliable backups Migration of VMs from ESXi to Proxmox (P2V) Real scenarios for using LXC in production Everything written is from personal practical experience. If you are already working with Proxmox or are just planning a transition, I will be glad to hear your opinion in the comments.\n","date":"2026-07-16T00:00:00Z","image":"/2026/07/proxmox-vs-esxi/proxmox-vs-esxi-cover.webp","permalink":"/en/2026/07/proxmox-vs-esxi/","title":"Proxmox VE 9: What is it and is it worth switching from ESXi?"},{"content":"Welcome This is my working knowledge base. It contains settings, checklists, configuration examples, and solutions to common tasks encountered in day-to-day system administration.\nEverything here has been battle-tested in production. No guesswork or unverified advice.\nStructure of Materials The notes are organized using the digital garden principle — each topic is linked to others. Start with any area you need.\nMain sections:\nVirtualization — installation and configuration of hypervisors Operating Systems — Linux and Windows Server Networking and Security — routing, VPN, firewalls Monitoring — setting up observation systems Automation — scripts and configurations Note Types I use several formats for convenience:\nType Description Guide Step-by-step instructions for installation and configuration Checklist A concise list of actions for quick deployment Cheat Sheet Commands and syntax for quick reference Troubleshooting Error description and how to fix it How to Use the Site Search — the fastest way to find the topic you need Tag navigation — grouping by technology Related notes — links to adjacent topics within the materials Who Might Find This Useful System administrators working with a similar stack. Anyone using virtualization systems. Those looking for concise, no-fluff instructions. How to Use This The easiest way is to search. If you need a topic — just type a keyword.\nYou can start from any section. The materials are not arranged in a linear sequence — everyone decides what they need.\nIf a note helped you — great. If you spot an inaccuracy or know a more elegant solution — drop me a line, I\u0026rsquo;d be happy to discuss it.\nThe site is being updated gradually. Some materials come from my work notes, others have been specifically prepared for publication. If something is missing — it might appear later.\nHappy configuring.\n","date":"2026-07-15T00:00:00Z","image":"/2026/07/artkov-lab-production-notes/welcome.webp","permalink":"/en/2026/07/artkov-lab-production-notes/","title":"Artkov Lab Production Notes"},{"content":"Managing configuration files (dotfiles) across multiple machines inevitably turns into chaos over time. A standard Git repository in your home directory quickly gets cluttered, symlinks often break on Windows, and storing secrets like API tokens or plain-text usernames publicly is extremely unsafe.\nThe solution to this problem is chezmoi — a modern, Go-based dotfile manager. It allows you to manage settings across Linux, WSL, and Windows securely and systematically.\n🚀 Why Choose Chezmoi? Unlike traditional symlink-based approaches, chezmoi stores target configurations in a dedicated directory (by default ~/.local/share/chezmoi) and applies changes to your live system only when explicitly instructed.\nCross-Platform: Works seamlessly on Unix-like systems, WSL, and Windows. Go Template Support: Dynamically substitutes variables (such as username, hostname, or email) based on the target host. Built-in Security: Native encryption support for sensitive data using age or GnuPG. Automated Provisioning: Supports run_once_ scripts to install packages during initial system setup. 📦 Repository Layout and Structure Here is an example structure of a chezmoi-managed dotfile repository:\n1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 dotfiles/ ├── .chezmoi.toml.tmpl # Chezmoi configuration template ├── .chezmoiignore # Files and directories to ignore ├── dot_bashrc # Becomes ~/.bashrc ├── dot_gitconfig.tmpl # Template for ~/.gitconfig with variables ├── private_dot_config/ # Becomes ~/.config/ │ ├── helix/ # Helix editor configuration │ ├── starship/ # Starship prompt setup │ └── wezterm/ # Cross-platform WezTerm terminal ├── run_once_after_10-base-packages.sh.tmpl # Base CLI package installer (Linux/WSL) └── run_once_after_20-windows-packages.ps1.tmpl # Package installer (Windows) Naming Conventions Prefixes in chezmoi filenames define their target attributes: dot_ transforms into a leading dot (.bashrc), private_ creates a restricted folder (chmod 700), and .tmpl enables the Go template engine.\n⚡ Quickstart and Initialization Linux / WSL Install the utility:\n1 2 sh -c \u0026#34;$(curl -fsLS get.chezmoi.io)\u0026#34; -- -b ~/.local/bin export PATH=\u0026#34;$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH\u0026#34; Initialize from a GitHub repository:\n1 chezmoi init --apply \u0026lt;your-username\u0026gt; Windows On Windows, the easiest way to install chezmoi is via the Scoop package manager:\n1 2 3 4 5 6 Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Force iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex scoop install main/chezmoi git gh # Initialize configuration inside Git Bash: chezmoi init --apply \u0026lt;your-username\u0026gt; 🔄 Daily Command Cheatsheet Command Description chezmoi edit ~/.bashrc Open a file in your default editor. chezmoi diff Show differences between repository state and $HOME. chezmoi apply -v Apply changes from source state to the living system. chezmoi update Pull changes from Git repository and apply them immediately. chezmoi add ~/.config/helix/ Add a new directory under chezmoi tracking. chezmoi cd Navigate into chezmoi\u0026rsquo;s local source directory. 📊 Leveraging Templates Go templates allow you to maintain a single dot_gitconfig.tmpl across all your devices:\n1 2 3 [user] name = {{ .name }} email = {{ .email }} Variables are read from your personal .chezmoi.toml file or requested via interactive prompts during initialization.\nCaution with Provisioning Scripts Scripts prefixed with run_once_ execute automatically only once. Always verify generated script output prior to running using chezmoi execute-template \u0026lt; \u0026lt;file\u0026gt;.\nOn Windows systems, to prevent accidental execution of Bash scripts, it is recommended to apply changes using: chezmoi apply --exclude=scripts.\n📚 Resources and Links 🌐 Official Chezmoi Documentation 🛠 Sample Dotfiles Repository on GitHub ","date":"2026-02-25T00:00:00Z","image":"/2026/02/chezmoi-dotfiles-management/chezmoi-dotfiles-management-cover.webp","permalink":"/en/2026/02/chezmoi-dotfiles-management/","title":"Chezmoi: Elegant Dotfile Management Across Linux and Windows"},{"content":"Gallery Here is a collection of my visual works: images generated by neural networks and digital paintings created by hand in graphic editors.\nCreated with AI Created by Hand Note:\nMore works will be added here over time. I strive to combine the capabilities of modern neural networks with classic graphic tools.\n","date":"2026-01-26T00:00:00Z","image":"/2026/01/image-gallery/gallery.webp","permalink":"/en/2026/01/image-gallery/","title":"Gallery"}]