VMWare Migration: OLVM Guide and Comparison with VMware

VMware costs have become unpredictable. Your hypervisor doesn’t have to.

Oracle Linux Virtualisation Manager (OLVM) is an enterprise-grade virtualisation platform that does what most organisations actually need from a hypervisor – at a fraction of VMware’s post-Broadcom pricing. It’s not a startup project or a community experiment. It’s backed by Oracle, built on battle-tested KVM technology, and running mission-critical workloads in production today.

This guide examines OLVM honestly: what it does well, where it falls short, and how to determine if it’s the right VMware alternative for your environment.

Executive Summary

Post-Broadcom acquisition, many organisations face VMware cost increases that fundamentally change infrastructure economics. Perpetual licensing is disappearing. Bundled tiers force you to pay for capabilities you don’t need. Renewal quotes arrive at multiples of previous costs.

OLVM offers a different model: enterprise-grade virtualisation at approximately USD $1,400/year per two-socket server, with unlimited VMs, 24×7 support, and zero per-core or per-feature complexity.

OLVM won’t replicate every VMware feature. It lacks automated workload balancing (no DRS equivalent) and advanced network virtualisation (no NSX equivalent). But for organisations running standard enterprise workloads – databases, application servers, web infrastructure – these gaps rarely matter.

What you get: A production-ready hypervisor backed by a vendor with the resources and longevity to support it. KVM-based virtualisation that Oracle uses in Exadata and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Predictable costs without licensing complexity.

What you give up: Some advanced features, a smaller third-party ecosystem, and the need to develop Linux operational competency if your team doesn’t have it.

For many organisations, that trade-off makes sense.

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Contents

1. Why Consider OLVM Now
2. What OLVM Actually Is
3. Is OLVM Right for Your Environment?
4. What OLVM Does Well
5. What OLVM Doesn’t Do (Or Doesn’t Do as Well)
6. Oracle Workloads: The Hard Partitioning Advantage
7. Realistic Migration Process
8. OLVM vs VMware: Direct Comparison
9. Decision Framework
10. Frequently Asked Questions
11. Next Steps

Why Consider OLVM Now

The VMware landscape shifted fundamentally with Broadcom’s acquisition. Organisations that budgeted VMware as a predictable line item are facing:

• Elimination of perpetual licensing options.
• Mandatory bundling into higher-cost product tiers.
• Renewal quotes at significant multiples of previous costs.
• Uncertainty about future pricing trajectory.

For some organisations, absorbing these increases makes sense – VMware’s ecosystem depth and feature breadth justify the premium. For others, it’s forced a question that wasn’t previously urgent: Do we actually need everything VMware offers, or are we paying for capabilities we don’t use?

OLVM didn’t suddenly become viable. It’s been running enterprise workloads for years. What changed is the economic calculus that makes evaluating alternatives worthwhile.

What OLVM Actually Is

OLVM is a server virtualisation management platform based on KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) technology, built on Oracle Linux and the open-source oVirt project.

The architecture mirrors VMware’s approach:

• OLVM Engine – Central management server (equivalent to vCenter).
• KVM Hosts – Hypervisor nodes running virtual machines (equivalent to ESXi hosts).

This isn’t Oracle bolting a management GUI onto community software and hoping for the best. KVM is the virtualisation foundation Oracle uses in Exadata – their flagship engineered system – and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. When Oracle needs virtualisation for their most demanding database workloads, they use KVM.

The oVirt Foundation

OLVM is built on oVirt, an open-source virtualisation management platform with an active community and years of production deployment history. This matters for two reasons:

1. No vendor lock-in at the technology level – If Oracle’s direction changes, the underlying platform continues independently.
2. Proven foundation – You’re not beta testing; you’re deploying technology that’s been hardened across thousands of environments.

Oracle adds enterprise support, integration with their product ecosystem, and the backing of a vendor with the resources to maintain and develop the platform long-term.

Is OLVM Right for Your Environment?

OLVM isn’t the right choice for everyone. Before investing time in detailed evaluation, here’s how to quickly assess fit.

