OpenShift Virtualization vs VMware

The enterprise virtualization landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation in over a decade. Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has triggered widespread concern among IT leaders, with licensing changes driving cost increases of 100% to over 1,000% for many organizations. This seismic shift has accelerated interest in alternative platforms, with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization emerging as the leading enterprise-grade alternative.

According to Gartner, 35% of VMware workloads are expected to migrate to alternative platforms by 2028. For organizations evaluating their options, understanding the fundamental differences between OpenShift Virtualization and VMware is critical for making informed infrastructure decisions.

This comprehensive guide examines both platforms across every dimension that matters to enterprise IT: architecture, operations, networking, storage, high availability, disaster recovery, data protection, licensing costs, and migration pathways.

Key Takeaways

• VMware remains a mature, feature-rich platform but faces significant cost and licensing uncertainty following the Broadcom acquisition
• OpenShift Virtualization offers a unified platform for containers and VMs with predictable, subscription-based pricing
• Migration from VMware to OpenShift is feasible with proper planning using Red Hat’s Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV)
• Data protection strategies must be evaluated carefully regardless of platform choice, as backup infrastructure represents a critical vulnerability
• Organizations with mixed VM and container workloads may benefit most from OpenShift’s unified management approach

Understanding the Market Shift: Why Organizations Are Reconsidering VMware

Before diving into the technical comparison, it’s essential to understand the market dynamics driving this evaluation for thousands of enterprises worldwide.

The Broadcom Factor

Broadcom’s November 2023 acquisition of VMware fundamentally changed the virtualization market. The immediate impacts include:

• Elimination of perpetual licensing in favor of subscription-only models
• Consolidation of product bundles that force customers to purchase features they may not need
• Termination of partner programs affecting thousands of solution providers
• Price increases ranging from 85% to over 1,500% depending on the customer’s previous licensing structure and deployment size

These changes have prompted enterprise customers to evaluate alternatives more seriously than at any point in VMware’s two-decade dominance of the virtualization market.

The Rise of Kubernetes-Native Virtualization

Simultaneously, the maturation of Kubernetes-native virtualization technologies has created viable alternatives. OpenShift Virtualization, built on the KubeVirt project, now offers enterprise-grade capabilities that enable organizations to run virtual machines alongside containers on a unified platform. This convergence addresses a long-standing challenge: managing heterogeneous workloads across separate infrastructure silos.

Architecture Deep Dive: How Each Platform Works

Understanding the architectural foundations of each platform is crucial for evaluating their suitability for your environment.

VMware vSphere Architecture

VMware’s virtualization stack centers on ESXi, a Type-1 (bare-metal) hypervisor that runs directly on server hardware. The VMkernel, a proprietary POSIX-like operating system, manages hardware abstraction and resource allocation. vCenter Server provides centralized management for multi-host environments, enabling features like vMotion (live migration), Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and High Availability (HA).

This architecture has been refined over two decades and offers comprehensive features for traditional virtualization workloads. However, the proprietary nature means organizations are dependent on VMware (now Broadcom) for all core functionality and future development direction.

OpenShift Virtualization Architecture

OpenShift Virtualization takes a fundamentally different approach by integrating virtualization into the Kubernetes container orchestration platform. The architecture leverages:

• KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) — the Linux kernel’s built-in Type-1 hypervisor
• KubeVirt — a CNCF project that enables VMs to run as Kubernetes-native workloads

In this model, virtual machines are defined as Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) and managed through the same control plane as containerized applications. Each VM runs inside a pod, with the virt-launcher component managing the VM lifecycle through libvirt. This unified architecture means organizations can apply consistent policies, networking, storage, and operational practices across both VMs and containers.

Architecture Comparison

Enterprise Features: Head-to-Head ComparisonCompute and Memory Management

Both platforms provide sophisticated resource management capabilities. VMware offers memory overcommitment through techniques like transparent page sharing, ballooning, and compression. Resource pools enable hierarchical allocation with shares, reservations, and limits.

OpenShift Virtualization leverages Kubernetes resource management with requests and limits at the pod level, plus the ability to define resource quotas at the namespace level. While VMware’s memory management is more mature, OpenShift’s approach provides consistency across VM and container workloads.

Storage Integration

VMware’s storage architecture centers on VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) and vVols (Virtual Volumes). VMFS provides shared storage access across hosts, while vVols enable storage policy-based management with compatible arrays. Storage vMotion enables live migration of VM storage between datastores.

