VMware & Proxmox HA

Built VMware ESXi and Proxmox VE clusters side by side and compared how each handles high availability.

Group project for the virtualization module: set up both hypervisors, build a cluster on each and make VMs survive a node failure. I did the complete VMware side.

What we did

Installed and configured ESXi from scratch, then vCenter and an HA cluster
Built the Proxmox cluster with HA groups in parallel
Pulled the plug on nodes and watched the VMs restart elsewhere
Recorded walkthrough videos for both platforms

Conclusion

For our use case Proxmox wins: easier to set up, a clearer interface and no licence costs. VMware is still the enterprise standard and worth knowing — but for a lab or a small company, Proxmox does everything we needed with less friction.