Been using KVM fir years. Works fine for me.

Look at Openshift if you're looking for immutable, production ready Linux infrastructure. Containers are quickly replacing VMs.

I think you are looking at this wrong. Proxmox is not prod ready yet, but it is improving and the market is pushing the incumbent services into crappier service for higher prices. Broadcom is making VMware dip below the RoI threshold, and Hyper-v will not survive when it is dragging customers away from the Azure cash cow. The advantage of proxmox is that it will persist after the traditional incumbents are afterthoughts (think xenserver). That's why it is a great option for the homelab or lab environment with previous gen hardware . Proxmox is missing huge features...vms hang unpredictably if you migrate vms across hosts with different CPU architectures (Intel -> AMD), there is no cluster-wide startup order, and things like DRS equivalents are still separate plugins. That being said knowing it now and submitting feedback or patches positions you to have a solution when MS and Broadcom price you out of on-prem.

I suppose thats the difference between Windows admins and Linux admins. Windows admins are used to click their way though things with fancy gui's and wizards :)

I've been using Proxmox professionally for years now, and not once did i have s problem i could not fix myself. But i'm used to solve problems myself by "digging in deep". Ofcourse it helps that i've been using Linux (mostly Debian) since 1996. There are plenty of guides around to teach how Debian works. Windows admin's who make the switch just need to take the time to read them, watch the video's, do the research.

The only skills we where born with are the basic survival skills. Everything else is learned along the way. So was using Windows, and so is using Linux.

But thats just my opinion :)

I'm not sure I'm parsing your fifth paragraph correctly. Are you suggesting Proxmox is DIY and unsuitable for Production? That Proxmox is suitable for Production and those who think they can roll their own hypervisor are in for a bad time? Something else?

If you want something more appliance-like, XCP-ng is a very good option. The GUI of Xen Orchestra is also closer to vCenter in my opinion and should be easier to navigate than Proxmox.

what are your thoughts on Unraid as an alternative?

Hyper-V is probably the best for Windows shops but my concern is that it will just become Azure tied at some point. I could be wrong but somehow I don't trust Microsoft to not screw everyone over.

Funny you should say this, because they are actually working on a Hyper-V stack with Intel's Cloud Hypervisor (VMM) atop the Microsoft Hypervisor microkernel (MSHV) with support for Linux as the root partition (i.e. "Dom0"). No Windows/Azure required.

https://scholz.ruhr/blog/hyper-v-on-linux-yes-this-way-around/

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Microsoft-Hyper-V-Dom0-Linux

At this point the biggest hurdle is the microkernel being publicly released as a standalone component.

I’m going to be evaluating Nutanix and Azure Stack HCI. Proxmox just doesn’t fit in what I can find support for and admins to support it.

I have made a comparison in recent weeks between proxmox and xcp-np/Xen Orchestra and for me proxmox is not mature enough for a work in production considering different aspects. Xcp-ng, if I see it as a solid option, especially if you pay for the Xen Orquestra subscription, which in addition to unleashing the integral management of your entire xcp-ng park, also allows you to make backups