Leaving VMware just got harder after Broadcom pulled VDDK downloads

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Broadcom’s removal of public downloads for VMware’s Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) is seen as a deliberate move to make large‑scale migration away from VMware harder, since many backup and migration tools rely on it to access and convert virtual machine disks efficiently. Commenters contrast VMware’s historically strong enterprise feature set with alternatives like Proxmox, Hyper‑V, Nutanix, OpenStack, and KVM, debating where each fits by scale, support needs, and regulatory constraints. The change is widely cited as a textbook example of vendor lock‑in and short‑term profit‑driven product squeezing, strengthening the case for open-source or less proprietary infrastructure despite the upfront complexity of moving off VMware.

Access to VDDK and Workarounds

  • Broadcom pulled public VDDK downloads; VMware now reportedly ships it only directly to backup vendors.
  • This complicates large-scale, automated migrations and backups that relied on VDDK’s raw disk access, sparsity handling, and change block tracking.
  • Users mention an archive.org torrent (and magnet link) as an unofficial workaround.

Proxmox vs VMware for Different Scales

  • Many commenters say most VMware users (especially SMBs and home labs) could have used Proxmox for years and avoided licensing chaos.
  • Others argue Proxmox only recently became viable at scale; older versions lacked features and had cluster size limits that made it weaker than vSphere/vCenter for large deployments.
  • Some see Proxmox as “home lab / SMB” tier, not yet true enterprise; others run sizable Proxmox clusters (hundreds of VMs, k8s workloads) with good results.
  • Enterprise support is a sticking point: some call Proxmox “amateur hour,” while others point to new 24/7 support and the benefit of a fully open stack.

Other Platforms and Scale Considerations

  • Alternatives mentioned: Hyper‑V, Nutanix, OpenStack, KVM/libvirt, XCP‑ng, Red Hat OpenShift Virt, Dell private cloud options.
  • Nutanix is seen as the closest analogue to VMware; OpenStack is more powerful but much more complex.
  • At very large scales (thousands to >100k VMs), people dismiss Proxmox and emphasize industrial tooling and staffed teams.
  • Some report Hyper‑V “just works,” others criticize its fragmented tooling and upsell to System Center.

Migration Complexity

  • Converting VMDKs with qemu-img is technically possible, but commenters stress that at scale and with minimal downtime, it’s non‑trivial.
  • Manual exports for hundreds or thousands of VMs are seen as unrealistic; agent-based migrations can require many privileged accounts and have high failure rates.
  • Some describe months‑long migrations and weekend‑long moves for multi‑TB VMs.

Business, Legal, and Strategic Reactions

  • Broadcom is widely characterized as milking VMware as a cash cow via price hikes and lock‑in, sacrificing long‑term value.
  • Some argue big enterprises accept this as the price of risk mitigation, vendor support, and staff fungibility.
  • Others see it as a cautionary tale against proprietary lock‑in and a strong argument for open‑source and in‑house expertise.
  • There are mentions of lawsuits over “perpetual” licenses and possible competition/regulatory complaints.