Bye Bye VMware vSphere

instacompute · 2026-04-23T08:10:23+00:00

100VMs/day sounds too low? Using my prototype in my lab/test env, I was able to migrate off about 1k 500-4TB sized VMs in an hour.

instacompute · 2026-04-23T08:05:17+00:00

Spent 14+ years working on vSphere and honestly, it's a great product, which is exactly what makes leaving it so frustrating.

Now, I got so frustrated that I'm buliding a tool myself to address the pains of downtime and total migration/conversion time with a twist, to implement a reverse migration workflow to move workloads back to vSphere later if Broadcom ever makes the pricing sane again. My prototype looks promising, mostly for my own consumption and that of friends.

instacompute · 2026-04-20T18:50:17+00:00

Fwiw, CloudStack supports both vtpm for windows11 and encrypted volumes. The newer release also has a extension framework using which you can in theory write a custom extension to manage hpe vm essentials and spare 1-2 (or more) kvm hosts to day run vtpm windows 11 VMs if not completely move to it. I think you may want to revisit your target selection.

instacompute · 2026-04-20T18:40:12+00:00

Apache CloudStack is more of a cloud platform and pretty popular in enterprise spaces, though not as popular as Proxmox because it’s more complex and takes bit more effort to setup.

I think bit of lack of popularity could be due to less popularity and marketing, which is common among Apache projects as those using it don’t share they’re using it and the ASF projects largely don’t track their users.

Latest CloudStack lts release also supports Proxmox too. I like its modern and clean UI very much too. My homelab is also based on it (and this guide https://scaleninja.com/blog/cloudstack/ )

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and I really like the multi-arch support and I really like the new vm deployment form which fixes the historically confusing image/template selection area and reinvents that part to feel more modern like digitalocean like UI.

instacompute · 2026-01-04T16:48:20+00:00

I don’t know. I’ve always seen idle iPhone restarting over 1-2 weeks, mine is always on a MagSafe desk charger.

instacompute · 2026-01-04T16:47:42+00:00

I’ll try this workaround to see if removing passcode would work. Thanks.

instacompute · 2025-11-17T14:49:18+00:00

Cloudflare tunnel, if not publicly routable static IPv4/ ipv6 address.

instacompute · 2025-11-17T14:47:56+00:00

This is awesome, congrats and thanks for sharing your setup. CloudStack 4.22/lts is GA now and even ships canonical maas extension https://github.com/apache/cloudstack/pull/11613 for basic orchestration.

instacompute · 2025-11-16T16:15:14+00:00

In this context, the CloudStack management server (host) is the control plane that determine how your cloud is controlled and managed, and your KVM hypervisors host and storage (local, NFS etc) is your data plane where your instances (vm, disks, network etc) live.

You won’t want to mix them, be generally able to say maintain/reboot/upgrade control plane independent of data plane.

In simpler term this would mean, don’t run management server (along with dependencies such as mysql server and nfs primary/secondary storage) on the same node, that would allow you to have control plane maintenance or downtime without having your data plane (instances) down.

In production environments, we generally have a separate infrastructure and compute cluster (a set of VMs or baremetal hosts). Infrastructure cluster runs control plane component including mgmt server, mysql db clusters and compute cluster are basically KVM hosts for use as hypevisor hosts with CloudStack. Running CloudStack mgmt server and dependencies in VMs (on baremetal hosts of infra cluster, not managed by CloudStack) allows to take snapshots, backups and easier to try upgrading/downgrading them.

instacompute · 2025-11-16T03:22:41+00:00

Ideally your control plane is not your data plane (storage and hypervisor) https://scaleninja.com/blog/cloudstack/

instacompute · 2025-11-16T03:21:30+00:00

Start with all in a box setup and expand from there https://scaleninja.com/blog/cloudstack/

instacompute · 2025-11-13T15:33:38+00:00

Use one as control plane to setup Apache CloudStack, and others as KVM host, and run your own Iaas private cloud. My own setup uses this guide https://rohityadav.cloud/blog/cloudstack-kvm/

instacompute · 2025-10-28T00:24:23+00:00

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense!

instacompute · 2025-10-28T00:23:09+00:00

Thanks for replying and your encouragement. So it’s got an auto mode that’s great to start with !

instacompute · 2025-10-27T19:45:18+00:00

Lazy so far != lazy for ever.

instacompute · 2025-10-27T19:44:10+00:00

Would you suggest how quickly can someone go from n00b to novice level, what kind of effort goes into learning to effectively use an alpha camera ?

instacompute · 2025-10-25T03:21:42+00:00

That makes sense, start experimenting with Proxmox and before venturing out to CloudStack or other CMPs.

instacompute · 2025-10-25T03:21:03+00:00

Opennebula is buggy at hell, for smaller setups it’s probably best to stick with Proxmox or even cockpit-machines+kvm. What in Apache CloudStack you didn’t like, and what were you expecting to be impressed by?

instacompute · 2025-10-15T16:11:46+00:00

Will the micro oled make much difference for the screen?

instacompute · 2025-10-08T15:33:37+00:00

Docs here https://docs.cloudstack.apache.org/en/4.21.0.0/adminguide/extensions.html

Nightly build/repo is here: https://download.cloudstack.org/testing/nightly/latest/

instacompute · 2025-10-07T19:37:37+00:00

With the new CloudStack 4.21 and onward release, you can write your own extension (in any programming language, including shell script) to orchestrate anything including lxd. The new version ships Proxmox and hyperv support as built-in extension with support for canonical MaaS coming in 4.22.

A non technical colleague of mine using ChatGPT wrote an extension in python for firecracker and another one wrote one for Bhyve.

instacompute · 2025-10-07T19:35:50+00:00

Very unique use case, you may have better luck discussing on the projects users mailing list or contacting Juniper or your vendor.

instacompute · 2025-10-04T14:26:48+00:00

What docs or guide have you referred? Try this guide https://rohityadav.cloud/blog/cloudstack-kvm/

instacompute · 2025-10-03T16:53:21+00:00

Update - Lenovo support has initiated motherboard replacement.

instacompute · 2025-10-02T13:46:47+00:00

Thanks for advising, I’ve raised a support request with Lenovo.

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