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Migrating from VMware vSphere to Proxmox VE

Tamar Bridge from the Air

Written by

Picture of Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson
Systems and Compliance  Officer
Chris works on various of Nexus’s internal business processes and compliance tasks. He also assists with external marketing and communications, promoting Nexus services and explaining IT topics.

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Summary

Tamar Crossings operates essential transport infrastructure, where availability, resilience and recoverability are critical.

As VMware’s licensing model became more costly and less predictable, Tamar Crossings took the decision to review its virtualisation platform strategy. Any replacement had to meet operational requirements without introducing avoidable risk, unnecessary complexity or disruption to live services.

Nexus was engaged to deliver a controlled migration from VMware vSphere to Proxmox VE, while retaining the existing hardware platform and maintaining service continuity throughout.

Challenge

The key challenge was not technical capability for its own sake. Tamar Crossings already had a well-implemented virtualisation platform. The issue was commercial and strategic: continued reliance on VMware had become harder to justify in the face of changing licensing costs and reduced cost certainty.

At the same time, the environment supported important operational systems, so the migration approach had to be measured and low risk. Backup, recovery and resilience also needed to remain aligned throughout the transition, not treated as an afterthought once the migration was complete.

Tamar Crossings therefore needed an alternative platform that could:

  • Reduce exposure to VMware licensing changes
  • Avoid unnecessary capital expenditure
  • Preserve the value of the existing infrastructure estate
  • Maintain operational continuity during migration
  • Support robust backup and recovery in the target environment

Solution

Nexus designed and delivered a structured migration from VMware vSphere to Proxmox VE.

A significant advantage of the project was that no hardware refresh was required.

Tamar Crossings was able to move to the new platform using its existing infrastructure, reducing both project cost and delivery risk.

The Proxmox VE environment was deployed using established solution best practices across host configuration, storage, networking, clustering and virtual machine integration. The aim was not to claim artificial performance gains over an already well-configured VMware platform, but to ensure the new environment was implemented to the same high standard and capable of delivering comparable operational performance and reliability.

Workloads were then migrated in a planned and controlled manner, with backup and recovery processes aligned to the new platform using Veeam Backup & Replication.

What We Delivered and Why It Matters

Migration from VMware vSphere to Proxmox VE

Nexus migrated Tamar Crossings from VMware vSphere to Proxmox VE, providing a practical alternative to VMware’s revised commercial model while preserving the capabilities required for production workloads.

Reuse of the existing hardware platform

The project was delivered without the need for replacement hardware. This reduced capital cost, shortened delivery scope and demonstrated that Tamar Crossings could change platform without being forced into unnecessary infrastructure refresh.

Best-practice target platform design

The new Proxmox VE environment was deployed in line with best practice for storage, networking, host configuration and VM integration. This ensured the platform was stable, supportable and suitable for live operational services.

Controlled workload migration

Production systems were migrated in a structured manner designed to minimise disruption and maintain continuity across critical services.

Backup and recovery alignment with Veeam Backup & Replication

Backup and recovery processes were reviewed and aligned to the new environment using Veeam Backup & Replication, ensuring recoverability remained robust following the platform transition.

Removal of legacy and unnecessary systems

Legacy and duplicate systems were identified and removed where appropriate, reducing operational overhead and simplifying the overall environment.

Recovery validation through test restores

Test restores were performed to confirm that recovery processes worked as intended in the new platform, providing evidence that resilience had been maintained in practice.

Throughout, Nexus ensured a structured, low-risk migration, maintaining operational continuity across critical services.

 

Proxmox Authorised Reseller

 

 

 

 

 

Why Proxmox?

For Tamar Crossings, the move to Proxmox VE was primarily a commercial and strategic decision rather than a claim that VMware vSphere lacked enterprise capability.

Better cost predictability

The most immediate driver was the need to reduce exposure to VMware’s changing and increasingly difficult-to-predict licensing costs.

Greater commercial control

Moving to Proxmox VE reduced vendor dependency and gave Tamar Crossings more control over the long-term direction of its virtualisation platform.

Required platform capability

Proxmox VE provided the clustering, management and operational features needed for the environment, without the licensing overhead that had become attached to VMware.

A practical transition path

Because the migration could be delivered on the existing hardware estate, Tamar Crossings was able to change platform without compounding the project with avoidable hardware replacement costs.

Outcome

The result is a resilient and commercially more sustainable virtualisation platform that continues to support Tamar Crossings’ operational requirements without the cost uncertainty associated with VMware’s revised model.

Key outcomes included:

  • reduced exposure to rising and changeable VMware licensing costs
  • retention of the existing hardware estate
  • maintenance of service continuity during migration
  • deployment of Proxmox VE to a high implementation standard
  • backup and recovery aligned to the target platform
  • reduced complexity through removal of legacy systems
  • disaster recovery validated through successful test restores

 

Most importantly, Tamar Crossings now has a virtualisation platform that meets its operational needs while giving it greater commercial control over future infrastructure decisions.

This project reflects what many organisations are now facing. VMware is still a capable platform, but the commercial model around it has changed significantly. For many midmarket and public sector organisations, the question is no longer whether VMware can do the job, but whether the cost and licensing position remain justifiable.

Nexus helps organisations assess and deliver alternatives pragmatically, with a focus on operational continuity, technical best practice and commercial sustainability rather than headline-driven transformation claims.

As an official Proxmox partner, Nexus is helping organisations to:

  • reduce long-term licensing exposure
  • take greater control of their infrastructure strategy
  • maintain resilience and recoverability
  • build platforms that support future requirements without unnecessary commercial constraint

Looking Ahead

With Proxmox VE now in place, Tamar Crossings has a strong foundation for:

  • ongoing infrastructure improvement
  • continued resilience and recoverability
  • future growth without the same degree of vendor or licensing risk

 

See also our blogs Exploring Proxmox VE: A Practical Alternative to Hyper-V and VMware
and VMware to Proxmox VE or Azure Stack HCI: Your Best Options After the Broadcom Changes.

Client Testimonial

“We knew we needed to move away from VMware, but it had to be done in a way that did not impact our operations.

Nexus made the transition to Proxmox straightforward and low risk. We now have a more cost-effective platform that gives us greater control and confidence in our resilience.”

Daryl Williams, ICT Assistant Manager

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Get in touch with us to discuss your needs  Contact us.

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