OpenShift Virtualization uses the Container Storage Interface (CSI) standard, providing compatibility with a broad ecosystem of storage providers. Persistent Volumes (PVs) and Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs) manage storage allocation, with StorageClasses defining storage tiers and capabilities. OpenShift Data Foundation (formerly OpenShift Container Storage) provides software-defined storage that can run on commodity hardware.

Networking

VMware’s networking capabilities are extensive, with vSphere Distributed Switch providing advanced features in the base platform. NSX (a separate product) adds network virtualization, microsegmentation, and advanced security features.

OpenShift Virtualization uses OVN-Kubernetes as the default network provider, with support for multiple CNI plugins including Calico for advanced network policy. Multus enables VMs to connect to multiple networks, important for migrating workloads with complex networking requirements.

High Availability and Disaster RecoveryHigh Availability Approaches

VMware vSphere HA monitors hosts and restarts VMs on surviving hosts when failures occur. vSphere Fault Tolerance (FT) provides zero-downtime protection by maintaining a synchronized secondary VM that can instantly take over. Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) automatically balances workloads across cluster hosts.

OpenShift Virtualization inherits Kubernetes’ built-in high availability. The control plane runs across multiple nodes with etcd providing distributed consensus. Node failures trigger automatic rescheduling of VMs to healthy nodes. While OpenShift doesn’t have a direct equivalent to VMware FT, machine health checks, pod disruption budgets, and priority classes provide robust availability controls.

Disaster Recovery Capabilities

VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) provides orchestrated disaster recovery with automated failover and failback. vSphere Replication handles VM replication between sites. These are mature capabilities but require additional licensing.

OpenShift Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) enables multi-cluster management and disaster recovery orchestration:

• Metro-DR provides synchronous replication for metropolitan distances
• Regional-DR uses asynchronous replication for longer distances

These capabilities are included in OpenShift Platform Plus subscriptions.

Data Protection: A Critical Consideration for Any Platform

Regardless of which virtualization platform you choose, data protection must be a central consideration in your architecture. Enterprise Strategy Group research indicates that 89% of ransomware attacks specifically target backup repositories, with 73% of those attacks successfully compromising backup data. This makes backup infrastructure one of the most critical—and vulnerable—components of any virtualization environment.

VMware Data Protection Ecosystem

VMware has transitioned away from providing integrated backup solutions, relying instead on a partner ecosystem. This approach offers flexibility but requires careful evaluation of third-party solutions. Key considerations include:

• VADP (vSphere APIs for Data Protection) support
• Changed Block Tracking (CBT) integration
• Application-consistent snapshots
• Scalability across large environments

OpenShift Virtualization Data Protection

OpenShift Virtualization requires backup solutions that understand both Kubernetes-native concepts and traditional VM backup requirements. Effective solutions must handle:

• Persistent Volume snapshots
• VM metadata (CRDs)
• Application consistency across containerized and virtualized workloads
• Namespace-level recovery for complete application restoration

Unified Backup Strategy: Simplifying Multi-Platform Protection

Organizations running hybrid environments or planning migrations benefit significantly from backup solutions that can protect workloads across multiple platforms with a single management interface. This approach simplifies operations, reduces training requirements, and ensures consistent data protection policies regardless of where workloads run.

When evaluating backup solutions for virtualized environments, key criteria include:

• Agentless architecture that minimizes overhead and complexity
• Multi-platform support including VMware, OpenShift, OpenStack, and Kubernetes
• Granular recovery options from full VM to individual files
• Immutable backup storage to protect against ransomware
• Clear, predictable licensing that scales with your environment

Learn more about Storware Backup and Recovery for OpenShift

Migrating from VMware to OpenShift Virtualization

For organizations considering a move from VMware to OpenShift Virtualization, understanding the migration pathway is essential for planning and risk assessment.

Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV)

Red Hat provides the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV), which automates the migration of VMs from VMware vSphere to OpenShift Virtualization. MTV can connect directly to vCenter, discover VMs, and execute migrations with minimal manual intervention. The toolkit handles:

• Disk format conversion (VMDK to QCOW2)
• Network mapping
• Storage provisioning

Migration Planning Considerations

• Workload Assessment — Inventory all VMs, identifying dependencies, resource requirements, and application architectures. Some legacy applications may require additional planning.
• Network Planning — Map VMware port groups to OpenShift network configurations. Complex networking may require Multus or additional CNI plugins.
• Storage Strategy — Evaluate CSI drivers for your storage infrastructure. Ensure adequate capacity and performance for migrated workloads.
• Backup Integration — Ensure your data protection strategy covers both source (VMware) and target (OpenShift) environments during migration.
• Testing and Validation — Plan for thorough testing in the target environment before decommissioning VMware infrastructure.