OLVM is a strong fit if you:

• Face significant VMware cost increases and need a credible enterprise alternative.
• Run standard enterprise workloads – Databases, application servers, web infrastructure, file services.
• Don’t depend heavily on VMware-specific features like NSX micro-segmentation or DRS automated balancing.
• Have existing Linux expertise – Or willingness and budget to develop it.
• Value cost predictability over feature breadth.
• Want vendor backing without startup risk – Oracle isn’t going anywhere.

OLVM is likely not the right fit if you:

• Rely heavily on NSX for micro-segmentation and distributed firewalling.
• Require automated workload balancing across hosts (DRS equivalent).
• Have VMware-specific integrations that don’t have OLVM equivalents – Audit your backup, monitoring, and automation stack first.
• Have no Linux skills and no appetite to build them – This isn’t optional.
• Need active-active stretched clusters with seamless cross-site failover – OLVM supports DR but VMware’s metro capabilities are more mature.

Not sure?

The fastest way to determine fit is a 30-minute call where we assess your specific environment, VMware usage patterns, and renewal timeline.

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What OLVM Does Well

Enterprise-Grade Core Functionality

OLVM provides the capabilities that matter for running production workloads reliably:

• Live VM migration with zero downtime (vMotion equivalent).
• High availability with automatic VM restart on host failure.
• Resource management including CPU/memory limits, reservations, shares, and memory ballooning.
• Storage flexibility with FC, iSCSI, and NFS connectivity plus multipathing.
• Storage live migration between storage domains.
• Network management with VLAN support and Open vSwitch integration.
• Snapshot and backup integration with API support.
• Disaster recovery replication across sites.
• REST API and Ansible automation for infrastructure-as-code approaches.
• Grafana monitoring integration for operational visibility.
• Wide x86 guest OS support including Windows and Linux variants.

These aren’t paper features. They’re production-tested capabilities running mission-critical workloads across financial services, government, healthcare, and enterprise environments.

Performance That Doesn’t Compromise

KVM’s architecture integrates directly with the Linux kernel, eliminating hypervisor overhead layers present in other architectures. The virtio paravirtualised drivers provide near-bare-metal performance for storage and network I/O.

In production environments, we’ve observed OLTP database workloads on OLVM achieving comparable or better performance than VMware, primarily due to efficient NUMA handling and lower hypervisor overhead. Storage-intensive workloads particularly benefit from virtio drivers’ more direct hardware access.

The practical reality: for most workloads, hypervisor choice isn’t your performance bottleneck. Application architecture, storage subsystem design, and proper resource sizing matter more than which hypervisor you run. Both VMware and OLVM provide more than adequate performance for enterprise workloads.

Cost Structure That Makes Sense

OLVM is included in Oracle Linux Premier Support subscriptions, priced per physical server:

Approximate pricing: USD $1,400/year for a two-socket physical server

This includes:

• OLVM Engine (management platform).
• Unlimited VM guests.
• 24×7 support.
• Security updates.
• Ksplice zero-downtime kernel patching.

No per-core licensing. No per-VM fees. No feature tiers that force you into bundles you don’t need. No socket multipliers.

For a 10-host environment, you’re looking at roughly $14,000/year total versus VMware costs that vary wildly based on your specific agreement – but are almost certainly multiples of that figure post-Broadcom.

Pricing verified as of early 2025. Confirm current Oracle pricing for your specific configuration.

Vendor Backing Without Startup Risk

One legitimate concern with VMware alternatives: will the vendor exist in five years? Will they have the resources to maintain and develop the platform?

Oracle eliminates this concern. They’re not a VC-funded startup hoping for an exit. OLVM is part of their broader infrastructure strategy – the same KVM foundation runs their cloud and their flagship engineered systems. They have both the incentive and the resources to maintain it.

This doesn’t mean Oracle is a perfect vendor. But it does mean you’re not betting your infrastructure on a company that might not exist when you need support.

What OLVM Doesn’t Do (Or Doesn’t Do as Well)

OLVM provides core hypervisor functionality without VMware’s feature breadth. Here’s where gaps exist and whether they matter for your environment.

No Automated Workload Balancing (DRS Equivalent)

OLVM doesn’t automatically rebalance VMs across hosts based on resource utilisation. You can manually migrate VMs or script rebalancing via the API, but there’s no intelligent, automatic workload distribution.

