XCP-ng and Xen Orchestra: the open-source VMware alternative few people know

Proxmox gets the spotlight, but there is a second open-source platform we happily deploy: XCP-ng, derived from Citrix XenServer, developed and supported by the French vendor Vates. It deserves to be known.

Where XCP-ng comes from

XenServer was Citrix’s hypervisor, widespread in enterprises until its licensing model closed. XCP-ng is its community edition, fully open source, with the same proven foundations: the Xen hypervisor, also used by the largest public clouds.

Xen Orchestra, the control centre

XCP-ng is driven by Xen Orchestra, a web interface that manages several server pools, live migrations, snapshots and above all built-in backup: delta backups, continuous replication to a second site, file-level restore, copies to immutable object storage. For an SMB, it removes the need for separate backup software.

When we recommend it

• You come from XenServer and want to keep your habits without paying licences again.
• You want a European vendor with a real support contract, which Vates provides.
• You want a stable platform with no surprise major upgrades, for a remote site or a branch.

When we prefer Proxmox

For hyper-converged storage, Proxmox integrates Ceph natively while XCP-ng relies on the newer XOSTOR. For LXC containers or a very large community, Proxmox also has the edge. Both platforms are good; we choose based on your environment and your teams.

In both cases

Three-node cluster minimum, dedicated storage network, immutable off-site backup and monitoring. We design, migrate and operate. See our virtualisation and servers page.