Licensing and Total Cost of Ownership

The licensing landscape has changed dramatically with Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, making cost comparison more complex but also more important than ever.

VMware Licensing Post-Broadcom

Broadcom has consolidated VMware’s product portfolio into bundled offerings:

• Elimination of perpetual licensing — subscription-only models now mandatory
• Bundled products — VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and vSphere Foundation include features many customers may not need
• Per-core licensing — replaced per-socket licensing for many products, significantly impacting environments with high core counts
• Reported renewal increases — many organizations report quotes 2x to 10x higher than previous licensing costs

OpenShift Subscription Model

Red Hat OpenShift uses subscription-based pricing with predictable annual costs:

• OpenShift Virtualization included — no additional cost beyond OpenShift Container Platform subscription
• OpenShift Platform Plus — adds advanced management, security, and data capabilities
• Flexible deployment — self-managed and managed (cloud-based) options available
• Open source foundations — access to upstream projects (OKD, KubeVirt) for evaluation and development

Cost Factor Comparison

Choosing the Right Platform: Use Case AnalysisWhen VMware May Be the Better Choice

• Organizations with significant VMware expertise and established operational processes
• Environments heavily dependent on VMware-specific features like FT (Fault Tolerance)
• Legacy applications with certified VMware support requirements
• Organizations that have negotiated favorable long-term agreements with Broadcom

When OpenShift Virtualization May Be the Better Choice

• Organizations pursuing infrastructure modernization and cloud-native transformation
• Environments with mixed containerized and virtualized workloads requiring unified management
• Organizations concerned about VMware licensing costs and Broadcom’s long-term direction
• Companies seeking predictable, transparent pricing models
• Organizations with existing Red Hat or Kubernetes expertise

Frequently Asked QuestionsCan I run Windows VMs on OpenShift Virtualization?

Yes, OpenShift Virtualization fully supports Windows Server and Windows desktop operating systems. VirtIO drivers are available for optimal performance, and Microsoft SVVP (Server Virtualization Validation Program) certification ensures supported configurations.

How does live migration work in OpenShift Virtualization?

Live migration in OpenShift Virtualization enables moving running VMs between nodes without downtime. The process uses the VirtualMachineInstanceMigration CRD and supports both manual and automatic migration triggered by node maintenance or resource optimization.

What happens to my VMware skills if I migrate to OpenShift?

Core virtualization concepts transfer well between platforms. However, managing VMs through Kubernetes introduces new paradigms around declarative configuration, GitOps workflows, and container-native operations. Red Hat offers training and certification paths for teams transitioning from VMware.

How do I backup virtual machines in OpenShift Virtualization?

Backup solutions for OpenShift Virtualization must understand both Kubernetes resources and VM disk snapshots. Look for solutions that can perform application-consistent backups, protect both VM data and metadata, and integrate with your existing backup infrastructure. Agentless solutions minimize complexity and performance overhead.

See how Storware protects OpenShift Virtualization workloads

Is OpenShift Virtualization production-ready?

Yes, OpenShift Virtualization is fully supported for production workloads. Major enterprises across financial services, telecommunications, and other sectors run mission-critical VMs on the platform. Red Hat provides full commercial support, and the underlying KubeVirt project is a mature CNCF project.

Conclusion: Making the Right Decision for Your Organization

The choice between VMware and OpenShift Virtualization isn’t simply about replacing one hypervisor with another—it’s a strategic decision about your organization’s infrastructure direction.

VMware remains a capable, feature-rich platform with decades of enterprise refinement. However, the uncertainty introduced by Broadcom’s acquisition—particularly around pricing and product direction—has legitimately prompted organizations to evaluate alternatives.

OpenShift Virtualization offers a compelling path forward for organizations embracing cloud-native architectures. The ability to run VMs and containers on a unified platform, combined with predictable pricing and open-source foundations, addresses many of the concerns driving VMware evaluations.

Regardless of which platform you choose, ensure your data protection strategy is robust, tested, and capable of protecting workloads across your entire infrastructure. In an era of increasing ransomware threats and regulatory requirements, backup and recovery capabilities are not optional—they’re fundamental to operational resilience.

Next Steps

Planning a VMware migration or evaluating backup solutions for your virtualized environment? Storware provides enterprise-grade data protection across VMware, OpenShift, OpenStack, and Kubernetes environments — all managed through a single, intuitive interface.

• Request a personalized demo
• Explore Storware Backup and Recovery

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