Impact assessment: For most environments, this isn’t a dealbreaker. Manual rebalancing quarterly – or triggered by monitoring alerts – handles typical scenarios. If you’re running thousands of VMs with highly variable workloads that require constant rebalancing, this limitation matters more.

Basic Network Virtualisation

OLVM supports VLANs and Open vSwitch but lacks NSX-equivalent capabilities for micro-segmentation, distributed firewalling, or software-defined networking.

Impact assessment: If your VMware environment heavily uses NSX, you’ll need to rearchitect networking or layer in third-party solutions. If you’re using standard VLANs with physical or perimeter firewalling – which describes most environments – OLVM’s networking is adequate.

Smaller Third-Party Ecosystem

VMware’s ecosystem spans hundreds of integrated solutions. OLVM’s is narrower:

• Backup: Veeam (full support), Dell EMC NetWorker, agent-based options for most others.
• Automation: Ansible (native oVirt modules), Terraform, REST API.
• Monitoring: Grafana, Prometheus, Checkmk, standard SNMP.
• Storage: Most enterprise arrays (NetApp, Dell EMC, Pure Storage, HPE) via standard protocols.

Impact assessment: Check your specific integrations. Veeam users won’t notice a difference. If you’re locked into Commvault, Rubrik, or Cohesity with hypervisor-level integration, expect agent-based backup instead. For most organisations, supported integrations cover the critical requirements.

Narrower Hardware Compatibility

VMware’s Hardware Compatibility List spans thousands of configurations. OLVM’s is smaller. Most enterprise-grade HPE, Dell, and Cisco hardware is supported, but exotic configurations require validation.

Impact assessment: Verify your specific server, storage array, and network adapter compatibility before committing. This is a validation step, not typically a blocker for mainstream enterprise hardware.

Less Mature Stretched Cluster Capabilities

OLVM supports disaster recovery replication and can run VMs across sites, but VMware’s stretched cluster capabilities with Metro vMotion are more battle-tested for active-active datacenter operations.

Impact assessment: For standard DR with planned failover, OLVM’s capabilities are sufficient. If you need seamless active-active operations across sites, VMware remains stronger here.

The Philosophical Difference

OLVM provides robust core functionality and expects you to compose additional capabilities from best-of-breed tools. VMware bundles more natively but charges accordingly.

This isn’t a flaw – it’s a design choice. If you value an integrated suite and the budget supports it, VMware’s approach has merit. If you prefer choosing your own tools and paying only for what you use, OLVM’s composable approach may fit better.

Oracle Workloads: The Hard Partitioning Advantage

If you’re running Oracle Database or Oracle Applications, OLVM offers an additional benefit worth understanding: hard partitioning recognition for Oracle licensing.

What This Means

Oracle licensing on virtualised infrastructure depends on whether your hypervisor supports “hard partitioning” or “soft partitioning”:

VMware (soft partitioning): Oracle’s licensing policy requires you to license all physical cores on every host where Oracle VMs could run – typically your entire cluster.

OLVM (hard partitioning): You license only the cores allocated to the Oracle VM itself.

OLVM achieves this through CPU pinning and NUMA-aware scheduling that physically constrains workloads to specific cores, meeting Oracle’s technical requirements for hard partitioning recognition.

The Practical Benefit

For most organisations, this doesn’t reduce existing Oracle licensing costs – those licenses are already purchased. What it provides is:

• Compliance clarity – Your Oracle deployment architecture aligns with licensing policy without ambiguity.
• Architectural flexibility – You can consolidate Oracle workloads onto shared infrastructure without licensing every core in the environment.
• Audit risk reduction – Hard partitioning provides a defensible licensing position.
• Future deployment efficiency – New Oracle workloads can be right-sized without over-licensing.

If you’re running Oracle RAC, Oracle Applications, or significant Oracle Database deployments, this architectural advantage warrants consideration during platform evaluation.

Not Running Oracle?

If you have no Oracle workloads, this section doesn’t apply to your decision. OLVM’s value proposition for non-Oracle environments is straightforward: enterprise-grade virtualisation at substantially lower cost than VMware.

