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Proxmox vs OpenNode - recommendation which is better?
I'm setting up a small, private OpenVZ+KVM node (8GB RAM, running under 10 VM's) and need to choose a platform. This is for own use and not for a hosting business, otherwise would probably opt for the industry standard SolusVM.
I'm addressing this to those who have had hands-on experience with both Proxmox and OpenNode...
With "better" a very relative term, what I'm asking here is:
which is easier to manage and why?
which uses less resources (node overhead)?
which one is better when setting up IPv6 containers/VM's (including non-native, tunneling IPv6's)?
Any other insights and suggestions very welcome 
Comments
Haven't seen OpenNode, but looks like a blatant rip off of Proxmox. Proxmox is perfect if you want a personal server and not planning to do any hardcore networking or want to mess with the host at all.
Proxmox. It installs as it claims to and then it works. OpenNode is misleading. The web interface won't work, enjoy the severe lack of anyone talking about how to fix it because no one seems to care, and the cli interface is less friendly than just using vzctl. In short, OpenNode is broken and not usable. Development is too inactive.
Proxmox is awesome. I'm using it on 2 of my own nodes and it performs extremely well. The routing isn't terrible. You can create bridged connections very easily and then just route straight out to the switch, or in my case my router, and it will just work. Plus the fact that it can handle OVZ + KVM on the same node makes for efficient use of server resources. If you have any other questions PM me.
@Zigga @jarland @bcrlsn: Many thanks for your valuable comments and recommendations
Actually, the way I read it, both Proxmox and OpenNode run OpenVZ + KVM on the same node. Very convenient for small, private, yet versatile nodes. This is exactly what prompted my interest
But putting KVM aside for the moment, assuming only OpenVZ containers running under Proxmox, how much additional RAM overhead does Proxmox put out - as opposed to raw OpenVZ's 128 MB RAM?
Is Proxmox suitable to run - limited to OpenVZ only - inside a KVM VPS?
I've been using proxmox for a month or 2
so far so good, never heard of OpenNode though.
Definitely will try it when i got the time to get to it.
If you simply want to run openvz container under KVM vps, you could just install openvz on a Debian 7 installation. It works
Been there, did that, used CentOS 6.4
Decided some kind of admin panel would be nice. OWP (OpenVZ Web Panel) is one option. However, Proxmox seems to be more robust. Question is: at what cost (resource overhead)?
EDIT: Another thing: looks like I will be using Proxmox to run OpenVZ+KVM's on a dedi, so I'm leaning towards Proxmox to manage OpenVZ inside KVM as well (as opposed to learning and using a different solution like OWP). That is, unless there is a compelling reason to use OWP there, like substantially lower resource overhead...?
Does Proxmox support IPv6 along with IPv4...
looks like its easy it is to make whole container backup.
Minimum Hardware (for testing only)
Hope it wont require more than 512Mb RAM (total usage)
Is proxmox free for personal or commercial use ?
Yeah, open source = free
FOSS and Open source are 2 different things. RHEL is also open source but not free.
@leapswitch: Quoting from the Proxmox website:
"Is it really free? Proxmox VE is an open source project, licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL), v3. You're free to use, share and modify the source code."
EDIT: furthermore... http://www.proxmox.com/proxmox-ve/pricing
You're free to use, share and modify the source code."
The source code , not the product.
RHEL does the same thing. You can use the source code and make your own OS - like CentOS , but to use RHEL you will need to purchase it.
http://www.proxmox.com/about/proxmox-technology
Maybe this statement could help..
Thing is, when you install Proxmox VE 3.1 , it pops up saying you have X days left to add a license key. After seeing that, I removed it immediately.
Maybe wait for someone who is still using it otherwise it really don't state anything less than this € 4,16 / CPU & month
BTW if its fully open source, lets change the file so that it is no more remain a trial product... Just kidding.
Well, I don't consider it as free.
And notes for the "free version".
@leapswitch @DalComp @MikeIn: thanks, guys, I stand corrected. Not only NOT free, their fees run pretty steep. Seems like a point in favor of OpenNode, this...
It's still free and under AGPLv3. The subscription thing is merely a hard sell. You are allowed to use the free repo however you wish and is the same upstream code. The enterprise repo is just tagged and delayed and offered as a premium service (and money farm)
It simply pop up that i don't have a valid license, it never pop up that i have X days left.
Side note, http://www.jamescoyle.net/how-to/614-remove-the-proxmox-no-subscription-message
Please don't scare the crowd, it's free to use. I and so does a lot of other people are using (or used) it and it's perfectly fine.
Simple google "is proxmox free?"
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/virtualization/proxmox-the-ultimate-hypervisor/3482
"Proxmox is free. No charge. Go ahead, take one and don't pay for it. Use a hundred of them and owe absolutely nothing."
That was in 2011 with proxmox v2 . Proxmox v3 / 3.1 a lot has changed.
Does proxmox support ipv6?
It's completely free to use, but what they have done is disable the stable repo unless you have a subscription.. so they are recommending if you have a production server you should pay.
There is a couple of tutorials on how to disable that "you don't have a valid subscription" nag screen.. anyhow if you are not using it or at least giving it a try then you are really missing out a lot!
Proxmox does not provide a panel for clients/containers, does it?
proxmox based on Debian and OpenNode based on CentOS. If you really hate Debian...go OpenNode. And if you really hate CentOS, go Proxmox
It does not. However if you have good enough knowledge it shouldn't be to hard to use their API etc.
Or there's pre-built modules so it fits within WHMCS etc
In Proxmox, you can create a limited function account (guest account) and limit it to a specific VM. So that users get to use Proxmox as its panel. Not sure how safe is it.
Hi guys,
The recent issue with Proxmox is that version 3.1 saw a change in the way the updates are managed. For free, you get what is essentially a test apt-get repository with the stable repository being subscription based.
I have been playing with OpenNode and found it very good for the most part. It's less mature than Proxmox and not quite as feature rich. It runs on Cent, which is RHEL based so you can expect to see kernel updates much quicker. Take a look at my below blog posts for more info:
Installation - http://www.jamescoyle.net/how-to/713-installing-opennode-6
Overview - http://www.jamescoyle.net/tech-news/632-opennode-the-proxmox-alternative
Due to the changes in Proxmox I simply can't run it outside of a dev environment as it's stability cannot be guaranteed. I have put a lot of time into Proxmox so I won't be switching overnight, but the way things are looking now I'm slowly moving to OpenNode.
Depending on what you need, there are also a few others you should check out. 90% of my use of Proxmox is for running OpenVZ containers. If it wasn't for the other 10% which are usually Windows environments and require KVM, I'd move to one of these:
http://openvz.org/Control_panels
http://www.ovirt.org/Home
There's also ESXi, not OpenVZ or KVM but you can run VM's nearly as easily as in Proxmox. I use and have used ESXi 5.1 and 5.5 for a long time and just recently swapped to Proxmox.
I needed features that weren't easy to find in Proxmox but were well documented in ESXi (PCI Passthrough, RDM, etc). ESXi 5.5 is free, it limits you on resources, a VM can't have more than 8vCPUs and a few others, but it is stable and no harder to use than any other tool.
There have been a lot of discussions about 'white box' ESXi, my recommendation is to throw it on your hardware and see if it works. From what I've seen and read, a bare-metal of ESXi or Proxmox has about the same performance impact.
Starting from v2 and up it does..
http://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Roadmap#Proxmox_VE_2.0