# Compare virtualization platforms for my infrastructure

A side-by-side comparison of hypervisor and virtualization options against your workloads, budget, skills, and migration constraints, with a recommendation.

- Topic: Software Development
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Analyze, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/compare-virtualization-platforms-for-my-infrastructure

## Prompt

```text
Help me compare virtualization platforms and recommend the best fit for my environment.

**Options I'm considering:** [e.g. VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox VE, Nutanix AHV, KVM/OpenStack, cloud-hosted VMs]
**Current environment:** [hosts, VM count, storage type, network, what we run today]
**Workloads:** [e.g. databases, VDI, Windows/Linux servers, latency-sensitive apps, GPU]
**Requirements:** [high availability, live migration, backup/DR, multi-site, compliance]
**Team skills:** [what my team knows well vs. not at all]
**Budget and licensing constraints:** [per-core/per-socket limits, subscription vs. perpetual, renewal date]
**Priority:** [cost / performance / reliability / ease of operations / exit from current vendor]

Compare each option on:
- Features: HA, live migration, clustering, storage options, networking, management console, automation/API support.
- Performance and scale: how it handles my workload types and VM count; where it is known to struggle.
- Total cost of ownership over 3 years: licensing model, support, hardware compatibility, training, migration effort. Show the cost drivers, not invented prices.
- Ecosystem: backup vendor support, monitoring tools, hardware compatibility lists.
- Operational risk: vendor lock-in, licensing changes, community vs. commercial support.
- Migration path from what I run today, including downtime and conversion tools.

Return:
1. A comparison table (options as columns).
2. A recommendation for my situation, plus the runner-up and when it would win instead.
3. A proof-of-concept test plan: which workloads to test and what to measure.
4. Questions to ask each vendor or reseller.

Licensing and pricing change often - flag anything I should verify with the vendor as [CONFIRM] rather than stating current prices.
```

## What to fill in

- hosts, VM count, storage type, network, what we run today
- what my team knows well vs. not at all
- CONFIRM

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.