Realistic Migration Process

There’s no lift-and-shift magic here. Migration from VMware to OLVM requires guest-level conversion. It’s not complex, but it requires planning and testing.

Two-Phase Approach

Phase 1: OLVM Environment Provisioning

Before migrating any VMs, build out the OLVM infrastructure:

• Deploy OLVM Engine (management server).
• Configure KVM hypervisor hosts.
• Set up storage domains (FC, iSCSI, or NFS).
• Configure network infrastructure and VLANs.
• Establish backup integration.
• Implement monitoring and alerting.

Phase 2: Guest Migration

• Pre-migration: Remove VMware Tools, document VM configurations, identify application dependencies.
• Conversion: Use virt-v2v (command-line) or OLVM’s import wizard (GUI) to convert VMDK to QCOW2 format, inject virtio drivers, map virtual hardware.
• Post-migration: Install OLVM guest agents, reconfigure network settings if needed, validate application functionality.
• Testing: Parallel testing before cutover, performance validation, failover scenario testing.

The Infrastructure Recycling Advantage

Guest-level migration enables infrastructure repurposing. As you migrate VMs off VMware hosts, those physical servers can be re-provisioned as OLVM KVM hosts.

This approach eliminates new hardware purchases for the OLVM environment. Your existing VMware hosts become your OLVM hosts. The migration becomes a gradual transition where infrastructure is recycled rather than expanded – reducing capital expenditure and maximising existing investments.

Timeline Expectations

For a typical enterprise environment:

Phase	Duration	Activities
Planning	2-4 weeks	Assessment, design, tool selection
Proof of concept	2-3 weeks	Migrate 5-10 non-production VMs, validate
Pilot migration	4-6 weeks	First production application stack, monitoring
Full migration	3-6 months	Remaining VMs, varies by count and complexity

You can run OLVM and VMware in parallel during migration, allowing gradual cutover without a high-risk “big bang” approach.

Skills Transition

If your team is VMware-native, the learning curve is measured in days to weeks, not months. Concepts map directly:

VMware Term	OLVM Equivalent
vCenter	Engine
Datacenter	Data Center
Cluster	Cluster
ESXi host	Host
Datastore	Storage Domain

The deeper learning curve is Linux administration. OLVM’s management interface is web-based and accessible, but troubleshooting and advanced configuration require comfort with Linux command-line tools. If your team lacks Linux expertise, budget for training or external support during the transition.

OLVM vs VMware: Direct Comparison

Capability	VMware vSphere	OLVM	Assessment
Core virtualisation	Mature, full-featured	Mature, full-featured	Equivalent for most use cases
Live migration	vMotion	Yes	Functionally equivalent
High availability	vSphere HA	Yes	Functionally equivalent
Automated load balancing	DRS	No	Gap—requires manual/scripted rebalancing
Network virtualisation	NSX	Basic (VLANs, OVS)	Significant gap if NSX is core to your architecture
Storage live migration	Yes	Yes	Functionally equivalent
Backup ecosystem	Extensive	Narrower	Veeam works well; others may require agent-based approach
Hardware compatibility	Extensive HCL	Narrower	Validate specific configurations
Stretched clusters	Mature	Less mature	VMware stronger for active-active
API/Automation	Extensive	REST API, Ansible	VMware more comprehensive; OLVM adequate for most needs
Oracle hard partitioning	No	Yes	OLVM advantage for Oracle workloads
Pricing model	Per-core, bundled tiers	Per-server, flat	OLVM dramatically simpler and typically 70-90% lower
Vendor trajectory	Broadcom acquisition, pricing uncertainty	Stable Oracle product	OLVM offers more predictability

The Honest Summary

VMware remains the more feature-complete platform. If you need DRS, NSX, vRealise suite, or deep third-party integrations, VMware delivers capabilities OLVM doesn’t match.

But “more features” isn’t the same as “better fit.” If you’re using 40% of VMware’s capabilities and paying for 100%, OLVM’s focused feature set may be exactly right – at a fraction of the cost.

