I have a Dell PowerEdge R620 server used in my Home LAB on to which I am trying to install Windows Server 2022 / 2025 and open source firewall, a media server, opensource SIEM, couple of LINUX distros etc and some other stuff to play around on the Server.
Which will be the best option for my use case - VMware ESXi or Proxmox?
Thanks…
Out of just those two, Proxmox. VMWare has no future for homelabbers.
just to be more specific as to some gripes with ESXi.
At work I have inherited (was cursed with?) some servers running on esxi free licenses. and you can not use Veeam’s live restore on esxi free license. which makes sense in the sense you dont want companies skipping the paid licenses. but for the homelab, it is quite frustrating.
additionally, if you want to toy around with high availability configurations in the future. I do not think that ESXi supports HA unless you use the paid licenses, which last i checked was something like $1400/year/16 core cpu. at least with proxmox, you get a full featured product with or without a license. and if you want to support the project. the community license is actually quite affordable.
Will Proxmox support Windows Server 2025, Free Open Source Linux distros for SIEM, Firewall etc?
I am no expert on how Proxmox works, but I did install Windows Server 2022 on Proxmox, which required more steps than installing it on ESXI. You might need to virtualize a TMP module for your Windows 2025 Server VM. You shouldn’t have problems with the other software you want to install. I recommend Mastering Proxmox Third Edition by Wasim Ahmed if you want to know the ins and outs of Proxmox; its information is a little dated, but the basics should apply to the latest version of Proxmox.
there should be no reason why proxmox can run any VM. I am downloading the win server 2025 evaluation iso, so i can confirm it will run in proxmox, i do not anticipate any issues. ive been using proxmox for ubuntu VMs so far.
@johney_iron, are you sure you are downloading the Windows Server 2025 evaluation ISO? I looked for the ISO a few months ago but could only find the Windows Server 2022 evaluation.
yep. i just searched for "windows server 2025 evaluation iso. and downloaded it from the evaluation center.
@testlink – It installed with no issues. just followed the prompts, you just need to check the box for virtual TPM, and set where proxmox should store the tpm keys. (just make sure to press a key to install from disk, otherwise it will try to install from pxe.)