Decision Framework

Choose OLVM if:

1. VMware costs have become unsustainable and you need a credible enterprise alternative.
2. You run standard enterprise workloads that don’t require VMware-specific features.
3. Your team has or can develop Linux competency
4. You value cost predictability and simpler licensing.
5. Oracle workloads are part of your environment (additional hard partitioning benefit).

Stay with VMware (or evaluate other alternatives) if:

1. NSX micro-segmentation is core to your security architecture.
2. You depend on DRS automated balancing for highly variable workloads.
3. VMware-specific integrations are deeply embedded with no alternatives.
4. Zero Linux expertise and no willingness to invest.
5. Active-active stretched clusters are a firm requirement.

The Real Question

Don’t ask “Is OLVM as good as VMware?” Ask “Does OLVM do what we actually need?”

If your VMware environment uses live migration, HA, basic networking, and standard storage – which describes most deployments – OLVM provides equivalent capability at dramatically lower cost with enterprise vendor backing.

If you’re deeply invested in VMware’s advanced features, the migration cost may exceed the savings.

The only way to know is to assess your specific environment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OLVM production-ready for mission-critical workloads?

Yes. OLVM’s KVM foundation is the same virtualisation technology Oracle uses in Exadata and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It’s certified for Oracle Database, E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Siebel. Enterprises run production workloads on OLVM today – this isn’t experimental technology.

Can I migrate from VMware to OLVM without downtime?

Individual VMs require downtime during conversion (VMDK to QCOW2 format, driver injection). However, you can minimise impact through maintenance window migrations and parallel operation of both platforms during transition. Application-level HA (clustering, load balancing) can provide service continuity during individual VM migrations.

What’s the typical migration timeline?

For a typical enterprise environment: 2-4 weeks planning, 2-3 weeks proof of concept, 4-6 weeks pilot migration, and 3-6 months for full migration depending on VM count and complexity. Most organisations run both platforms in parallel during transition.

Can I use my existing VMware hardware for OLVM?

Yes. As you migrate VMs off VMware hosts, those physical servers can be re-provisioned as OLVM KVM hosts. This converts your migration into infrastructure recycling rather than expansion.

What backup solutions work with OLVM?

Veeam provides full hypervisor-level integration. Dell EMC NetWorker also supports OLVM. Most other enterprise backup solutions work via agent-based backups rather than hypervisor-level integration. OLVM’s REST API enables custom backup automation.

How does OLVM compare to other VMware alternatives like Proxmox or Nutanix?

Proxmox is community-driven with optional paid support – lower cost but less enterprise backing. Nutanix is a full hyperconverged platform with its own pricing complexity. OLVM sits in between: enterprise vendor support at a fraction of VMware’s cost, without the infrastructure lock-in of hyperconverged platforms. The right choice depends on your support requirements, existing infrastructure, and budget.

Does OLVM support Windows VMs?

Yes. OLVM supports a wide range of x86 guest operating systems including Windows Server and desktop versions. Windows VMs run with virtio drivers for optimal performance.

What if Oracle changes direction on OLVM?

OLVM is built on oVirt, an open-source project that would continue independently if Oracle’s involvement changed. Your investment in KVM-based virtualisation isn’t locked to Oracle’s product decisions. That said, Oracle’s use of KVM across Exadata and OCI suggests continued commitment to the technology.

Find Out If OLVM Makes Sense for You

A 30-minute call is usually enough to determine whether OLVM is worth evaluating for your environment -or whether your time is better spent elsewhere.

In that call, we’ll cover:

• Your current VMware footprint and renewal timeline.
• Which VMware capabilities you actually depend on.
• Obvious fit or obvious blockers for OLVM.
• Whether a deeper assessment is warranted.

This call is most useful if you:

• Face VMware renewal in the next 12-18 months.
• Manage 50+ VMs with in-house infrastructure capability.
• Are genuinely evaluating alternatives, not just researching.

No deliverable, no lengthy report – just a direct conversation about whether OLVM fits your situation. If it doesn’t, we’ll tell you and point you toward alternatives that might.

Book a 30-Minute Call ?

Exploring other options? Check out our guide to Oracle solutions for VMware migration, including Oracle Cloud VMware Solution and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.